Orange Mobile Broadband Pay Monthly

• Connection speeds up to 3.6Mbps.
• Plentiful 500MB, 1GB, 3GB or 10GB usage allowances or
• Unlimited downloads before 9am with Early Bird.
• PC and Mac compatible.
• Opt-in for cheaper broadband in the EU.
• Free mini beauty treatment or 2 for 1 on full treatments from TreatMum when you sign up before the 17th March.

Orange mobile broadband review: Pay Monthly

STOP PRESS! Get a free mini beauty treatment from TreatMum when you sign up before the 17th of March.

WANT to get online on the go? You could do worse then take a look at Orange's mobile broadband deals.

Orange recently came out on top for in a YouGov Dongle Tracker survey beating off close rivals T-mobile who have won for the past two years.

Scroll down to the deals available below and you'll see why: Orange have come up with some innovative new mobile broadband ideas.

Cheap Deals and Unlimited Downloads

Orange mobile broadband is competitively priced - a fiver a month for the cheapest deal and just £2.50 per GB for the most pricey.

There are less exclusives for existing Orange mobile customers than there have been in the past but it's good news for the rest of us, with more to choose from.

There is also the excellent addition of Early Bird deals. Not only are these shorter than the other contracts - 12 months instead of 18 - they offer unlimited usage between midnight and 9am. That's the morning commute sorted then.

Choose your Usage Allowance

You can choose between 1GB, 3GB and 10GB monthly usage allowances but you'll pay an excess for going over your allowance. If you're an existing Orange customer you can get 500MB a month (half a GB).

At just over £20 per extra GB, going over your allowance will be pricey so it's important that you estimate your usage correctly.

Browsing can use up around 25MB per hour, streaming video up to 500MB and audio up to 150MB so you can see that as soon as you start using your mobile broadband very frequently or for streaming it'll be worth your while to pay for more allowance.

As well as the allowances listed here, you can now add on extra usage at a reduced price. This is very reasonably priced - from £5 when you add 1GB to £2 per GB when you add on 10GB.

Orange have taken the gentlemanly measure of capping extra usage at £30 a month, which is a nice cushion, but estimating correctly and adding on any extra you might need will still be much cheaper.

Remember the cap is only for usage in the UK, so you'd be wise not to leave your laptop downloading the latest Celebrity Big Brother whilst Skiing in Switzerland.

However, there are now reduced charges within the EU: just £2 for 2MB a day when you opt-in (the standard rate is £3 per MB).

A Free Dongle

All packages come with a free dongle. The dongle is smaller than your average, just 4cm and 45g.

You can also choose to upgrade the dongle to the newer 'Option 515m' dongle. It's touted as having a higher performance antenna and so should boost your connection speeds and make it easier for you to find signal.

The dongle upgrade is currently on offer for £20 - and also comes with a free 8GB micro SD card for use in the dongle as portable storage which does slightly sway our initial judgement that you'd be best off simply picking the free one.

Both dongles have maximum download speeds of up to 7.2Mbps, which is the theoretical maximum speed for 3G - whether anyone will ever get that or not is another matter.

All in all, there's a good choice of mobile broadband bundles available here and unless you live in a rural area (we'd suggest doing all you can for your coverage with the dongle upgrade) - you can't go too far wrong whichever dongle you choose.

A little more detail...

Mobile Broadband		Special Note...	Any good?
Usage Limit:	Up to 10GB
Max Speed:	Up to 3.6Mb
Choose a package option to see more details

Payment & Contract
Monthly Price:	from £5
Modem Cost:	from Free
Contract Terms:	from 12 months
Choose a package option to see more details

Orange Mobile Broadband Pay Monthly package options...

Broadband 18 months 500MB (Orange Customers Only)		Up to 3.6Mb 500MB usage		None		18 months		£5		Free
Broadband 18 months 1GB		Up to 3.6Mb 1GB usage		Free 500MB extra data bundle		18 months		£10		Free
Early Bird Broadband 1GB		Up to 3.6Mb 1GB usage				12 months		£13		Free
Broadband 18 months 3GB		Up to 3.6Mb 3GB usage		Half price for 3 months (just £7.50)		18 months		£7.50 for 3 mths (then £15)		Free
Early Bird Broadband 3GB		Up to 3.6Mb 3GB usage				12 months		£18		Free
Broadband 18 months 10GB		Up to 3.6Mb 10GB usage		Half price for 3 months (just £12.50)		18 months		£12.50 for 3 mths (then £25)		Free
Early Bird Broadband 10GB		Up to 3.6Mb 10GB usage				12 months		£28		Free