Don't waste money on a 'free' laptop

Dongle laptop packages may seem like a good idea, but you could be throwing over £135 down the drain if you sign up...

First, the dongle arrived. The super sleek, uber convenient way to surf the internet while on the move. Then came the Netbook, enabling you to read emails and surf without squinting at the size eight font on your Blackberry.

Then some bright spark decided to play matchmaker, and married the two ideas together. The dongle + netbook partnership was born, and soon nearly all the providers were jumping on the bandwagon.

Could this be the start of a beautiful technological friendship? Let's find out.

First things first

The first thing you'll have to decide if you want to get one of these packages is whether you'd prefer a netbook or laptop.

There are three main differences between the two:

• Netbooks are smaller and more portable than laptops. The screen size ranges from around eight to 11 inches, while a standard laptop will have a screen measuring around 15 inches.
• Netbooks use lower powered processors, such as Intel's Atom Processor, which are good at preserving battery life, but not so good at dealing with intensive applications such as video editing.
• To save space, Netbooks do not have an optical drive, so you won't be able to play CDs or DVDs on it. Almost all laptops come with an optical drive.

For the purpose of this exercise, I shall be looking at some of the netbooks on offer. Here are some of the cheapest deals from the big five networks:

All plans mentioned here require you to sign a 24-month contract.

As the table shows, the cheapest plan you can get with a netbook costs £17.50 a month, and includes 1GB of data with 3. Overall, 3 is the cheapest network for your dongle needs, and if you're willing to fork out £5 extra, for £22.50 a month you grab a package which gives you 15GB of data.

But what does 3GB and 15GB translate to in terms of the hours you can surf? This is important to know, as if you go over your limit, you could end up with a nasty bill on your hands.

Thankfully, most networks will keep you updated on your usage, so you can keep an eye on downloads. Alternatively, this mobile broadband calculator from Vodafone will give you an idea of your surfing habits, so you can select the plan that's right for you.

There is also the issue of which netbook and plan to choose, as many networks offer added extras if you sign up with them.

For example, all O2 plans come with free Wi-Fi at 7,500 wireless hotspots, which can come in handy if you're running close to your allowance, and T-Mobile offers unlimited free texts from your netbook.

But it doesn't always add up

All options considered, bundling broadband may be convenient, but it will also cost you.

For example, if you wanted to bag Samsung's popular NC10 netbook, you'd have to fork out at least £30 a month with Vodafone, and sign a 24 month contract for 3GB of memory per month. This amounts to £720 over the life of the contract.

However, you could save a lot more by buying the broadband and netbook separately. The cheapest Samsung NC10 I found was just £269.97. And a 24 month contract with Vodafone costs just £15 a month for 3GB of data - plus you'll get the first three months free.

So if you buy separately, it will cost you £135.03 less, and you will have the freedom of being able to choose the right laptop and broadband for your needs.

Ditch the laptop

If you want the dongle, but not the netbook, the good news is mobile broadband is getting cheaper.

Orange has launched a string of low cost plans across both its phone and broadband packages.

You can now get mobile broadband with Orange for just £4.89 a month, provided you sign an 18 month contract.

You'll only get 500Mb of usage, which is just enough to surf for about an hour each day and check your emails. Anything over, and you'll pay 1.43p per MB, or £15 per GB.

For something a bit cooler, T-Mobile's Share Dock enables up to five users to connect to the internet via a wireless hub - without the need for a landline connection.

The dock is available on an 18 month plan, which costs £20 a month and includes 3GB of data. Just be aware that, between five people, this amount of data will get used up pretty quickly.

Whatever you decide to do, make sure you do your sums first. It seems the marriage between dongle and laptop isn't a marriage made in heaven after all!

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