4G home broadband: who it works for, and who it does not

What speed you actually get

Expect 10 to 60 Mbps down in normal conditions. Networks advertise higher and occasionally deliver it, but planning around 20 to 30 Mbps is the honest baseline outside a town.

That is enough for two 4K streams, video calls, and normal household use at once. It is not enough for a house of heavy uploaders, and latency is worse than fibre by 20 to 40 milliseconds, which competitive gamers will notice and nobody else will.

The variable that decides everything is signal strength at the spot where the router sits, not the network you pick. A window facing the mast beats a better tariff every time.

When it does not work

• Deep valleys and thick stone. Terrain that blocks fibre economics usually blocks radio too. Rural notspots often stack.
• Congested rural masts. One mast serving a wide area slows to a crawl between 7pm and 10pm. Speed tests at 11am tell you nothing.
• Heavy upload work. Uploads on 4G are typically 5 to 15 Mbps. If you move large files for a living, this is the limit that will bite.

Router, dongle or MiFi: what you are actually buying

“Mobile broadband” covers three different devices, and only one of them replaces home broadband. Knowing which you need saves you from buying the wrong box.

• 4G router.A mains-powered box with an unlimited SIM that sits by a window and feeds the whole house over WiFi. This is what “4G home broadband” means, and the only one of the three that stands in for a fixed line.
• USB dongle. A stick that gives one laptop internet through a data SIM. Fine for travel or a single device, useless as a household connection. If a search for an internet dongle sent you here, this is the cheap option that disappoints a family.
• MiFi. A pocket-sized battery router for a few devices on the move. The same idea as a dongle with WiFi instead of a cable, still built around a capped data bundle.

O2 and the smaller networks sell dongles and MiFi on pay-per-gigabyte bundles, which look cheap until you count how many gigabytes a house gets through in a week. For a home with no fibre, the fixed 4G router with unlimited data is the one to buy. The three networks below all sell it.

The three networks that sell it

Only the mobile networks offer proper 4G home broadband with an unlimited allowance and a fixed router. Ordered by entry price.

How to choose without guessing

1. Check all three coverage maps at your exact postcode. Discount each one slightly, they are drawn optimistically.
2. If you already have a phone on one of these networks, walk around the house and watch the signal bars. That is free field data nobody else has.
3. Pick the network with the best signal, not the best price. A £17 plan that drops out is worth less than a £25 plan that does not.
4. Take the shortest contract available for the first month, and test in the evening rather than at lunchtime.