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The creation of a usable broadband mobile web handset remains a work in progress, and in the meantime, operators are looking to laptops, dongles and other more tried and tested devices to generate dollars from heavy duty internet users. In the latest moves, T-Mobile Europe has unveiled a docking station that allows multiple users to connect to its 3G dongle while in the home, in a precursor of the femtocell concept. And in the UK, Freedom4, best known as an early WiMAX triallist, is offering a mobile broadband service based around HSPA/Wi-Fi dongles, increasingly the driver of new wireless services uptake.

T-Mobile's product is called the Mobile Broadband Share Dock. It supports Wi-Fi access for up to three laptops or phones, and when the HSPA dongle is placed within the dock, the users can also share the 3G connection. This seems like an interim step to offering the same type of functionality that will be supported by 3G femtocells once operators start to roll these out from next year - often embedded with a gateway that will also include Wi-Fi.

The Share Dock only works with T-Mobile's own dongles as it does not have a SIM card, and will be available later this month in the UK and Germany, with the cost dependent upon the user's existing 3G contract.

Meanwhile, Freedom 4 - the wireless operator spun out from Pipex, and funded by Intel - has launched a dongle that automatically selects the best connection from available 3G and Wi-Fi networks. This dual-mode approach is also supported by O2's dongles. Like O2, the Freedom4 Mobile Broadband 1000 service also offers a hotspot location finder, plus it adds a text service that alerts users to the nearest connection.

To increase the Wi-Fi choices, Freedom4 WiFi has signed roaming partnerships with Spectrum Interactive and Briteyellow to offer access to 4,000 UK hotspots and 50,000 globally. Pricing for the service starts at £25 a month which includes a dongle and a choice of 1,000Mb of 3G or 1,000 Wi-Fi minutes.

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