Mobile broadband set to overtake fixed-line internet

Growing demand for flexible online connections will see mobile broadband become the most popular method to surf the web by 2010, according to an industry experts.

Comparison site Top 10 Broadband claims that consumers are turning away from fixed-line internet in favour of mobile alternatives, which have become cheaper, faster and more reliable in recent times.

A spokesman for the firm told the Times that this shift will accelerate over the next two years.

He said: "This trend is as significant as the shift from home to mobile phones that took place in the mid Nineties."

Ian Fogg, an analyst at Jupiter Research, added that laptop users in particular find it easier to connect to the internet via mobile broadband rather than other options such as wi-fi hotspots.

He continued: "Mobile broadband, by comparison, has come right down in price, and quality of high speed HSDPA - or 3.5G - networks has improved dramatically."