Whether having family at home during the lockdown is stretching your broadband bandwidth, or the sunny weather calls you to work from the garden, a mobile Wi-Fi router, or MiFi may be what you need to make isolation more bearable. MiFis are portable routers that can connect multiple devices on a 4G SIM.
While you can pick up contracts on a 30-day rolling term, these tend to be more expensive, so a 12-month plan helps save long term.
Cheapest MiFi offer: Virgin
The cheapest deal for 12 months of service comes from Virgin, which offers 3GB of data for £8 per month, without upfront costs – but let’s face, this would hardly suffice broadband-hungry households holding Zoom conferences in one room and streaming Disney Plus in the other.
Best value unlimited MiFi offer: Three
Instead, the best offer on uncapped data without speed restrictions on a 12-month term comes from Three, where it’s £23 per month and £19 upfront. This works out to £295 for the whole year of service.
The only other provider offering unlimited data without speed restrictions is Vodafone, which has a similar plan for £33 per month, with the first six months reduced to £16.50. This amounts to £297 over the 12-month period.
MiFi routers from both Three and Vodafone connect up to 10 devices.
Free Echo Dot with mobile broadband from Three
If you don’t mind a 4G router that plugs into the power mains like a traditional router, Three also has an excellent unlimited 4G broadband offer with the Huawei AI Cube that bundles a free Amazon Echo Dot. The 12-month term costs £32 per month and £49 upfront, but you can get £70 cashback if you buy the deal via Quidco. This reduces the cost to around £26 per month (excluding the upfront cost).
If you’re unfamiliar, the AI Cube router, which isn’t really a cube at all, but a cylindrical smart speaker much like the Google Home offers the Alexa voice smart assistant. It’s effectively an Echo smart speaker and mobile router rolled into one. But Three’s deal throws in an additional Echo Dot 3. The offer ends 15 June, until stocks last.
The AI Cube will connect up to 64 devices and offers dual band Wi-Fi at speeds up to 300Mbps
We’ve also rounded up the best mobile Wi-Fi routers here if you want to see other options.
Author: Somrata Sarkar, Senior Staff Writer
Somrata researches and writes about the best tech deals to help readers make smart, informed buying decisions. She's an expert on accessories and also reviews laptops, phones, audio and other devices.