by Alyson Edmunds: Mobility Expert at Telefónica UK

These days, running a home is fairly complicated. We just have so much to think about to keep things in order. Organising insurance, booking in boiler services, paying the mortgage, cooking, cleaning – and that’s only the tip of the iceberg. One thing that should perhaps be higher on the list of must-have essentials though, is broadband.

Recently, I moved broadband providers. And I think it’s fair to say I had a few challenges.

Picture the scene. It’s bank holiday weekend and, far from getting out and about, the kids are looking forward to indulging in some online gaming sessions. And then, horror of horrors, the broadband is disconnected. Well, you can just imagine the uproar – no, not from the kids, from me. I still had deadlines to meet and with a 50 mile round trip to the nearest office, popping in just wasn’t an option. (And of course the kids were pretty miffed too).

So, what were my choices? I could go to nearest O2 Wifi hotspot. For me, this would be a motorway service station, coffee shop or a pub which didn’t seem like such a bad idea. I have done this before and although the connectivity was great, after the fifth cup of tea I did start to feel I might be outstaying my welcome. I decided this option was a no go.

Alternatively, I could use my smartphone as a personal hotspot. I gave this a try, but it did have quite an impact on my phone’s battery life and, as I didn’t have my charger handy on this occasion, option two was quickly ruled out.

Onto option 3 – I dusted down my O2 pocket hotspot. Even though I’m not in the best connectivity area, with just one bar of 4G coverage I could seamlessly connect my laptop, phone and tablet with no fuss and immediately got access to great download speeds. It got me thinking… if there are people out there who want to give employees mobile data but are concerned about costs, a pocket hotspot combined with Mobile Data Optimisation, could be the answer. I also started wondering why I wasn’t making more use out of my hotspot!

Unfortunately for the kids, the pocket hotspot wouldn’t support online gaming but it did give me the 4G access I needed to get my work done. Thankfully, a couple of days later, my new broadband supply was in place and everyone was happy. But I can say for certain, as a result of this experience, I will always make sure I have my pocket hotspot on hand to give me 4G access when broadband isn’t available.