Network provider 3 has come out tops in the Broadband Expert 2008 Mobile Broadband Awards.

The comparison site asked more than 4,000 mobile broadband users about their usage and the speed of their connections from January to September.

3 scooped four of the eight awards, winning best mobile broadband value, best notebook bundle, best pay as you go and best overall mobile broadband.

William Harvey, Broadband Expert technical director, said: “3 has led the way in reducing the cost of mobile broadband forcing other providers to bring down prices to stay competitive.”

The award for fastest speed went to Vodafone with its mobile broadband service achieving an average speed of 2.74 Mbits/sec based on 4,026 speed tests.

Vodafone scooped the best coverage award, having received the least amount of negative feedback about lack of coverage, which was the biggest customer gripe across all providers.

T-Mobile won the fairest pricing award as it is the only mobile broadband provider to have no extra fees for exceeding download limits. It also picked up the customer satisfaction award with seven in 10 people saying they were happy with the service.