With a USB Wi-Fi adapter you'd need to find a hotspot--free or pay as you go--to which you can connect. Certainly a good plan if you are going to be using the laptop mostly in motel/hotel or restaurants that offer free Wi-Fi.
Connecting to your smartphone would require a data plan that allows that and usage will be charged against that data plan. Good way to go if you are going to be using the laptop where there is no Wi-Fi hotspot.
Only true if you were also going to get a wireless (Wi-Fi) router that can be used with mobile wireless--carriers often offer these now and call them "hotspots" or similar. The laptop's USB Wi-Fi would then connect to this "hotspot." The carriers all have slightly differing data plans and they change them seemingly monthly so you'd have to research the plans to determine costs.
I'm not thinking of a WIFI dongle, but a USB dongle which can take a sim card and then connect to the mobile network, hopefully on 3G - in the same way the phone would.
Is there any difference between using a dongle with a sim card in vs a phone with a sim card in - both attached via USB to the laptop?
A separate wireless broadband dongle would probably require a separate wireless broadband plan. Compare that to the cost of adding tethering to your phone. That would be the only difference.
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