Re: Internet on the Go

I have been using my cell phone for years. It's a little trouble getting
hooked up with the data cable and installing the software, but NO additional
charges except minutes. I pay about $42.00 a month for 600 minutes (I
think). Free weekends and free after 9:PM local time.

That's all I need and the speed is good.

But I also carry two wifi antenna's, one of which is highly directional and
high gain.

Dennis




"Flo Cala" <flocalaDELETEdot@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:48384c85$0$28607$c3e8da3@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Thought some of you might be interested in this.
-Dot

Connecting to the Internet on the Go
By DAVID POGUE

I can't believe we're not yet in the age of ubiquitous
wireless. Someday, we'll tell our flabbergasted
grandchildren: "When I was your age, when we wanted to
check our e-mail we had to drive around town looking for a
coffee shop!"

For a while there, I was looking forward to the era of
citywide Wi-Fi, the type that was sprouting up in
Philadelphia and St. Louis. Unfortunately, most of those
projects have stalled or been shut down.

So for now, if you don't want to spend your life hunting
down (and paying for) little Wi-Fi hot spots everywhere you
go, the closest thing you can get to online everywhere is
to buy a cellular modem -- and pay through the nose for the
service ($60 a month).

Cellular modems take the form either of metal cards that
slide into laptop slots (PC Card or ExpressCard), or as
stubby U.S.B. doodads that look just like flash drives. At
that point, your computer can get onto the Internet at
DSL-like speeds in the country's 100 or so biggest cities,
or at dial-up speeds anywhere else that you can make a
cellphone call. Verizon, Sprint and AT&T offer them.

Last July, I reviewed what was billed as the world's
smallest U.S.B. cell modem, the Novatel/Verizon USB727
(http://tinyurl.com/2bpz8q
http://tinyurl.com/2bpz8q). It's great for two reasons: first, it uses
Verizon's network, meaning that you will have fast Internet signal
almost anywhere you go; second, it doubles as a flash drive
for carrying around files. You can slip a tiny microSD
memory card into the thing (up to 4 gigabytes) to expand
its storage.

Now there's something better: The Sierra/Sprint Wireless
Compass 597, the new reigning champion in the competition
for the smallest cellular modem in the country. It's
really, really small (1.2 x 2.4 x 0.4 inches), and costs
$50 (with rebate and two-year contract), which is a great
deal.

Better yet, it doesn't require you to flip up a little
antenna, as the Novatel does. Yet the Sierra, too, doubles
as a flash drive, thanks to a microSD memory-card slot (up
to 32 gigs).

As I was walking out the door for a trip last week, I
grabbed the Sierra and threw it in my bag. "Dang," I
thought, noticing that it didn't come with an installation
CD. "They're gonna make me download the software from the
Internet. I'll have to pay for Wi-Fi just to get my
cellular modem going!"

Imagine my surprise, then, when I sat down at the airport
and slipped the thing into my laptop's U.S.B. jack: the
software installer is right on the modem! It shows up on
your screen as a disk (it's a flash drive, remember?),
whether you're using a Mac or a Windows machine. What's
cool about that is that you'll be able to use this modem on
somebody else's computer in a pinch, since the software is
all self-contained.

Not only that, but this connection software is gorgeous.
It's simple, clean and, best of all, fast. Click Connect,
and you're ready to start downloading e-mail or surfing the
Web in about five seconds. (The Novatel/Verizon modem takes
a lot longer.) Disconnecting takes only about three
seconds.

As a result, you wind up feeling comfortable enough to duck
onto the Internet and off again for quick checks, without a
lot of hassle or waiting. It's a joy.

There's also an intriguing control panel in the software
labeled G.P.S., with digital readouts showing your speed
and heading, along with buttons like Find Nearest Bank,
Find Nearest Gas, and so on. My review modem easily
displayed numbers for Heading, Speed, Latitude, and so on,
but I never could get those buttons to work. And you can't
see your position on a map without installing separate
street-finder software.

The Internet access is complete heaven, and I can't
recommend it highly enough to people who've been dropping
$7 here, $13 there for Wi-Fi access on the road. But I'm
deeply conflicted about the service price.

Sprint's service is $40 a month if you can limit yourself to
40 megabytes of downloaded data (and how on earth would you
know?). That's for e-mail checkers only.

It's $90 a month (gulp) for unlimited use, or $60 if you
agree to a two-year commitment. Those prices are pretty
much in line with Verizon and AT&T.

I used to think that this pricing was outrageous, designed
to milk the business travelers on expense accounts and
gouge everybody else.

Several readers of my previous column, though, pointed out
that $60 a month isn't appreciably more than what people
pay for high-speed Internet at home. "Admittedly, $60 is a
lot every month," wrote one, "but it somehow grates less
than paying $40 for a connection that sits at home and
still costs me money while I am on the road paying for
Internet in some hotel."

Or, as one reader wrote: "So who says it's just for
traveling? Use it at home, too, and kill the cable modem
and the TV!"

I don't know. I do a ton of traveling, but I've still never
signed up for one of these services because of the price.
But I have to tell you, the speed, size and simplicity of
this Sprint doohickey makes it harder to resist every day.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/15/technology/personaltech/15pogue-email.html?8cir&emc=cir



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