WiFi On The Road IS An Important Tool

Since you have verizon you won't be able to do the aircard trick I was talking about. I don't know about tethering the Storm. I have the Motorola software to tether a phone to a laptop, but I've never done done it with any other phone. Check the manufacturer's website for tethering software.

As for a Verizon aircard, I think the standard for download per month is around 5GB. Not sure how much it costs.

 

I have verizon cell and have been looking at this tonight. You can get a verizon braodband device for your laptop and the monthly svc is 59.99 for 5gb per month ( which is like more than any normal person would ever use for regular internet browsing). I thought maybe it would be cheaper to do the blackberry and tether it to laptop but it is actually $5 more per month after all the fees unless you already have a blackberry data plan. If you already have blackberry data plan it will only cost you an additional $15 a month and you can tether to your laptop and have unlimited web capabilites. Only downfall with tethering is you cannot use the "phone" while online because the BB is your modem. this is the explanation given to me by the verizon rep i talked to.

 

Which is correct... I have Verizon and a UM175 USB device which works just fine. Don't know what comes with the contract... they provide a "free" device when you sign up. Monthly charge is as above, plus they nickle/dime you for a fee or two - like all the companies do.

That's all fine. Can't speak for the ATT product, but Sprint is ok as well. With other providers (and the "big three" as well) you really have to ask for a coverage map before you sign up. T-Mobile used to be really bad about this, and NexTel (even though they are owned by Sprint) still has awful coverage. No tower/sharing - no connection. In many places they only provide coverage in major metropolitan areas, and along very busy roads. These guys sell a service, so there has to be enough customers (not jack rabbits) to actually support the business before they'll necessarily provide service, ie a network.

Be aware that just because a provider shares towers with another company, doesn't mean that the provider who is buying the time actually supplies internet connectivity on an extended network. Make sure you ask what services are supplied off their main network! Example: Qwest used to buy all of their time from Sprint, and advertise how they were the best thing since sliced bread - while they were still in the cell business. In reality they only purchased time only off of Sprints main network. When roaming - they charged really exorbitant roaming fees - you could end up with a bill of hundreds of dollars quite quickly.

 

I already do have an unlimited data plan so that wouldn't be too bad. So can you use Firefox with it? I was thinking about just buying a second line and get a flip phone to talk on. I love my Storm for checking e-mail, using instant messaging, and other features but the actual phone part of it isn't the best.

This was back in 2006 so it might have changed but I remember throughout the road trip I went on that Verizon seemed to have the best coverage. My bf had two prepaid phones with different carriers and I had my Verizon phone. There were several areas where my phone was the only one that could get a signal.

 

how is the coverage for the broadband through verizon. if its comparable to the cellular service then i'm sold.

 

I just wanted to chime in here.....

All the phone company reps give you this line....Sprint, Verizon & AT&T at least *all* have this 5 GB limit on their so-called "unlimited" plan. And they'll all tell you "You get 5 GB, and it's way more than the average user would ever need".

First off, if anybody's average monthly cell phone minute usages are anywhere close to what mine were when I drove & all my driver friends were....we know a truck driver is NOT the "average user".

Ever since I first signed up with Sprint 1.5 years ago & now that I am with Verizon (came off the road & live outside Sprint area)....it is VERY easy to exceed 5 GB in one month. Happened all the time even when I was driving team & hardly getting online more than 1-2 times a week.

If all you do is check email & visit this forum and similar stuff....you wont have a problem with the 5GB cap.

However if you're at ALL interested in downloading music or watching videos, you'll suck up that airtime halfway through the month. Into online RPG's, downloading software, DVD's? You can use up all 5 GB in a single DAY. I know I'm not the only one, a driver friend of mine uses his to download his favorite TV shows on some website.....says the first time he got the "warning" call from Sprint, his usage was up at 7 GB and the month was halfway over.

I use Verizon's aircard because I live in a pretty far-flung rural area. It's this, or dial-up. If I had another option, I'd take it....I HATE this...worst part is, they charge .25 cents per MB (there's something like 1024 MB in a GB; I can use 1 GB in two days WITHOUT looking at a single video).

For what it's worth, I liked Sprint better, since they wouldn't charge for going over the 5GB limit; but they would send you a "warning" and potentially cancel your service if you consistently went over the 5 GB for 3 months in a row.

Just a fair warning for anybody who likes to do data-heavy stuff on the 'Net....be forewarned about that 5GB cap and how quickly you CAN reach the limit....

 

I'm out in a rural area too and finally got DSL about 6 months ago. Before that I was using HughesNet satellite service. Cost is like $60/month and after 800 MB in a single it slows way down (Fair usage policy and all). I needed it for work and other than the cost I liked it. The modem costs like $800 though but they will finance it in with the payment over the first year.

As for the cell Verizon gets a way better signal in my house than AT&T but I stick with AT&T because I travel so much and my cell will workjust about anywhere, even here in Iraq. I actually have a Verizon pre-paid phone for my son while I'm gone so I can call him and not worry about the signal.

 

This is not normal use you are describing that would be excessive. With 5GB you can do the following approximately:

100,000 emails or
50,000 emails with large attatchments or
30,000 webpage views or different combo's of the above or
about 20 hours use if you download movies music etc.... while connected to your mobile broadband account.

you can disconnect from your account anytime you are somewhere that has a wifi connection or ethernet connection and do all your downloads for free or whatever your paying to connect via these alternative methods. If you need more than the "averages" i mentioned above for normal internet use you might need a new job cause you are not doing any driving and/or you have an addiction and need internet users anonamous! LOL

 

I'm still interested in what the OP was talking about, getting a better WIFI signal through an externally mounted antenna, like some use to pick up TV signals, etc. Any more info on that?

 

Yeah, I'm addicted to surfthechannel.com and Hulu so there's no way I could keep it under 5 gigs. Just because you aren't downloading it to your hard drive doesn't mean you aren't temporarily downloading it. That's what streaming is. Even Youtube vids take up a lot. I'd say I spend about 25% of my web time downloading vids, 25% on irc, 25% on forums, and the other 25% looking at other various web pages. I'm interested in that tethering thing. I have unlimited with my blackberry plan so would they give me a "warning" if I went over 5 gigs while tethering?