Constant internet connection for PC/Smartphone/Xbox Live while driving?

I'm interested in this topic update as well. My hubby is OTR and has not had much internet access at all because he can't choose his own stops. That's rough when you've been driving a desk in the electronics industry for the past 15 years (can you say delirium tremens??)! And when I go out with him, I'm going to definitely want access.

Wayne (the DH) helped one of his trainers choose a laptop and get it going with a Sprint 4G card while he was riding with him, and I think they had pretty good luck with it, but I'm not sure if they really have the coverage we'd want.

We figured we'd get a mobile AP (so we can get on with laptops AND iPhones), and have a friend that had good luck with hers (also Sprint) going from Texas to Seattle and back, but would like to hear what OTR drivers are experiencing. Where is coverage good, bad or non-existent?

Thanks!
Candy

 

Sprint's coverage is pretty decent, unless you spend a lot of time in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. The coverage along I20 is pretty poor in that area. Your card works, but not much faster than a dial-up modem did.

 

My understanding is that Verizon has the best coverage

 

Good news and bad news. Good news is the big three (Verizon, At&T and Sprint) all have laptop connect cards/modems for internet service you can use going down the road. Bad news, they all have a 5gb limit on them. If you go over that it will cost you big time. There are even stories of folks getting their service cancelled for constantly going over the limit. (No first hand knowledge of this myself, but this board has many examples of this.). Also keep in mind that if you are planning on streaming movies (netflix) , Hulu or video chatting you will eat up the 5gb in short order.

Smart Phones. I cant speak to Sprint as I have never used them but the other two I can. I had Verizon for many years (they were GTE wireless when I started with them) and never had any issues. I then left and went to At&T and got the Iphone. I just bought a new Droid2 phone and returned to Verizon yesterday. Should have never left. To be fair, if you only use a phone for calls or texts or basic email AT&T is fine. There 3g coverage is pretty much only in cities and the speed is pretty good. The problem is when you leave their "small" 3g areas and go into their 2g area (edge).......it makes the Iphone about useless. It is very slow and even simple stuff like using google maps with the gps almost pointless. Plus they (AT&T) have eliminated the unlimited data plans for new subscribers on the Iphone (and I assume for all smart phones, but not 100% sure on that). Verizon on the other hand, while not perfect I am sure, appears to have better (larger) 3g coverage. (It has grown since I left, at my house alone, When I left I barley had a signal period and today I have 3 bars of 3g. Big improvement in 3 years or so). I'll leave it to the Cnets, and consumer reports of the world to decide which is a better phone, the iphone or droid. But after two days of playing and downloading apps I don't see much difference. With the exception of one or two aps I pretty much have all the same ones on the new phone as my old one.

The cost of the laptop connect card plans are the same. $60 per month (5gb limit) and the cost of the smart phone plans is about the same. (assuming same minutes and text/data plans). Again don't know about Sprint as I have never used them. As an aside, anybody thinking about moving to Verizon and getting a smart phone might want to do it soon, the manager I was talking to at the store mentioned that they, Verizon would prob be going the AT&T route and dropping the unlimited data plans for smart phones in the not to distant future. Said they are watching AT&T and not seeing a huge outrage over the new data plans and like the airlines and checked bag fees....monkey see monkey do. (but if you are on a unlimited plan you would be grandfathered in).

 

I posted in another thread, Virgin Mobile has raised the bar by offering a $40 UNLIMITED, prepaid, month to month plan. No contract. The only downside is you have to buy the card up front. They have a usb model for $80 and a myfi for $150.

 

I have been using my iPhone with iPhoneModem to have continuous net access in the truck. Technically it's "unlimited" bandwidth, but just with general browsing and whatnot I haven't exceeded around 3-4 gb/mo. As was said before, if you are in a reasonably populated area that has good 3G coverage your speeds are pretty fast (1-2 Mb). You can check the coverage map on the ATT website to get an idea of where you might run into problems.

One thing to keep in mind with mobile broadband is that your speeds might be reasonable but your latency can be downright dismal so you might have trouble with online gaming.

 

Verizon has the Palm Pre and Palm Pixie for FREE with two year contract. Has mobile hotspot capability for FREE. You are limited to 5 gig per month when hotspot is turned on. When it's switched off, data on the phone is unlimited. The Pre's screen is the same size as the iPhone, so you can watch videos on it, not too much of a strain on your eyes. With this, you can get a smartphone with a free aircard built in. Just don't buy them all up, I have another month before my AT&T phone contract is up!

 

Mobile hotspots are a trap. Think about it. It's limited to 5gb a month with overage charges. You really want to stop at the truck stop for the night and turn that one? You'll have 50 machines on your wireless within minutes and it's coming out of your pocket.

Besides, if you tether the phone to your laptop, turn ics on, set your wireless connection to ad-hoc, you have a hotspot using your laptop's wireless card, which you can set up as securely as you want so only you can use it. That way the phone is still set to unlimited and Bubba can't steal your bandwidth.

If Virgin's wireless coverage is anything like their phone coverage, you don't want it. They've got entire states missing from their network. That's why I switched over to verizon.

 

The mobile wifi apps on the Palm and the Android phones have wep/wpa secutity, same as any router. Same as a mifi device. Verizon is giving the Palm Pre away for free.

My only misgiving on moving to a deal like that is I kind of like having two separate devices. I don't think I've ever had a phone that lasted through the entire two year contract.