I am a newbie and going to be running the Western 11 states+Texas for Schneider. I currently use my iphone as a wifi hotspot, but am limited to the 3g speed of the iphone. Should I just stick with my iphone for net on the road, or get either a usb internet card or wifi hotspot? I currently have Sprint...they offer 4g coverage in major cities (again except for with my iphone). Are Schneider teminals in the Western 11 near major cities?
You might want to check out the Schneider forums for info. But as far as internet service goes, I don't know what to get to be honest. I use wifi at truck stops when available, that's all I really need personally. In regards to where terminals are, there is Fontana, CA, French Camp, CA (Stockton), Portland, OR and we have a maintenance/drop yard in N. Salt Lake City, UT. There are also drop yards in other areas, such as Phoenix and El Paso, TX. Terminals are located in Dallas, Houston and Laredo, TX as well.
In the west, it's a toss-up between Verizon and ATT for coverage and outside of metro areas, don't expect much more than flakey 3G regardless who you go with. And in the major metro areas, I can't note any differences to lead you in one direction or the other. Personally, I have an ATT Phone with 5 gig and a Verizon hotspot with 5 gig and use 3-4 gig each per month. If I'm in an area with ATT 4gLTE, that's a very speedy data service.
I have a android phone through Verizon and use the app pdanet to connect it to my laptop. Combined with the no longer available unlimited data plan (grandfathered in), it works pretty good. Occasionally you go through areas with little to no reception (way out in the middle of nowhere), but I don't think I've ever actually stayed at a place without having 3g. I also can stream netflix no problem with 3g.
