Noob to mobile broadband, need help.

Alright, first time guys.
Recently got a new laptop, now I need to get internet access for when I'm on the go (in the car miles from home, while I'm camping, etc).
How do I get this...? What do I buy? Completely clueless here.. Could someone post me links to everything I'll need to buy and tell me what to do?
Thanks.

 

You have a couple of options. You could buy a cellular wifi card, which runs about $75-100 per month. Or, you could tether your laptop to a cell phone, if that cell phone can be used as a modem (smartphones and PDA phones that run Windows Mobile 6+ have this functionality) and you have an internet plan.

 

Thanks, I don't have a PDA or smartphone, just a regular plain-jane phone so that option wouldn't work.
Which cellular wifi card would you recommend? I'm looking for something that I can browse with at decent speeds and use Instant Messaging services such as Yahoo and AIM.

 

It need not be a smart phone, even many ordinary phones can be hooked up to a notebook as a modem; what is your mobile phone brand ?

I’m not in U.S therefore I can’t recommend a specific service or a product; Search for Mobile broadband plans of Internet or Cellular service providers in your area, you'll find plenty of options. Once you buy a plan they will give you the necessary hardware and the instructions on how to install and use it. Usually its a simple USB or Expresscard adapter.

 

I use At&t Mobile Broadband, I travel all over the country (US) for my job. Its nice for what I need, basically you get internet access anywhere you have phone signal.

But its not always at broadband speeds (3G), in more rural areas you can expect dial-up comparable speeds (Edge), but still acceptable for email and surfing. Expect to see (3G) around large cities and college towns, but its constantly expanding.

3G is fast enough to stream tv shows, download large files, even play online games. I use my broadband much more than my phone lol.

I tethered with my phone for about a year, but having a dedicated card is so much easier.

If you are looking for internet on the go, getting a mobile broadband card/service is a really good way to go, but only if you are going to use it a lot. The service will run $60+ a month, and most likely a 2 year agreement.
I bought my card off of ebay, and had At&t activate it, this way you avoid a contract.

Right now At&t is offering a dell mini for $99 when you sign a 2 year contract for mobile broadband. At&t_Dell

 

As for Mobile Broadband cards, you have 3 options:

(Keep in mind, these are At&t devices, but posting just to give you an idea of what you are looking for. A different carrier would require the same device, but one branded for that network)

- Usb Modem

- Express Card Modem (34 or 54) depends on you slot size.

- Built in wwan module, sim card slot on laptop.

 

Thanks.
You mentioned my next question for me basically. I wont be using it everyday, probably most of the weekends, not most of the weekdays. So I was wondering, is there any pre-paid services?
Like a pre-paid phone, but a pre-paid wireless card for your computer? Know what I mean?

Also I have a ExpressCard Type 54. So I'd probably go with one of those instead of the other two options.

 

http://www.slingshot.com/index.php?moduleId=cSRBGImy&pageId=co0gqnA9

Anyone heard of them?
Also on their plans or prepaid cards to recharge it you choose something like "300MB, 500MB, etc" whats this have to do with MB's?
it says this exactly:


What does it cost?

Each month you choose how much access you will need:

$59.95 Unlimited1
$49.95 500 MB
$34.95 250 MB
$24.95 100 MB

 

For a prepaid connection that means the amount of data you can download. It is like the number of minutes you get for a prepaid phone connection. If you recharge your connection with 500MB then you can download up to 500MB till your card runs out (this will include everything from internet browsing, file downloads to instant messaging etc..)

 

So how many "MB" would a couple hours of Instant messaging and browsing sites like Myspace and Notebookreview take?

 

I've been browsing on my desktop for a little over 3 hours, and I've transferred 41MB.
I'm running XP, I can look in my connection manager, right click on my internet connection, click on "status", and it will tell me how much data has been transferred. You could do your average session of browsing and so forth, then check your connection and find out how much you have used.

 

Alright so I've been running it for about how long I would need to go the go a day. When I go to the status like your saying it shows.

Activity.

Bytes:
Sent: 23,643,298... Recevied: 249,773,358.

How many MB is that? Do I combine those two numbers together or is it only one of them..?

 

1 Mega Byte = 1024 Kilo Bytes = 1024x1024 Bytes.
Sent: 23,643,298 = 22.5MB , Received: 249,773,358 = 238.2MB

EDIT :
Just using text for instant messaging doesn’t require that much of data (unless you use voice or video). When browsing internet, lot of bandwidth is consumed by videos (i.e : youtube), images and advertisements (especially those animated flash ads). Therefore you’ll have to be extra careful when using a mobile broadband connection with a download quota : Use ad blockers, avoid flash based websites, refrain from watching online videos etc.. Opera is very good browser when it comes to browsing with minimal data use, it has better image caching, and special viewing modes where you can enable and disable images with ease. Otherwise 500MB will be gone in just a couple of days.

 

Eh well i'll just go with their Unlimited which is up to 5GB for 59dollars. 500mb is 49dollars. whoop dee do lol

 

So when they say the cap is 5gb is that 5gb of downloads, uploads or total?

 

It's the total amount of transfer.

 

Are there any quality differences between USB modems and Expresscard modems as a general rule? I'm looking right now at adding a sprint aircard, and they're giving away the USB modem, but wanting $99 for the expresscard model. I don't see a difference to justify the price, except I'd prefer the Expresscard just to keep my USB ports open. Both require 2yr contracts ($60/mo). What am I missing?