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irisheyes2448 · Joined: 23 Feb 2006 Posts: 24 Location: Massachusetts

Trying to decide whether to get a laptop while away from home. We have the wireless router and all that for the one at home..and get suck reception with it but because of where we live we dont get that great reception with anything we have.

anyhow...looking for some feedback on those who have laptops out there and how well you pick up internet access and such

thanks

BigWheels · Joined: 26 Aug 2006 Posts: 574 Location: Milwaukee, WI

If you desire to stay connected while on the road, a notebook (laptop) is a great way to do so.

Just make sure that when you park, you have a relatively clear shot to the antennae on the truckstop rooftop (unless you use the notebook inside the truckstop). Trailers in the line-of-sight have a nasty habit of wreaking chaos on your wireless signal.

Mr. Ford95 · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 1933 Location: Orange, VA

Or go to one of the cellphone carriers and get an unlimited air card that you pay monthly.

Drew10 · Posted: Sun May 18, 2008 6:45 pm Post subject:

Do a search on this site...there have been alot of threads regarding Aircards and Wifi.....
Aircard thru a wireless plan is the way to go....then you are not limited to searching for wifi sites and maintaining Line of site with its antenna.

Phreddo · Joined: 13 Jul 2006 Posts: 108 Location: Madison, WI

if you are willing to tether your phone to your laptop, you don't need an extra card to get cell internet.
i use my phone as a modem for my laptop internet. otherwise you ahve to basically add another line of service, and i think you have to go under a contract for that.
i gave up on truckstop wifi when i decided siricomm seriously blows chunks.

sprint has a phone as modem plan for $40 unlimited. i think you can get their $100 simply everything plan to cover that too.

the only downside is you can't use your phone while tethering.

Copperhead · Joined: 27 Oct 2007 Posts: 105 Location: Kellogg, IA

I have had hit and miss results (more hit than miss) in just doing a search of available networks in an area. You would be surprised at the number of unsecured networks that you can 'tap' into and do a little surfing and check the emails.

Either way you go... I would recommend you have a good firewall program on your laptop and keep it updated. Norton or McAfee have decent ones. I have used Zone Alarm for a number of years and have never gotten hacked into or picked up a virus.

Depending on your needs, you have gotten some fairly good recommends from others here. All the cellular providers have internet access cards and services if you wanted to go that route. I have had pretty good results on average just tapping in to unsecured networks in the area. Am doing it right now.

Skywalker · Posted: Mon May 19, 2008 7:29 pm Post subject:

I have a T-Mobile aircard and a Compaq Presario V-2000 that does the trick for me. I have had the T-Mobile service for a couple of years now....and its ok. It works both cellular and wifi. The cellular is not the fastest on the planet...but on wifi its fine.

I got the Compaq at Wal-Mart....it was technically an out of date unit that was superseded by a "newer unit"....but then that happens about every week in the computer world. At any rate...it was brand new, and I got them to knock another 10% off the price...and it works just fine.

Some of the other cellular companies have better cards...that run at broadband speeds....that are faster. You might want to look into Verizon's aircard....
8)

flood · Joined: 16 Jan 2007 Posts: 607 Location: tennesse

we have verizon and are very happy with it. it's a broadband card and the speed is good MOST of the time.

wait until you get your computer BEFORE you get an aircard there are two types PCMCIA (that's what we have) and the new EXPRESS PCMCIA (just called express card) the new express card uses less power and will get a better signal and is faster but will not fit in the old pcmcia slot you can find adaptors, old card/new computer, old computer/new card but they run $75-$90.

Phreddo · Joined: 13 Jul 2006 Posts: 108 Location: Madison, WI

better start paying attention to aircard and cellular usage.
Seems like companies are capping monthly usage to 5 GB

http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/05/19/sprint-falls-in-line-caps-unlimited-data-at-5gb/

not sure how his affects Joe Internet, but definitely don't want to be downloading movies.

Mr. Ford95 · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 1933 Location: Orange, VA

Now that's messed up, couldn't they be sued for false advertisement there? Is 5GB a lot or not? I was looking at DSL for the house but the one's around me want $80 and then they have a usage limit. Whereas yes, Dialup is slow but I have no limits.

coastie · Joined: 09 Mar 2007 Posts: 434 Location: Elberton, Ga

I always used my Verizon Air card. I had very good service and rarely in a spot where it did not work. If I had a cell signal I had internet. This way your not restricted to using only at the T/S but at the long waits at the receivers or rest areas.

Snake_Ize · Joined: 16 Mar 2006 Posts: 121

Mr. Ford95 wrote: Now that's messed up, couldn't they be sued for false advertisement there? Is 5GB a lot or not? I was looking at DSL for the house but the one's around me want $80 and then they have a usage limit. Whereas yes, Dialup is slow but I have no limits. Here are some examples from Verizon.

The speed of the Verizon Wireless data network is measured in Kilobits (kb) per second. However, the amount of data transmitted over the Verizon Wireless data network is measured in Kilobytes (KB), Megabytes (MB) or Gigabytes (GB).
Bit - A unit of information that respresent a single character.
Byte - A unit of information composed of 8 bits.
Kilobyte - 1024 bytes (measuring the number of kilobytes tells you the size of a file and/or the amount of data you have used).
Megabyte - 1024 Kilobytes (measuring the number of megabytes tells you the size of a file and/or the amount of data you have used).
Gigabyte - 1024 Megabytes (measuring the number of gigabytes tells you the amount of data you have used).

Examples

E-mail (1 text page without attachments) 3 KB
(Based on this assumption, you would need to send and/or receive approximately 1,747,627 e-mails in a month to reach 5 GB)

Word Document (5 text pages) 70 KB
(Based on this assumption, you would need to download approximately 74,897 Word Documents in a month to reach 5 GB)

Typical Web Page lookup 150 KB
(Based on this assumption, you would need to look up approximately 34,952 web pages in a month (or over one thousand per day) to reach 5 GB)

Low Resolution Digital Photo 500 KB
(Based on this assumption, you would need to download approximately 10,485 low resolution digital photos in a month to reach 5 GB)

PowerPoint Presentation (20 pages text & light graphics) 3 MB
(Based on this assumption, you would need to download approximately 1,707 PowerPoint presentations in a month to reach 5 GB)

V CAST Music Over-the-Air Download (3-minute song) 2 MB
(Based on this assumption, you would need to download approximately 2,560 songs in a month to reach 5 GB)

V CAST Music PC Download (3-minute song) 4 MB
(Based on this assumption, you would need to download approximately 1,280 songs in a month (or over 40 per day) to reach 5 GB)

Note: The above examples are just estimates, based on approximate size assumptions. Actual file sizes and user experiences will vary.

Skywalker · Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 4:00 pm Post subject:

I guess I'll stay happy with my slower aircard...my contract specifies "unlimited usage and no roaming charges" anywhere in the US!! 8)

Malaki86 · Joined: 28 Aug 2004 Posts: 2127 Location: West Virginia

You can also get a USB aircard that'll work on any computer (mac or pc). I'll be upgrading my PCMIA aircard to a USB one at the first of the month. It's hard to believe I've had it for 2 years now.

The new ones (USB for sure) also have GPS built in. I just wonder if I can use that GPS in place of my current USB GPS receiver.

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