Hey, I couldnt find a exact board to post this in so I guess I will try here.

I am getting into trucking, but I have a question. I have a laptop that I will be taking with me. Aside from the coffe shops, how is the WiFi Hot Spots for you OTR guys. Like do you normal find them at terminals, random spots inside cities.

I thought about looking into a WiFi broadband card from one of the Cell companies, but I thought that I would check out how most of you OTR guys manage it if you use a laptop.

I am not talking about having a signal all the time, but like are there places along your way that you can jack into, wired, or can you get near a location, fire up the wifi and find a network to connect to.

I keep repeating myself, sorry. Anyhow, thanks for any replies

Eric

 

There have been many threads/discussions on this subject. Can't remember which forum they are located in, but if you use the search feature you are bound to find them.

The air cards are the way to go. Allows you internet access almost anywhere there is a cell phone signal. Well worth the $49.99 a month for unlimited access

 

I have Verizon wireless internet for my laptop and that is the way to go. I'm an old IT person and out of curiosity I look for open networks but rarely find them so I think you'll find it a problem getting a signal. It's not like you can go park downtown next to Starbucks with your truck and get on.

 

Yeah...Verizon wireless is the way to go. I have one with my laptop and so far have not had any problems.

I feel like i should get some sort of kick back from Verizon for this :lol:

 

I have a wireless card from tmobile as that is our cell service is thru and havent had a problem yet. Sure beats having to use wifi at the truck stops as we can be online at any time.

 

Well that's one question I don't have to ask,but does it count against your air minutes when your connected even though you purchased the cards?

 

I have Verizon Wireless card to. Even thou they shut me off once, because they said I used to much bandwith or whatever. They work real well specially if you are in or near a major city. You get like a phone line connection if you are away from a major city. But if you are in a major city you get broadband which is really fast.

 

it is added as a second line onto your phone bill and then you purchase the amount of info you would like to download and up load a month. most have unlimited use for around 50-60 dollars a month. also if you dont want an air card almost all truck stops have wi-fi that you can purchase a plan for a year or you can pay as you go. I would recommend the air card as you can use it any where

 

Amazing how many people still don't secure thier routers. It's amazing. My neighbor at home didn't.. I live on a dead end street.. noticed it.. told them. and they said oh.. well you can use it. COOL

 

Thanks for the info. I am coming from a IT field myself. I figured that I would probably need to get a mobile broadband card. Just didnt know if some of the places you guys may stop at had internet connections.

Hmm, time to go check cingular and see if they having anything, i think they do.