How to get........

[antiqfreq]

Internet service on the road?

I am 'trying' to talk the hubby into selling the stick house and going full time!
We aren't independently rich, far from it, but we have no kids and I want to go before I get too old or too senile to enjoy it!

Having said that we currently have DSL thru AT&T for our internet service at home.

I do have a Gmail address already separate from our DSL email address at home.

Can I just get an air card, say AT&T or Verizon for example, and then since I already have a Gmail address just use that?

When our friends left to go fulltiming 4 months ago he got himself a yahoo address but since I already have the Gmail one, I was hoping that would just work.

Jody

**Have no idea how an air card works, so someone can fill me in on that too if you wish**

***my friends are TOO busy to answer all my silly questions, they are out having fun***

[Flyguy]

Jody, I have a son-in-law that uses what I think is an air card (a little device that plugs into the USB port on his laptop and communicates with a cell phone tower) and he keeps a G-mail address so it is doable, I think you have to install proprietary software on the laptop which is provided by the ISP.

[bennydog]

Jody

You will be fine with any of the major cell providers. I use an air card from
sprint to connect to all my internet stuff and it works very well with the usual disclaimer...it will work as well as your cell phone. so if you use the same provider as your mobile phone and you can't get phone calls you won't get a data connection. I most cases you'll need to load the driver / connection software which is no big deal.

Cheers

Bob

[hankpage]

You can access any web based email with an air card.(gmail, hotmail, etc.) I'm sure you can get an address from the cell provider that can be accessed from the web. I know Verizon has web mail, I use it when traveling and used to get AOL years ago when I had an account with them.

[antiqfreq]

I spoke with my friends yesterday and they use an AT&T aircard, but said they are switching to Verizon as they have a larger coverage area.

Thanks for all the info.

I guess when I purchase the air card, they will tell me what I need to do to get it activated.

Jo

[Johnnyfry]

I recently had the chance to a friends Aircard in a park, it worked great. In fact we had a total of 2 laptops, an iPod touch and an iPad all hooked up. It did get slow if there was too much competition.

Upsides:
AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile all peddle aircards. Basically they are a small (thick credit card size) cards that pick up a 3G or 4G cell signal and rebroadcast it as WiFi. There is no need to install any drivers of software on the user devices, just like logging in at McDonalds or Starbucks. You may need to install some small software on the main computer for set up and administrative purposes.

Downsides:
Works only where you get a good cellular signal. That is, cities, along the I state highways and other major roads and some minor roads. Many other places but I wouldn't count on a good signal in the middle of a state forrest campground in, say, New Mexico. It will be slow if you don't have a good signal.
Data: You get ±4 GB/Month for about $50/mo with the usual 2 year contract, some carrier differences in cost/data, check all carriers. Different carriers have different coverage maps so look on the web for the best fit.

You can use you G-Mail, Yahoo or any other account. Or get your own XYZ.Com domain and you never have to get a different e-mail address again.
(godaddy.com or 1&1.com for details).

Good luck

[geo]

Jody -

We got a T-Mobile USB Data stick yesterday. I haven't hooked it up yet, but I have a friend who loves his. No special software, just Plug-and-Play. Good in T-Mobile coverage areas. Just like a cell phone. Added $40/month and unlimited upload/download. I'll let uou know when I get it fired up.

Ron

[geo]

Jody -

OK, I didn't include a couple of things earlier. My DW and I just got new T-Mobile Android phones yesterday - our upgrade time had come. We have been T-Mobile customers for a long time. Now, this probably added in getting unlimited data access for $40/month.

Just to note, I'm logged in on T-Mobile as I type. It was VERY easy! This is on an HP notebook with Windows 7 and Internet Explorer 8. I am quite impressed!

Ron

[mel07green]

For $29.99/month I just made my Sprint Evo a mobile hotspot. Only hassle is you can't take calls and be online, but that's really only a minor inconvenience.