Cellular internets?: Off-topic discussion forum: Grassroots Motorsports Magazine

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Sept. 10, 2009 9:40 a.m. mith612 New Reader

Also known as EV-DO, what does anyone know about such technology? I'm looking for an alternative to satellite for the internets, but this neck of the woods doesn't have access to dsl/fios/cable or any of that good stuff.

From what I can tell, Verizon offers such a service, and while the bill is comparable to what WildBlue charges now (about $60 monthly), the monthly bandwidth limit seems like a real killer. Only 5GB a month? That's very low, considering how the 7.5GB monthly limit that WildBlue imposes always gets pushed to the limit.

Are there other options out there that I'm unaware of?
Sept. 10, 2009 9:49 a.m. oldtin New Reader

There was something in the news yesterday that ATT is upgrading infrastructure in a few cities (Chicago, NY were first) to crank up the bandwidth/speed. Probably a national upgrade to follow.
Sept. 10, 2009 10:08 a.m. Grtechguy UltraDork

tether your crackberry to the laptop?
Sept. 10, 2009 10:13 a.m. RossD HalfDork

I was using 1x EV up in the middle of the nicolet national forest on about 1 to 2 bars of reception (on my crackberry). I believe EV-DO is considered part of the protocol of "3G" or the 3rd generation of wireless data transfer. If you can hold out to the 4th gen (4G) equipment it should rival lower end cable modems' speeds. Wikipedia.com has lots of stuff to read, too... (I have unlimited data transfer with my phone so I was streaming music to the stereo for sitting around the campfire at the cabin!)

edit: If I tether my phone to a laptop they charge you per the amount transfered where as looking at the internet on the phone is unlimited. I have Alltel; soon to be absorbed by Verizon.
Sept. 10, 2009 10:35 a.m. Dr. Hess PowerDork

I use one. SBC Global. Unlimited downloads. I, too, live in the woods. I had satelite, NEVER AGAIN!!! Oh, that was bad. No cable, no dsl available, so I was pretty screwed with Direc PC satelite (shudder...) Anyway, I've had a SBC dongle for a year or so now and it works. I bought an external antenna for my dongle and it helps with the 3G signal strength, as I'm right on the edge. Cost is about $60/mo. I have it in a netbook that I use to share the connection with the rest of the house. When everything is just right, I can get about 600 MB an hour download. That would take about 4 days on the satelite, plus a month on hold to India to get transferred to a US "tech" that could care less about ever calling you back.
Sept. 10, 2009 10:38 a.m. andrave Reader

I dont know where you live, but at my house I can only get dial up internet. Unfortunately I don't get cellular coverage, but here in town I get 3G on my ATT blackberry.

My 3g internet on my blackberry is faster than my dial up service at home. If they ever extend coverage to my home area I'm going to drop dial up and just get a bluetooth adaptor for my laptop.
Sept. 10, 2009 8:03 p.m. mith612 New Reader

Dr. Hess wrote:

I use one. SBC Global. Unlimited downloads. I, too, live in the woods. I had satelite, NEVER AGAIN!!! Oh, that was bad. No cable, no dsl available, so I was pretty screwed with Direc PC satelite (shudder...) Anyway, I've had a SBC dongle for a year or so now and it works. I bought an external antenna for my dongle and it helps with the 3G signal strength, as I'm right on the edge. Cost is about $60/mo. I have it in a netbook that I use to share the connection with the rest of the house. When everything is just right, I can get about 600 MB an hour download. That would take about 4 days on the satelite, plus a month on hold to India to get transferred to a US "tech" that could care less about ever calling you back.

I've done some more research, and it seems that all the cellular providers have a 5GB monthly limit ... how is yours unlimited? And it seems SBC is now AT&T which doesn't have coverage up here (and is limited at 5GB too).
Sept. 10, 2009 8:38 p.m. Dr. Hess PowerDork

Yeah, AT&T now. Whatever. It's called "DataConnectUNL." 59.99 plus whatever taxes and extras they can add on. About $65/mo total. Says I used 10 gigs last month. I'm probably over that this month.
Sept. 11, 2009 8:26 a.m. jharbert New Reader

If you have a Blackberry you can get an app called TetherBerry. It costs $50, but it lets you avoid tethering fees from your wireless carrier.

http://www.tetherberry.com/
Sept. 11, 2009 8:30 a.m. andrave Reader

I have an unlimited blackberry data plan and according to my contract its unlimited unless they catch me doing a variety of things, such as streaming live video or audio from my location, etc..