Having to get online in so many places (office, home, airports, hotels, trade shows, etc.) I decided to try one of these national wireless cards.
It really works. 
I’m on it typing this now. I can get high speed access anywhere there exists phone service.
And the cost of the monthly service? Isn’t it about $80/month?
Yup.
That’s what I’ve been using for the past several months, & how I stay in touch during trips.
I have to use an additional antennae out here in God’s Country, but it’s fine in “Civilization”.
Works great, esp when my home alternative is 28.8 kbps dialup.
Somewhat off topic but definitely related.
In April of 2005 I decided to purchase a PDA/Phone/Internet device. I chose the Audiovox PPC 6600 with a $35 phone plan plus an additional $15 unlimited PCS data plan plus $5 no roaming national calling. Total with taxes and fees $61/month. Now I have internet, multiple email, and phone access anywhere. Email and Internet are limited to Sprint PCS areas only but that has worked well for me even when I travel. The PDA is a fully functional windows mobile 2003 version and is working fine with the 2 Home Inspection trial packages for PDA I have tried. Eventually I will collect all data with the PDA and its voice recorder. It also can produce a finished report to an iRd or bluetooth equipped portable printer. I have chosen to produce next day or better reports at this time because of the increased flexibility and comfort and resources available at my desktop. The device is also able to be used with a laptop. I have the procedure for this but haven’t tried it yet. The only drawback is the somewhat limited battery life but with a spare battery and a car charger this has not been a problem.
Russ,
Are you using Verizon Wireless? Which PC card did you purchase? Where did you obtain the external antenna, et al? The Kyocera card can be inserted in a Kyocera external PCMCIA unit and shared with several computers and also has external antenna for use.
I am in the same situation and tried Verizon Wireless also. Even the 1X-RTT service is much faster than dial-up. Had a great deal of problems with it and I even troubleshot a Venturi compression software issue for them. They were not able to answer the other issues before the trial period end and I had to cancel it before getting stuck with it.
It would have been nice to keep the service for home and mobile use!
Manny, they have a “Lightweight” ext antennae they can sell you for $25, but I’ve gone with a Wilson YAGI 8009 13 decibel ant, ran about $100.
For my phone, out here, I use a Wilson magnetic mount (vehicle) ant, stuck onto the top of the oil tank.
I rec’d the card for my laptop, then son in law inserted the receiver thingy into the desk model so I can use it in the eMachine I use at home.
I pull it out & take it on the road with me.
As you can see, I’m not really up on technical stuff & terms, but I’ll do my best to answer questions . . .
Hey Russ,
I originally purchased the Audiovox PC5740 Air Card and it really is a POS for our situation! If you live deep in their service territory I would expect it works well but not on the fringes. Unfortunately it does not have the capability to mount an external antenna.
The Kyocera KPC650 card is reported to be good and has features available such as the desktop, networkable PCMCIA base unit. It also has capability for external antenna.
Besides the Venturri compression software problem I was experiencing what appeared to be disconnects of the Socket (secure or otherwise) when the card went into a dormant state. Dormancy for them meant 20 - 30 seconds of no upload or download activity. When the socket is disconnected it causes problems with sessions requiring login, such as this BB. Disconnecting the socket resulted in being logged out and requiring login again.
I would be interested in knowing if anyone else has experienced similar problems and if they were able to work them out. I would not care to run any type of recurring “Ping Generator” type application as that does violate many service providers agreements (even Verizon’s).
Oh this is too cool. I took my computer up to my home at the top of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado where I there is no cell phone service for anyone who lives up here (8,300 feet) and it still worked by picking up my wireless from my dish. I hadn’t realized that the same card is also a wireless modem.
There should be a cartoon of Nick, sitting on top of a mountain, typing into his laptop and words coming shouting of his dish like a loudspeaker (aka Word of God):
Raise Your Prices! Resistance is Futile!
It would be like Bill Cosby:
Noah!?
Rumor is…NICK is sending me one of those Verizon Cards…theheheh;)
ok…ok…was only a RUMOR…or WISHFUL thinking…thehehe…either of which equals…FICTION…