Wireless BroadbandAccess, Anyone?

Russ,
My vote goes towards Verizon. I have been all over the US,most of CN,and Mexico with my laptop broadband. Mexico left a lot to be desired but go figure… CN was good until I got close to the Arctic circle. then it was hit and miss. In the US I did find some areas that gave me some problems. The biggest thing is you want to do is keep your tower information updated. I had sprint and left real quick after my 2 year contract was up.:roll:

My Brother lives around the corner from you Russ, call him and see what cell service he is using. He has Satelite for internet service.

The thing is, Brian, I want to be totally wireless.
If I’m going to get off dialup, I want to jump as far ahead as possible - to include being able to travel - even to inspections & conventions - with it.

Mark, seems like Verizon is ahead of the game. I’ll have to see if they have a $-back if it does not work at the house!

Russ,
Ask them to come out and do a site survey to see what kind of signal you will get from the towers in your area. If you know of a friend or asscociate that has verizon phone service,ask them to take a ride with you and check out the service in some of the areas that you work out of. I paid $99.00 for a 2 years service plan on my broadband and 39.99 for my phone. I really can not complain to much about their service areas. They have beaten every service that I have seen out on the road. AT&T was the only other plan that I even considered.

Mark, sounds like a good idea.
Actually, I have Verizon cell service. I know that my area is spotty for cell phones.
I’d just have to know if the situation is the same for wireless net.
And, would they take it back & CNX if the signal got dropped - or is there an external antennae I can put on the PC, like I have for the cell when I’m home.

Russ,
I am not really sure about the antena. They might have one but not really sure. But like I always say… it can not hurt to ask. :slight_smile: It cheaper to

Russ,

I use the Verizon Wireless Broadband when travelling. What they do’t tell you is that when you are not in major cities. The service goes from Broandband access to National Access which is identical to the dial up you are using now.

Interesting, Gary!

OK, I called-
They can sell me an external antennae for $20, does the same as my cell phone’s, for this marginal area.
Return all & CNX if I don’t like it, in 15 days.
As I have a retirement out of GPU, my cell service has a 17% discount & so would the wireless net access, about $10.00 off the 59.99 monthly. Total adds up to about the same $60 with taxes etc.

I’ll get a few more inspections ahead, then I think I’ll go for it!
My SIL has a router system I can get cheaply, & piggyback the other house PC’s onto it.

Russ

Russ;

They’ll give you a 15 day cancellation period. Don’t buy the broadband kit at first. See if your OK with the cell service. They sell the kits for like $39.00 all over the place. It’s definitely hit and miss. I couldn’t use mine recently in Big Bear Lake, CA… It’s a local mountain forest area maybe like where you live. I do my best work by finding a Starbucks and purchasing a access card on their T-Mobile Hot Spot program. I don’t even go inside, if you park close, you’ll get good signal strength right in the car.

One more thing to consider. The transfer rate on a good signal is no where near the 8-9 meg speed I get from Cox Cable. If I do an inspection with 40-50 photos, I just wait till I get home to deliver it to the client.

Russ,
I did a address check for Broadband coverage in your area. Here is the information for you. The star is for your place according to zip code

VZWINTERNET1_BROWNS22568429287512.jpg

http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/CoverageLocatorController?requesttype=newsearch&zipcode=83869&city=Spirit%20Lake&state=ID&mapType=VZW%20FOOTPRINT

Yes, I checked that also, Mark.
As you can see, I’m “on the edge”, hence the 15-day trial period!
Thanks!

Russ

Looks like you will have some travel time on your hands to see if you have coverage in all of the areas that you work out of… Good luck on this quest of internet wonders.:slight_smile: Just remember this… Do not wait until day 15. take it back on day 12 or 13. This way it will give you some playing room with them if verizon wants to try and play games. Good luck and keep us posted on your results.:wink: </IMG></IMG>

OK, everyone, I did it!

The card was not good enough for my remote home location. Nor was the $20 antennae Verizon offered (did I mention I live out in the mountains?)

I had to go with a Wilso YAGI antennae, and tune it with the cell phone for the proper direction, and I am able to get about a 50% on the “bars”.

No jackrabbit connection speed, but 115.2 everyday is better than 31.2 on a good day- plus I get to carry the net around with me on inspections or, like this Wed, when I go speak to the WV Chapter. It’s more expensive than John’s quote - mine will run almost $70 a month.

Thanks, John, Gerry & everybody for you input!

Russell,
I guess that is what you have to pay when you want to live out in the boondocks. But hey, like to say. The 115.kbs is better than 31.5 kbs. Welcome to the hi speed lane. :slight_smile:

Satellite service at reasonable price:

http://wildblue.com/

Mobile wireless access article:

[FONT=Arial]http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,114035,00.asp[/FONT]

I’ve been using Verizon Broadband service for two weeks now. I like it since I can process credit cards, upload reports, send out and respond to e-mails. For $2 a day, it increases my productivity enough to justify the cost. No more running around searching for the free wireless connections at one of the handful of places that have reliable connections.

When I started this thread, I didn’t know if it would work out here in the boonies or be worth it for the occasional NACHI trips to speak at meetings.

Although the area I’m in is at the borderline of Verizon reception, I get it 90% of the time. I guess weather may make a difference, I don’t know.

When it does not work, I still have the dialup. Meanwhile, it is perceptually faster than the dialup, so I’m happy.

And, yes, it come in handy on the trips, too!