Air card and lap top

[coffeeman]

I believe air card is what I want. Just in case I have wrong name; I want to be able to get on net from my laptop while traveling and not at home. I am thinking I could get something from AT&T or other phone company. Does anyone have any suggestions on what companies are best today? Any ideas are welcome. Price and good coverage are factors that I want to consider. As you know, if it's the cheapest in town but you can't use it everywhere it's not really good. I am in the east and travel Pa and N.J.

Coffeeman

 

[RavensRoost]

The two best choices are AT&T and Verizon. Suspect they are both in the $60/mo range, but may be deals if you combine with existing cell and/or home service.

RavensRoost

 

[RavensRoost]

Coffee, here is a ink to the AT&T card choices (depends on what slots you do ot do nto have in your laptop):

Wireless Internet Card | LaptopConnect cards | AT&T wireless service

Here is a link to their data plans, believe you want "DataConnect Plans" and it can be had for as little as $19.99/mo....but the gotcha is how much data you can down load as the $19.99 is for only 5MB and it goes up from there in steps to $60 for 5GB....and I did not read the fine print.

Available Data Rate Plans | AT&T wireless services

RavensRoost

 

[shvl73]

I have Verizon and works well. Check the coverage closely for your area. Mine cost me approx $60/mo. I did get nicked for roaming charges this past month for roaming on a Canadian network. It must have happened when I was in Madawaska, ME. I'm going to call about it.
EDIT: A call to Verizon stating that I had not travelled to Canada (I hadn't) got a courtesy credit. Good service.

 

[GBeck]

where do you need to get on the net at? if your laptop is newer you should have the wifi built in, and 'most' hotels offer free wifi, as well if you are going to be using this mostly in bigger cities there is free wifi everywhere you go as well, such as coffee shops etc, etc...so bottom line is that the total cost to you would be free...
I know for work, a couple guys had the air cards and they were spotty at best for getting a connection, but then again that would depend on the towers in your area

 

[shvl73]

where do you need to get on the net at? if your laptop is newer you should have the wifi built in, and 'most' hotels offer free wifi, as well if you are going to be using this mostly in bigger cities there is free wifi everywhere you go as well, such as coffee shops etc, etc...so bottom line is that the total cost to you would be free...
I know for work, a couple guys had the air cards and they were spotty at best for getting a connection, but then again that would depend on the towers in your area

There certainly is an increase in wifi but, I found it less convenient to try to find a hotspot. You can pull up outside some national chains and get service but, I didn't feel right about taking the service. I have also found that in some hotels, the service from the wifi antennas was a bit spotty, depending on room location. When they are booked, I didn't have the option of changing rooms. I've used my card frequently when in hotels due to week signal from their wifi. Works for me.

 

[Chuck52]

I've been a bit leery about using WiFi some places because of concern about security. I don't think I'd feel safe paying bills online over just any WiFi. Is that a reasonable worry?

Chuck

 

[ronjhall]

We have a AT&T air card. Upgraded to a 881U. It connects to a USB port. We travel with a RV and use it for over 3 months at a time. In our travel mostly in MI and SW USA. It has worked at most every place. In our RV we have a trucker antenna and Wilson amplifier to gets signals in weak area's.
The Verizon card of the same type also works well.
Make sure which ever system you get that it will work good at your home base. In my area Verizon and Sprint are not reliable.
Here is a recent thread on the subject.
I've had it with HughesNet!!! Need Advice

 

[czechsonofagun]

When we travelled the west we had my laptop with WiFi and a print out of Panera's bread coffee shops. It was good enough to stay in touch and get the travel info we needed, but I can imagine it being bit too cumbersome for business travels.

The price was good on the other hand - typically a breakfast or coffee and no data limit either

 

[jaybrad]

I've been a bit leery about using WiFi some places because of concern about security. I don't think I'd feel safe paying bills online over just any WiFi. Is that a reasonable worry?

Chuck

I'm certainly not an expert on wi-fi security, but the paranoid folks in our IT Dept. echo your concerns about public wi-fi hotspots.

I've used it to check my e-mail, but never to do banking or online buying - and I change my passwords frequently.

I have a US Cellular (1X?) air card which works OK when I'm on the road. It's interesting to see which hotels offer free wi-fi (Hampton, Residence Inns, etc), but that many of larger ones (e.g. Hyatt) at conference centers charge an outrageous daily fee ($10-15) for what amounts to mediocre signal and lousy bandwidth.

There are lots of us who work together and travel at different times, so we just pass the card around to whoever needs it. It's worked well and saved us a bundle while we stay connected when on the road.

Good luck.

Jay