High speed cellular internet connection for home!

[Bob_Skurka]

Lots of folks have to suffer with traditional "dial up" modems and the slow connection speeds so I thought I would post something that, while it is not totally new, is something I just picked up and tried.

I am a business traveler, my laptop goes wherever I go, connectivity is a big deal for me. I recently upgraded my cell phone from Sprint with "Bluetooth" capabilities (same phone is available from several other providers including Verizon & Cingular). I did not buy the phone because of "bluetooth" but I was aware of its features and what it might be able to do.

My laptop computer has built in "Bluetooth" connectivity (I think it is standard with all Apple computers even their desktop units?)

Anyway to get to the point, this morning instead of connecting to the internet in my normal way (WiFi to T1), I decided to test out the phone connection. I figured it would be a painfully slow dial-up connection, something under the 56K speed. To my surprise, I connected up at something just over 203,000K! The phone doesn't use a normal dial up connection, it uses the higher speed Sprint "Vision" service. And you can buy an "unlimited" package. I don't know if other carriers offer unlimited data packages or something similar to the Vision service. So anywhere I can connect up with a Sprint cellphone, I can now connect up to the internet at reasonably high speeds.

I'm not sure if this information is helpful to anyone, but as I travel a lot with my computer, this will actually save me a lot of money. My laptop is also WiFi compatible, most of the hotels charge something like $10 per day for WiFi connections. I'm going to be in Key Biscayne on business this weekend and part of next week, the $10 per day savings on just this trip will more than pay for the upgrade to the "unlimited" Vision package. And as I have a half dozen trips on my schedule, this is higher cost package will be a real cost savings. In terms of people at home, it obviously would cost more than dial up, but if you have the ability to make cellular calls from your home, you may want to look into upgrading your phone/computer to use "Bluetooth" and connect to TBN that way and get a faster connection. I'm not sure which cell phones can be used as Bluetooh modems, so you'd need to dig into that too.

As an added advantage, when my cell phone rings in my car, the stereo automatically MUTES the sound, the caller's phone number shows up on the dashboard screen and the phone never has to come out of my pocket to answer, or hang up the call. Bluetooth is a nifty feature.

Another fun feature I found was that my computer can connect to other bluetooth enabled phones, headsets, etc while I sit at my desk. In my office I was able to detect 3 other bluetooth devices. Not sure that I can do anything with that, but it certainly opens up some questions of security!

 

[boustany]

Ummmmmm

You check your bill? Round here, lotsa money for browsing, and no 'all you can eat' plans, either.

 

[bczoom]

Bob,

I've been using something similar (although not as advanced) from Verizon for years. What I'm using is their free version which allows you to connect your cell to your PC (once you buy the cable and software for $39 or so) and connect to the internet. The speed is slow and just uses airtime minutes. I use this when traveling. My cell phone doesn't work in my house so replacing my ISP and going with cell isn't an option for me.

They have faster access for monthly fees. I just did a quick look on their web site and Verizon offers a $59 package with unlimited acces and speeds between 4-700kbps and bursts to 2Mbps.

Brian

 

[Bob_Skurka]

<font color="green"> You check your bill? Round here, lotsa money for browsing, and no 'all you can eat' plans, either.
</font>


I've been using their web browers and email for a couple years, data service doesn't chew into my cellular minutes on the plan I have. I know that cell phone companies have different plans in different areas, and that each company offers different types of programs, so this is something that may work well for one person and not at all for someone else. But I've been on line for almost an hour this morning using my phone as my modem (with a connection speed of 203,400), and my cell phone can still accept calls while I am connected too! It is worth a look if you have no other viable options for higher speed connections.

 

[MossRoad]

Some of our service techs have little Sprint cell cards in their laptops and, for about $65 a month, have 200K+ connections with unlimited time. One of them left South Bend and had a continuous connection on the Toll Road all the way to the far side of Pennsylvania. So, I asked him why he was on his laptop while driving on the Toll Road. YIKES! /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Anyhow, it is nice for a service tech to be able to be on-line anywhere there is cell service anytime. His e-mail and other pertinent documents are continuosly in sync with his office over their VPN, etc...

It would also be nice for someone in a rural setting that can't get high speed, but can get a decent cell signal. They make a device that acts as a wireless access point in your home. This device has a card slot like a laptop. You slip in one of those Sprint cards and you have your whole house wired for high speed wireless. I saw something a few weeks ago where some geek put one of those access points in his backpack with a gel battery and a solar charger. Now when he and his geek friends go camping or hiking, they all have a wireless access point for their geek laptops(as long as there is cell service). I wonder how they clean the S'mores out of their keyboards... /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[Bob_Skurka]

Brian, been there, done that! It is less than ideal, but I've done it too. I think it was a Godsend when hotels began to adapt WiFi and/or Ethernet in the rooms. I've connected to TBN from more cities and more hotel rooms than I care to count! But our sales manager has a cable-cell phone arrangement to use his cell phone as a modem. I was showing him my set up this morning after I got in. He's going to upgrade eventually.


Moss, when my phone originally came out in Late 2004 Sprint turned off the functionality of the broadband internet for their service via phones. (its called DUN service). I've read that their thought was that people would no longer buy the dedicated cards like your tech guys use, and it would cut their revenue stream because the type of service your guys use forces people to have 1 card for their computer + 1 cell phone, both of which get billed monthly. But the same service is available through some specific Bluetooth cell phones . . . and 'hackers' figured it out so while Sprint didn't support it, you could download patches off the internet to do it. Recently Sprint decided to cave in, and they now include it on my cell phone and possibly others. I understand that other carriers also allow it, but as we use Sprint/Nextel at our office, I had no desire to really dig into what the other carriers do.

My thought was that some folks here could use this technology in their homes if they had a decent cell signal at their house; they would also have to get one of the specific phones that allows for this type of connection as not all Bluetooth phones allow it. I know lots of us rural dwellers are limited to Dial Up, or Bi-Directional Satellite. This is a viable alternative to some people.

 

[Hakim]

Hi Bob,

Thanks for all the info, tips and insights. While business people (often sales reps) are early adopters of this kind of technology, the applications will surely bloom quickly. I think of traveling school sports teams, RV'ers, people out on boats, etc. Of course truly rural locations have an immediate option.

It has taken a while, and the solutions are not perfect for everyone --- and, they can cost some money, but we are finally getting the kinds of technologies that have been promised for so long.

I held off on Bluetooth for a couple of years. Now it looks like that + Sprint may give us some enormously exciting new capabilities for our remote users. Do keep us posted.

Thanks again for sharing.

All the best,

 

[riptides]

Bob, and all....

Both Sprint and Verizon offer technologies for rural areas based on EVDO.

This site EvDO Info will get you more information on use.

I recently joined the 21st Century using EvDO for internet access on all my devices.

On the site you will find another merchant for booster antenna's. This allowed me to double my bars, signal strength 2x, AND aquire the EvDO signal, EVERY time.

Ain't technology grand?

Nothing finer than being out in the pasture with the animals, a cup of java and TBN on my PDA! Wahoo!

-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[HGM]

Thats the kind of info I'm looking for. If I could get a reliable signal at home, I would just turn the regular phone off. I rarely use it anyhow. Technology is really growing in leaps and bounds, can you remember what it was like even 20yrs ago? not to mention 50......When was the last time you went anywhere w/o your cel phone??

I also do a bit of traveling for work. I have noticed,w/o naming names, some hotels are more fair than others. It seems if you pay more than $100 per night, they charge for access. The chain I frequent does not charge. I always have high speed access for free. They either have wireless or cable, if you dont have a wireless card, they lend it to you.. Makes it nice. Plus they are usually nice places w/free breakfast and points.

 

[PBinWA]

A friend of mine was over last week and tested his Sprint modem at my place and it worked pretty good. I'm a little skeptical about the "unlimited" plan but am seriously considering it.

I'd also like to set up a router and share the connection on my home network. I see the people at the EVDO Info site offer a router too. Anyone using that? How well does it work?

Any other users out there? Please post your feedback and comments after using it for a while.

Thanks for bringing this topic up Bob.