Air Card - What's the latest?

[chasfm11]

The wireless industry seems to be the most dynamic these days. With all of the network changes between generations, I thought that it might be time to ask for input on the latest "best deal" on air cards.

We will not be full time but may be using the RV for extended periods and would like to have access to the Internet with us so that we don't have to depend on stopping to get it.

Since our use will be intermittent, I'd prefer service that I can buy by the week or month. I understand that there is an upfront investment in the card itself.

I also understand that there may be a trade off between availability and cost. Having a cheap plan that has little coverage isn't a bargain in my book.

The last time I looked at this, Virgin was said to have the best deal. Is that still true? Has competition between AT&T and Verizon changed anything in this part of the market?

Thanks,

Charlie

[BobGed]

Don't know how it compares to Virgin, but you might want to take a look at Millenicom Millenicom | High Speed Wireless Broadband

[wa8yxm]

While I do admit to not knowing every company out there VIRGIN MOBILE offers a servcie which you can buy a week (10 bucks) or Month (20 or 50) I might add you get more bandwith the bigger the buy.

I use it for my "Week out" (the 20 dollar plan)

Also fun going into a store and ordering up a "20 dollar virgin" Get some fun looks that way.. Of course the clerk knows just what I want.

As to the air card itself.. VM offers a "My-Fi" card.. This has a slight advantage over the USB stick I use (Though it costs more) in that you can, in theory, put it up on the roof or even run it up a flagpole for better reception..

NOTE: Coverage: Make sure whomever you go with covers wherever you are going..

[JimmyLeggett]

I have a verizon laptop card (usb) made by Pantech, with external antenna connection. I have a wilson antenna (Flying J truck stop for about $50), a wilson signal amplifier which gives me 3 watt of power, I mount the antenna on a roller handle extension that extends to 16 ft (Home depot) for my antenna mast. When I stop for the night, I set the antenna mast up alongside the driver side slide and run the cable inside before i fully open the slide.

This rig gives me 3 watt of power and at least 3G most of the time and almost everywhere. On our recent trip to south dakota, wyoming and montana I had suberb reception. All the CGs had Wi-Fi but the reception was poor until I hooked up my rig and the air card immediately locked onto the Wi-Fi signal.

Since I use this rig, minus the antenna mast, when I am tripping on towboats on the river, so for me its cost effective.

I also found that my Ipad worked pretty good as well. I have the Ipad with the 3G air card.

My experience has been with AT&T and Verizon. For the air card I do like the Verizon service.

[chasfm11]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BobGed Don't know how it compares to Virgin, but you might want to take a look at Millenicom Millenicom | High Speed Wireless Broadband

I called them and they have a couple of other things that are not on the website. You can put the account on "vacation" for up to 3 months per year. You can also terminate the account and re-activate it for $20. The only downside that I can see is that $59.99 is the least expensive option and it turns it on for a month. BTW, it uses the Verizon network and the device allows for an external antenna connection.

Thanks for letting me know about this. I'm considering it.

[chasfm11]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wa8yxm While I do admit to not knowing every company out there VIRGIN MOBILE offers a servcie which you can buy a week (10 bucks) or Month (20 or 50) I might add you get more bandwith the bigger the buy. I use it for my "Week out" (the 20 dollar plan) Also fun going into a store and ordering up a "20 dollar virgin" Get some fun looks that way.. Of course the clerk knows just what I want. As to the air card itself.. VM offers a "My-Fi" card.. This has a slight advantage over the USB stick I use (Though it costs more) in that you can, in theory, put it up on the roof or even run it up a flagpole for better reception.. NOTE: Coverage: Make sure whomever you go with covers wherever you are going..

Thanks. I did a little research and found that the mifi 2200 does NOT have an external antenna so running it up a flagpole would be the only way to boost signal in a remote area (other than the very expensive booster/antenna combos). OTOH, the Ovation MC760 has a 5db antenna for $50. I'm not sure about mounting that, however, and whether or not it would work on the MH. The Virgin plan set up is definitely more attractive. I looked at the data coverage map but it is really hard to tell how well it would work on trips. My guess is that it would have more drops than a similar Verizon card.

[BobGed]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chasfm11 I called them and they have a couple of other things that are not on the website. You can put the account on "vacation" for up to 3 months per year. You can also terminate the account and re-activate it for $20. The only downside that I can see is that $59.99 is the least expensive option and it turns it on for a month. BTW, it uses the Verizon network and the device allows for an external antenna connection. Thanks for letting me know about this. I'm considering it.

You bet. That is the plan I'm on and the best feature is it is good for up to 20GB per month. Standard Verizon is only 5GB

Meant to add, I have the card in a CradlePoint router with a Wilson external trucker's antenna and amplifier. I can usually pull in a pretty good signal when others are having problems.

[Billieg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wa8yxm While I do admit to not knowing every company out there VIRGIN MOBILE offers a servcie which you can buy a week (10 bucks) or Month (20 or 50) I might add you get more bandwith the bigger the buy. I use it for my "Week out" (the 20 dollar plan) Also fun going into a store and ordering up a "20 dollar virgin" Get some fun looks that way.. Of course the clerk knows just what I want. As to the air card itself.. VM offers a "My-Fi" card.. This has a slight advantage over the USB stick I use (Though it costs more) in that you can, in theory, put it up on the roof or even run it up a flagpole for better reception.. NOTE: Coverage: Make sure whomever you go with covers wherever you are going..

After researching it all I found that by buying the Virgin card at Wal-Mart you can get $20 a month service when you need it. I run a software company so internet is very important to me. When my Jefa Tech WiFi repeater can't get a signal I can usually get the Virgin card to work enough to do business.

[DrewCrewOf2]

I simply added $20 per month (turn it on and off anytime you want) to my Verizon cell phone. The Droid X (and others) then acts like a WiFi to my laptop (no wires) and you can have 2 gigs per month, $10 bucks per gig afterword. So simple and easy. Service is called Verizon Mobile Broadband. Thing I checked into is the other companies do not have near the coverage as Verizon does.

[chiefneon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrewCrewOf2 I simply added $20 per month (turn it on and off anytime you want) to my Verizon cell phone. The Droid X (and others) then acts like a WiFi to my laptop (no wires) and you can have 2 gigs per month, $10 bucks per gig afterword. So simple and easy. Service is called Verizon Mobile Broadband. Thing I checked into is the other companies do not have near the coverage as Verizon does.

Howdy!

I have Sprint smsrt phone (EVO) which has WiFi hotspot as mentioned above. The nice part a out Sprint it is unlimited data and as mentioned it can also be turned on and off as needed. If the signal is weak we use a Wilson Sleek to boost it. We're using it now.

"Happy Trails"
Chiefneon

[targaboat]

As did Drewcrew, we found the Droid phones this summer. Through the last 10 years we have used land lines in the park we stay at during the summer with it hassel. However, several of us shared the use of line with a local hot spot in our RV. However, this summer we had our own hot spot through one of our phones. Ours was through ATT since they have the best coverage in our location. It will work at home as well and I suspect that we will eventually use this system the year around like we have the cell phones for our phones.

In the near future I think we will all have broadband from the new Light Squared system. I know nothing factual. But it appears to me that has the potential for replacing our tower based cell phone systems and our current broadband systems. Think what that will do in the market place.

[chasfm11]

Update: I decided to go the Virgin Mobil Route. Wal-Mart had the USB device for $59. I took a month for $20 and discovered that they have a special deal with Wal-Mart which give you more data and a lot more web browsing time.

That is the good news. The bad news is that it took 3 hours to activate the service. It would just hang, time out, loose the data that I had already entered. What a mess! I finally got a message when I tried to use the Wal-Mart card instead of giving them my credit card that said "call for assistance." I did and fooled around another 10 minutes getting the right person on the line to help with Broadband (as opposed to the phones which is the default.)

After the service activated, it seems fine. We are going on a local trip in the next few days and I'm going to let DW drive while I play with the computer enroute. I'm anxious to see what kind of coverage we'll have. We are not going to be along a major interstate so it I understand that it will probably be hit and miss. Anyway, it is worth it to get things set up so that when we are on our next trip, everything should work.

[wirelessenab]

Quote:

Originally Posted by targaboat ..... In the near future I think we will all have broadband from the new Light Squared system. I know nothing factual. But it appears to me that has the potential for replacing our tower based cell phone systems and our current broadband systems. Think what that will do in the market place.

Let's hope that we DON'T have service from Light Squared anytime soon. Their service as presently set up causes all kinds of trouble with GPS units. The frequency band they bought is very close to the GPS frequency and has way more power, 15,000 watts, than what is being broadcast from the GPS satellites, 300 watts but remember the GPS satellites are over 12,000 miles away from your receiver.

Result is that your GPS may/will not work because Light Squared's high power transmissions drown out the signals from the satellites. Light Squared's solution is for everybody to buy a new GPS with better frequency filtering. Or retrofit your current GPS with a filter that costs from $50 to $300 per unit. To facilitate that Light Squared is willing to contribute $50 million to fix most of the Government receivers. They are not offering anything to the rest of us for our out of pocket expense.

See LightSquared Shows GPS Interference Fix | PCWorld Business Center