Poll, sorta, where are you, how's your connection

[jsrang]

Carol,
Per your request of anybody using Sprint Air Card? We just purchased a Sprint Air Card and it is working fantastic in Central FL area. I will be giving it the full test on our trip to South Tex in a couple weeks. I also purchased the Linksys Router (in the mail) to be able to drive both of our laptops and printer. The Air Card is a Panteck PX 500 which is free with the $50 rebate. The Router is about $200 purchased on line (Sprint wanted $250 for identical router). The monthly fee is $59.99. This is about $15 per month more than for the cable modem, but it was a bit tricky trying to take the cable with us down the road! The extra money should be worth it to give us the expanded coverage wherever we go. There is essentially no noticeable difference in linking to the internet or downloading between the cable wireless or the Sprint Air Card. Hope this helps.

Jim

[jrgwdenner]

Jim, you'll love your aircard. We figure ours has paid for itself monthly as we are able to park in state parks and Corp parks, usually cheaper, and still have WiFi. We've also used our aircard in two parks that were charging for Wifi. And it's a great means to keep me occupied while Glen is driving.

[jsrang]

Judy, Thanks! It is great to hear that support. We went with Sprint since we already had the Nextel phones, so it was also less expensive staying in the "family" of phones. I just need to get my router hooked up as soon as the mailman delivers it. Do you also have a router?

Jim

[jrgwdenner]

We have the KR1 router and a KPC650 aircard from Verizon. The router is necessary for us because the aircard doesn't fit into our computers which have Expresscard slots. One disadvantage comes when Verizon needs to update their aircards and we can't put the card into our computer so we have to take them into a store to get them updated. Such is the case now when Verizon is making changes on Feb. 7. I contacted Verizon tech support over the weekend and, of course, they didn't know what I was talking about. But they did find it one their website. One would think they'd let their techs in on the changes.

[jrgwdenner]

Verizon aircard is working good at Sun City, AZ, north of Phoenix. I'd heard reports of poor performance in Arizona but that has certainly not been the case.

[jsrang]

The new Sprint Air card is working great from Florida through the Gulf States to the Valley in S Texas. On the road or stopped at night, I have always been able to get a signal to tie into the internet. The speed is almost as fast as when connected to the cable modem. I also purchased a router (Linksys) that is compatible to the Sprint card - a Novatel S720 (If memory serves me right), since we have a second computer and printer that I wanted to connect up wireless in the Monty. It is quite a story, however to get the right combination of equipment, but now it all works flawlessly so far. Sprint first sent me the Pantek PX 500, which worked great in the PC but was not compatible with the router that Sprint recommended that I purchase. So, I had Sprint send me the Novatel card per recommendation from the Sprint Technician, and it does work well with the router. Our second laptop also has the express slot so I needed the router anyway for it to work wireless.

I wanted to give the equipment a good test before we terminate our cable service which we could only use a portion of the year anyway. It has passed the first test to TX, So now we will terminate with Earthlink.

Jim

[jrgwdenner]

Jim, if you want to keep your Earthlink email address you can do that for $3.00 per month. That's what we did.

[jsrang]

Judy,
Thanks! We will check into continuing our service with earthlink. $3/month is pretty reasonable, and probably more dependable and versatile, versus going with one of the freebies like Yahoo or Hotmail. Thanks again.

Jim

[ols1932]

We merely use our Verizon phone w/o any boosters or aircard and have not had any problems getting our mail or surfing. Sure it's slower, but sure is cheap! We're in Stockton, CA right now and haven't had a problem with reception anywhere we've been this winter.

Orv