Wireless Internet Service

[Sue]

This is probably been discussed ALOT here, but my daughter and I are preparing for our 6 weeks in Florida and will have lap top in tow. What kinds of wireless are out there and which ones do you guys use/prefer????

Thanks

[Glenn and Lorraine]

Sue, Here's a thread Using cell phone for internet that may give you some helpful advice until the rest can respond to your post.

[Sue]

Thanks Glen,
I currently CAN use my cell phone, but I usually wait until after 9:00 P.M. and the weekends cause it's free, but I understand that I can buy software and have access to wireless....which is what I was looking for help on.

[lightningjack11]

A lot of campgrounds are getting wireless now so when you make your reservations ask if they have it.

Major truck stops usually have it so you can access the internet when stopped. Also hotels.

Most of the portables sold today have wireless built into their computers. But if you have an older portable you can buy a PCMIA wireless card with software at most any place that sells computer supplies.

Hope that is not too basic but I am in the learning process too.

[Montana_657]

Here in Winter Garden the park is wired by Coachconnect. $30 a month./.// about a 1 meg connection.

Wireless G cards and for lack of a better term "wireless modems" run about $50 at Best Buy... but I have seen them discounted to $20 with mail in rebates.

You can get a card for the laptop, but in the park a little "modem" connected to the USB port may be a better deal. You can set up the computer and move the transmitter/receiver around and get the best signal. With the card, you have to move the whole lap top.

[Sue]

Thanks for the responses. Sorry, but I assumed (dumb on my part) that you guys are supposed to know my situation. I use our Montana for horse shows, no campgrounds, and we don't have such luxuries.

I'm gonna check out the possiblity of PCMIA wireless card.

Thanks again.

[Jeff Heiser]

Sue,
I have a PCMIA card from Sprint. It works great. No need to dial etc it does it automatically for you. It is also a wireless network card that works great on WiFi systems you find all over. My card cost $100 and I selected the unlimited service for $80 a month. I recently used it for a week and man it was close to DSL speeds. It worked great.

Jeff Heiser
Merritt Island Florida

[Glenn and Lorraine]

OK, I just took for granted you were looking at WiFi or something on that order.

At this particular CG we got lucky and are hooked up to Road Runner for only 30 bucks a month but normally we use the Verizon AirCard 555. The card plugs into the PCMCIA slot on the side of your laptop. Even has it's own little 6 inch antenna. This card uses the same signal as the Verizon cell phones use but you are not tying up the cell phone. You can be online while your daughter is on the cell. As long as you have a signal you can get online and we have found Verizon is the best for finding signals.
Prices...., If I remember the intial cost for the card and software was about $200.00 with a monthly UNLIMITED use cost of $80.00. Connection speed depends on signal strength. It is not as fast as Road Runner but it has always been faster than dial-up.

[Glenn and Lorraine]

quoteur 6 weeks in Florida

Where in Florida????

[sreigle]

Sue, there are a number of wi-fi providers. From what we've seen, when you settle into an rv park that has wi-fi, you have no choice but to use the provider they work with. That could be anyone. So we just sign up with whomever that particular park has. We've had tengointernet, airpath (this one), a local phone company's wi-fi (Fredericksburg, TX), and some others I can't remember the names of.

If your laptop has wi-fi built in (most new ones do) then you're all set. If not, then buy a wi-fi card. We bought one for Vicki's machine and one for my old machine and one for the truck's laptop. My new laptop has it built in so I have a spare now. Anyhow, if the wi-fi icon in the tray shows you have a connection, just bring up your browser and you'll get the login screen. That's usually where you sign up (sometimes you signup in the park's office). If the wi-fi is free you won't get the login screen, you'll just get your internet home page and you're off and running. If you can't get connected that way, you might need to rightclick the icon in the tray, select 'view available wireless networks', then in the window that comes up, click on the network name, check the box to connect, then click OK. Then bring up the browser. After that you won't need to do that for that provider. It's amazing how many other wireless networks show up occasionally in that connect box. Those are private networks people have in their RV's or the park's office. I've not been able to connect to any of them. Yet. Wi-fi is great.

Just be sure you get a site with a good shot at the antenna. We once were at the far end of the park, boxed in by large Class A's in tight sites and could barely get a signal. That park later had the antenna array redesigned to eliminate this problem but wi-fi is new enough there are likely still parks out there where not all sites get a good signal.

[Dave e Victoria]

Sue,
I just got a promotional e-mail from earthlink. They are offering a 144kilobyte wide area wireless (covers most of the US) for $295.00 + $19.95 per month The connection is a pcmia card for your computer. It has a six inch antenna.

[Glenn and Lorraine]

quote:Originally posted by Dave e Victoria

Sue,
I just got a promotional e-mail from earthlink. They are offering a 144kilobyte wide area wireless (covers most of the US) for $295.00 + $19.95 per month The connection is a pcmia card for your computer. It has a six inch antenna.

But is the 19.95 unlimited or 20meg. With the AirCard we can get 20 meg a month for 29.95. 20 meg is barely enough to check your email once a week. Forget surfing the internet. And there are NO free nights or weekends.

[Sue]

quote:Originally posted by Glenn and Lorraine
Where in Florida????

Glen,
Will be in Ocala.

[Dave e Victoria]

Glenn,
You are right. Unlimited is 79.95/mo. Trouble is, you have to go to the pricing page to find that out. They try to get you signed up on the front page before you actually know the pricing.

Other than that, is the 144kb similair to your service?

A friend of mine took out his DSL at home and uses the Verizon service exclusively. I love my DSL and am not sure I would be satisfied with anything noticeably slower. But, I sure would like to have portability of my interconnect.

[Glenn and Lorraine]

They are pretty much the same thing with a different name.

They claim that these aircards are as fast as DSL and sometimes they are and sometimes they are not. But even Road Runner, which I am using right now, sometimes loses it's speed.
I never did an actual speed check on the card but the majority of the time it is pretty fast.
The biggest selling point the aircards have is the portability. As long as I have a Verizon signal I can get online. Being as the lap top has a battery I am 100% portable. I can be sitting at a picnic table in some rest area along Interstate 80 and get online. I once sat in a rest area on a hiway paralleling the St Lawrence River. Enjoyed a beautiful view of the river while I browsed the internet. I could be in your livingroom and be able to get online. Can't do that with RR, DSL, or a satillite. Well I guess you could use the satillite if you were in your rig in that rest area.
AND for us the other selling point was it does not interfere with using the cell phone. I can be online and Lorraine can be on the phone at the same time.

BTW-The reason I am on Road Runner and not my card is simple. I got a 6 month special price from Road Runner of just $29.95 per month installation included. I reverted my AirCard back to the 20 meg limited and saved. When May rolls around and we are back on the road and I lose RR I will go back to the unlimited.

[sreigle]

May I ask a question?

To use this card must you have Verizon cell service? Or is it independent from cell phone service other than it uses the same antennas?

If I were to subscribe to this service, can I have more than one computer logged in at the same time? Or would I need to pay $80 x 2 for Vicki and me both to be online at the same time? I know we could take turns but I'm looking for the cost for both to be online at the same time.

Don't spend a lot of time looking up the answers. I'll try to do that myself. Just wondered if any of you know the answers off the top of your heads.

I really like the idea of having wi-fi anywhere we have a cell signal (or would if we had verizon cell). Guess I'll have to check to see if cingular has anything similar.

Thanks.

[Glenn and Lorraine]

Here's a place to start..
Sierra Wireless

If you both want to be on at the same time you will each need your own card. Each with it's own account. In other words $80 x 2 plus the initial cost of $200.00 each

You can load the software on 2 different computers and share the card but you can only use one at a time.

I am sure Cingular and Mobile 1 also offer it as well as others.

[HamRad]

We use the VerizonWireless phone card for our laptop. We've had it since July of this year. I currently have it loaded into my laptop PC and have the laptop networked with my 2 other home based desktop PCs. We often have 2 or 3 internet connections going at the same time. Once you have you pcs networked you only need one phonecard. Save yourself the extra cost of the extra phone card and monthly $80 charge. By the way I have the $50 unlimited monthly plan. I think the difference between the $80 plan and the $50 plan is the speed. I connect at about 90 to 144kbs.

HamRad

We plan to get a second laptop pc for when we travel. When we do that we will get a wireless network system so we can network.

[Glenn and Lorraine]

quote:Originally posted by HamRad

We use the VerizonWireless phone card for our laptop. We've had it since July of this year. I currently have it loaded into my laptop PC and have the laptop networked with my 2 other home based desktop PCs. We often have 2 or 3 internet connections going at the same time. Once you have you pcs networked you only need one phonecard. Save yourself the extra cost of the extra phone card and monthly $80 charge. By the way I have the $50 unlimited monthly plan. I think the difference between the $80 plan and the $50 plan is the speed. I connect at about 90 to 144kbs.

OK Learned something new today. Going to have to take a look at networking our 2 computers.

[Dave e Victoria]

Steve: I believe Earthlink uses the Verizon network. Therefore i assume there is no need to also have verizon cell service.
Glenn, as HamRad suggests, once you have aan internet connection it can be networked to all computers in the local. The apple sharing panel in preferences allows you to forward your internet connection to airport. This raises the real interesting possibility to bring in a wide area internet connect such as Verizon and re-network over a local wireless network like Airport or Linksys. Hmm, I wonder how many computers the two of us could use!!!!!