Internet Service with a Cell Phone

[Montana_2183]

Hello anyone. We have a 3400RL 05. We have been doing some camping without the capability of using our laptop. Would like to know what you full timers are using. I have my cell service with Cingular, bought some kind of office kit, could never get it working. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

TerriLyn and Bruce ,

[DL N K]

We're not full timers, but I use Cingular and use my cell phone as a modem. I use a Motorola V400 phone. It is not very fast, normally 9.6 is about the most speed you can get. Works good if you don't get in a hurry. Of course you need a good strong cell signal. If I remember correcly, I never could get the software from Cingular to work. After I purchased the software from the Motorola web site, everything worked OK. If you need more info, I'll have to put the old thinking cap on, as it's been over year since I got it all set up and working.
Dickie

[BandJ]

We have Sprint. We have been traveling for 4 years and use our Cell phone connected to our Laptop. My set up uses a cable which connects cell to laptop. The software cost me $5.00 a month.

This type of connection is no longer available through sprint. They have now gone to Wireless...

[Glenn and Lorraine]

Copied from a previous post....

We are fulltimers and use a Verizon cell phone but we use a Verizon Air Card for connecting to the internet. Air Card still uses the Verizon signal but it is a seperate package. We still have total use of the phone while online. Here is a link to Verizon Sierra Wireless


I should add that the software for the AirCard cost approx 200 bucks and unlimited internet access is 80 a month. This sounds like a lot but as fulltimers Lorraine does all our stuff online. And I am an avid surfer and find the internet a wealth of information especially concerning future campgrounds. You'll get 10 times the information about an area or particular campground than you could ever get from a brochure. We spend nearly 3 to 4 hours a day online and a slow working 14,4 cell phone connection just would not work for us.

[Richard]

Right now, we're parked in a campground that has free wi-fi. Man, is this nice after a couple of months of cell phone/laptop struggle! lol..

We have thought carefully about buying an internet "dish" solution like direcway or starband. We haven't pulled the trigger on one of those expensive (initially as well as monthly) solutions because we've heard about wi-fi springing up all over the place. (and it does seems to be getting more popular by the day.)

We have both Sprint and Verizon pairs of cellphones because of our business and because the coverage areas are different. Most places we stop will allow at least ONE of the brands to work, even if it's on Roam. We have the capability to access internet from both Verizon and Sprint.

There's a couple of great discussion groups on groups.yahoo.com if you haven't heard of them.....

The one for cell phones is called:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/InternetByCellPhone/

and the one for wi-fi is called:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/InternetByWiFi/

They're both free and generate some good discussion. You can ask very technical questions there and get good advice if you're having problems, and problems are part of using cell phones for the internet!

[Jeff Heiser]

We use a Sprint PCS card in one of our PCMIA card slots on the laptop. It runs $80 a month for unlimited service. It works well (faster than dailup but slower than DSL) and we have had very little problems connecting so long was we stay close to populated areas. Sprint says they have a lot of towers but sometimes we have to wonder. Along most primary and secondary roads we have not had any problem connecting. But, there are other services out there you just need to get the one that fits your needs.

God Bless America
Jeff Heiser
Merritt Island Florida

[sreigle]

We also have Cingular and have had a useable signal almost everywhere we've been in this country. There were two or three exceptions to that. Our phone is a Nokia. I bought a cable from the Nokia website for around $40 with drivers that makes our phone look like a modem to the laptop. All you need in addiition to that is an isp you can call. We use Highstream ( www.highstream.net ) for that for unlimited service and have never had a busy signal in almost three years of using them. They have numbers in all the same places aol and earthlink have numbers, from what we've seen. I pay $8.99 per month for the isp. With a cell phone connection you don't need a local number, however, if you have free long distance and no roaming charges like we have. Connecting this way is very slow, however, so we do this only when we don't have an alternative.

In most places we have wi-fi (sometimes free) or a central modem connection (essentially a phone line) provided by the park. In some places they have 'instant phone' with a phone connection at the campsite. There is usually a daily charge for this but most of the time it's very reasonable. This is not all that common anymore, since wi-fi.

There's more discussion on this at
http://montanaadministrator.forumco....IC_ID~9848.asp

Good luck. I'm not familiar with the office kit you mentioned.

[c5racer]

We have Verizon with the $40.00 mobile office kit and connect at 115 kbs and it doesn't cost anything but minutes. We nomally connect when the minutes are free, evening and weekends. We have the National Access Plan, no roaming charges anywhere in the USA, which costs $40.00 a month for 400 minutes plus free evenings and weekends.

[harleyrider]

quote:Originally posted by Glenn and Lorraine

Copied from a previous post....

We are fulltimers and use a Verizon cell phone but we use a Verizon Air Card for connecting to the internet. Air Card still uses the Verizon signal but it is a seperate package. We still have total use of the phone while online. Here is a link to Verizon Sierra Wireless


I should add that the software for the AirCard cost approx 200 bucks and unlimited internet access is 80 a month. This sounds like a lot but as fulltimers Lorraine does all our stuff online. And I am an avid surfer and find the internet a wealth of information especially concerning future campgrounds. You'll get 10 times the information about an area or particular campground than you could ever get from a brochure. We spend nearly 3 to 4 hours a day online and a slow working 14,4 cell phone connection just would not work for us.

Glen can I use this set up if I`am not a verizon user.just purchase the air card for internet use only?thanks for your help.i`am so use to cable speed that a cell phone would drive me nuts.

[ols1932]

In five years of full timing, we've tried Sprint, Cingular and Verizon. Without a doubt, for us Verizon has been the best. (Please note that I'm not promoting any company, just our experience.) We've found that IF we had a problem in any part of the country, a call to Verizon Tech Support ALWAYS solved the problem. We don't mind the slowness of internet surfing with the cell phone because we know it's slow. You can subscribe to Verizon as an ISP also.

[Virgil]

I have a Verizon Blackberry through work. It works terrific for email. I can get to most places on the internet but it is slow. Hard to respond to email while driving though. (Just kidding).

[BigBlue]

We have the Cingular data service for $80 a month. The software is free from their site or you might have them give you the software when you set up your service. That's what happened for us. We have the aircard (a pcmcia card) in our laptop. We've been traveling since April 18th and haven't been without internet connectivity yet. Locations have been Union, IL; Utica, IL; St. Louis, MO; and Branson, MO. The service is not DSL or cable but it is faster than 56K modem. So far we're happy with it.
Jim

[Mr Zip]

I returned from FL in April we used Sprint internet, the charge for us was $15.00 a month for unlimited access. Our phone is Sanyo we bought the connection program and cable at Radio Shack for about $60.00 our connection speed was 230 Kbps. We had excellent service with this set up.

[Montana_2304]

We also have Verizon,$40 for the kit and free weekends and evenings. So far so good, we are pleased.
Charlie and Sue

[WildBigBill]

We have Verizon office kit with Nationwide access, works great with laptop, also pay $4.95 a month for cell phone web access.