Cellular Internet for Home Use

Kevin Crawmer

Kevin Crawmer

EF2
Joined
Jan 7, 2007
Messages
177
Location
Troy, MO
How many of you use cellular card for wireless internet for home use? I am pretty sure you can get an adapter to hook up a cell card to a wireless router, but I am a little concerned with going over the 5 GB limit that Sprint has per month. We mainly use the internet for general web surfing and I would use it for occasional chasing. We can save money by ditching our phone line and internet through the phone company and use Sprint's cellular internet at $60/month since we only use our cells for phone calls anyways. Sprint has a deal for a free card till 1/10/09....we need to figure out what we are going to do.

I know there are some experts on this subject out there...any thoughts? Thanks.
 
Kevin Crawmer said:
How many of you use cellular card for wireless internet for home use? I am pretty sure you can get an adapter to hook up a cell card to a wireless router, but I am a little concerned with going over the 5 GB limit that Sprint has per month. We mainly use the internet for general web surfing and I would use it for occasional chasing. We can save money by ditching our phone line and internet through the phone company and use Sprint's cellular internet at $60/month since we only use our cells for phone calls anyways. Sprint has a deal for a free card till 1/10/09....we need to figure out what we are going to do.

I know there are some experts on this subject out there...any thoughts? Thanks.
Click to expand...

I do this with Alltel using a PPC6800 smartphone instead of a card. Inexpensive software can be purchased for the phone that converts the phone itself into a secured or unsecured WiFi hotspot. Alltel has no data cap, so it works great. However, Alltel will soon be Verizon, and who knows if they'll honor the lack of a data cap... my guess is they won't.

It's not as fast as DSL, but it's pretty good. I can download a couple hundred megabytes in a bit under half an hour.
 
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I have a Sprint data card that I purchased for chasing almost two years ago now. For Christmas my wife gave me a Cradlepoint CTR-500 travel router for chasing, but in order to get the network configured I set it up in our bedroom and have been messing around with it quite a bit. You essentially plug your data card into the wireless router and then connect to the router either via Ethernet or wirelessly (b or g). The speed is something that really caught my attention as it's much snappier when compared to using the data card with Sprint's software (Smartview or Sprint Connection Manager). According to the EVDO Forums, it's the WiPipe technology that Cradlepoint uses and I immediately noticed the difference. Such as has been mentioned, there is a data cap of 5 GB per month, so you'd have to be careful with that, so as not to get reprimanded or cut off by "the man".

We also have Comcast internet through cable, so I too have thought about ways to save money by ditching that, but the 5 GB cap with Sprint keeps me from making the move. If Sprint was unlimited I would have cancelled by now, because the speed with EVDO is definitely livable. For now I'm keeping both, but I can empathize with your dilemna!! I think there may be something to be said for having signed a contract with them before they implemented the cap. It seems as though Sprint is much quicker to call a user who exceeds the cap when they signed up after it was implemented than they are to call someone who signed up before it was implemented (to educate/counsel them). At least that's what I'm reading between the lines over at EVDO Forums from experiences that have been shared online.
 
Thanks Mark. From what I have heard, the 5G cap is hard to reach unless you are streaming a bunch of video. I really don't do any of that. When talking with the folks at the store they didn't act like much would happen anyways unless it is repeatedly abused.

Have you heard anything about the Sierra card? I have read some good reviews and it is free until the 10th (after rebates of course).
 
I have the unlimited data plan through AT&T. My phone is the Samsung Blackjack II and I use the internet sharing that I installed on the phone. I use it cordless and connect the phone via bluetooth to my laptop. With the full 3G it is as quick as I need it to be unless you are streaming large file video's, anything other than 3G, yeah, not so fast. The bluetooth works all over my house with out loosing signal wich is nice.

I have had this for about a year now and am very happy with it.

**Sorry, forgot to add, the AT&T unlimited plan runs me about $60 a month**
 
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Brian--they don't offer that any more do they? I think Alltel is the only company left with unlimited and there isn't a store within 50 miles of me now.

I hated to bring this topic up again since it has numerous threads, but I haven't been able to find much about how people operate with the 5 gig cap. We probably average 3 hrs online a day and a lot of it is just reading websites like this and the NWS. I would be running GR Level X off of it eventually. I am pretty sure Sprint allows you to monitor usage throughout the period, so there shouldn't be a problem with going over as long as I am careful. The opt out fee is only around $200 which wouldn't be the end of the world should it not work out.
 
Brian Kluck said:
I have the unlimited data plan through AT&T. My phone is the Samsung Blackjack II and I use the internet sharing that I installed on the phone. I use it cordless and connect the phone via bluetooth to my laptop. With the full 3G it is as quick as I need it to be unless you are streaming large file video's, anything other than 3G, yeah, not so fast. The bluetooth works all over my house with out loosing signal wich is nice.

I have had this for about a year now and am very happy with it.

**Sorry, forgot to add, the AT&T unlimited plan runs me about $60 a month**
Click to expand...

You can do the same thing for only $15 a month so I don't know why somebody would pay more for the same internet
 
Cellular internet works fine as a home internet service, as long as you don't watch many videos, download games/movies or use VOIP. If you're a heavy internet user (like I am) you really need a true unlimited plan. Even if you get on YouTube on a regular basis, you can go over the monthly cap pretty easily.

It didn't work for me because I need my VOIP service. If not for that, I'd be doing cell internet at home on the aircard.

When we tested it out for a couple weeks in Raleigh back in April, we had three computers on the connection (2 megs down in Raleigh) using a Cradlepoint router. Worked just fine. I get at least a meg down here in Charleston WV, but latency is too high for VOIP.
 
For a few months when I was living in a rural area with no broadband avaialable, I used my sprint card as my full-time internet. I never went over the 5 GB limit, but came close a few times. The few times I did come close were during chase season when I was constantly downloading radar data, feeding video, etc. Sprint does a fairly good job of keeping track of your usage, and you can also keep track of it with 3rd party programs.
 
Thanks for the info. I just got the card. Deal expires 1/10 for the free Sierra Compass. I will use it for a bit and try to update this post. Most everyone I talked to said it is tough to reach the 5G and even though you can't trust the people in the store, the guy told me to just watch my statements and if I am repeatedly over I might get a letter asking me to drop it with no fee. He acted like no one had ever been charged ever for going over, but I know that to be false based on some stories online.

Thanks again.
 
Im currently using the alltel 5750 PCMCIA card. I also use this as my primary internet along with the card plugged into my Kyocera KR1 router. As has been said before, Alltel is currently unlimited and the rumor is that they will honor this until you reup your contract with Verizon. Supposedly Alltel will be Verizon as of 1-09-09, so if you want to hopefully fall under this rule, I would be signing up with them ASAP. Of course this is all subject to change once Verizon takes over. Time will tell.
 
Kevin,

Once you're up and running you can check your usage details using your online account with Sprint and track where you stand from day to day. Is your Sierra Compass a USB model?

Here's a post about another model of the Sierra data card and Sprint as a service provider that is positive from what I remember:

http://www.stormtrack.org/forum/showthread.php?t=15938&highlight=Sierra

I have a Novatel Merlin EX720 model and have been very satisfied with the functionality and reliability. I cannot believe how much faster webpages load when using my wireless router versus the Sprint software though. Perhaps the developers haven't spent enough time optimizing the software for speed and such as they should have. The coverage is awesome in my opinion and there have only been a handful of places in many different states where I could not get a connection, and when that happened it was very short lived. Happy surfing and let us know how it's working out for you.
 
Mark,
It is going well. I have the Compass 597 by Sierra. It was real easy to setup. The speed I get at the house is very good. I haven't checked it out on the road yet and have not purchased an external antennae. The guy at the store told me it lets you know when it is roaming, so I guess we will see about that. Right now with our normal usage we use around 30 to 50 MB per day. That is with looking at a few weather models and a couple youtube videos along with some normal surfing (maybe 2 hrs total?). If I did my math right I should be able to average 171 MB per day with the 5 GB cap. Sprint's software keeps track of what you use each session. I haven't checked out there website yet...I will have to log on to see if it keeps track (the store manager said no).

I'm anxious to see what a weather program will do. Right now I need a RAM upgrade before I do any of that.

On an interesting note....I asked a few of the people about WiMax and they basically said it was coming. I know it is already in a few spots and they thought it would be in the St. Louis area in 1-2 years. I think they thought it would be laid out coast to coast by the end of 2010. One of the associates said it would likely be more expensive than the current plan, but I could have sworn I saw that it was going to be cheaper on another message board reviewing it.

Thanks for all your help guys.
 
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