Internet on the road

[Johnathan Brouwer]

I have a large spool of cat 5 cable in my trunk to ensure I never lose data

I have been using the evdo service w/verizon for 3 chase seasons now and have no complaints. My chase partner and I have double coverage, using cingular and verizon, when one drops out, hopefully the other will be there.

With these, we use a in-vehicle amp and external antennas (purchased from cellantenna.com). When loss of data does happen with both services, we use our sweet buffalo cards with external antennas (thanks radiolabs.com!) I think in 3 seasons, we can count less than 6 times we have been without any coverage of any kind.

When we do lose data, we sit back and enjoy the ride and the views knowing that data hook-up will be back up soon.

Of course their is always the spool of cat 5 in the trunk

 

[Eric Flescher]

how does the tether option work?

how does the tether option work?
thanks

***

Sprint PCS via a tethered Samsung M610 is working fine for me.

 

[Jeremy Ludin]

I finally committed and ordered a Sprint card last night. One question I forgot to ask them was how they charge. I know it's initially $60/mo, but after that do they charge overage? How many minutes are you allowed of air time? I was in too big a rush to think up these questions. I should know by now to take my time.

 

[Eric Friedebach]

One question I forgot to ask them was how they charge. I know it's initially $60/mo, but after that do they charge overage?

No, it's all-you-can-eat.

More good news is that EV-DO being rolled out at a pretty good rate from what I've heard.

 

[David Drummond]

I got Sprint EVDO around Abilene, TX for the first time the other day. Evidently they are rolling this on out at a nice rate!

 

[Jeff Smith]

Sprint EVDO is in Tulsa too. I recieved the update last week and I'm very pleased.

 

[J Kinkaid]

Cingular seems to be taking there sweet time rolling out 3G . I would use Sprint but they have a very poor network on the gulfcoast .

 

[Jeremy Ludin]

So what is this EVDO? I am brand new to this, so please excuse any stupid questions.

 

[David Drummond]

It's high speed, not that slower than dialup crap we've had to deal with on past cellular connections.

 

[JF Massicotte]

For those from outside us or interested in renting unlimited broadband with cellhire I received the card today (I'm leavin' Montreal tomorrow for the Plains) and it was a verizon card.

 

[Rick Wilson]

BlueBox Alternative

About a year ago David Drummond posted a link to the "Bluebox" which is a modded Linksys wireless router that's designed to sniff out and connect to unsecured WiFi networks. I was intrigued by the idea and had a spare WRT54G so I gave it a try. It was simply amazing in how fast it would acquire an IP address as opposed to Windows native connection.

I haven't used it that much since I got a Verizon aircard but I dusted it off last week. I thought that it would make a good back-up broadband connection in the event the aircard went down or I was out of range. Well, I am happy to report that it works as well this year as it did last year.

At any rate, it occurred to me that this might be a good way for cost-conscience chasers to get connectivity. The software is free so the only cost would be the router which can be had for less that $50. The only hardware requirement is an ethernet port on the lappy. Although I have not tested it on a Mac or Linux, I assume that as long as the OS has a Telnet command that it will work fine.

Here's link for the software and instructions:
http://linksysco.com/download.php

For the less technically inclined, the same guy sells a pre-built package as well. I would reccomend "rolling your own" as it was a very easy process.

 

[Johnathan Brouwer]

Evolution-Data Optimized, abbreviated as EV-DO or EVDO and often EV, is a wireless radio broadband data standard adopted by many CDMA mobile phone service providers in United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Asia, Russia, Brazil, and Australia. It is standardized by 3GPP2, as part of the CDMA2000 family of standards. It is typically used to provide "broadband-speed" Internet access to mobile telephone subscribers

 

[Terry Tyler]

what is a "tether"?

is that a cell phone connected to a laptop?

 

[David Toner]

Has anyone heard if or when somebody is gonna put out a broadband card that will work with Vista. Wish I'd have done a little more research prior to buying my laptop, I actuallly like Vista but I can't get a broadband card and Cingular charges a bit too much to tether.

 

[David Wolfson]

I highly recommend this site http://3gstore.com and the associated blogs and forums for a lot of great information. I would also vouch for the way they do business based on my recent purchase of a Verizon Rev. A aircard, mobile broadband router, and other accessories. For example I see that they have current info on Vista compatibility.