CELL PHONE INTERNET ACCESS

NASAGuy wrote:
Hi DanaMc
Thanks for taking the time to address this rather complex subject. It seems the practicality of the "tethered laptop" approach depends on which wireless carrier and wireless plan a person is dealing with. In my case I have a Cingular Nation plan. I have spent a fair amount of time investigating this subject on this forum, the Yahoo forum, and the Howard forums. To make along story short it seems that a Cingular customer will be charged data by the kb when tethering to a laptop. kb usage can be very high. One report on this forum indicated a Cingular customer received a one month bill for $1500. An obvious option is to buy the Cingular Media Works package for $19.95 per month which has unlimited wireless internet. This should solve this problem-right? Nope, it seems Cingular says this is plan is only for direct cell phone internet access and anyone wanting to "tether" a laptop is supposed to buy one of their even more pricey data plans which cost up to $80/month.
I know there are people on this forum who state they are charged only air time minutes when hooked to their laptops. I have no reason to disbelieve their claims but I have no explanation either. The only thing that comes to mind is maybe these folks have an older Cingular plan that does not charge for data by the kb.
At this point I have just about decided to forget about the "tethered laptop" approach and will continue to use WiFi when it is available or find a place to use my trusty dial up connection in the campground.
Please let me know if I am in error on any of the above and keep in mind I was referring only to Cingular Wireless.
Bill in Florida

Hey there Bill,Doesn't Cingular have the 'air card' option? they have this on the other major plans for around $60.00 a month UN-limited. they have other plans that are designed to fit your budget.
I used to use the usb cord to hook-up but this new air-card is faster and the plans are nice along with the fact that I can receive calls and make them at the same time.
I've had only one problem with my air-card, it stopped working with very little notice. they replaced it for free after 7-8 months of use. If you have ever used Broadband this is close.You have two different connection options to use. One is the EVDO and dial-up.EVDO can connect anywhere from 50 to 600 KBPS. It depends where you are and the server you are connected to. The dial-up is for analog. It connects at 14.4 KBPS.Slow as dial-up on a 56K modem.I can also use my WI-FI. that gives me 3 ways to connect.
Hope this helps. Have a good trip! Dan:B