air card for lap top when traveling/which one?

[DKean]

Almost all of out travel is to one place that is 297 miles from home. This place is near Harrison-burg VA. We would like to get an air card for our lap top. There are so many to choose from. ????

[wintersun]

Go with the Verizon service from Millenicom and pay have the Verizon rate, avoid the common billing overcharges of Verizonwireless, and be on a month to month contract you can stop and restart at any time.

We use it with our laptops and to stream Neflix programs to our Sony Bravia WiFi and internet ready TV.

[DKean]

I knew about the smart phones. My adult kids have them and my grand kids too. My phone isn't smart. It only makes and receives phone calls and nothing else.

[valhalla360]

If you are moving around a lot, I would suggest verizon or att as they have better coverage compared to the competition. Since you really only have 1 site, I would check the coverage maps and ask your nieghbors what they have and how many bars they get.

An air card is a simple way. We don't bother with a docking station or external antennas. Unless your place it in marginal coverage, they aren't worth the trouble and the card will already handle 5 devices at a time.

Another option is many smart phones have the option to operate as a hot spot which is essentially the same function as an air card. Make sure you can make calls while the hot spot is in use but that is becoming less of an issue with newer phones. If you both already have a smart phone, this is probably the best option (if you share a single phone and one of you goes to the store with it, you lose internet access, we ran into this when I had a work phone that didn't have a hot spot and didn't want a second phone, so we kept the air card)

With either option, you will need to keep the device plugged in if you want to use it for any significant length of time.

[rockhillmanor]

I use Sprint USB unlimited date for 8 years now. Has worked everywhere but Albany, GA!

Albiet I bought mine many years ago and I am grandfathered in for UNLIMITED DATA. I pack that usb in a velvet box when it's time to pack up and move on down the road hoping it will last forever. Cause when it breaks and I have to replace it...it will be contract time again and data charges! :W

[RoyB]

I used to use the VERIZON AIR CARD all the time back in my working days but the down side to that is you are tying up your one LAPTOP.

Changing to the VERIZON MIFI concept which creates a WIFI HOT SPOT where you can use several different WIFI enabled devices at the same time was a much better situation for us...


My Verizon MIFI sits in a WILSON SLEEK Cradle with outside antenna as its home docking station and provides us a hugh secured WIFI HOTSPOT area around our camping setup. If we want to take some chairs to the beach we just grab the MIFI unit and keep in the shirt pocket and bring along our tablets/computers with as well.

Roy Ken

[rvten]

I use VZ. A USB modem.

[paulcardoza]

If you don't want to get a hotspot, go with an aircard that is usb, plug and play. Be sure it is 3g/4g capable. Then figure out which carrier offers the best coverage in the areas you frequent and go with a model that works with that carrier.