CELL PHONE INTERNET ACCESS
CELL PHONE INTERNET ACCESS This is designed to explain the basic approach to using your cell phone with your computer to connect to the internet. It is not intended to be an in depth coverage of t...
Forum Discussion
jflanagan wrote:
Great post.
For those that haven't tried this yet, keep in mind that you cannot recieve a phone call while your phone is being used as a modem.
Now that dedicated data cards are down to $49 to $149, it might be worth picking one up.
Also, at least verizon is slowly expanding their broadband access service (which their $149 cards are forward compatible with) and it offers 300kbps-2mbps speeds. They'll probably have phones soon that are compatible with it too. They might already. But I'd rather have a pcmcia card in my laptop for $149 than tie up my cell phone.
$80/month is a lot, but verizon (and probably other carriers) have started monitoring bandwidth and have the right to shut down your data connection if they figure out you're using the phone as a modem tethered to your PC to avoid paying the $79/mo.
There is a way to use the phone as a phone and a PC hookup. I used it when I had ATT. you do not use it as a modem, instead you use the edge (or your cell providers version of this)network. There is a configuration in the phone that you will set up to do this. it is a special number (4-5 digits i think) and it is set up by the modem configuration in your phone. I could be on a confrence call while getting email. very cool.
the choice between the wireless Card for your PC or the phone modem option is really how much you will be on the road. if you are a full timer, or on the road often, or like to surf the net, you will not want to use the phone modem option, it is slow and costly (unless you have an unlimited download plan, then it is just slow). If you are an occassional user, just need to suck email, or send your email from the road, the phone modem option is good, just set it up right.
As far as Bluetooth, I think some were concerned with the distance limitation. 30 feet is pretty good. we are not talking wi-fi here, just a link between your phone and your laptop. BT is one of the best kept secrets in technology. it has been around for many years and is only now starting to get the credit it deserves. car manufacturers are now making cars BT enabled,so you dont have to have that special phone or cable to make hands free work in your car. wireless headsets are getting cheaper and the batteries are better now than just 2 years ago. my jabra headset gets 5-8 hours of talk time out of it.
bk
