posted
I am taking a different position at one of my jobs (which is during the day), and tomorrow will be my last day working in the office for them. Starting next week, I will spend my day in the car for this place, and even though I hate laptops, I am considering buying a laptop.
I would like to buy a laptop and get some sort of wireless-always-online connection (or at least as close to always as possible), so that I can turn it on in the morning, get online, load up my watch lists/etc, and set it on my passenger seat.
I am not interested in getting a PDA/cellphone to do everything for me, as I already have to carry 2 cell phones everywhere I go. I am interested in hearing what kind of solutions/plans/prices some of you may be paying to keep a laptop online all of the time while you are on the go.
Any/all comments are appreciated.
Posts: 681 | Registered: Feb 2008
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posted
Verizon will have the higher connection speeds, while AT&T will have more coverage. I think both are about the same price. You may or may not have really considered a Blackberry... but you should.
Posts: 2965 | Registered: Aug 2005
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posted
AT&T is $60/mth and advertisement for Verizon was $39.95.You may wanna consider a computer stand to go into ur car so you can type and drive.Dangerous as it is you can still keep up or pull over and have a solid stand(no wobble and keepin eyes for the road).
posted
I actually will be doing all day driving, but continuous stops. Probably 30-40+ stops during the day. I am also not going to be tracked by the owners of the business, so if I make a stop and come back to my car and spend a few minutes browsing/trading/reading/etc, it will not hurt anything. I also plan to pull over if I ever find the need to, and that also will not be a problem with my job.
Basically, I have a ton a freedom, no one knows exactly where I am at and I am not really on a time limit. Therefore, I am not too concerned about typing while driving, because I shouldn't need to. I should be able to pull over and/or take a break whenever I feel like it.
I am a huge car fanatic and I have had a ton of fast cars and swapped cars, etc, and I have had a couple that I kept a laptop in at all times to work on tuning and datalogging, so I am extremely familiar with using a laptop in the car without a stand or anything. I am more concerned with getting a good service at a good price with enough bandwidth.
I have considered a blackberry phone, however, I like looking at a full-sized screen. I gave up my last laptop with a car that I sold, so I will be putting out some cash either way to purchase something, but I figure I won't need a top-of-the-line laptop to do what I need to do ... just something decent and pretty basic.
I appreciate the responses so far.
Posts: 681 | Registered: Feb 2008
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quote:Originally posted by Relentless.: Verizon will have the higher connection speeds, while AT&T will have more coverage. I think both are about the same price. You may or may not have really considered a Blackberry... but you should.
Correction: Sprint has the highest internet connection speeds!!
...also AT&T & Verizon require that you have a phone with them to get the $60.00 a month deal for the aircard. Otherwise if you don't have a phone w/ them its $80.00 a month!!!
Sprint is $60- a month and no phone is needed w/ them to get that discount. And thats UNLIMITED internet usage.
Hands down Sprint is king of the wireless internet aircards....their phone service, thats another story
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Sprint's coverage is horrible though. Travel five miles away from a major highway and you will have no signal. T-mobile is the same way. AT&T or Verizon are really the only two worth considering. Verizon's CDMA will be quicker. AT&T's GSM/EDGE network will allow greater coverage.
Posts: 2965 | Registered: Aug 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Relentless.: Sprint's coverage is horrible though. Travel five miles away from a major highway and you will have no signal. T-mobile is the same way. AT&T or Verizon are really the only two worth considering. Verizon's CDMA will be quicker. AT&T's GSM/EDGE network will allow greater coverage.
Sprint is CDMA as well...and in a lot of places Sprint phones roams off of Verizon and vice versa...
I have AT&T for my cellular phone and Sprint for my air card...
Like I said previously "Hands down Sprint is king of the wireless internet aircards....their *cell* phone service, thats another story "
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Sprint has been the best for me. The thing is....none of these companies are perfect. I used to work in the wireless industry years back. They ALL have problems, and you will find enough people to complain about every single company out there.
Just find what works best for you. Sprint has been horrible to many people but i have never once had a problem with them. I am on their nationwide no roaming and it works great...there have only been very few places where no signal worked and that was in the mountains of colorado.
tmobile and the others who use GSM only can only work in so many places. Sprint and verizon are tri-band so they can use those old cellular towers
as far as wireless cards i just use a wireless router in the house that is hooked up to local cable internet provider....time warner i think
now comcast and time warner...that is a whole different can of worms
-------------------- It isn't so much that liberals are ignorant. It's just that they know so many things that aren't so. Posts: 6949 | Registered: Apr 2004
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After reading through this a couple of times and spending a bunch of time Googling and reviewing ...
I bought a laptop yesterday and today I submitted an order for the Unlimited Sprint Plan for ~$60/month. I bought a Sierra AirCard 595 after reading several reviews, for $119 + $39 activation + $12 overnight shipping (even though the reviews suggested a $99 price, I guess the promotions aren't as good now).
If anyone would like, I will update in a few days/weeks/whatever and post my general results with this service.
Posts: 681 | Registered: Feb 2008
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