Have a laptop questions about remote internet access

[Artos]

I'm getting a new laptop supplied by the company I rep for and need some input from the braintrust as I am NOT very savy on this stuff.

Would I better off getting a wireless card or one of those fancy phones and tethering?? Pros / cons??

Is one company proven themselves to have better service?? I've been with at&t forever but ready to switch if something is better out there.

I currently have a Motorola Tundra that suits me fine and would really prefer to do all my internet stuff on the laptop vs. using the smart phone. Just not sure which direction would be most cost effective over the long haul.

THANKS!!!!

[BoomerBucks]

thought i was a little tech savvy before reading this but now maybe not. All i got is that if you can jailbreak your iphone 4 you can use it for wifi when you have 3gs signal.. Otherwise i got nuthin.

[Artos]

yeah, i heard about jacking with the i-phone and using it for a wireless router so to speak...kinda over my head but sounded pretty neat.

[jlptexashunter]

Where are you going to be using the internet? AT&T, Sprint and Verizon all have MyFi appliances that you can use to connect your laptop to the internet. Sprint 4G service is very fast. I've not used AT&T or Verizons.

[Artos]

My main concern is out at the ranch where all of us either have full or no signal...20 feet make a huge difference.

If you look at coverage maps, you will se a void in an area more or less north of rio grande city...this is where i am. Having said that, most of my buddies who hunt in starr say the service is the same all over the county??

I have no idea if sprint has 4g in that area??

[bboswell]

An aircard and a cell booster installed at the rance. Go with the company that has the best proven coverage in your areas of concern.

[Mike D]

Paul AT&T is going to give the best service in remote areas. You will not get 3G or 4G that far out anyway so it will be slow. But smart phone and tethering is the way to go IMO. Come on over to the dark side and get you an iPhone. I'm not sure if there is a jailbreak out for the current OS so in this case you snooze you lose. mine has been jailbroken since it was about 2 weeks old.


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[agvet2004]

Paul AT&T is going to give the best service in remote areas. You will not get 3G or 4G that far out anyway so it will be slow. But smart phone and tethering is the way to go IMO. Come on over to the dark side and get you an iPhone. I'm not sure if there is a jailbreak out for the current OS so in this case you snooze you lose. mine has been jailbroken since it was about 2 weeks old.


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What Mike said.

Why tether and not just use an air card from at&t? Is it faster one way or the other or about the same?

[Mike D]

Speeds will be the same whether you tether or use an air card. You can tether wirelessly to an iPhone and don't have to have that stupid USB dongle plugged in to your laptop. Plus you get the benefit of the iPhone. When a new jailbreak comes out you can tether for free and make your iPhone a wireless hotspot as well.


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[agvet2004]

Speeds will be the same whether you tether or use an air card. You can tether wirelessly to an iPhone and don't have to have that stupid USB dongle plugged in to your laptop. Plus you get the benefit of the iPhone. When a new jailbreak comes out you can tether for free and make your iPhone a wireless hotspot as well.


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Very nice! We have been thinking of switching, and I think this has sealed the deal.

[agvet2004]

Paul, in my expert opinion I say go with the Iphone and tether it

[neskora]

I have no idea if sprint has 4g in that area??

I wouldn't bet on it... If you're looking for something that's going to have service in the most places go ATT... Verizon is faster but has a lot of holes in its service

[neskora]

Paul AT&T is going to give the best service in remote areas. You will not get 3G or 4G that far out anyway so it will be slow. But smart phone and tethering is the way to go IMO. Come on over to the dark side and get you an iPhone. I'm not sure if there is a jailbreak out for the current OS so in this case you snooze you lose. mine has been jailbroken since it was about 2 weeks old.


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whoops.. THIS ^^^^^

[Artos]

thanks...i was thinking that tethering would save me $$$$ on the long run than paying for the card service.

I may roll into at&t and see if I can get some sort of deal going land-line, cell, internet combo / package deal.

Only headache with that would be having to change a vey long standing email address from roadrunner. Would be a mess figuring that whole deal out but may best if offered. I have an allowance but have no problem stepping up for any overages.

This has been long overdue.

[Mike D]

thanks...i was thinking that tethering would save me $$$$ on the long run than paying for the card service.

I may roll into at&t and see if I can get some sort of deal going land-line, cell, internet combo / package deal.

Only headache with that would be having to change a vey long standing email address from roadrunner. Would be a mess figuring that whole deal out but may best if offered. I have an allowance but have no problem stepping up for any overages.

This has been long overdue.

You can open a gmail account and have your existing pop accounts import into it automatically. You can even send using your current email address.

See, there's an answer for everything.


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