Anyone use those Type II cards for cellular internet access?

[acemcmac]

I have cingular and I am really confused how it works. I see that you can either buy a card, stick your sim into it and either plug it into your laptop or into a router and have internet access. Clearly you'd want to pony up for unlimmited data.

Does anyone do this? What are the differences between the different cards out there? How fast is it? How much does it cost on top of your regular cell bill?

 

[FoBoT]

i have a sprint card, but it is provided by work
it is totally seperate from a cell account/cell service

it is a normal Type II PCMCI card that goes into my laptop, no sim card or anything like a cell phone

just the card and some software

we have also tested this service from verizon. it is faster, but sprint did upgrade the speed for the towers in the city recently, but the one out by my house is still the old/slow version

as far as i know the internet only service that require the PC Card to use in your laptop is different than getting internet service for your voice/normal cell account/phone. i don't think you can use it on multiple devices

 

[DeviousTrap]

Cingular's 3G network isn't as widespread as that of Sprint and Verizon, so don't expect great speeds. I use a Sierra Wireless 3G Cingular card in Boston and it works great, it actually performs faster than Verizon's EVDO if the reception is good. Since you're in a city that doesn't have a 3G network you can expect speeds of about 100kbps.

Technically, you're supposed to have a laptop data plan with Cingular for $80 a month, but any unlimited plan will actually work. I have the standard unlimited data plan designed for ordinary cell phones ($29) and I haven't had any issues. I just switch the SIM into the pccard for when I need internet and put it back into my phone when I'm done.