please help with phone and data plan

[etrin]

I am in Arkansas and had sprint for 4 years...they only cover the major cities and the expressway. Since I had to travel in rural parts of the state I switched to cingular. They had coverage almost everywhere in the state (altel also covered all of state but was crazy expensive)

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EDIT
I am on a state contract...which expired over 2 years ago but I still can get on
state pricing on any carrier
Wanted cingular data with no contract since phones are not under a bound contract any more but they refused unless I signed for 2 years on phones and data
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Now that I am home most of the time the phone is more of an emergency phone when going shopping and that sort of thing...just carry it not much use maybe 100 mins a month max...thats 2 phones

Now I need a data plan for my laptop and since I am almost always in coverage area for sprint now I will switch if needed.
What I wanted at first was the pci card for laptop to get data/internet access.
Now I see that they have usb devices...any good?

who offeres fastest data for least amount of money ?
I also need 2 phones with maybe max 200 mins a month.

What, who, where, and why

thanks big time I are confused as hell over all of this.

 

[erwos]

Sprint is your best bet for a data provider, assuming they cover you adequately. I use a USB EVDO Rev. A card with my MacBook Pro, and I'm very pleased with its performance. No one is going to offer you a 200 minute a month plan, so investigate using a pay as you go / pre-paid provider like Virgin Mobile.

 

[Muadib]

Since you are already on at&t, and don't want a contract, your best best would be to get a phone that has 3G. Looking at the at&t coverage map, there isn't much 3G coverage now in your state. However, at&t is growing their 3G network rather quickly. Last year, my state had about the same 3G coverage as yours does now. Today 3G is everywhere. Having said that, I think getting a phone without 3G would be a mistake. You might think differently though.

Buying a new phone without a contract will be costly, so you might want to check ebay or craigslist for a used one. Whichever phone you choose, you have to make sure it has a way to connect to your laptop. That is called tethering., and you need either a data cable, or bluetooth. Next, you need the MEdia net unlimited data plan, which you can add to your account online for $15 a month.

Tethering is technically against at&t's policy, but they rarely enforce it.

 

[pm]

Fastest data for the least amount of money is either Sprint or AT&T 3G. If you are an area with 3G, it's very fast. If not, then you said you have good Sprint coverage... they are very fast as well. Cricket has a good data plan that's unlimited for ~$40 (IIRC), but I'm not sure what states Cricket is in.

As Muadib mentioned, tethering (connecting a cell phone to a laptop to get wireless data) is against the terms of service for most cell phone companies unless you are on the highest tier plans. If you are planning on using a lot of data, I would recommend avoiding trouble and doing as you suggested and get a wireless data plan.

Unlimited Wireless Data Plans in order of speed, with fastest bandwidth at the top, slowest at the bottom:
AT&T 3G: $60/month (check coverage in your area, it's not everywhere yet)
Sprint: $60/month
Verizon: $60/month
Cricket: $40/month (check coverage in your area)
AT&T non-3G: $60/month (very slow, but coverage everywhere that AT&T is...)
T-Mobile: $50/month (very slow)

The relative speeds above assume good coverage in your area. 1 bar worth of reception on 3G AT&T will be about as fast as T-Mobile on 5 bars.

USB is as fast as PCMCIA in my experience. It's the service that determines the speed, not the connection. The fastest wireless data that I have ever seen was my father's USB 3G data card from AT&T.

Sprint and AT&T 3G are roughly as fast as DSL speeds. Verizon and Cricket are noticeably slower, but still reasonably fast. AT&T EDGE (non-3G) and T-Mobile EDGE are pretty slow and are pretty painful to browse on, but are still usable if you are patient. AT&T doesn't give a cheaper plan for non-3G access.

For phones, if you are only using 100 minutes per month, I'd say get something prepaid. When you aren't making a lot of calls, then prepaid is definitely the way to go.

 

[uli2000]

To be honest, Alltel will be your best choice. YOu can add unlimted data tethering to any voice plan for $25/month. Get a basic $30/month plan, and you will have phone plus unlimited data (using your phone as a modem) for about $60/month with taxes. Go with a moto, as they are rated the highest for tethering.

Here is the coverage map for alltel in AR. Looks like most of the state is covered with 3g EVDO service, and you can roam 3g on sprint for free as well. down at the bottom under wireless internet kit is the pricing for tethering. Note: you dont need to buy one of their wireless connectivity kits to do it. Buy your own usb cable off of ebay for a few bucks (I think all the motos use mini usb, so if you have a spare, you are good to go), and I dont think you need the alltel software, but if you do, you can download if from alltel for free.

 

[pm]

Good advice, Uli. We don't have Alltel where I live in Colorado, so I'm not familiar with them.