Posting from I-270 south of Columbus

[kranky]

Testing out this technology for work - using cellular access for access to the company network any time, with a cellular PCCard modem on a laptop.

I'm kind of unimpressed. I expected a lot of lag, but it tends to pause for 10-20 seconds sometimes. And sometimes it doesn't work at all even though cell phones are getting good signals. In between large cities it didn't work hardly at all (trip from Pittsburgh to Missouri and back).

They use compression technology to try to speed things up, which works OK. You can also choose one of four levels of picture quality to help speed things along. Typical speeds are about dial-up equivalent but if the compression is working well you get peak bursts of 150kb/sec.

The speed is OK if you absolutely need access to something while out of range of a plug-in connection, but the pauses really put a hurt on file transfer times. On the upside, it doesn't drop your connection, you just have to tolerate the pauses.

 

[amdskip]

Cool, it can only get better!

 

[nan0bug]

What kind of service charges do you have to pay for that?

 

[mugs]

Man, there's a BW3's on I-270 south of Columbus. I want some BW3's

 

[PricklyPete]

While I agree those are not the speeds we are used to...it is still quite impressive. I will be excited to see what it is like in 10 years.

 

[kranky]

You can pay either a flat fee per month for unlimited use ($70), or pay so much per MB of transfer. We got the unlimited plan.

What's a BW3?

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: kranky
You can pay either a flat fee per month for unlimited use ($70), or pay so much per MB of transfer. We got the unlimited plan.

What's a BW3?

Buffalo Wild Wings (restaurant). We don't have any in New Jersey.

 

[kranky]

Coverage leaves a lot to be desired. Had no access on I-70 from the time of my last post (outside Columbus, OH) until now (in Washington, PA)

 

[BCYL]

I hope you are not the one who's driving...

 

[rocadelpunk]

i almost got into a crash on 270 south today

 

[kranky]

Originally posted by: BCYL
I hope you are not the one who's driving...

No, there are four of us. I'm only using the laptop when it's not my turn to drive.

 

[SuperTool]

How do I set up my t720 to work as a modem? I have the USB cable.

 

[Gillbot]

I avoid 270 if I can.

 

Another vote for BW3's!

 

[kranky]

Originally posted by: SuperTool
How do I set up my t720 to work as a modem? I have the USB cable.

I don't know anything about the t720. The device I'm using is a PCCard that incorporates a cell phone and a modem. The laptop sees it as an "AirPrime CDMA Wireless Modem". You configure it with your cell phone number and number to dial on the Verizon system that is set up for data access. Then you use the supplied software (VZAccess Manager) to make the dialup connection.

It also works with VPN software, but the compression software turns itself off when VPN is in use (this is by design).

While I believe some of these devices also support voice use, the one I have does not.

 

[virtueixi]

Look out for that car! AHHHHH Oh noes!

 

[JDub02]

I miss SW PA ... I need to start looking for a job there so I can move back.

As far as wireless access through cell networks .. just wait until VZW rolls out EVDO .. broadband speeds.

 

[777php]

I use my v710 and bluetooth to get online and I haven't noticed any pauses. I actually get decent speeds, much faster than I had anticipated. According to various speed test I can range from 75k to 115k.