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which aircard / 3g data card?

T

Tempered81

Diamond Member
Im looking at data cards for my laptop with a expresscard 54/34 slot. I've seen plans offered by these guys:

1.att
2.tmobile
3.verizon
4.sprint
5.alltel

and there are a few others.

For connectivity on my vostro 1400, I already have 802.11 a/b/g/draft-n wifi, v.92, bluetooth, and Lan/ethernet. I want to get the service that i can use on the road.

I know that i need an expresscard version of a WWAN 802.20 adapter so that it fits in my laptop. So far, t-mobile has the best unlimited data rate at 49.99 monthly. I want hardware that supports the latest 14.2mbit standard. I've seen bestbuy offering att & verizon in the store where I live. I just don't want to get jacked on one of those activation charges or two year plans. Basically looking for the best deal & best service.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a hardware/service combination?
 
Look at www.millenicom.com They don't have expresscards but do have a USB adapter (Franklin CDU-680). It's a very tiny USB card but it works great. Millenicom is a reseller of sprint broadband, it's a flat fee of $49.99 with NO contracts. You can literally cancel service after just a few months of using it if you feel like it. I bought it myself a few months ago to use as a backup broadband plan as well as a mobile internet for when I'm on the road. It's really an awesome service and tech support through them is great.
 
Thanks kevnich, I'll check out that site. I browsed att's plan to find out their 60.00 monthly rate has a 5gb monthly data cap. Havent found anything on sprint or verizon, but saw that T-mobiles 45.99 plan has unlimited transfer. I would be greatly interested in that. do you have any transfer limitations on your sprint plan? And a usb-stick type of card would be a good solution too, I never thought of that, just assumed it would have to fit into the expresscard slot. I do also like the idea of "no contract" with that sprint plan.
 
I bought a sprint wifi card and it was a failure. Didn't work outside of major metro areas in California. I was at a hotel in downtown Passadena and couldn't get a decent connection.

Not recomended.
 
Sprint has an unlimited plan which, at this time anyway, is truly unlimited. There are no caps in place or limitations. The difference between ATT/Tmobile is that they are GSM. Sprint is EVDO. Speed is the main difference. GSM data is slower than EVDO. As far as where it works, look at the sprint website, click coverage maps and make sure you select the data. There map is very accurate as far as where you will and will not get coverage. Personally, I have yet to see an area where I don't get coverage. But again, no contract, so it can't hurt to get it out and try it and see how you like it. I personally hate contracts as once you get one, you're forced to pay even if after a few months, you hate the service. Who can possibly test something really hard in only 30 days??
 
I think the only way you are going to be truly happy is to try out the different carriers. I believe you should be able to get a trial period with just about any of the carriers.

My boss was really picky about his internet access on the road. He tried ATT and didn't like it and eventually ended up with a Verizon card. I waited till he was going on the road to get the trial equipment so he could actually test it on the road.
 
after reviewing several sites, I see that att/sprint/verizon/tmobile are the best. ATT usually gets ranked first, but i don't understand why seeing as they require 2 yr contract and have a 5gb/month cap on data xfer.

I've already crossed att off the list. Think i'll go with sprint/tmobile as I've heard few folks say that verizon sucks coverage wise.

so far kevnich and stlcardinal's work are the only satisfied customers - heheh. Maybe i should just wait until the technology is more mainstream.
 
What part of the country are you in? As others have said, you'll really have to just try out a card to see if it'll work for you. Different carriers have different networks depending on where you are in the US. Overall though, Verizon & Sprint have excellent coverage. Personally, I'd take Sprint's data coverage over Verizon simply because of the 5gb caps and the fact that my card has no contract tied into it. If I decide to cancel next month, oh well. Even the equipment I have was free of charge (Card is free, if you want a router for sharing the internet, that you do have to pay for). But the equipment is a lease, so keep EVERYTHING you get from them. I was skeptical at first but then I received my card and it's worked everywhere I've used it so far. The USB card even has a builtin GPS transceiver that you can use with Streets & Trips, Google Maps, etc as well as 64mb of memory built in (driver's for the card are actually internal itself).
 
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