Hey there, was just wondering if any of you people know any good mobile internet solutions, preferably using cellular networks. Ive noticed some phone companies in ther uk now offer data cards but these tend to be rather expensive, on the other hand almost any bluetooth phone can be a modem, except then you pay excessive per minute rates, is there any viable solution or at least a happy medium betweren portability and cost? Naturally speed isn't strictly important for my needs, however Im sturggling to find anything close. I do beleive that the technology at its current cost may be why it hasn't really caught on like it should have. Thoughts?
Mobile internet solutions?
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mikesgroovin
HONK if you route packets
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Its great for businesses to deploy to their employees, not just not too practical for your typical consumer. Since the consumer demand really hasn't reached a level to that of a business demand, this is why you won't see a fall in price structures for a little while.
I use a Razr V3c with T-mobile and can use it as a USB modem. I've never really had to use it for anything other than taking some pictures of a house for a 3rd party. I was about 2 hours away from where I needed to get the pictures too and rather than rush home to send them, I just connected my phone to my laptop (I installed the V3 driver previously assuming that I would need it someday) and then emailed the pictures out to save time.
Another than the practical business uses like on-site insurance estimates for small and large claims, on-site computer repair, etc, there really isn't much of a personal demand for it.
Other interesting use was for a system that we installed while I was in Washington. Our client was the Washington State Ferries. The problem was retracting their food sales off of the boat while they potentially could be smack in the middle of the Puget Sound. The solution was to go with Verizon's service with an antenna array that we stuck on top of the boats. This enabled all of the point of sale servers to maintain a constant connection to their VPN, WAN or just to be able to be reached using a Remote Control software applicaiton.
Let's face it, cell phones these days are coming out with browsing packages and capabilities that really (so far) exceed typical consumer use.
The use of my phone as a USB modem is included in my plan. Not really sure how much extra it is. Perhaps $4-$5 a month? It's not expensive, just not something that's typically included as a base package.
I use a Razr V3c with T-mobile and can use it as a USB modem. I've never really had to use it for anything other than taking some pictures of a house for a 3rd party. I was about 2 hours away from where I needed to get the pictures too and rather than rush home to send them, I just connected my phone to my laptop (I installed the V3 driver previously assuming that I would need it someday) and then emailed the pictures out to save time.
Another than the practical business uses like on-site insurance estimates for small and large claims, on-site computer repair, etc, there really isn't much of a personal demand for it.
Other interesting use was for a system that we installed while I was in Washington. Our client was the Washington State Ferries. The problem was retracting their food sales off of the boat while they potentially could be smack in the middle of the Puget Sound. The solution was to go with Verizon's service with an antenna array that we stuck on top of the boats. This enabled all of the point of sale servers to maintain a constant connection to their VPN, WAN or just to be able to be reached using a Remote Control software applicaiton.
Let's face it, cell phones these days are coming out with browsing packages and capabilities that really (so far) exceed typical consumer use.
The use of my phone as a USB modem is included in my plan. Not really sure how much extra it is. Perhaps $4-$5 a month? It's not expensive, just not something that's typically included as a base package.
thanks for the reply. The information is really useful, I currently have it so I can use my phone as a dial up modem too (via bluetooth) however the minute-by-minute bill tends to be expensive somewhat. Mobile phone tariffs do seem upon investigation to be deploying suitable pricing structures, just wondered if anyone knew of any particularly good ones, for example o2 who im with, provide a service to allow mobile phone users to use there phone as a modem (via bluetooth, usb or bluetooth) with flat rate charges up to a certain bandidth useage. this would be perfect however for some odd reason their software doesn;t detect my phone so it looks like a data cable job. Thanks a lot anyway, mate.
I have a 3g data card from vodafone, it connects at about 400kbps if there is 3g coverage or at GRPS (28kbps i think) if not. It came free with my laptop, with £20 of credit. It works on a pay as you go scheme but is still around £2 per meg - which with close to ADSL speeds can get quite pricey.
My mobile phone is a Nokia which i can connect to via bluetooth to create a DUN (dial up networking) connection. The speeds achieved through this are pretty much as you get with a 56K modem, although according to windows the connection is apparently several times faster than that. My motorola L7 SLVR tends to connect at a lower speed than my Nokia but it is not really a noticeable difference. You connection is a standard phone call, which means you can use any free minutes you get with your contract to connect to the internet. If you are after a good deal on a phone with bundled minutes i'd recommend dialaphone, basically you get a contract with O2, or whoever you chose, and they give you cashback - works out pretty good
I have never connected to the internet through plugging a usb cable into my phone - double check what is going on if you do this, since O2 charge around £2.50 per megabyte if it ends up using GPRS.
My mobile phone is a Nokia which i can connect to via bluetooth to create a DUN (dial up networking) connection. The speeds achieved through this are pretty much as you get with a 56K modem, although according to windows the connection is apparently several times faster than that. My motorola L7 SLVR tends to connect at a lower speed than my Nokia but it is not really a noticeable difference. You connection is a standard phone call, which means you can use any free minutes you get with your contract to connect to the internet. If you are after a good deal on a phone with bundled minutes i'd recommend dialaphone, basically you get a contract with O2, or whoever you chose, and they give you cashback - works out pretty good
I have never connected to the internet through plugging a usb cable into my phone - double check what is going on if you do this, since O2 charge around £2.50 per megabyte if it ends up using GPRS.
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