Anyone Use Wireless Internet Service?

[Bichon Barb]

Does anyone have wireless internet service? We are thinking about getting it so that we can check our business e-mail when we are camping.

If you do, can you recommend any services with a good size coverage area?

Thanks!

 

[We4mickey]

check with your wireless services (cellphone). most of them have a serviceto use.also make sure your cellphone has a web browser on it . or up at checkin you have a port where you can hookupyour laptop or palm.

 

[DVCDAVE]

I have been researching this exact topic for months. I have concluded that the Kyrocera 7135 telephone, using Verizon service looks best. The 7135 has built in web browser, and pop3 email, and Verizon coverage, covers all the territory I need (including Orlando). The phone retails for about $499 and the service plan should run about $44/phone including web access w/taxes for 350 minutes (shared).

I have NOT purcahsed the phone as of yet, as the day I went to buy it, the FCC passsed a new regulation requiring cell phone numbers to be transferable between providers starting mid November. That alone will save me $200 in printing costs for new business cards and stationary (currently I am with Cingular, and this phone will not work on their system).

Good luck, I spent a lot of time looking in to this, hope I helped and saved you some time.

 

[We4mickey]

cingular wirless is $3.99 a month,there is another package that they have also. it will use your minutes.have you looked at msn mobile

 

[Bichon Barb]

Thanks for your replies. My original intent was a wireless internet services for the laptop. DVCDAVE, I looked into one of the cell phone providers, I can't remember if it was Verizon or Cingular, but there was also mention of a software package to the tune of $2,000!

This is so confusing.

 

[We4mickey]

have you checked t-moble???

 

[Caskbill]

Originally posted by Bichon Barb
Thanks for your replies. My original intent was a wireless internet services for the laptop. DVCDAVE, I looked into one of the cell phone providers, I can't remember if it was Verizon or Cingular, but there was also mention of a software package to the tune of $2,000!

This is so confusing.

We currently have a Verizon plan for the cell phone, Nationwide long Distance, 300 anytime minutes, 3000 Evening and Weekend minutes.

We purchased a cable that connects from the phone right to the laptop computer. The cable came with software. The cable with software was about $40-$50 if I recall (3-years ago).

Our regular ISP has a dial-up number. We call right to that number when using the computer. It's long distance, but included in our plan. We use it at night/weekends and don't come close to using up our minutes. The Verizon cell phone is $35/month. (The phone is an Audiovox Tri-Mode model).

You must be in an area with Digital Service to use the computer. This is not a major problem as most of the country is now digital. Especially if you're anywhere near an Interstate highway.

This works great for us. We use our regular ISP that the home computer uses, so there is no extra charge. We use the regular cell phone and it's regular minutes so there is no extra charge. There was a one-time purchase for the cable and that's it.

The only downside is that the connection speed is slower than regular dial-up, running at 14.4

This is not a big problem. This is fine for e-mail which is text but can be slow if you want to surf and there are lots of graphics being downloaded as you visit sites.

We pay our bills via the laptop while traveling. This works great and since we're going back to the same sites, the graphics involved are already saved on the laptop first time you connect so after that they're recalled from the hard drive rather than downloaded again. Graphics is only a problem if you're constantly visiting new sites.

Note, not all cell phones are capable of connecting directly to a computer. You'll have to verify this. The Audiovox we have (came free with the initial sign-up for cell phone service) has this capability and is the main reason I went with this phone and Verizon's service.

 

[DVCDAVE]

Verizon offers a PCMIA Wireless modem card for $199. Comes with software too. I saw it at their store today. The plan for using their wireless service is an extra $7.99 per month. The sales rep said it is as fast as DSL service.

 

[songbert]

My husband is a professional geek, and we were all set up with our cell phone and the hookup for his laptop...............

Alas, the signal was so poor where we were (1300 loop from 7/13-7/20) that we kept disconnecting, so the whole expense was a bust

We didn't seem to have any problem at the theme parks, so it may be a problem with the FW area.

Good Luck!

 

[Caskbill]

Originally posted by songbert
My husband is a professional geek, and we were all set up with our cell phone and the hookup for his laptop...............

Alas, the signal was so poor where we were (1300 loop from 7/13-7/20) that we kept disconnecting, so the whole expense was a bust

We didn't seem to have any problem at the theme parks, so it may be a problem with the FW area.

Good Luck!

You didn't say what kind of camper you had, but basically if you were trying to use it from within a 'metal shell', that doesn't help at all. Also, vegetation will tend to attenuate RF signals somewhat, especially if the vegetation is wet or damp.

If we get somewhere not working very well, I put the cell phone's antenna all the way up and place it at a window. That usually helps.
The CG isn't that far from the parks that it would make much of a difference to the cell phone's tower. My guess is your signal was being attenuated considerable from other causes.

 

[FredS]

Originally posted by songbert
.....Alas, the signal was so poor where we were (1300 loop from 7/13-7/20) that we kept disconnecting, so the whole expense was a bust

We didn't seem to have any problem at the theme parks, so it may be a problem with the FW area.

We use our cell phones frequently during visits to WDW, and for the most part have no problem with service and signal strength. However, the signal at Fort Wilderness is generally VERY poor. Our experience was similar to yours, frequently being disconnected during online sessions. It was rather frustrating so we rarely used our cell phones at FW except for brief phone calls.
Hopefully that situation will improve prior to our next visit to the campgrounds!