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Wireless Networking Hardware

Wireless Cellular Data Services? 44

Posted by Cliff from the internet-in-your-pocket dept.
Swannie asks: "I'm an IT consultant who is on the road a lot. Unfortunately, it's the nature of security in today's enterprise that I rarely have a client that will let me access the internet, and usually not even attach my laptop to their network. Obviously, this leads to a problem in accessing my email... a big problem. Typically, the client will provide dial up lines, but all to often those go through their PBX, which typically limits me to 21.6-28.8k... ugh. Recently, I've been researching cellular data cards, and various services. This seems like the best solution for my problem. I'm looking for something that's reasonably fast, has an 'all-you-can-eat' plan, and inexpensive. Unfortunately, I'm going to probably have to pay for it myself. Since the client does provide a way to access the internet (dialup), it gets seen as a convenience, so cost is a factor. What experience have you had with services from companies like Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, NexTel, and Cingular? Are there any other services that I haven't thought off (unfortunately google searches for 'wireless internet' or 'wireless data' just turns up a whole lot of crap)? Any other advice?"

"So far, these are the options I've found:

  • Sprint PCS: They have an all you can eat plan for $80 a month on their 'PCS Vision' network. They quote speeds similar to ISDN. Sounds cool, but I've had a sprint phone in the past and wasn't to thrilled with the service, and the price is a bit high.
  • Verizon: Their express network plan is similar to Sprint PCS's offering... again, too much money!
  • AT&T: They offer data cards on their mLife network (which is their GSM network IIRC). I didn't see anything about their speed, however, and they don't offer an unlimited plan... darn.
  • T-Mobile: These guys actually have a decent priced unlimited plan at $29.00 a month. BUT, it looks like their speeds are limited to around 56k. I'd really like more speed, but I suppose that's the trade off for the cheap price.
  • NexTel: I currently have a NexTel phone, and I really like it... had it about 2 years. They offer a data cable for it, which I tried, but I only get dialup connections at about 9600bps (yuck). They also offer a data card, and an unlimited plan which IIRC is about $56.00 a month, and limited to 56k... might as well go with T-Mobile then.
  • Cingular: I couldn't really find a whole lot on their web site, it doesn't look like they offer a PCMCIA-card based data service...
Some more details, I live in Chicago, and usually my travels take me regional, so it would be nice to have a plan that allowed me to roam (all of the above do). I run Win2K on my work laptop, but I also have a Linux partition so suggestions on cellular PCMCIA cards that work with both, would be appreciated."
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Wireless Cellular Data Services? More

Wireless Cellular Data Services?

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  • can't cheap out on this one (Score:4, Interesting)

    by hrbrmstr ( 324215 ) * on Monday July 14, 2003 @05:25PM (#6437503) Homepage Journal
    first, bravo! to the companies who care enough about security to inconvenience you! i wish we did the same more often.

    second, it's the nature of this particular beast that you'll be spending $$$ for the priv. of using the air to access the Net. at least until competition becomes a bit more fierce and the h/w is a tad more accessible. perhaps s/w defined radios will help in the next 2-5 years. the bottom line is that the providers need to make money and a flat rate on data can bite them big time when more folks use VoIP and such.

    for my money, verizon's service has good coverage (i'm mainly east coast, however) and decent data rates *most* of the time. it's not a huge chunk of change for a "necessary" service.

    while the windows software is integrated well, the linux side of the hard drive will need some configuration and interesting driver downloads/compiles/installes. the best i could do was achieve dialup speeds as it uses the card in a modem-type fashion (which may change your costs a bit). this was 6mos ago, so your new mileage may vary.

    i plan on relying on the card and XP (for the record, OS X on the desktop, RH 8 file server, solaris home intranet and multimedia server, an XP gaming box and a work-provided thinkpad) to get me through my Maine vacation *:^)

    good luck!
    • The verizon network is like 144Kbps. It's like two modems or isdn I guess. Can't use it everywhere. it's $99 unlimited where i'm from.
      • yep, which is way better than dialup on a pbx (when you get 144kbps, that is). i suspect verizon will be moving up to the next part of the 1xRTT standard since they are in the process of upgrading equipment (metro areas first, sigh). that will significantly improve bandwidth and hopefully be availble @ the same cost. however, it will require yet-another-hardware-purchase. double sigh.
  • I know that US Cellular moved into the Chicagoland market. Didn't know if you had contacted them regarding rates and coverage. uscc.com [uscc.com]
  • What you said about Nextel is basically my experience. Love their phone and service, but the data service (unlimited, uses no minutes, ~$50/mo) is too slow (with *very* high latency) to be usable for anything except small activity (email, chat, etc) or desperate situations (must get 500k nic driver!)

  • Bluetooth might help (Score:2, Insightful)

    by hassr ( 530413 )
    Why limit yourself to PCMCIA-card? Many new phones have bluetooth built in. I know my ericcson t68i can be used as a bluetooth modem with OS-X. I assume there is similiar functionality in Windows and Linux. The cost of service is the only barrier stopping me from deploying it.
    • Yeah that was a great feature of that phone for the short time I had it. In the three square feet of service area that phone was able to pick up a signal it worked really really well.
  • Then yes, it's unlimited everything. At 20 cents a minute. (From their web page)
    • - Instant access to your e-mail
    • - Ability to browse the Web from any location
    • - Flexibility in where you work, when you work
    • - 20 per minute calling
    • - 300 inbound/outbound text messages; 5 each additional message

    At 4k bytes per second average rate it will take 4.26 minutes to transfer a megabyte. Or cost about 85 cents a meg. This is made especially painful as they're charging you at the full data rate while

    • I was under the impression (from a subscriber who was showing off about his T-Mobile account) that it's 20 cents for a *voice* call over their data network. I.e., it's free data, and if you want to make a voice call (without a seperate voice plan), then it's 20 cents a minutes. I may well be wrong, YMMV, IANATMC.

      --
      Evan

      • From T-Mobile's website re: "Sidekick data plan"

        The T-Mobile Sidekick Data Plan is for customers who just want to use the Sidekick's powerful data functionality, including unlimited e-mail, AOL® Instant Messenger(TM) Service (AIM®), Web browsing, and text messaging for $29.99 a month, with voice calls billed on a pay-as-you-go basis for just 20 per minute, domestic long distance and roaming included.

        I know it's not quite the same plan, but it sounds like the "minutes" aren't used for data tr

        • I was at the t-mobile place in sacramento (I lost my phone and had to get a new one, and while I was waiting I remember seeing something along the lines of $20/month to add on internet, but I could be wrong.

          I will second that their website is horrible. At least their billing is current though. In June I still had the bill for February to March as the bill I should pay. Their site _still_ doesn't mention how the AIM stuff is charged. I had to do trial and error to figure out how it works (messages in/out go
    • > At 4k bytes per second average rate it will take 4.26 minutes to transfer a megabyte

      GPRS is a packet switched technology, so per minute charges are meaningless. That alone should have given you the hint that it's talking about voice.

  • Sprint PCS (Score:3, Informative)

    by WuWarrior ( 628294 ) on Monday July 14, 2003 @05:50PM (#6437756)
    You don't have to get the expensive unlimited plan to use the Sprint PCS Vision data service. I use it all the time with my laptop and don't pay anything extra (other than the cost of unlimited wireless web).

    I use a cable [ebay.com] that I bought on Ebay. Sprint does not sell these cables anymore and want you to use a PC Card with the unlimited plan.

    The speed varies depending on reception. Sometimes it will drop to 14.4k speeds but it can be about 1.5x as fast as 56k. On average I will get speeds comparable to 33.6k.

    I've been using it for about 6 months not and it has been completely trouble free and very reliable (for wireless). Check out SprintUsers.com [sprintusers.com].
    • Sprint's cheaper Vision packages only allow you to use the service on your phone. If you plug it into a laptop, you're violating their terms of service. While they don't do anything to stop you currently, there is talk of them charging extra in the near future for this type of useage. If you plan on getting a ceullar service specifically for data, the standard Sprint vision package is not for you. You need the more expensive plan and a PCMCIA or CF card to take advantage of it with a computer.
    • I have a friend who has Sprint PCS Vision and he got the aforementioned cable from Radio Shack. It consistently provides 10 to 15 kilobytes a second. Works pretty well in metro areas, doesn't work at all when you get outside of metro areas (a big problem when you're anywhere in Idaho except Boise and Sun Valley).
      Just my $0.02
      I wonder how much my 2 cents is worth in euros...

  • T-Mobile: These guys actually have a decent priced unlimited plan at $29.00 a month. BUT, it looks like their speeds are limited to around 56k. I'd really like more speed, but I suppose that's the trade off for the cheap price.

    Never mind the cost. AFAIK, the infrastructure for fast cellular data just isn't there yet. And I have to wonder if it ever will be. It's not as if there's a lot of spectrum available.

    I've looked at T-Mobile myself. IIRC, that $30/month isn't an all-you-can-eat plan. And the add

    • My previous post was based on research I did a couple of months ago. The plan you're referring to is something they just came up with, which offers unlimited Internet access -- but charges for every single voice call minute!

      God, what are these guys thinking of? You can get voice service that's effectively flat-rate (unless you practically live on your cell). Or you can get data service that is flat rate. But you can't get both together.

      And if you want to get Bluetooth or infrared connectivity, you have

      • I can think of one reason they do this, but it isn't that broad as to explain it in toto.

        My sister is deaf. She just bought a T-Mobile Sidekick with all the fixings for $29.99 a month unlimited data. Since she is deaf, she never uses the voice part of the device, but instead instant messages her friends, non-stop, for the flat rate.

        All of her deaf friends are going this route because they can be mobile, but remain in contact with friends and family. I think that could be one purpose of the plan.

        • Yeah, lots of people prefer/need text only services. And it makes sense for T-Mobile to want to provide this service. But a lot more people need a combination of data and voice services. You can get one affordable, or the other affordably, but not both!

          (Incidentally, you don't have to be deaf to like text messaging. Asian cell providers have rate plans that make it affordable to get a cell just to send and receive SMS messages -- and message traffic is in the billions. In Europe, where almost all phones h

      • Actually, if you buy it in conjunction with a voice plan, the unlimited GPRS data deal costs $19.99, not $29.99. I use it with my Clie and Powerbook via my T68i over Bluetooth.
        • Lust, desire, obsession. I've been thinking about almost exactly your configuration ever since Amazon started offering a T68i bundled with a T-Mobile plan. I mean jeez, having an always-on web browser in your PDA. I'd never be offline again!

          Two reasons I haven't done it: I didn't know how well Bluetooth works on a PDA (especially battery drain). I probably would have risked that anyway, except that I'm also out of a job.

          Another issue: Amazon no longer sells this phone, and T-Mobile doesn't bundle Blueto

      • > But you can't get both together.

        Actually, I believe you can add the data plan to any voice plan, of course adding the two fees together. Of course you should expect higher costs, these guys aren't going to give anything away that they think they can make money on. For me personally the data-only plan actually isn't bad, since I only use very few voice minutes on average, and the per-minute costs would still add up to less than even the cheapest voice plan. I've been considering getting a BT phone and
        • Very sexy [edgereview.com]. You might be interested in this UK web site [mphone.co.uk] I stumbled on while googling the R520. They sell SIM-free European phones that can be delived to North America overnight. Expensive, of course.

          I have to thank you for mentioning the sim locking [ukphoneshop.com] issue, which I was ignorant of. Not a trivial matter if you're buying a third-party GSM phone!

  • (unfortunately google searches for 'wireless internet' or 'wireless data' just turns up a whole lot of crap)? Any other advice?

    ...learn to write effective search queries ;)

  • I've been using T-Mobile's GPRS Internet service for about 7 months now on my Sony-Ericsson P800 phone/PDA.

    Good Points:
    - Very good coverage area. I've driven up and down the California coast from San Diego to Lake Tahoe and I can get at least SOME connectivity in every town. I also had no problems in South Florida. I think this is because T-Mobile is one of the few big companies that doesn't have 1 iota of its own network in the USA (they are owned by German Telekom afterall), and they have coverage agr

  • My take on it all (Score:3, Informative)

    by krangomatik ( 535373 ) <[moc.oohay] [ta] [awakijufr]> on Monday July 14, 2003 @06:26PM (#6438048)
    I currently use a SprintPCS PCMCIA card (Sierra Wireless AirCard 550) for wireless internet access. This is the card that I have been the happiest with. Our entire wide area network support group uses these and we have been pretty satisfied with them. Over the past couple years we have used Nextel, Ricochet, and AT&T. Here is my summary of our experiances with these providers:

    Nextel:
    The service we had was called "Packet Data Gold" or something to that effect. We used this service for the most part with tethered phones (i1000+, i90c, i700+ with PC link cable). We also had one PCMCIA card (don't remember the model #). We had major problems getting this service working right. They had serious problems delivering pure IP access. It looked like their service was optimized for web surfing through one of their proxies and it was a bitch to get them to let us have IP access. Admittedly we were fairly earlier adopters of this service, so I'm sure it's improved somewhat, although I think they speeds are still 56k. The PCMCIA card we used had a built in battery that needed to be charged up, which was a nice feature for saving batteries on your laptop, but I'd rather buy an extended life laptop battery instead of carrying an extra charger around with me.

    Ricochet:
    GREAT! but limited. In the ricochet service areas it was great, but this isn't really a viable nation wide solution. And that whole going out of business thing kinda put a damper on it :). But I guess they are back now, but they still don't have nation wide coverage.

    SprintPCS:
    You never get 'ISDN' speed, but its faster most cell based wireless I've used. You *may* get near isdn speed down, but the latency makes it feel much slower. It feels kind of like using a slow sat link or something. So, its definately not as good as a decent 802.11b connection, but its better than any of the other services I've used. The coverage has been good for me (most of my travel is limited to CA though, so YMMV). This service is ideal if you are going to areas with sprintpcs coverage and you need a decent method of getting IP access to things. When I use my service I am typically doing one or more of the following activities: VPNing somewhere, SSHing somewhere, surfing the web, running Lotus Notes/Domino Admin, working with 'office-ish' files (word docs, xls's, visio files, etc), running mmc consoles. The service is responsive enough that I'm usually able to have a web browsing session going while I'm telnet-ed/ssh-ed into a couple routers and nothing feels *too* slow. You can definately feel that you're on a wireless link, but its MUCH better than no access at all. It isn't cheap, as you've noted, but I think its worth it. One other thing we have noticed is that when you have three or four users in the same area heavily using the service it really bogs down. I don't know how they backhaul the data from the cell sites, but it appears that this channel can be overloaded by too many users.

    If I was on the road more I would probably compliment my SpintPCS connection with a TMOBILE hotspot account so that I could enjoy faster net access from a starfucks/kinkos/etc. Pricey, but worth it if you need access while you travel. One thing you need to check out is that any VPN clients you use are compatable with your wireless network interface. Some of them act as regular NICs pretty well and some of them don't. You should try to get your hands on a card or phone/dongle combo and test out your apps ahead of time so you don't have any suprises. I'm sure there's something I'm leaving out here cuz I've just kinda rambled this off the top of my head, so I'll post a followup if I think of any more gotchas.

    • Packetstream Gold is the name of the plan, it's all-you-can-eat for $45 on top of whatever voice plan you've got.

      My speeds have been ~30kbps very consistently. Under poor signal conditions it occasionally drops to 25k or so, probably because of packet retries. The phone appears as a plain old modem plugged into the serial port, unless you get the USB version in which case you get to play driver-go-round until you get it working. Argh!

      Once you're able to say AT and get an OK from the phone, a simple ATDTS=

  • forgot this in my original reply (Score:3, Funny)

    by hrbrmstr ( 324215 ) * on Monday July 14, 2003 @06:26PM (#6438054) Homepage Journal
    you could always cheap out and use the rogue access points @ the places you consult to (we all know they are there...everywhere...despite the hard-nosed security you talked about *:^)
    • It's *not* hard-nosed security; or we would not have so many high-profile intrusions and credit card database thievery and the like. The companies are controlling their employees' access to the internet, and since they do not want to make the effort to come back after you if you access something "inappropriate" or that they paranoically deem could get them sued; they won't go to the trouble of allowing you a password through their proxy/gateway.
  • OK, so why is this a problem? You could easily set up web-based mail (I use squirrelmail), or java applet based ssh (I use mindterm).

    Why not just do that?
    • I fail to see the problem here. A well-prepared consultant who is on the road at client sites, can find easy ways to transfer data.

      1) dialup is quite sufficient for email.

      2) if a large file transfer is the problem, it is generally no problem for a customer to retrieve a file for you from a remote FTP site or receive data on their email, then pass it to you either via burned CD, or even a null-ethernet cable PC to PC (should one not be allowed a network connection). As a traveller, you simply MUST hav

  • I'm looking for something like that but for Bell Mobility (large Canadian cell provider). It'd have to be the 800MHz digital (what "tri-mode" phones use)... I've seen a CompactFlash CDMA card, but I wasn't sure if it's universal CDMA or not.... Has anyone had any experiences with these cards?

  • or maybe Sprint depending on where you are.

    You should be more worried about network coverage than price. Verizon has it.
  • www.HowardForums.com [howardforums.com] is a very active discusion board with catagories for all providers and for all equipment manufacturers

    The current favorite data plan is the 29.99 unlimited T-mobile plan, but check for coverage in the area you want to use it
  • that's reasonably fast, has an 'all-you-can-eat' plan, and inexpensive.


    But pick 2.

  • Why buy yet another device? Why not simply buy a (much cheaper) USB data cable for a high-speed-data-capable cell phone and use it as a wireless modem? Preasumeably, you'd want to use a cell phone (as a phone) too.

    Recently, Verizon changed the way their Express Network is provisioned. All new America's Choice plans get Express Network at no extra cost per month and use comply out of your minutes (i.e., billed only as MOU = minutes of use). With an "unlimited nights & weekends" plan, you effectivel

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