Wireless Laptop?

Hi Bill,

Can you provide a little more detail. Who is the provider for the AT aircard?

Is the Spot that new device I have seen advertised for a little more than $100? It sends an email with your location and a pre-recorded text message and has an emergency button similar to and epirb. What is the service charge for this?

Thanks,
Steve
 
Posting from ours right now... in the exotic islands west of Phoenix. OK, it's in the suburbs, but all our daughter has is dial up, and our Verizon wireless broadband card is WAY faster.

Apologies if this is a re-run for some, but with Verizon if you sign a contract for a year or two, there is a reduced price on the wireless card. We pay $59.99 per month, the minutes are unlimited. Any place you can get phone coverage (this is actually a separate data line) you can get some kind of coverage. It is rare that we have not had a signal over the past couple of years. Here in the 'burbs, I have broadband speeds. No roaming charges in the US, you can use it going down the road (or the waterway).

It's great for staying in touch, getting weather, information, entertainment, and the most important usage: this forum. You don't use your phone as a modem, the card is the connection. We do have DSL at home, but only because it is cheap ($14.99 per month) and we can both be online at the same time. We put that on vacation when we are gone for months at a time. I will frequently use the card at home when sitting out on the deck, where I can't get a WiFi signal from the DSL. The coverage and performance of the card has been better than I anticipated. While not as inexpensive as most home type connections, this goes where we go and keeps us hooked up. Two thumbs up.

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
JamesTXSD":1mj1sksg said:
It is rare that we have not had a signal over the past couple of years. Here in the 'burbs, I have broadband speeds.
Jim B.
Click to expand...

Jim, I recently nabbed a SlingBox on WOOT for really cheap and intend to put it on my Tivo and use the laptop and wireless internet to watch the regular TV shows we see at home rather than invest in Satellite for boats/RV's. My big question for you is your actual broadband speed. Is it enough to handle streaming video? If so, I can "enable" my tethered phone for broadband during the months we're out and "disable" it when we're home or in wireless network range.

Don
 
Steve --
You can get an aircard for AT at your nearest AT&T (Cingular) outlet -- or, if you have Dell, as we do, we bought our card through Dell and set up the service via AT&T Cingular.

Yes -- we have the spot, and it works like a charm for sending "I'm OK" email (or text messages) to folks you list on your account with Spot. You don't write on Spot -- just sends the standard I'm OK with a lat/long position. About $100 for device and about $100 a year. It can also send (to folks you designate) a "Help" message -- no details, just the lat/lon and that you need help. Or, it will send a 911 message to the emergency agency closest to your location and they will (hopefully) deploy a rescue unit to your location, sent to them by the spot.

The location is a detailed lat/long with a link to Google to give the map or (if you wish) the sat view of your location.

Here's a Spot message we sent to the family in January:

We're OK. Here's where we are located. Click on the Google link below to locate us on the map. Love - Mom and Dad Unit Number: 0-7367814 Latitude: 37.9716 Longitude: 23.7255 Nearest Town from unit Location: Athens, Greece Distance to the nearest town: 1 km(s) Time in GMT the message was sent: 02/10/2008 07:43:12
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&g ... &z=12&om=1


Click on the link above, and if you have Google Earth and you pick satellite view and zoom in close enough you will see us waving to you from the Acropolis.
 
Sneaks":11depgvs said:
JamesTXSD":11depgvs said:
It is rare that we have not had a signal over the past couple of years. Here in the 'burbs, I have broadband speeds.
Jim B.
Click to expand...

Jim, I recently nabbed a SlingBox on WOOT for really cheap and intend to put it on my Tivo and use the laptop and wireless internet to watch the regular TV shows we see at home rather than invest in Satellite for boats/RV's. My big question for you is your actual broadband speed. Is it enough to handle streaming video? If so, I can "enable" my tethered phone for broadband during the months we're out and "disable" it when we're home or in wireless network range.

Don
Click to expand...

Hi Don,

The actual speeds vary depending on location. Generally when we have Broadband Access, it runs in the 800k to 1mg speeds (as checked on Speakeasy). When it's National Access, it runs about 180k +/-. I've seen as fast as 1.5mg on some occasions, but most of the time, I don't check. Not sure if that would be fast enough for streaming video or if the tethered phone is as fast as the wireless broadband card.

Hope the stats help.

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
The Spot device seems like a good idea and relatively inexpensive. I am not sure why you would send a help message to the folks listed unless you also send the 911. They would not know what is wrong.

I guess your family would be aware that something was wrong and start contacting the agencies that should be coming to your aid. But it is great for letting those at home know you are okay when you have no cell service and decide it is too nice to return when you had planned.

The google link is way cool! I zoomed in but the big green google arrow was right over you so I did not see you waving.

Steve
 
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