T-Mobile cellular service - urgent - need info - "Anywhere" wireless internet access (EDGE/ GPRS coverage)

Author

urgent - need info - "Anywhere" wireless internet access (EDGE/ GPRS coverage)

kimshapiro100@yahoo.com

2006-02-13, 5:48 pm

urgent - need info - "Anywhere" wireless internet access (EDGE/ GPRS
coverage)
via a wireless aircard attached to the laptop

I am travelling from Northern California to Southern California for a
few days.
It would be great to have wireless internet access from the car, beach
etc ...be able to check and return emails.
( I will be using it mostly to check emails and return emails)

I do not want to be stuck to my hotel in Southern california all day
just to check and reply to my emails.

Is there any company / service that offers a temporary service for the
above...or has a pay as you go service ....

This would be great ...as i need it only for 3 days.

It seems that most companies like Cingular have one year + contracts.

is the speed very slow ? How could is this coverage/ service ?

Do anyone have any info that could help me.

Thanks in advance for your help,

Kim

PS I have heard about hotspots ...what are these ? and where in
Southern california ?

ditinsta

2006-02-13, 11:48 pm

Drive down any major street with lots of business / hotels and chances are
you'll pick up an open high speed wi-fi signal. Just pull into a parking lot
and start typing. I've never had to seek out hotspots or pay for access
while on the road.

<kimshapiro100@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1139862017.962289.196410@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

> I am travelling from Northern California to Southern California for a
> few days.
> It would be great to have wireless internet access from the car, beach
> etc ...be able to check and return emails.

Cyrus Afzali

2006-02-14, 2:48 am

On 13 Feb 2006 12:20:18 -0800, kimshapiro100@yahoo.com wrote:

>urgent - need info - "Anywhere" wireless internet access (EDGE/ GPRS
>coverage)
>via a wireless aircard attached to the laptop
>
>I am travelling from Northern California to Southern California for a
>few days.
>It would be great to have wireless internet access from the car, beach
>etc ...be able to check and return emails.
>( I will be using it mostly to check emails and return emails)
>
>I do not want to be stuck to my hotel in Southern california all day
>just to check and reply to my emails.
>
>Is there any company / service that offers a temporary service for the
>above...or has a pay as you go service ....
>
>This would be great ...as i need it only for 3 days.
>
>It seems that most companies like Cingular have one year + contracts.
>
>is the speed very slow ? How could is this coverage/ service ?
>
>Do anyone have any info that could help me.
>
>Thanks in advance for your help,
>
Az the other poster said, you have two choices. You can go with wi-fi
"hotspots," which limit you to a fairly small range of a few hundred
feet from the signal or thereabouts. Or you can go with a wireless
"broadband" access plan.

Because it's a GSM carrier, T-Mobile uses GPRS for its wireless data
transmission. You would need a special card that would go into your
laptop's PCMCIA slot. Generally speaking, you can expect something
that will be roughly equivalent with a 56K modem at its slowest times,
and something equivalent to ISDN during its most-efficient points.

Most everyone I know of does not have a pay-as-you-go plan for data
services, including T-Mobile. In fact, if you get a subsidized card,
you'll often be locked into contracts just like you are with a cell
phone. Although I'm a T-Mobile voice customer, I wanted wider data
coverage when I travel, so I signed up for a Verizon Wireless
Broadband Access account. I got a card for about $125 after rebate,
but had to commit to a 2-year agreement.
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zantosh

2006-02-22, 11:48 pm

I don't know about temporary access. However the $30 data plan from
T-Mobile using an EDGE card or a phone that has an EDGE modem works
great. The Samsung t809 or the new Ericsson data card would do the
job. The data speeds are excellent. I drove with my wife from Los
Angeles to Sacramento via SFO on the 101 and the data worked all the
way, at the EDGE data rates. Except for spots where the signal faded,
it worked great, and even when the signal faded, the t809 recovered as
soon as it got signal, so from the laptop, it only seemed like a wait
(laptop didn't disconnect or give any other error).

I think TMO might have a megabyte limited plan (the $30 is the
unlimited), so you may want to look at that.

- Z -

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