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Hack from Nowheresville
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Hack from Nowheresville
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I'm going to be moving soon and where I'm going I can't get dail up I was wondering which would be the cheapest and haste free.


Love Is the One Thing That Never Ends.
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Pulitzer
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Depends on where you are.

Wireless requires a hotspot. If you can't even get dialup where you're going, odds are there won't be wireless service.

Satellite can be expensive and a hassle. It's sensitive to the weather, the equipment needs to be properly aligned, etc etc. The one real advantage it has is that it'll work from just about anywhere on Earth.

I'd suggest looking for ISPs that serve your area.

This Cnet article will give you a bit more info on the various service types around.

One other possibility to consider is getting an "air card" from your cell phone company, or possibly a data cable from Susteen . You can use it to get online via the cell phone network. Mine gets me (somewhat variable) access up to 100kbps (not great, but twice as good as dialup). It just costs airtime, which, with most companies, is free on nights and weekends.

Paul


When in doubt, think about penguins. It probably won't help, but at least it'll be fun.
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Beat Reporter
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Where are u moving to? smile


I love the smell of fear in the newsroom.
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I take it when you say you can't get dial-up, you mean that any ISP's supporting dial-up don't have local numbers, right?

Satellite has come a long way and works reasonably well these days, but if you can get cable (unlikely if you can't get dial-up) that's the best way to go if you don't want to run a server. DSL is actually cheaper but you get slower broadband speeds.

Data through an aircard can be very expensive per month for unlimited data. If you're going to be web browsing quite a bit, unlimited is the way to go since a few megabytes a month can really get pricey when you're paying by the megabyte. I have data on my Verizon Windows Mobile phone but it tacks on almost $40 to up my monthly to over $70 for unlimited data. An EV-DO or Edge card is equally as expensive.

If you can get it, get cable. It's the fastest thing you can get for affordable prices.


-- Roger

"The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself." -- Benjamin Franklin
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Hack from Nowheresville
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Hack from Nowheresville
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I'm moving to a campground in the spot I'm going to doesn't have phone serves. And the owner won't allow the phone company to dig. So I have to either get a Satellite are try the cell phone card thing.

At the Dell website they have a wireless broadband thing that works with verison wireless I wonder if anyone here had that and if it worked any good.


Love Is the One Thing That Never Ends.
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Pulitzer
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Well, I use a Susteen cable with my Verizon phone (Verizon sells them, too, as "mobile office kits"). Like I said, it gives me a ~100kbps connection, which is charged as a regular cell phone call. No cost for the data or the call itself, but if I log on during peak hours, it uses airtime minutes.

Verizon offers aircards which basically do the same thing. If you do that, you get the same connection speed and rate scheme, but the aircard is counted as a second phone. So you pay for an extra line on your plan, but you can be online and use your cell phone at the same time.

The third option is a Broadband Access plan. That gives you a faster connection, doesn't use airtime minutes, and doesn't care what time of day you long on, but costs more.

To sum up...

Data Cable: One-time fee for the cable, but no additional cost after that. Uses minutes on your calling plan. Uses your phone to connect, so you can't talk and surf at the same time. Drains your phone's battery (you get a couple hours' worth of connect time, give or take, depending on your phone). Connection speeds up to 100kbps, depending on signal quality, etc. Sometimes significantly slower.

Aircard: One-time fee for the card plus a monthly fee (probably $20) for a second cell phone line. Uses airtime minutes. Connection is roughly the same as with the data cable.

Broadband plan: One-time fee for the card plus a monthly fee ($60). Does not use your phone or airtime minutes. Average connection speed (according to them) in the 400-700kbps range, depending on signal. Can go up to 2mbps if you're at a hotspot. Not so good if you're too far from one of these locations . (I think if you're outside of the coverage area, you get nothing. Which sucks. They should make it dual mode, so that if you can't get a broadband signal, it acts like an aircard and uses the cell phone data network instead.)

Satellite: Possible fee for equipment installation. Monthly fee for service ( Earthlink charges $70). Speed up to 400kbps. Requires a good line-of-sight connection with the satellite, which means that poor weather can disrupt the signal and that if the dish goes out of alignment (knocked around by the wind or something), you get nothing until someone comes around to fix it.

So... if you're in the right area and if you can afford the $60/month fee, the broadband plan is probably your best option. It'll get you the fastest, most reliable connection, and won't drain any of your other resources (minutes, battery power).

If not... up to you what's most important.

Paul


When in doubt, think about penguins. It probably won't help, but at least it'll be fun.
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If you're moving to a campground, I'd check what kind of cell signal you can get there. Most wireless phone companies concentrate their cell towers along highways and denser population areas and skimp on lesser populated areas. Outside of cities and suburbs you often get no digital coverage at all, but have to default to the old AMPS analog cellular system.

You may end up getting a Verizon/Sprint (EV-DO) or Cingular (Edge/UMTS) wireless phone and find you get no bars of signal strength.

I won't recommend which one to get since I work for the company that pioneered CDMA and invented EV-DO and think that any GSM or TDMA-based phone will fry your brain. I admit I'm a bit biased. wink

Satellite's biggest enemy is trees. If there are trees blocking your southern exposure, you may be able to compensate by cutting branches or moving the dish around. But if you can't get a clear southern exposure without a fifty-foot pole, for instance, satellite may be out, too.


-- Roger

"The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself." -- Benjamin Franklin
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Hack from Nowheresville
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Hack from Nowheresville
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I know that sprint cell phones work there some of my family who have sprint cells have been there and they work. So I guess I will have to try to get a mobile broadband from them.


Love Is the One Thing That Never Ends.
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It might also pay to ask Sprint whether they have an EV-DO network where you are. You may be able to visit their website to find out. If they do, great. If not, you may have to rely on slower CDMA2000 1X data. That runs about the speed of a fast dialup modem, while EV-DO runs at decent broadband DSL speeds.


-- Roger

"The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself." -- Benjamin Franklin

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