Cell Phone Internet Hot-Spot
If you’ve been reading my posts about connecting to the Internet as you travel, you know that I love my satellite dish! But, I also am a big advocate of Wi-Fi and of cellular connections to the Internet. If you absolutely, positively need the Internet – you need to use all three methods. When we’re in the forest and the trees block our satellite dish, we’ll use our cell phone tethered to the computer and connect thru Verizon. If the Verizon signal isn’t available, we’ll find a Wi-Fi hotspot somewhere.
The tethered cell phone is a fabulous option for occasional use because it does not involve a separate contract. It’s a feature of your phone service, called Verizon Broadband Access Connect.Even though it has the same monthly price tag as the data card at $60/mo, you can turn it On and Off at will and pay the prorated amount for the time it was On. It works out to roughly $2/day. We’ve had enough occasion to use this recently that I can confidently recommend it as a great way to get online – high speed. You do need to be in a good Verizon service area. You are limited to 5Gb of data per month, but that is a LOT.
I am amazed that this works so well – and I was *really* amazed when my husband, Jim, was able to use my little cell phone as the source for Internet for a Wi-Fi hotspot last week! The recommended way to share a cell phone’s Internet connection is by purchasing a cellular router such as the Cradlepoint. But, we don’t have one of those, and we needed to think fast when our Satellite dish modems failed just a couple days before we were scheduled to give a class which included a segment on using Wi-Fi – and there was no Wi-Fi to be had!
Here’s what Jim did. He tethered my little cell phone (via USB) to our server computer (a desktop in our motorhome) and got it online. Then he turned on Internet Connection sharing for that computer running Windows XP. I don’t know all the steps involved, but here a couple of screenshots that’ll give you the idea.
Our server computer is already connected to a router which creates a small Wi-Fi hotspot, Jim then set up the classroom that was roughly 50 yards away with a bridge and another router, creating a hotspot for our class.
It actually worked. 15 people could access Wi-Fi and had a decent, if not great, connection to the Internet. Over the course of 2 days, we used about 2 gigabytes of data.
Chris Guld
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I have a better deal on getting on the internet and wifi free from ATT
I got a USB connector from ATT to go into my laptop computer.
I can connect to the internet anywhere in the U.S.A. wireless.
I have been searching the internet most of this year and I finally got hooked up
with Att. You have to have a desktop that has high speed internet with ATT.
The device is called a USBconnect Mercury with ATT communication manger.
3G sim card, getting started guide. It requires USB port,300 MHz processor/256RAM. Microsoft windows Vista,XP2000
The network covers 14,000 Cities and 40,000miles of highway.
If anyone is interested in getting hi speed internet connected on a laptop
call Att Tele. Co. and get connect with ATT highspeed internet and then ask for
the USBconnect Mercury communication manager. They sell it for $99.00
But you can get it free if you have highspeed internet with ATT.
try it and see how you like it. curtspride
Curtis,
(my only home is on wheels)
I’m not sure I understand what you mean by free. It sounds to me like you still need a 2-year contract for a Data plan for this service from ATT. The Verizon BBAC service I’m referring to is a part of my cell phone plan and I can turn it on or off at will. I guess what you mean is that, if you have ATT at home, this device allows you to use it on the road. I agree that is a good thing. IF you have ATT … If you have a home!
Here’s what I found on AT&T’s site:
The AT&T USBConnect Mercury is available today at no cost¹ through AT&T business sales channels, online at wireless.att.com and in company-owned AT&T retail locations for customers who choose a two-year DataConnect plan of $60 or more. AT&T offers a variety of DataConnect rate plans, including a plan for up to 5 gigabytes (GB) of domestic use for $60 a month for customers.
I didn’t know about Verizon BroadbandAccess Connect until I read this blog entry. As a result, I signed up and have found it works great. It’s almost too good to be true! As you said, you can turn the feature on and off at will and you’ll only be charged a prorated amount for the days you have it turned on. One nice feature you didn’t mention is that the connect time does not count against your phone’s minutes.
Thank you Chris!
John,
Thanks for the comment! Yes, what a treat! Something that works *better* than anyone would ever expect. And, you’re right – it does not use your phone’s minutes. That’s because it *is* a separate feature, just not a separate contract from your phone’s voice capability. I have been known to leave it connected all day. I could receive a call, even while the phone was connected to the Internet. Only if I answered the call did it disconnect me from the Internet.
I just ran into a problem with the ‘prorated’ piece though. When I turn on the service after the first of the billing period, and turn it off before the end, (e.g. Sep 6 – 10) I am, indeed, charged $2/day. However, I just had it *On* during a span which included a new billing period (Sep 24 – Oct 6) and I was billed $60, in advance, for the month of October. I called and was told I needed to pay that, and I would be credited the unused amount on my next bill.
Thanks for the heads-up–I’ll try to avoid that situation. Another thing that should be pointed out is that for $60 you get 5GB of data per month, but the data allowance is prorated in the same manner as the charges, e.g., if you are turned on for a total of 15 days in a 30-day billing period, you’re allowed 2.5GB of data for the period. Still, that’s a lot of data.
There is a product called Shark Modem (http://www.mobishark.com) that allows you to bypass the additional charge for using the data plan you already pay for on your phone or Blackberry. It’s around $50 and while I am not an RVer and haven’t tried all over the U.S., I have used it a couple of times and it has worked.
I wish I could remember the name of the company but there is now software than can be downloaded onto certain PDA’s that turn the PDA itself into a wi-fi hotspot with cellular as the backhaul connection. I think this is a very cool emerging way to share access among people / gadgets.
Wade
http://www.freewifihotspotsoftware.com
I connect to the internet using my Blackberry 8130 with EVDO capability by adding Verizon Broadband Access which is an additional $15 per month on top of the $30 data plan. In addition, I’m using a Cradlepoint CTR500 as my wireless router and it works great. Not up to the speed of my cable internet but much faster than dial up.
[...] written about this before, but I’ve learned more since then, so I’m revisiting the topic. This is a good option [...]