How (and why) to disable Verizon/Sprint Roaming

In addition to providing service from the cellular towers they own, most cellular providers also have roaming agreements with other providers in order to allow their users to stay connected in areas where their provider does not have their own towers. For example, if you subscribe to Verizon for your cell phone service and travel to a rural area where Verizon doesn’t own any towers, your phone will automatically connect to the tower of a local provider if Verizon has a roaming agreement in the area and you’ll be able to stay connected. Sounds great, right? Yes and no. There are certainly a myriad of benefits to being able to roam seamlessly as you travel, but there are some situations in which staying on your own provider’s network becomes very important. Depending on your carrier, monthly plan, and location, roaming may not cost you anything – or it may cost you a lot. Typically, cellular providers do not charge any fees to allow you to “roam” within the USA, but crossing the border into Canada or Mexico (or even connecting to a Canadian or Mexican tower from the USA side of the border if you’re close enough!) could prove to be disastrous for your monthly bill as you unknowingly rack up massive international roaming fees. Read more  Read More →

Changes to Verizon Mobile BroadBand can save you money

Last week Verizon made several changes to their 3G / EVDO “Mobile BroadBand” data plans, including increasing the limit of their $39.99/month plan, lowering the overage charges across the board, and lowering the most expensive tethering fee (data feature) for cell phones. Verizon’s press release announcing these changes was vague on some topics and left many people with more questions than answers… this article should help to clear up some of the confusion. THE CHANGES: What they are, who they effect, and how to take advantage of them! Read more  Read More →

Sharing A BroadBand Cellular Connection

As discussed in prior blogposts, broadband cellular service is typically received through a modem that attaches to one computer through a card slot or a USB port, and provides that single computer with access to the internet for a monthly fee. Sprint, Verizon, and AT&T are the most popular carriers that RVers use for their broadband cellular access. As you might imagine, the cellular carriers really want to collect a monthly service fee for each computer connected to their network, and if you ask them how you can use one card or USB modem to provide access to more than one computer, they are likely to tell you it cannot be done and that you need to get another card or USB modem and pay another monthly fee for each computer that needs internet access. Some people have actually been told that if they try to “cheat the system in any way”, they are breaking the law and will go to jail. Probably not true, but the carrier could certainly cancel your account. (I am not a lawyer and you should ask your lawyer for advice if you want to know more about that.) In this article, I will discuss two popular ways to share one broadband cellular connection: the hard way — using your computers built-in “internet sharing” software, or the easy way — using a cellular router actually designed for the task. Read more  Read More →

Internet Access Using ‘Embedded’ Cards

So far we’ve covered the basics of BroadBand Cellular Internet Access, and the pro’s and con’s of tethering a phone or PDA to provide internet access to a computer… today’s blogpost entry will explain some pro’s and con’s of embedded cellular devices and make some comparison’s to more conventional devices like cards and USB modems. First, a quick reminder: high-speed broadband cellular internet is typically provided by using a pcmcia “aircard”, expresscard or USB modem that is connected to your computer and provides that single computer with wireless internet access where cellular phone towers are readily available. For maximum convenience, some laptop manufacturers have recently started to include tiny cards that can serve the same purpose, but are embedded or operate from within a laptop, rather than connected to the laptop using a card slot or USB port. The selling point is that with the card embedded inside, you don’t have the ‘hassle’ of having to connect or disconnect any device to your computer. Life is simple again. Read more  Read More →

Internet Access Using A Cellphone or PDA

There are many different ways to take advantage of broadband cellular for internet access. For the next few articles, I’ll cover some pros and cons of internet connections via: an internet-enabled phone or “PDA” (Personal Digital Assistant) like the Sprint BlackBerry 8830 embedded data device in a laptop like certain Dell Laptops with Mobile Broadband Technology dedicated data device directly attached to computer, like the Verizon UM150 sharing the internet connection with many computer using a 3G router like the Cradlepoint MBR1000 Many consider today’s feature-rich cellphones and high-end PDA phones (Personal Digital Assistant) to be the easiest way to access the internet while ‘on the road’. Hard to argue with those who make that claim since these devices are relatively small, self contained and many have nearly all the same functionality of a small laptop computer. With one of these high-tech beasts you can send and receive email, chat via instant messenger and surf web pages and so much more… albeit, on a small screen. Most PDA’s are fairly expensive, even when discounted by lengthy carrier contracts. Many modern cell phones are less expensive and still offer the same capabilities of the more expensive PDA’s. If all you need is occasional access to the internet, using a cell phone or PDA might just be the proper purchase. Not satisfied with the tiny screen on their phone, many folks take the next logical step that... Read more

Internet Access, Driving Down The Road!

1XRTT, EVDO, REV-0, REV-A, EDGE, GPRS, HSDPA, GSM, CDMA …Oh my! … pretty confusing already, isn’t it? With this first blogpost, I hope to explain the options available to RVers who want internet access on the road using cellular towers across the nation. Internet access using cellular towers has been around for many years, and as time has passed the choices have grown, the speeds have gotten faster, and the coverage areas have expanded. As most RVers will attest, cell phone coverage is very widespread nowadays, but certainly not everywhere. Boondockers routinely find themselves so far away from the world, that there are no cell towers. What this means is that the first thing everyone needs to understand is that cellular internet access is not everywhere, but its likely to be where most everyone is at, most of the time. Who makes it available? Each of the major cellular carriers offers internet/data access and there are two methods to make it work: tethering to a cellphone/handset/PDA, or using a dedicated data device like an ‘aircard’ or ‘USB modem’ that would normally be attached to a computer, allowing that computer to have internet access. I’ll explain the pros/cons of tethering vs. data devices in a future blogpost. Read more  Read More →