Laptop "Air Card" ... What Do You Know?
 

Considering the increasing use of smart phones, and stronger cell phone signals, have we gotten to the point that a cellular signal can provide viable signal to run a laptop?

I'm thinking specifically in a business, as a backup device to access remote vendors that provide critical services. If the wired network was down, even some signal would be better than nothing, right?

I'm wondering if any of you ladies or gents have used, recently, an "air card" or similar device, or know enough of such matters to comment on this.

Thanks in advance, Cellar, you rock.

I'm using my Iphone as a hot spot for work right now. It works fine for my needs, I hang files on drop box to share with co workers, access the cellar on a regular basis, I even watch some video on wimp when I'm bored on a sat morning. If you all want the boring details of why I'm in on a sat morning working, just say "supervise extra duty", I need my floors stripped and waxed. But back to the topic, my hot spot works great. Only downfall is there is a cap on 4 Gigs and every gig over that costs 10 bucks a gig. If your business is going to be data intensive you will have to weigh the cost. Basically it's about 45 bucks for 4 gigs of data with my provider.

If you all want the boring details of why I'm in on a sat morning working, just say "supervise extra duty", I need my floors stripped and waxed.

Been there done that , hell there for a while i started saying my MOS (Military Occupational Spec ) was BT ( buffer tech )
Oh and Clear shoe polish will make the floors SHINE , but slick as glass

I was a buffer tech a long time ago in the 80's. It used to be anyone worth their weight had an article 15 or two under their belt. DPW is here today changing all the light bulbs that need to be changed in my building as well. My goal for this place at the end of the day is to have floors that look like someone gives a damn about the place, and lighting so we can see it.

4g LTE speeds between 3mb and 20mb so far, on most carriers. So if you're in 4g territory it's more than fast enough. But if you back down to 3g, the speeds are .2mb, not enough to get some modern things done.

My goal for this place at the end of the day is to have floors that look like someone gives a damn about the place, and lighting so we can see it.

remember to get the bace boards scrubbed , it frames the nice floors

Tips from a Full IG inspection

We use air cards at work. We've found that the PC card ones work better than USB (haven't tested the "mifi" devices yet). We've used Sprint for a while, but am starting to see a move to Verizon. Some employees were having difficulty getting the VPN to work well with Sprint, though I never had that problem. Air cards can be good for getting some things done, but not as well for the bandwidth intense applications (which may not be as bad on Verizon 4G).

What everyone else said--my dad uses one exclusively, and loves it, has never had a problem. But, you know, he's my dad, he's not doing anything too intensive with it.

Early cards were nothing more than dialup modems that connected via a cell phone. Early Sprint cards were only dialup. One current example is Cricket.

Recently two technologies (that have been in development for almost ten years) finally arrived - WiMax and LTE. WiMax and LTE are the equivalent of broadband. Were only supposed to be available on 4G towers. But some 3G towers have it. Keep in mind that some AT&T towers are only 2G. Any tower without WiMax or LTE will revert to a 'dialup' type connection. Although Verizon has been aggressive in what appears to be a superior implementation of LTE.

Some providers also offer WiFi from their towers. WiFi only provides direct internet access in small hot spots. The scope of WiFi implementations is unknown.

WiFi hot spots are illegal in about 50% of the states (ie Pennsylvania, Arkansas, Nevada, Nebraska, Missouri ...) except by incumbent telecoms (or in some locations, the power company). Part of an effort after 2000 by Michael Powell, et al to restrict internet providers to a select few who were also major campaign donors. Intended to subvert growth of Earthlink's WiFi implementation in a few select urban cities for the benefit of companies such as Comcast, Time Warner, Verizon, etc. And to undermine the 1996 Federal Communication Act.

Thanks, tw, I can ask local providers about the specific services you've outlined.

I have a 4g mifi for work. I can use all sorts of devices with it. It works really well. I have used a 3g mifi as well, which was not as good. You can use one of these devices for regular Internet if its a mifi.

The USB ones and PC Card ones require a little more work and have been a little flaky.

Then again, 1MB/s on a Macbook Pro from a 4g mifi while having 2 ipads and an iphone connected is an awesome thing.