What, if any options, do I have to obtain the internet anywhere I am? I live in York, PA, and frequently take the kids to practice and such and find myself with an hour or so to kill. I would like to be able to use my laptop in the car. Is there something I can do using a cell phone? Does anyone provied satellite access?
Verizon offers a service just like that. You buy a special card for the laptop and you can access the internet anywhere Verizon cell phone service is available.
Lots of cell carriers offer this. You can either connect through a cell phone handset, or via a dedicated PCMCIA card. More infor about cellular internet access here.
I think cellular access is going to be the way you want to go. Two-way satellite access is quite expensive. I’m not sure on the exact details, but it is used by some of our clients at work, and I have heard that they pay something like $0.25 per second.
Yeah, cell is good. My friend was going nuts with X1 access (what the local cell data service is called) and phoning, and didn’t go much over 100$/mo. The company I work for has dealings with sat data providers, and that didn’t get much cheaper than 1000$/mo. (Though it is going down fairly quickly). There are also many different levels of service available there though, so if you feel flush it could still be an option for you.
FOr cell, there are a number of options based on your hardware and local service. My friend’s cell phone has built-in bluetooth that he uses to dial up with, and it’s quite speedy.
You can get a dedicated PCMCIA card with a little 2" aeriel on it that works for most areas, or (if you go far out in the country) there’s this thing we have called a Redwing that is basically a custom plastic box with a modem in it, a connection for a 3’ antennae, and an RJ-45 ethernet connection for better reception.