# Wireless ISP

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wireless-isp/274590>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [November 13, 2004, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wireless-isp/274590 "2004-11-13T19:40:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wireless-isp/274590/1 "2004-11-13T19:40:55Z")

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If I wanted my laptop to be able to access the Internet anywhere in the US, what wireless ISP should I use?

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**Author:** ![Harmonix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Harmonix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonix)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wireless-isp/274590/2 "2004-11-14T02:12:14Z")

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none that I know of. The best you could probably do is dial up via your cell phone.

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**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wireless-isp/274590/3 "2004-11-14T06:48:27Z")

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Outside of airports, there really isn’t a nationwide wireless ISP.

As for cellphone access, emptor that caveat, my friend. I had a brief flirtation with Verizon’s service, and you need to be in a data service area, which is a sub-set of their digital service area, and certanly not coast-to-coast. If you’re in a data area, the service is fairly good - recall having 64k connections most often.

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**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2004, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wireless-isp/274590/4 "2004-11-14T13:43:13Z")

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Earthlink has a service that costs $299 plus $19.95/month. It looks like they have most metro areas covered, but the “wide open spaces” aren’t covered.

> **[EarthLink Official Site | Best High-Speed Internet and Mobile Service](https://www.earthlink.net/?product=nationwideaccess&action=coverage)**
>
> EarthLink is an award-winning Internet Service Provider offering reliable, high-speed internet and America’s largest and best Mobile phone service.