jpetty
join:2005-08-31
Burlington, KY | reply to itguy05
Re: Distracted Drivers
yep, so the bottom line is you have to look at where you travel/work the most, and then scour the telco's coverage maps for the best fit |
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CMoore2004
Premium
join:2003-02-06
Jonesville, MI
| reply to itguy05
Cingular's EDGE is less then mediocre at best. EDGE has reasonable speeds with a good signal, but with Sprint's 1xRTT network I can always get at least 64kbit even with a signal of about -110dBm. I recently tried a few data cards and found that the Cingular card doesn't roam-AT ALL. Nationwide coverage, yes, but don't look at their partner coverage. I'm not sure about Verizon's footprint being larger than Sprint's, seeing as they roam on eachother, and Sprint roams on Alltel (not sure if Verizon also does). Cingular's HSDPA was laughable, and spotty within the cities that it was offered. Driving through the heart of Columbus, I should never lose my signal, but it repeatedly dropped back to EDGE. Your phone showing Cingular doesn't mean it's really Cingular towers you're using, so the data coverage won't be what you might expect.
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| DW6000 SatMex5 1130 | Windows XP MCE SP2 | Mobile AMD Athlon 64 4000+ | 1.5GB RAM | ATI Mobile Radeon X600 128MB | 120GB HDD |
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itguy05
join:2005-06-17
Camp Hill, PA
| reply to jpetty
quote:
Cingular's EDGE is very fast, but it's very limited in scale. Sprint's network is fast, and many times because not as many are on it, but it's also not nearly as far reaching as Verizon. If I'm deep in a Data Center, 9 times out of 10, Verizon phones and cards will have connection/signal when others don't.
Cingular has a bigger native footprint than Verizon and, IIRC is EDGE in most markets. Not to mention I can point you many areas where Verizon is nonexistant and my Cingular phone just chugs away, including inside data centers. |
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jpetty
join:2005-08-31
Burlington, KY
| reply to fiberguy
It's Avis rent a car, which is geared to the corporate traveler. Most travelers will expense this without flinching. To reiterate fiberguy's observations, many hotel charge 9.95/day for Hi-Speed internet access (Hilton/Doubletree), and the Starbuck's in CA charge anywhere from 7.95-9.95/day, as well as many airports.
While some of the responses bring comical light to the potential hazazrds, it would be invaluable, as my own broadband card has paid for itself time and again, to continue working while traveling (cup holder AC Inverter also good investment for max screen brightness), and be able to pull up traffic web sites on-the-fly to check traffic and look at alternate routes (L.A.), or, get to an appt. early and check your mail in the parking lot, ESPECIALLY if you're waiting on a quote/proposal.
As for who it is, it may vary by location, however from a coast to coast traveler's perspective, the most consistent connectivity, and broadest reaching is Verizon. It may not be the fastest everywhere, but A connection is better than NO connection. Cingular's EDGE is very fast, but it's very limited in scale. Sprint's network is fast, and many times because not as many are on it, but it's also not nearly as far reaching as Verizon. If I'm deep in a Data Center, 9 times out of 10, Verizon phones and cards will have connection/signal when others don't. I've traveled through the mountains of NC/TN, and had no signal on my Nextel phone for miles, but my Verizon card is still chugging away.
That said, if you were to look at it from a holistic perspective and not just your corner of the world, Avis would have better service, fewer connectivity/signal related complaints from Verizon based service across the country. I use a Kyocera 650 with a suction-cup external antenna attachment, and a buddy has the Sprint card. They both have performed wonderfully, and sitting side-by-side in an Applebee's testing the speed, they were very comarable. The Kyocera had the best upload performance though. |
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fiberguy
My views are my own.
Premium
join:2005-05-20
| reply to Cjaiceman
Why would they charge you $2.00 per day? That's about or less than the standard rate of Wireless internet to begin with.
Do you travel much?
Ever stay in a hotel where they charge?
People flip out $10.00 per day in hotels.
People flip out about $6.95 for just a few hours of internet at the airport. So, why would you feel that such a mobile connection would be worth only $2?
Not a direct slam at you, but this thought process in general, I can certainly see why U.S. broadband providers are chomping at the bit to invest billions into major increases to a network that is less than a decade old.
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No_Code
join:2003-12-12 | reply to keithmac
The only advantage I can see with this versus airport wifi is that you can take this with you. Though, if you're paying for more than 5 days to rent one of these boxes, you have to ask yourself if it's not worth just buying the PC card itself. |
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keithmac
join:2006-12-05
Hudson, NH | reply to Cjaiceman
My guess is the pricing seems to be similar to if you went to an airport and paid to use their Wifi hotspot. That is usually around $10.00 per day also I believe. |
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Cjaiceman
Premium,MVM
join:2004-10-12
Parker, CO
 ·Comcast Workplace
·Comcast
|  I can see it now on the 5 o'clock news. "Driver ran head-on into a Semi while reading his e-mail."
Like there isn't enough to distract drivers already. They have the cell phone, the radio, the screaming kids in the back seat, the 1/2 pound of French Fries in their lap, and the quarter pounder from *insert fast food chain name here*.
That said, this also could be a good thing. The passenger can check their email, watch youtube, and other internet related items (read=pr0n) while on the highway. I think this could also push the cell company to make a faster and more reliable network. $10.95/day seems a little on the steep side though. If it were about $2.00/day I might actually do it, but that is just too much per day. 
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Hot Jamz @ Mile High Radio »cjaiceman.is-a-geek.com/hotjamz/hotjamz.pls |
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