Thinkpads Forum

What is the best cellular internet service option for a T42p laptop (or other T-series laptop) considering speed, quality of service, cost, etc.?

I understand there are two basic options:

1. PCMCIA card such as the Sony Edge or Sierra.

2. connecting the laptop to a cellphone via USB cable, bluetooth, or firewire.

Part of my question is what specific setup (brand and model of equipment, cellular provider, etc.) is best?

Thanks for any help you can provide, and apologies if I am posting to the wrong forum. This seems to be a cross-cutting question.

I'm trying both, a connection with a Nokia cardphone and via bluetooth over my Nokia 6230 mobile phone.
Both under linux.

I prefer the cardphone, because you have just a card to insert, no cable hanging around or a bluetooth connection which drains the battery in my mobile phone in addition.
But you have to have a second sim card for the cardphone to gain access to the gms network.

Costs in all cases depending on the country, youre from.
Here in Germany, more and more providers only have GPRS-options in their offer. No options where the time is counting youre online.
I read that GPRS-options are more expensive (at least here in Germany).
In general, its not a cheap connection.

Hope that helps,

Regards
Andreas

I use a Sony Ericsson GC83 EDGE/GPRS card with Cingular.

While generally I am happy with it, it's not without it's problems. The Cingular Connection Manager software is buggy IMHO. You can also use the Sony Ericsson Wireless Manager. It's less buggy, but is missing a couple of features I like on Cingular's software.

Coverage and speed is great in some areas, spotty in others, and some places it won't hardly work at all, even with a good signal. Where it really rocks is in file downloads. Web browsing is not as fast as you might think, due to latency. It works better in rural areas than in large cities, in my experience. It also works better late at night, with the worst time during business hours. How it will work for you is hard to tell. I believe you get a period of time to try it, before committing to the contract and card.

With EDGE cards like the one above, or with cell phones, you need to look at what class it is. The higher the number the better. The card above is a class 10 device. Cingular now sell a Sierra Wireless 775 Aircard that is a class 12 device. Some brands of cards stick out a bit from the PC card slot, others like the one above are flush, but require a plug in antenna.

Verizon has a faster card. but I don't know anyone that has one. In a few certain cities, you get speeds up to 1.5 Mbs (T1).

Link: RFI: Wireless Data Carriers - Survival of the Fittest

i tested the verizon version..
it was fast and easy to use..