North American GPRS/UMTS providers

[dtscaps]

First off, I apologize for beeing a bit off topic but here it goes. I live in Europe and are starting a 5 week trip to the US on monday. Me and my X300 with an unlocked 8775 WWAN card need to be more or less online all the time. I guess all of you know about the ridicules roaming carges imposed on internatinal customers. My friend over there has a line of credit with AT&T and I checked their "dataconnect plan" minimum one year, $80 a month. Anyone know about a provider that could give me a month or 2 plan with US national coverage? (driving route66). It's worth at least 200 bucks for me....
Please advice?

Regards
Henning


mod edit: moved to off-topic forum.

[EOMtp]

For the MC8775, your choices in the U.S. will be AT&T (formerly Cingular) and T-Mobile (a division of Deutsche Telekom). AT&T 3G service will be "spotty" at best when you are not in big cities; T-Mobile 3G service will be virtually non-existent (it is being introduced in the next few months).

No national carrier in the U.S. offers month-to-month data contracts, and data day rates are too expensive to use everyday for 2 months.

All cellular carriers in the U.S. will permit you to cancel a contract within 30 days without cancellation penalties. Thereafter, there is a declining cancellation fee of approx. $175, reduced by $5 for each month you keep the service, i.e., after 2 months the cancellation fee = $165.

"Service Only" contracts (i.e., you provide the equipment) are not shown on the carriers' web sites; you must phone their tele-sales to sign up for a contract; they will ask to do a "credit check" on you, and without a U.S. Social Security Number you will need to provide your passport and a U.S. billing address + place a deposit (approx. $400 via credit card) which will be refunded to you (by check!) after you terminate the contract.

Consider using Sprint EV-DO or Verizon EV-DO while in the U.S. Verizon has the "widest" blanket coverage across the country and in more rural areas. You can find many internal or external data cards for Verizon for < $50 on eBay.

Finally, consider getting a 3G/EV-DO cell phone with Internet access enabled (approx. $15/month extra above the voice-only plans) and tethering the phone to your laptop via USB cable or Bluetooth. A 3G/EV-DO phone will give you over 1MB+ download and 250KB+ upload, and if you program it so the tethering is "transparent", then the phone acts as a data card, and you don't need a separate data contract.

The absolute easiest/simplest solution for you is to ask someone who has a Verizon Wireless account already (voice or data, it does not matter) to add a "service-only 1-year contract" data plan to the account, get an external Verizon EV-DO card (preferably Rev. A, but Rev. 0 is also fine), and cancel the contract after you use it for 2 months --> no deposit, no credit check, just 2x$60 + $165 cancellation = $285 total, and you have approx. 1.3MB/500KB Internet access almost anywhere in the U.S.
Enjoy your visit!

[csv96]

There is a cheap and easy solution. When you come to the US, just go to any BestBuy or AT&T store and buy a $15 GoPhone (AT&T's Prepaid Pay-As-You-Go option). Activate the GoPhone online and load at least $25 in credit (you get $10 bonus credit for free). Using your GoPhone, call 611 to access the GoPhone feature store and add the $19.99 Unlimited MediaNet package good for 30 days. Remove the SIM card from your GoPhone and insert it into your X300. Download and install Sierra 3G watcher and create a new profile for your AT&T connection (don't use Lenovo or AT&T's connection manager). IMPORTANT: For access point (AP), leave it blank (i.e. don't use isp.cingular, just leave that option blank). You get unlimited 3G internet for just $19.99 for 30 days. More information and detailed step-by-step instructions:

Overview
http://www.pocketables.net/2008/06/how- ... =117128494

Account Management
http://www.att.com/mygophone

Sierra 3G Watcher
http://www.sierrawireless.com/support/s ... d=4,13,1,1

HowardForum Threads
http://howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=1302284
http://howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=1364761

Tip:
At the end of 30 days, you need to add more money to your Pay-As-You-Go account so you can buy another 30-day Unlimited MediaNet package. There are several sellers on ebay that sell refill pins for less than retail price (example $100 refill for $92).

[awolfe63]

I'll refrain from passing judgment on the legality/morality of this approach - but read all of the links carefully. This appears to not be allowed by AT&T's terms of use agreement.

[akao]

I'll refrain from passing judgment on the legality/morality of this approach - but read all of the links carefully. This appears to not be allowed by AT&T's terms of use agreement.

I'll refrain from passing judgement on the legality/morality of the carrier's business practices. While I do not know if this is against the terms of use, a quick perusal seems to say that their remedy for a violation is termination of the account. From an economic viewpoint, this seems like a good way to get data for 5 weeks.

[dtscaps]

I really appreciate your advice guys.

Thanks to all of you.

[csv96]

Agree with the above comments about legality/morality. I've also tethered my SERO phone, used a modified zender bios, jailbroke my iPhone, bought from the Lenovo contractor discount site, and installed Vista 64-bit even though my Thinkpad came with a Vista 32-bit OEM license. I love internet forums.

[EOMtp]

Note to dtscaps (not intended in any way to stop the discussion above):
Henning, Given your requirement of Internet access on Route 66, the AT&T discussion is as interesting as it is pointless! Route 66 traverses a GSM black hole. Your options are between Verizon EV-DO and Verizon EV-DO.

[dtscaps]

regarding the internal EV-DO card for x300:

Checked prices on ebay, ranges from $25 to $170,

Is the 42T0929 (MC5725) the only whitelisted card or can the 39T5664/41W1177 (MC5720) also be used without bios warning?

Henning

[bobbarker]

I'd try a prepaid service like Boost Mobile (15 cents a day data plan) or AT&T but I'd really suggest Cincinnati Bell (if you can get near the area and find a store). There aren't any contracts (cancel when you want) and an EDGE dataplan is $15/mo if they think you have a cheap little handset, and $30 if they think you've got a Blackberry. I've seen an iPhone run on the $15/mo plan with no repercussions (and an Openmoko Freerunner) (Hint: Let them think you're using a cheapo Nokia). I've not personally been along Route 66 but my sisters went along it going to California and never had any major problems. Cincinnati Bell is (in a long chain of who owns who) part of AT&T and has pretty solid coverage...although it's not quite "national."

[GomJabbar]

Henning, Given your requirement of Internet access on Route 66, the AT&T discussion is as interesting as it is pointless! Route 66 traverses a GSM black hole.

I seriously doubt that statement. I have AT&T and I have yet to find any significant black holes as far as EDGE is concerned. I will agree that 3G HSDPA coverage can be spotty. Along the US highways and Interstates I have traveled, I have found I almost always have coverage.

My wife uses T-Mobile, and yes they do have black holes. I have coverage when she does not. Both AT&T and T-Mobile use GSM/EDGE, but their coverage areas are not the same.

See AT&T's coverage map for more detail: http://www.wireless.att.com/coverageviewer/