Wireless modem for laptop, phone or card?

[DragonCell278]

Hello. I've had a Razr with Cingular for about a year, and just got a laptop (thanks santa).....I was going to use the USB data cable, and my Razr, to connect to the internet on my laptop, just paying the $19.99/month for unlimited data on my phone plan.

But I recently saw those PC cards, to access Cingulars GPRS/EDGE, and those other fancy networks, which were ranging from free to $100.00. The service plan for these cards is around $70.00/Month for unlimited.

My question is, is one faster than the other? meaning between the phone, or the dedicated PC card? I don't really want to spend the extra $40/month for the PC Card service, if it wont be much faster than the Razr.

Thanks in advance for the help!

[JR1]

I have a phone and an edge wireless modem card. The wireless modem card is much faster than my phone. Where I live you can get edge..which is about the same as or maybe a hair faster than dial up.

In major cities you can now get a 3g card for the modem that is super fast but that depends on where you live.

[Jay2TheRescue]

Watch out, you're not supposed to be hooking up a laptop to your phone on the $19.99 plan. What you want is called "Laptop connect" and costs much more. I've heard of prople doing a laptop on the $19.99 medianet package, but if you use large volumes of data they might bill you for overage if they think you are using a laptop.

-Jay

[DragonCell278]

Thanks for the replies guys....Yea I was wondering about that Jay, I figured if they saw alot of Mbs going through they might raise an eyebrow to it.....I noticed on cingulars site that they have options other than the unlimited, like the 5-10-20-50Mb ones....but isnt even 50 Mb not really alot when it comes to surfing the web? Im online for at least 3 hours a day, I think I would go over 50 Mb pretty fast, and its only a little cheaper than unlimited.

As for right now, I'm at work, and my computer connection manager just siad "you are connected to a linksys network".....so I guess that means someone close to me has a wireless router? I hope I cant get in trouble for using there wireless! "my computer just did it by itself officer!" lol.

Thanks again for the replies, I think im going to get a PC card for those times I'm away from home and away from other networks

[Jay2TheRescue]

Originally Posted by DragonCell278

Thanks for the replies guys....Yea I was wondering about that Jay, I figured if they saw alot of Mbs going through they might raise an eyebrow to it.....I noticed on cingulars site that they have options other than the unlimited, like the 5-10-20-50Mb ones....but isnt even 50 Mb not really alot when it comes to surfing the web? Im online for at least 3 hours a day, I think I would go over 50 Mb pretty fast, and its only a little cheaper than unlimited.

As for right now, I'm at work, and my computer connection manager just siad "you are connected to a linksys network".....so I guess that means someone close to me has a wireless router? I hope I cant get in trouble for using there wireless! "my computer just did it by itself officer!" lol.

Thanks again for the replies, I think im going to get a PC card for those times I'm away from home and away from other networks

Yeah, unsecured networks seem to be everywhere in urban areas. Windows is set up to automatically connect to any network it can by default. I believe this is by novice users that don't know how to secure their networks.

-Jay