Connecting laptop to web thru wireless phone/card

Hi
I travel quite a bit and would like to access web from my laptop.
What are the ways I can connect my laptop wirelessly?

what is the difference between (a) connecting my laptop to
my cellphone using cables and (b) using wireless card like
PCMCIA? Is one faster than other? Will both work in 3G network?

I have a wireless phone... If I buy a PCMCIA card, can I hook
both my phone and card to the same service plan and use
phone for voice and card for data?

I'm new to this .. so, sorry for so many questions.

Mike (from Chicago)

[aiwapro]

Well, first of all, what provider do you have? If you have a wireless card, it seems like you either have Sprint PCS or T-Mobile, but I may be wrong.

Those are good questions. Unfortuately, a majority of the cell phone sales people you talk to probably won't know the answers.

From personal experience with Verizon I know the PCMCIA card gets faster speed bursts, but it tends to run the same speed as the phone connection overall. The first question I would ask is how often you need to talk on the phone while you are using your laptop modem? If you don't do it a lot it might not be worth spending the money on the card.

I don't know if Verizon will let you put a PCMCIA card and a phone on the same account. At our office we are getting the phone connection kits because we don't use the laptop connection enough to justify the price of the PCMCIA card with the limited area that Verizon 3G works in (we travel all over the US) and the speed (or lack of it, usually 60 to 70 kbps phone or card).

When we were with SprintPCS (before 3G) you could put a PCMCIA card and a phone on the same account, I don't know if that has changed. I don't know if SprintPCS has a speed difference between PCMICA cards and phones.

I hope this helps.

Henry

Thanks Henry and Christopher. I'm currently with Sprint PCS.
I guess I have to call and find out if I still can add PCcard and
phone to the same plan.

I have never hooked my laptop thru wireless before. But from the
replies it sounds like i can use either phone or pc card but not both
at the same time. Does it mean all incoming calls will go to
voicemail when working with laptop?

Mike (from Chicago)