Replacing home DSL with mobile internet ?

[Cd]

Thanks for that tip Snax. My phone is hooked up to a filter at all times. I have around 4-5 jacks in my home, but only have the filter on the one which the phone is hooked to.
ATT told me that this is fine and will not affect anything.
My current speeds at the moment are 470 kbps download and 327 upload. I'm paying for 1.5 Mbps.
I had a technician that said I can't get better than the 470 / 327 because my signal is too "weak". Thing is is that I'm not using wireless, and I live right next to Dell computer and Samsung.
Sounds like BS to me !

It would have been cool if it had become possible to watch movies on an iPhone.

Netflix on the iPhone Will Work - But Only With Offline Mode | Epicenter | Wired.com

[ECONORAM]

Cd, I put a filter on the phone, the DishNetwork receiver, my fax machine too! This reminds me, I think I forgot a phone. I really appreciate Snax' inputs, I think I will file that in my computer tips book so I can dig it up each time I move. My neighbors just moved in, and this will probably be useful to them too. I like the completely separate line idea, I just cannot do that in the house I am renting.

[solarguy]

I currently use an air card, which is like a cell phone, but no voice capability at all. Plugs into the USB port on my laptop. My current plan is about $60 per mo, I get good signal at home and at work. In my region (three states, more or less) I get unlimited download/upload/data. Stability has been pretty good. It drops out perhaps twice a week. I use it 10 hrs per day for work, and >8 hrs/day overnight to get my podcast stuff for the Ipod. Lots and lots and lots of data.

The big drawback is speed. It's noticeably faster than my dialup, but slower than any other kind of high speed. Youtube takes 3x to 4x the time to download. So, 4 minute video = 12 minute download.

It works for me, maybe not for you, as no voice unless you do skype or something. Probably too slow for that.

Finest regards,

troy

[winkosmosis]

A cell phone data plan is expensive and AFAIK all of them require a 2 year contract.

But there are data only services that don't have a contract. Look into Clear 4G which I think is available in Austin now.

[Niner]

I have Verizon Wireless internet, using a MiFi 2200 router device. It basically acts as wifi for my and my wife's computer. I live out in the country where DSL and cable are unavailable. I had dish internet through WildBlue for a year; it was fast enough but the latency even browsing was a killer. We live 1/2 mile from a 3G tower, so I get full bars and an excellent signal. It's also nice that when we go somewhere, we can bring the internet with and whoever is not driving can surf (wife runs a home-based "party" style business, I am sometimes offsite support for IT stuff).

I'm planning on moving soon and high on our priority list is ending somewhere with DSL or cable. It's not the speed of 3G that kills me, it's the download cap. With no kids, it's very easy to hit 5GB every month. I'm a geek so I like to surf a lot, but I have to curb a lot of that. On the other hand, my counterpart at our corporate office uses Sprint's 3G network and doesn't hit the cap, and he's got 3 kids at home (although he has a firewall setup to limit daily usage to 1 hour). If you can find Sprint 4G, that's claimed to be really unlimited, capped at 5gb if you roam back onto the 3G network.

[Varn]

I have a US cellular wireless modem. Connection speed is a crap shoot. At my farm I have seen speeds of 1.5mhz at my house It is usually 200-400kbs. I am further away from a tower and through many hills at my farm. My connection goes dormant about everyother day and then a dance of disconnecting and updating prl begins.

I have a 4ghz/month contract. I never go over 1.5ghz. cost including the spanish/american war tax is 73 dollars a month. Where I live and commute to US cellular is the main player. Verizon and others are purported to be weak by their users.

The icon on my desktop for it is labeled "lame internet connection" I mean it.

We don't have any wired connection that can pull more than 3kbs.

I am using an old dish network dish to improve the power of reception .

[bestclimb]

I have internet sharing with my android phone, costs nothing more than having the phone and data plan (unlimited data is the only option my provider has). It is a nice crutch for when not in a WIFI but it sucks dead frog compared to my dsl at home.

[dcb]

I give t-mobile an extra $10 a month for unlimited gsm "internet for phones". My old sgh-t639 and some really crappy software and a $3 usb cable make for an internet connection for my laptop when no other is available. It's slow but manageable and lets me work from wherever. I do have the top tier data pipe to the house though, but without the phone/tv. I don't need two phone numbers, can skype when the minutes get low, and use netflix and terrestrial broadcast now that the reception doesn't suck.

[Cd]

Hey... wow. Almost forgot about this thread.
I have had an HTC EVO 4G phone for a couple of months now, and I can confidently say that dropping home DSL for mobile internet is finally a reality.
I have had some issues with the cell towers where I live, but in other areas of Austin, I have seen speeds of right at 9 Mbps. ( 8.9 )
Gone are the days of ' mobile' web pages. Smart phones display the web every bit as good as a PC.

If you drop your phone and internet and simply replace them with a smart phone, the cost even out.

( And yes I'm on the phone typing this )

And the best part ? This particular phone is one of the least efficient smartphones out there, yet uses only 4 watts. Compare that to a desktop PC and the difference is staggering.
It takes me roughly an hour and a half to fully charge the phone, which uses 4 watts per hour measured with a Kill-A- Watt meter.
Browsing the internet, I can get 8-10 hrs on a single charge. That's 6 watts consumed in 10 hours

[Cd]

It's slightly amusing to think that at 1ghz, this phone has a faster processor than my desktop did just a few years ago.
I'll be laughing again next year at how slow this thing was to have only 1ghz.
I read that a typical dual core pc today will out run the fastest super computer from just fifteen years ago. Imagine that - a dual core laptop takes under 100 watts to do what a 15 year old supercomputer did with several megawatts of electricity.