There are 4 cards that cingular uses. Not all are available in all
areas. Most are. You can go to http://www.cingular.com , click in the
upper left button called 'shop cingular', then choose 'PC CARDS'.
They arent really that different from each other, except in the
networks they use. Some use both cingular networks.
There are two different networks that cingular offers to get you
online from the road like that. One is called 'edge' network and it is
only slightly faster than the speed of a home dial-up modem. between
40-150KBPS.
The other network name eludes me, maybe being the 3G UMTS/HSDPA
network. Cards that can connect to this network allow speeds of
400-700KBPS with burst speeds of over a megabit.
The package plans for these cards are not cheap at all, ranging from
just a few MB a month for 20 dollars, which is enough to check your
email a few times, to unlimited plan for 60-70 dollars.
The reason I did not include links to cingular.com website was due to
as soon as you click a link there, it asks you for a zip code, of
yours I did not know. Cingular also requires sometimes a 2 year
service agreement with the purchase of a wireless card. This is why I
will recommend an option you might have not thought about. As opposed
to buying a whole new pc card to connect to the internet, consider
what kind of cell phone you have. Many new ones allow you to plug it
into your laptop for a number of reasons by using a data cable. One
important reason is to allow you to connect to the internet using it.
The speeds on cingular's network this way are between 100-300KBPS,
which is fast enough to surf the web decently, chat over IM, send
email, etc. This has two bonus's. One, you dont need to buy a whole
new PC card for your computer, and two you dont need a 2 year
agreement with them. It still may cost the 60 dollars extra a month
for the "DATA CONNECT" plan from cingular, but it is much cheaper and
easier in the long run. I use the Motorola Razr to do this when I am
on the road. And if you ask nicely enough at the phone dealership when
you upgrade to a data connect plan, they will just give you the data
cable for free.
I hope this helps answer your question. I saw it sitting here all lonely. |
