Excellent Solution to a Difficult Problem
Category Wireless WAN EVDO SPRINT WWAN
My in-laws have a problem, a good problem to have actually.
They're snowbirds.
They spend a little more than half the year here in Indiana, the rest in Florida. The best of both worlds is the idea...but it does create problems.
Since I am the extended family's technology goto guy, I have been dealt the card to figure out how to get my in-laws high speed Internet access, without breaking the bank (ie paying for separate services year-round in each location.)
Compounding this need of geographic dispersity with the problem of limited choice in both locations...basically the only real option to this point was the cable providers
I finally have a solution.
The answer is Wireless Wide Area Networking or WWAN.
There are basically two flavors of wireless networks: UTMS/GSM (think Cingular and T-Mobile) and CDMA (think Sprint and Verizon.) On UTMS/GSM networks you can get data service for Internet access via GPRS (slightly better than dialup), EDGE (about 2x dialup - this is what I have from T-Mobile in my Sony Vaio UX280) and HSDPA (upto 1.8Mbps) . On the CDMA networks you get 1xRTT (slightly worse than dialup) or 1xEVDO which comes in two flavors: Rev-0 (upto 2.4Mbps) or Rev-A (upto 3.1Mbps) neither Rev0 or RevA can sustain those speeds and in practical usage expect less than half the max rating and note that all mobile broadband connections have a high degree of latency (but they are still mostly better than pokey slow dialup.) All of the options are slower then DSL or Cable, but the flexibility of the fact that they are WIRELESS makes up all the difference.
I told my in-laws to get Sprint EVDO since it is only $59,99/month for nearly unlimited usage and available in Rev 0 in Indiana and Florida. Indy will be getting Rev A during early 2007, and Florida will get it in the late summer or early fall.
My in-laws signed up for a Sprint Data account, purchased a $99 Novatel Merlin S720 EVDO PC-Card, and a LinkSys Mobile Broadband 802.11abg router.
The Merlin card fits into my father-in-laws notebook whenever he is traveling (he goes on golf trips), otherwise it resides in the Linksys router. The router allows both of my in-laws to simultaneously access the Internet via WiFi connectivity from their notebooks. Annabelle can be in the living room playing Yahoo Euchre while Paul is in the den paying bills.
When it is time to snowbird, they simply unplug the router from the wall, pack it and the notebooks up, and travel to the other house. Once they arrive, they unpack everything and plug the router back into the wall. Instant high-speed Internet wherever you go (as long as there is Sprint EVDO service)
Problem solved.
My in-laws have a problem, a good problem to have actually.
They're snowbirds.
They spend a little more than half the year here in Indiana, the rest in Florida. The best of both worlds is the idea...but it does create problems.
Since I am the extended family's technology goto guy, I have been dealt the card to figure out how to get my in-laws high speed Internet access, without breaking the bank (ie paying for separate services year-round in each location.)
Compounding this need of geographic dispersity with the problem of limited choice in both locations...basically the only real option to this point was the cable providers
I finally have a solution.
The answer is Wireless Wide Area Networking or WWAN.
There are basically two flavors of wireless networks: UTMS/GSM (think Cingular and T-Mobile) and CDMA (think Sprint and Verizon.) On UTMS/GSM networks you can get data service for Internet access via GPRS (slightly better than dialup), EDGE (about 2x dialup - this is what I have from T-Mobile in my Sony Vaio UX280) and HSDPA (upto 1.8Mbps) . On the CDMA networks you get 1xRTT (slightly worse than dialup) or 1xEVDO which comes in two flavors: Rev-0 (upto 2.4Mbps) or Rev-A (upto 3.1Mbps) neither Rev0 or RevA can sustain those speeds and in practical usage expect less than half the max rating and note that all mobile broadband connections have a high degree of latency (but they are still mostly better than pokey slow dialup.) All of the options are slower then DSL or Cable, but the flexibility of the fact that they are WIRELESS makes up all the difference.
I told my in-laws to get Sprint EVDO since it is only $59,99/month for nearly unlimited usage and available in Rev 0 in Indiana and Florida. Indy will be getting Rev A during early 2007, and Florida will get it in the late summer or early fall.
My in-laws signed up for a Sprint Data account, purchased a $99 Novatel Merlin S720 EVDO PC-Card, and a LinkSys Mobile Broadband 802.11abg router.
The Merlin card fits into my father-in-laws notebook whenever he is traveling (he goes on golf trips), otherwise it resides in the Linksys router. The router allows both of my in-laws to simultaneously access the Internet via WiFi connectivity from their notebooks. Annabelle can be in the living room playing Yahoo Euchre while Paul is in the den paying bills.
When it is time to snowbird, they simply unplug the router from the wall, pack it and the notebooks up, and travel to the other house. Once they arrive, they unpack everything and plug the router back into the wall. Instant high-speed Internet wherever you go (as long as there is Sprint EVDO service)
Problem solved.
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