Stay Connected
CUT THE CORD
Stay connected to the web even while you’re on the go.
If you’ve got a BlackBerry or mobile phone, sending a quick email is simple. However, if you’re working on a laptop, your wireless access is not anytime-anywhere. By now, it’s standard for laptops to come with Wi-ficards built in. Th ose are great if you’re sitting within the relatively short range of a wireless access point.
But what happens when you get outside of the cozy, connected wireless internet bubble in your home, office or local coff ee shop? Chances are you won’t be able to browse the web or send email. But unlike the more common Wi-ficards, which only provide connectivity near hot spots, wireless PC cards that use cellular networks allow you to connect to the web or send emails wherever you can use your cell phone. You’ll usually need to buy the card as well as a monthly data plan, but the combination will give you the ability to work from almost anywhere.
Cellular wireless networks deliver download speeds of about 500 KB, and may go as high as 2 MB. That’s blazingly fast next to speeds that such networks off ered only a few years ago—and certainly adequate for sending email. But next to a hard-wired internet hook-up or a Wi-ficonnection (with 54 MB speeds), cellular wireless—off ered by the same companies that provide regular cellular voice calling services— may leave you twiddling your thumbs at times, particularly if you’re hoping to browse the web at the same pace you do in the office.
To connect to a wireless network, you can use a variety of devices. Th ere’s the old standby Type II card slot as well as ExpressCard/34 cards and the now ubiquitous USB port. Th ese look a lot like cards for Wi-ficonnectivity, but the guts inside are diff erent; if you have a device that connects your laptop to your home wireless network, it won’t work for cellular networks.
Sierra Wireless (www.sierrawireless.com) makes a host of cards, but chances are you’ll just buy a wireless card from your cellular provider in the way that most people buy cell phones.
Verizon, for example, off ers cards that cost between $50 and $180, but if you sign up for a two-year agreement, it’ll cut $50 from the price.
Plans tend to mirror the cost of a regular monthly cellular voice plan. As with voice plans, you’ll have to commit to a year or two of service with an early-termination fee. AT&T off ers an unlimited data plan for $79.99.
As opposed to cell phone subscriptions where plans are divided by daytime and nights/ weekends, data plans are not time specific. Rates for data plans are generally lower if you also have a voice plan with the same cellular carrier. Of course, if you’re not just thinking of your own computer freedom, but also considering getting a portion of your whole workforce out of the office, the telecom providers off er discounted bulk business rates, too. —Lee Gimpel