Wireless Air Cards

My wife and I will be taking a trip in late march early april that starts off in SAS and ends in FTW. We will be on every Train in the Western Route. I am contemplating buying a no-contract wireless air card for our laptop so we can stay in touch and log our trip.My current cell phone carrier does not offer an aircard option(MetroPCS). I would like to know if this is an option worth exploring or should I just leave the laptop at home and just pen my journal. Is there good reception on all of these routes ,or is reception sparse?Any advise/suggestions will be truly heeded as I've come to find out , You guys really know your stuff!!! Thanks

boxcar817 said:

My wife and I will be taking a trip in late march early april that starts off in SAS and ends in FTW. We will be on every Train in the Western Route. I am contemplating buying a no-contract wireless air card for our laptop so we can stay in touch and log our trip.My current cell phone carrier does not offer an aircard option(MetroPCS). I would like to know if this is an option worth exploring or should I just leave the laptop at home and just pen my journal. Is there good reception on all of these routes ,or is reception sparse?Any advise/suggestions will be truly heeded as I've come to find out , You guys really know your stuff!!! Thanks

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Well, you don't need to leave your laptop at home, you can at least type your journal (makes it easier to post the trip report here, right? ) My thought is check into Virgin Mobile. They have reasonable rates and decent coverage. Now, on sections of the Empire Builder, even cell coverage is sparse, so data won't be great either. But for most of your journey, you should get coverage. That's my suggestion.

First, understand that if you do choose to get a card, you won't have stellar service like you would sitting at home. In most places, if you do have service, it's generally better than say dial-up would be, but far below what DSL would provide.

As for how well you'll do on the trains, I tend to find mixed results. The Empire Builder is the worst for service, it's very hard to get online for very long, except between Chicago and Minneapolis. Most other routes do better, however without a doubt you'll get your best results nearest the bigger cities. Get up into the mountains, like on the Builder or the Coast Starlight, and signals will be tough to come by.

Bottom line, don't expect to be able to stay online for the whole trip, don't expect stellar speeds, but you will be able to get online and check emails, this forum , and to make posts and such.

One piece of advice, write any long posts in a word processor and cut and paste the text into the posting screens. It's a real bummer to spend 15 minutes writing a post, only to click the post button and watch everything disapear because the signal dropped or just got too weak to carry the data.

if you don't want a contract you can rent a air card http://www.aircardrental.com/ but i think it costs more

Remember that there are places like coffee shops and fast food restaurants all over the country that have wifi that you can use during layovers. When I am driving long distances and need to use the internet I just pull into a McDonald's that is just off of the interstate exit; sometimes I don't even get out of the car.

I have a 2 week cross country trip scheduled for late summer and I plan to take my netbook with me for which I do not have a wireless plan. Last fall I did some research and decided that Virgin Mobile offered the best service for my needs. However, I just a quick google search and discovered that Verizon now has, or soon will have, prepaid broadband. I have been told that out west Verizon has better coverage than other carriers, but I do not know (I rarely get out of Florida or the east coast of the US). I plan to do more research and compare the costs and coverage before my trip.

I mostly take the NE Corridor/Acela, and of course you get good signal most of the way.

I also take the Empire Builder from Seattle to Wenatchee (WEN) and I actually get good service most of the way. Most likely because the route coincides with the highway across the Cascades, and so there are a few cell towers along the route. Still get some dropouts, including the tunnel, but it's enough to be able to send e-mail and do some online news reading.

Thank you all for the good advise. The Air card rental was quite high at $130. for two weeks.Virgin looks like the most affordable but coverage on the EB will be really sparse no matter who you use. I couldn't cipher out what Verizon really offered so I will talk to them later today. At&t wants a two year contrct. Never the less I will be taking my laptop with me and storing my journal and posting where I can. We will be in Chi on two seperate nights ,and Flagstaff two consecutive nights. These hotels offer computer connectivity,so I will be taking advantage of that. Thanks to all who replied

If you are going to have your computer with you I suggest that you run mapping software with a GPS unit. I use http://www.amazon.com/DeLorme-Earthmate-GP...9791&sr=1-1 on my little Asus 1000HE - and one of our friends will tell you to get Microsoft - they are both good, be sure to get one

Guest said:

Remember that there are places like coffee shops and fast food restaurants all over the country that have wifi that you can use during layovers. When I am driving long distances and need to use the internet I just pull into a McDonald's that is just off of the interstate exit; sometimes I don't even get out of the car.

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They just did a tear down, and full new build, of the McDonald's near me. With the re-build, part of the new operations is that they now charge for WiFi. I would not surprise me at all, if that is were McD's is generally heading.

Guest said:

Guest said:

Remember that there are places like coffee shops and fast food restaurants all over the country that have wifi that you can use during layovers. When I am driving long distances and need to use the internet I just pull into a McDonald's that is just off of the interstate exit; sometimes I don't even get out of the car.

Click to expand...

They just did a tear down, and full new build, of the McDonald's near me. With the re-build, part of the new operations is that they now charge for WiFi. I would not surprise me at all, if that is were McD's is generally heading.

Click to expand...

Well not all of them have it free, but the free wifi was something that they just started in January. I don't know what is going on at your restaurant, but over 80% have gone from pay to free so that is where it is heading once you look at the big picture.

boxcar817 said:

Thank you all for the good advise. The Air card rental was quite high at $130. for two weeks.

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You might check craigslist and/or ebay for a wireless broadband modem - buy one for not much money and you have it for whenever you want it

I have been all over the country with Verizon aircards and cell. I have no real problems to report. Sometimes the coverage is a little spotty, and sometimes the internet a little slow if you are off the 3G network. But the aircards on 3G work better than DSL at home.

One caveat. My experience with pre-paid services in the past is that you do not get the same coverages. You won't be able to access the non-home-network towers that Verizon, AT&T, and others contract with to fill in the gaps. They reserve that for their prime customers.

If anyone wants a Sprint aircard, I have an extra Compass 597 I want to get rid of. NOT the latest and greatest, but $30 isn't a heck of a lot of money

One other thought if you don't want to invest in an aircard or get locked into a contract.... Depending on the phone you have now, some carriers will allow you to add a "Phone as Modem" or "Tethering" option for a nominal monthly fee, without requiring you to sign a contract. This allows you to connect your cell phone to your computer and use it as if it was a broadband card. Typically, that would only be an option if you had a "Smartphone" or a Blackberry. I'm not sure if MetroPCS offers this service, but I know for a fact that Sprint does.

chertling said:

One other thought if you don't want to invest in an aircard or get locked into a contract.... Depending on the phone you have now, some carriers will allow you to add a "Phone as Modem" or "Tethering" option for a nominal monthly fee, without requiring you to sign a contract. This allows you to connect your cell phone to your computer and use it as if it was a broadband card. Typically, that would only be an option if you had a "Smartphone" or a Blackberry. I'm not sure if MetroPCS offers this service, but I know for a fact that Sprint does.

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Don't pay for an add on tethering fee when you can just use pdanet and tether for free.

Guest said:

Guest said:

Remember that there are places like coffee shops and fast food restaurants all over the country that have wifi that you can use during layovers. When I am driving long distances and need to use the internet I just pull into a McDonald's that is just off of the interstate exit; sometimes I don't even get out of the car.

Click to expand...

They just did a tear down, and full new build, of the McDonald's near me. With the re-build, part of the new operations is that they now charge for WiFi. I would not surprise me at all, if that is were McD's is generally heading.

Click to expand...

Starbucks is now charging for WiFi.

I am a Guest said:

Guest said:

Guest said:

Remember that there are places like coffee shops and fast food restaurants all over the country that have wifi that you can use during layovers. When I am driving long distances and need to use the internet I just pull into a McDonald's that is just off of the interstate exit; sometimes I don't even get out of the car.

Click to expand...

They just did a tear down, and full new build, of the McDonald's near me. With the re-build, part of the new operations is that they now charge for WiFi. I would not surprise me at all, if that is were McD's is generally heading.

Click to expand...

Starbucks is now charging for WiFi.

Click to expand...

Free wifi at Starbucks is easy. It is not just open like McD, but google it and you will see the couple of hoops you have to go through.