When the kid is in tech school, he will not have access to the internet except for a handful of public computers which are apparently constantly in use. He could be in tech school for over a year. :zoinks:

The only way I see it being possible is with a laptop (they don't have room for desktops which means I have now inherited FrankenComputer currently festering in the basement) and a cellular connection.

IIRC, cellular speeds used to be slower than using a can and string, but that was 2+ years ago.

Any thoughts on this? And what would be the cost be to get a standard laptop ready for cellular?

Thanks! :)



Last edited by Peaches at Mar 19 2004, 07:49 PM

with verison I get 14.4 I can upgrade to a faster speed for 39 bucks a month. but I dont use it that much.

I did just setup my phone with yahoo messenger,it's very geeky and cool now I'm always around ; ))

if anyone needs me yahoo user is= dannyjh61 dont expect a novel back though if I'm on my phone, fingers way to big: )

I have T-mobile that uses GPRS which is one of the newer cell technologies. I pay $20 a month for unlimited internet and get about 128k if I have a good cell signal. Seeing as my laptop and cell phone both have Bluetooth the phone just has to be within 20 feet of my laptop.

But even 128k is painful if you are used to broadband.

Thanks guys, the last I remember it was 14.4 tops with cellular so 128 doesn't look so bad. Especially since NO internet is the alternative. :P

peaches, i use EDGE from att
i get near broadband speeds, speed tests showed 660 kb/s
$80 a month unlimited


but for some reason i really doubt that his tech school wont be providing free broadband to everyone ... you know to download mp3s, dvds and play games :)

Thanks :)

Amazingly, there is NO internet OR phone access in any of the rooms and the nearest place are the public computers which are 15 minutes from the dorms. I wish someone had come up with that idea for his college - his grades would have been a lot better B) Finally a place where he HAS to take things seriously. :P

Is there WiFi anyplace near by?

WiFi Finder

Not if he ends up where we think he'll be - Biloxi, MS. :(

Dang, for fun I checked to see if we had any here - of course not. So I tried Marietta where we moved from - 8 of them and 6 are Starbucks! I didn't even know there were that many Starbucks IN Marietta, lol! :P

Great link though - thanks :)

I think Cleo may be a little optimistic on that speed estimate with GPRS. With GSM currently you'll get performance very similar to a 56K modem if you have a good clear signal. If you see 128K, it's very likely with compression.

EDGE is much faster but not all that widely available and carries a price premium.

In either case, make sure you get an "unlimited" data plan and make sure the time you're using it isn't charged against your minutes. As you well know, you can burn thru a couple of hours and several megabytes of data in a hurry just tending to email.

Another alternative is an old college trick with those public computer rooms. Learn how to make the whole room go down whenever you need to get online....most people will just get up and leave instead of wait for it to come back up. All ya gotta do is find the right wire to temporarily unplug. :awinky:

He could just drive around and find all the unsecured hotspots. I recently printed to one of my neighbor's printers just for grins. It's amazing how many people setup a network without putting a password on their network. :D

Yeah 128k is the reported download speed as I'm downloading files so it may be with compression, not sure. It is painfully slow and doesn't seem to like trying to access more then one page at a time. It is great for accessing, slowly, mapquest when I'm in the middle of nowhere trying to find something seeing as I have zero sense of direction.

No cars, no driving around. :(

One of the beauties living where I do - it would be close to impossible for someone to pick up a signal. B)

And HP, we do NOT condone messing with the US Government's electricity - geeze! Not to mention they probably have triple redundancy. :P

Probably can't have a dish, but if he can that is another way to get internet.
http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/imagine/Inte...ernetAccess.dsp

Not sure how good it is but they say it works anyplace with a view of the southern sky.

No cars, no driving around. :(

One of the beauties living where I do - it would be close to impossible for someone to pick up a signal. B)

And HP, we do NOT condone messing with the US Government's electricity - geeze! Not to mention they probably have triple redundancy. :P[/b][/quote]
I aint talking taking out the whole base, just one computer room, and you can bet it's not redundant. Just find where the ethernet enters the building and clip it...then you can plug and unplug as needed... :rolleyes:

The current GPRS cannot get faster than 53,6kb/s.