She might be able to use blue tooth and a cell phone, but that's not something I've ever worked with. Pinging some folks who might know more.
They also make add-on cards that connect to what is basically like a cell signal. You have to have a subscription for that to work, and it's pretty expensive and, I'd guess, there aren't too many places to connect outside of major cities. Verizon's page with info on that is here.
The specs: Dell "Inspiron" B130; Windows XP; 512MB shard memory; Intel® Pentium® M 735 Processor (1.70GHz, 400MHz FSB, 2MB Cache; 3 usb ports; Express Cards slot (54mm); 56 K v92 Modem; Integrated 10/100 Ethernet; A wireless card installed but not sure whether it's a Dell 1370 or a Dell 1470; 40 Gig HD.
Right before I got out of trucking (otr), Flying J was setting up Wi-Fi access at all of their locations. Don't know if that's still in the works, but have her contact them for more info.
Sprint $49.99 for the card, $59.99 unlimited access, Sprint now offers Mobile Broadband in more than 220 markets (cities with a population of 100K or more) - now covering more than 152 million people.
http://www.sprint.com/business/products/products/wirelessHighSpeedData_tabC.html
He disabled the internal one because the Hawking has superior range compared the the Dell internal.
He stops at truckstops that have wifi hotspots in the parking lot like Flying J and Petro.
Most of the national truckstop chains have them.
He pays something like $30 / month for nationwide access at certain truck stops.
He says that the most important part of this is the Hawking adapter, it has superior range compared to anything else.
Ping.
ping
If its a new laptop all you need is a wireless "G" access point. They are very easy to setup and get going by virtually anyone.
I can't stress this enough. BE SURE to enable security, at least WEP to keep people from accessing your network and or sniffing your traffic. When I'm bored I'll sometimes grab a laptop out of the office, fire up Ethereal and ride around town during my lunch hour. It would literally scare the hell out of people how many businesses have completely wide open wireless networks, using applications that transfer data in insecure ways.
I see a lot of discussion about using cellphones for connectivity, but if she only needs access when she is not driving the built in wireless should work just fine...no need for additional equipment or services.
Most large truck stops and many hotel/motels now offer free or inexpensive wireless. The laptop should auto-detect any available access points and most likely she will only need a mouse click to connect.
The only reason she would need data access via cellphone is if she needs to have on demand connectivity between rest stops.
This week my company hooked me up with wireless. I furthered my education quite a bit. We have a Verizon wireless card, which is essentially a cell phone in my laptop that provides the connection. It works reasonably well, the speed is decent, costs $60 per month but requires a contract of one year.
Unfortunately I can't get service at home with it, as I live somewhat in the boondocks. I was looking forward to surfing the net in bed, but such is not to be.