Posted on 09/10/2011 9:13:43 AM PDT by ErnBatavia
I'm a techno-dinosaur who's way behind the curve....we have a laptop,HP, Win7 which works just fine on the home wireless network.
What I'm wonderin' is if there is even such a thing:
Some sort of prepaid USB plug in card that would allow us to get on the internet during power outages, while driving or traveling, or at some locale that doesn't offer wireless - in other words, we'd like to be able to fire up anywhere we get cellphone service.
Preference would be a non-expiring 'number of minutes' thingie, kind of like a prepaid phone calling card. I know that simply buying a high-tech smart phone would solve this dilemma, but I really don't want to go that route, if at all possible.
So - is there such stuff around, and can anyone steer me in a certain direction?
Can anyone address the external antenna question permitting your computer to receive a broadband signal from say miles away. I believe that there were such antennas. I may have seen a home made one in Germany made from a coffe can.
bump for later read
It is a real pain when you don’t want to pay for another card/service.
I have a phone that allows tethering and use a USB Cable to the phone.
Before they had all these restrictions on the wireless, I used to use my blue tooth to tether. There might be a solution out there like it, but that is the best. You are able to use your phone for internet and not have any wires attached to it.
>> permitting your computer to receive a broadband signal from say miles away
If you’re talking about *cellular broadband”, check out the 3GStore site. THey sell the products, but more importantly they have *great* tutorials on the hows and whys (and why nots) of antennas.
http://www.3gstore.com
http://3gstore.com/page/13_will_an_antenna_help_me.html
IF you’re NOT talking about cellular broadband, then I’m afraid I won’t be of much help.
I bought a can-tenna and it was a POS. I couldn’t tell it did anything.
At any rate, our usage would be very infrequent, so any kind of monthly plan doesn't make sense in our case.
What got me thinking more about this was the power blackout in SoCal a couple of days ago - would have loved internet to see what the heck was going on.
wireless access bookmark
>> our usage would be very infrequent, so any kind of monthly plan doesn’t make sense in our case.
That’s understandable. I’m not sure there *are* any “prepaid bandwidth” plans though — tell you what, if you run across one, please let *me* know!
FRegards
Sprint offers 3G and 4G. I have both of them. 4G is great if you’re in a city that has it. It’s faster. For travel I find the 3G device is better. It’s smaller, about the size of a credit card, and works almost anywhere there are cell towers. It’s so much better and cheaper than trying to connect to the hotel wi-fi.
Don’t even think about downloading a lot of images using 3G. It’s slow.
What I do is go to all my favorite websites before heading out and then put my computer on sleep. Once out on the highway I have the pages already loaded.
ping
Can-tenna’s have a weakness the makers wont tell you or discuss. Yes, they’ll pick up and strengthen a distant signal, but using that signal depends on your wifi signal that you send(your notebook)communicating with it. That signal is strengthened(received signal at your end), your signal(the one you send by your equiptment) because of distance will fail to do the job. Of course, geometry of buildings may play significantly in all this, so that receiving is difficult and the cantenna is handy , but sending is no problem.
No one is addressing the power outage issue.
Cellular broadband to you is dependent on a cellular antenna installation in YOUR neighborhood. Dont know if the power goes out that they have battery backup for 30mins or more or if that battery backup is more robust and can last 12 hours or more. But the whole infastructure of cellular can cascade down with the power outage immediately or after their batteries die.
Depends on how far you want to extend it. At best wifi is good for a couple hundred feet.
I’ve seen people with these USB type mini-pole antennas and they get signals from three miles away across the bay from a campground.
Ah, I know what you’re talking about. They work, but you need line of site, and like a satellite dish, you have to physically point your antennae at the broadcast antenna. It’s not as easy or as practical as it sounds.
M, ‘ kay - I saw this thing made out of a beer can and you point it towards a source - the can somehow focus’ the beam to the antenna. My question is - would the laptop see the external antenna or just keep using the internal one?
I was a little surprised that the cell towers were still up and running.
We ended up getting our juice back after only six hours, but that was sufficient, given the fact that the afternoon temperature was 112.
The external antenna. The internal antenna, or rather the whole internal wifi is turned off and the external antena is connected to a usb wifi unit.
If you were too look at your system properties, you’d find two network adapters with one disabled as long as you keep the external one plugged in.
Okay, thanks. Will try it.
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