Whatever? Wireless standards are all over the map. LAN technology has long settled on 10/100 Ethernet with Gigabit Ethernet the emerging standard that's backwards compatible with earlier 10/100 standards. For wireless, the one common thread is WiFi. Nearly every wireless device can now communicate on a WiFi 802.11 b/g/n network. That would be great if you could connect to WiFi everywhere you go. Unfortunately, that’s far from the case.One solution is to use a WiFi router at home or in the office and then go out in search of WiFi hotspots all over town. We hang out in our favorite restaurants and coffee shops to be able to connect our computing devices. In-between we simply go without.
The only nationwide wireless broadband network available is the cellular phone network. Cell phone towers were originally erected to provide a cordless mobile phone telephone service. It wasn’t long before the cell phone channels were doing double duty. Some were still assigned to carry phone conversations. Others were set up to transport Internet data. The latest technology is 4G. It’s fast and reliable, but it is still in the process of deployment. Can you get 4G? Maybe, maybe not. It depends on where you are. The established standard is 3G wireless. it’s available just about everywhere and gives you the same bandwidth performance as a basic DSL service. In many cases, it works as well as the T1 line at the office.
Many people have 3G wireless plans on their smartphones. That’s an excellent way to always have broadband with you. Some plans are set up for tethering. You can share your 3G mobile wireless broadband with several other devices using WiFi. In essence, you become the WiFi hotspot everywhere you need one.
That’s great if you happen to have a 3G smartphone with a tethering options. But what if you don’t? Is it possible to have 3G connectivity to your laptop, notebook, tablet or e-reader?
You bet it is. What you need is known as a wireless modem aircard. This is the radio set that connects to the cellular network. How does it connect to your device? There are two methods. For laptop computers, a broadband USB modem just plugs into an open USB connector. This device looks like one of those memory “dongles.” In this case, the primary function is wireless connectivity. It may do double duty if it also has a Micro-SD slot so that you can plug in a memory card up to 32 GB. That way you only need to carry one device for both file storage and wireless connectivity.
A more universal solution is MiFi mobile hotspot. This is a device about the size of a deck of cards that has a wireless modem aircard, battery and WiFi card all built-in. What it does is connect the 3G cellular wireless network to your device using WiFi. There are no wires involved. You can support up to 4 WiFi enabled devices from your MiFi anywhere you can get a cellular signal.
How much does it cost to get mobile wireless 3G broadband? DataJack has plans starting at under $10 for 200 MB. That’s pretty light duty for email and some Web browsing. If you need more, pick a 500 MB, 1GB or 5GB plan. They’ve got a chart to help you pick the right size wireless plan. The 200 MB plan is good for some 800 Web pages or 20,000 emails a month. The big 5GB plan will cover 20,000 Web Pages or 500,000 emails a month. These are just estimates, of course. Downloading music, video or apps will burn through those MB faster than general Web browsing or email activity.
If you go to a cell phone store to buy 3G wireless, they’ll hand you a 2 year contract to sign. Buy your plan through DataJack and you’ll have nationwide coverage (check the map to be sure your area is covered) with no contact, no termination fees and no activation fee. if you decide you don’t really need it anymore, you aren’t stuck for months or years paying through the nose.
By the way, another great use for one of these 3G wireless services is backup for your desktop computer. How big of a disaster is it if your Cable or DSL goes out while you are in the middle of something important? With a wireless option, you can keep working on the Internet during outages plus have mobile capability the rest of the time.
Does this sound like the service you’ve been wanting but didn’t know was available? Learn more, check coverage and order your DataJack Mobile Wireless 3G Broadband service now.
