Mobile Wireless 3G Broadband

Most of us are now broadband dependent. We really can’t function if we can’t get connected to the Internet. That’s meant a wireline solution for the home and office and whatever on the go.

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.

Pay As You Go Broadband

Do you realize that there are millions of frustrated Internet users who don’t have broadband yet? You do if you happen to be one of them. WiFi hotspots and public access computers are fine up to a point. But you really want and need broadband on the privacy of your home computer or when you are on the go. What do you do when you can’t get DSL or Cable broadband?

One excellent answer is to go wireless. This is what every smartphone does. But what about that desktop computer? It needs a wire plugged in the back, doesn’t it?

Not anymore. Many of today’s computers, like the Apple iMac, have wireless connectivity built-in. It’s there to make it easy to locate your computer wherever you want without the hassle of drilling holes in the wall or floor and stringing wires. Most everyone connects their broadband modem to a WiFi router to enable all sorts of devices, such as game consoles, laptop and notebook computers, Internet-enabled TVs and tablets. So, why don’t you just connect your computers to the Internet by WiFi?

Nice idea, but unless you happen to live in a restaurant or hotel, just where are you going to get a WiFi broadband signal? From a DataJack MiFi, of course.

The MiFi is a beautiful device. It’s about the size of a deck of cards. Inside is a rechargeable battery, a WiFi hotspot that connects up to 5 WiFi enabled devices, plus a 3G wireless radio. The broadband signal is provided wirelessly from a myriad of 3G cellular broadband signals that are available in most populated places and some areas out in the boonies. You can check coverage to see if the signal blankets the areas where you live, work and roam. If so, you’re in luck.

But, wait a second. Doesn’t 3G broadband require you to sign a two year contract and go through a credit check? If you march into a cell phone store and demand service, that’s exactly what happens. There’s another alternative, however. That’s the DataJack 3G nationwide wireless network. DataJack offers 3G broadband service on a pay as you go basis. That means an affordable price, no contract fees, no credit check and no deposit required. Best of all, you can use DataJack to provide broadband to your desktop as well as your laptop and tablet computers.

You have a choice of connection device. You can buy a DataJack USB device that looks like a flash drive and plug it into the computer you want to power with broadband service. It even has a microSD memory card slot so you can take files with you like you would with any USB memory drive. Unlike a standard flash drive, this one lets you take 3G broadband to whatever computer you like.

The MiFi is a bit larger, but even more powerful. Some tablet computers and other devices are enabled for WiFi but don’t have USB jacks. The MiFi lets you set up a personal WiFi hotspot at the push of a button. Include your friends and colleagues or use all the capacity for yourself. When you need to move on, push the button again and slip the MiFi into your pocket.

The DataJack wireless broadband solution is ideal for many Internet users who either can’t get wireline broadband services or just don’t stay put in any one location enough to justify paying line charges for service they only occasionally use. It’s also great for mobile users who don’t want the commitment that comes with cellular contracts or the rejection of not having a great credit rating. Other users will find it’s a great backup service that keeps you connected when the Cable or DSL goes down.

The one caveat is that this service isn’t for heavy Internet addicts. If you are always downloading video programs, every song you can find or large software packages, you’ll find the 5GB monthly fair use limit restraining. For most everyone else, this is plenty of capacity for Web browsing, email, downloading content, order entry on the go, playing games and streaming video clips.

By the way, what broadband do you have when you leave town? Little or none with standard wireline services. With DataJack, you have broadband wherever you have signal coverage nationwide. Now, that’s Internet you can take with you.

Does this sound like the type of Internet service that would work for you? If so, learn more and get your DataJack 3G Wireless broadband device and service now.

MiFi Points The Way to Wireless Transition

Verizon Wireless just made an amazing announcement. They will be selling the Apple iPad in their stores. But aren’t Apple and AT&T exclusive partners? Indeed. So, why is Verizon selling a product that won’t work on their network? ...Or will it?

Yes, it will. How Verizon accomplished this clever feat of engineering points the way to the future of wireless broadband. Actually, not the future future. Just the immediate future. Call it the era of wireless transition.

Wireless technology has pretty much developed along two lines. One is the telecom carriers, including AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile. There are other players in the cellular wireless game, but they are simply private branded versions of the big four within the US. What characterizes the major carriers is that their offerings are proprietary. What works on AT&T won’t work on Verizon Wireless, and vice versa.

The other wireless path is an industry standard known a WiFi. It comes in flavors such as a, b, g, and n. But unlike telecom carrier services there is enough commonality and backwards compatibility that pretty much any WiFi device will work on pretty much any wireless router, hotspot or access point.

What Verizon has cleverly done is marry the two lines. They can’t get into the iPad through the front door, so the come in the back door. How? Very simple. They use an interface device to convert cellular to WiFi. That device is the MiFi. The Verizon MiFi is a little box about the size of a pack of cards. Inside is a cellular radio, a WiFi radio, a battery and some circuitry to make it all work. All you do is push a button to turn it on and the converter works automatically. It allows up to 5 wireless devices to gain access to the Verizon 3G wireless network as if they were Verizon-enabled to begin with.

The Verizon iPad will consist of an Apple iPad and a Verizon MiFi bundled together. They are separate pieces of equipment, but the MiFi will slip into your pocket or bag so it isn’t intrusive. At first blush, it may seem like having to carry around two pieces of equipment instead of just one is a big disadvantage for Verizon compared to AT&T. But Verizon may get the last laugh after all. The MiFi provides 3G connectivity for your iPad, but it also provides 3G connectivity for your other devices that don’t have their own 3G service built-in. That includes your laptop computer, netbook, games, and even your Apple iPod. If you had to buy separate 3G service for each device, you’d go broke. But one MiFi can serve whatever gadgets need connectivity, as long as they are WiFi enabled.

Verizon isn’t the only one with a MiFi. Novatel, maker of the MiFi, offers an unlocked version for GSM carriers AT&T and T-Mobile. There’s a MiFi specifically for Virgin Mobile. Sprint goes one further with their Sierra Wireless Overdrive 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot. It works on both the Sprint 3G Mobile Broadband network and its 4G WiMAX network. CLEAR offers a similar 3G/4G converter called Clear Spot.

Even these converters are transitional technology. Smartphones, starting with the Droid X by Motorola and Samsung Epic, have the cellular to WiFi hotspot capability built-in. This is likely to become a standard feature on smartphone designs, as WiFi and Bluetooth are the industry standard wireless technologies. WiFi has the greater transmission range.

Down the road a few years, the tide of wireless seems to be going in the direction of standardizing on LTE as a 4G standard. Cellular phone may give way to VoIP over LTE. At that point it will be hard to tell the difference between a mobile phone, a smartphone and a digital device like a tablet computer. Perhaps a single smart radio chip will provide universal wireless connectivity. Just pick your carrier and sign up for a service plan after you buy the device. The wireless transition era will be complete.

You Are A WiFi Finder

The ultimate in Internet geekiness may be available through ThinkGeek. It's a t-shirt that glows to indicate the strength of nearby WiFi hotspots. Put this on and Internet addicts will follow you anywhere. Better yet, BE the hotspot and you'll have them eating out of the palm of your hand... or at least the signal you're radiating.

The Wi-Fi Detector Shirt by ThinkGeek is a black cotton t-shirt with a removable decal that shows a tower and radiating signal lines. Those lines light up in proportion to the signal strength of a nearby 802.11b or 802.11g WiFi hotspot signal. The closer you get, the more it glows.

Oh, wait. I can see a couple on the beach running toward each other. Their detector shirts get brighter and brighter as they approach until finally...ZAP. The power of love was just too much for the detector circuits and they fizzled.

OK, that's probably a bit far-fetched. But there is a way to make your detector shirt glow brighter as you approach the object of your affection. All they need is to be carrying a MiFi Personal Hotspot. That's the cool new device that slips in a shirt or jacket pocket, or can be tucked into a laptop bag or purse. The MiFi combines a wireless modem aircard for Sprint or Verizon Wireless Internet service along with a WiFi card to create a completely wireless roving hotspot. It can be used to secretly give you broadband access where others have none. Well, not so secret when someone with a detector shirt nears.

Say, are you still in pursuit of a compatible significant other? In that case, YOU bring the MiFi hotspot and wear the shirt. Geeks in the know will immediately recognize your radiating 2.4 GHz powers to connect and gather near. You can let up to 5 of them share your walking broadband connection. Will they love you for it? Will they buy you food in return for your generous connectivity? They better. Otherwise, they get shunned as a more promising follower is enabled for WiFi Internet. As Tom Petty said, "It's good to be king."

By the way, if you aren't into being a hotspot on the hoof but still want to draw attention to yourself, there's also an equalizer T-Qualizer Shirt. It has one of those spectrum analyzer displays with the signal bars that you see on many stereo receivers. It's got a built-in microphone, so all you need to do is swagger into a club or party and switch on the EQ display. Why, the moving lights in time to the music might even have a hypnotic effect on those you wish to impress. It will be up to you to use that power for good and not evil... as I'm sure you will.

MiFi Hotspot Comes to Sprint

Wait! What's that slim silver box? Is that a cigarette case in your pocket? If so, how retro is that?

No? It's actually a WiFi hotspot? How avant-garde is THAT?

The silver case is actually the new Novatel MiFi 2200 Personal HotSpot for Sprint PC wireless service. A WiFi hotspot? Yes, indeed. OK, so where do you plug it in and where's the RJ-45 network connection?

You don't plug it in. It's wireless and portable. There's no power cube, no network cable, no stubby rubber antenna. All you see is a silver case that could be concealed in your palm or shirt pocket. There's a button on the front to activate it and LED indicators so you know the operational and battery status. But make no mistake about it, this is really a WiFi hotspot that performs as well or better than the ones you find in the coffee shop.

What's inside that slim silver case is a cellular transceiver that connects to the Sprint PCS data network. It runs the EVDO Rev 0 and Rev A mobile broadband protocols, with fallback to the slower 1xRTT if necessary. Peak download speed is 3. 1 Mbps. That's a LOT faster than what I've been seeing on the free restaurant WiFi services.

The other component inside the box is a WiFi transceiver that works with just about any Wi-Fi enabled device from laptop computer to gaming console to digital photo frame. Like any good hotspot this one reaches out 10 meters or 30 feet. You may not care about a 30 foot radius if you've got it in your shirt pocket, but your eager friends will. That's because this hotspot will support up to 5 simultaneous users. Be kind and share with family and friends. Or hog it to yourself. Security includes WPA2-PSK, WEB and SPI Firewall. That should keep the unworthy wretches from slowing down your connection and using up your 5 GB monthly bandwidth quota. Wretches, meaning those people who use to speak to you before you started bogarting your broadband.

Oh, there's one other important component inside your MiFi 2200. It's the 1150 mAh Li-ion battery. Like a cell phone or digital camera, this battery is both small and potent. You'll get up to 4 hours of continual usage for a single Wi-Fi client. Standby time is up to 40 hours. How do you recharge it? With the included wall charger or through a USB cable connected to your computer. That could be the same computer that makes use of the cellular broadband service provided by the MiFi. It's a symbiotic relationship.

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