Will I be charged extra for roaming? Many of the providers offer several
levels of service, and some of those plans include the possibility of being
charged a roaming fee. Find out how much any roaming charges are.
Are data plans available to business customers only? A few of the
providers make their data plans available, primarily, to business cus-
tomers. Although this might not impact cost, it might affect your con-
tractual commitment.
Do you have phone connection hardware available? Having hardware
available is an indication that using a cellphone as a modem is well sup-
ported. Not having it, however, isn't necessarily a negative indicator, and
several vendors sell complete kits and individual data cables.
Do you have phone connection software available? Most of the data
cards, especially when purchased through the provider, come with a
connection management utility that helps in managing connection pro-
files for both cellular and Wi-Fi. Ask if this software is also available for
use with your cellphone modem.
Many of the cellular carriers offer lower-cost data plans that limit the amount
you can download from the Internet. If your use falls within these bounds,
you can save a few bucks, but charges can get expensive in a hurry if you go
over your limits. Just to give you an idea, the average Web page runs any-
where from 30K to 75K. Some are a little smaller, and some are much larger.
But, for example, if you've got a 5MB plan, you'd probably be able to browse
somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 Web pages, and maybe get a bit of
e-mail, before you run out of allotment.
Connecting with a Cell Data Card
The attraction, for me, to using a cell data card rather than a cellphone for
making an Internet connection is the simplicity -- possibly because of the
similarity to using a hotspot. In fact, it might be simpler. All the cellular
providers offering service through a data card also offer a connection man-
agement utility, similar to the WZC or JiWire utility, and you don't have to be
anywhere near a hotspot to use it.
My primary complaints are speed and cost. The high-speed services are lim-
ited to urban areas, and I usually find myself, at best, near the edges of the
coverage. Because of this, I'm often relegated to the slower-speed services
which, although generally faster than dialup, are much slower than I can get
at a hotspot. But that's just me. I don't like paying for something I'm rarely
able to use. I do it sometimes; I just don't like it.
Part III: Bridging the Wireless Gap
Page 128
