Slashdot Mirror
Portable Wi-Fi Hotspots
Dekortage writes "David Pogue reviews several portable wi-fi access points in the New York Times. If you have cellular Internet access, you can plug the PC card into the wi-fi box and presto, you've got Wi-Fi from wherever you are." From the article: "The card provides the Internet connection, courtesy of those companies' 3G ("third generation") high-speed cellular data networks. The box just rebroadcasts that connection as a Wi-Fi signal so that all nearby computers -- not just one privileged laptop -- can go online. With those PC cards, you can go online anywhere there's a cellular signal: in a taxi, on a bus, in a waiting room or wherever. In major cities, the speed is delightful, like a D.S.L. or slowish cable modem (400 to 700 kilobits a second)."
I remember my dial up companies bitching about my usage beacause I would be on 24/7. They tried to say that they only provide Unlimited Internet if you are actually using it. It was nice though when I had one dial up isp called CTS net in San Diego back in 1997 or so. I would leave the red hat box on 24/7 with a firewall. They actually were convinced that I was not online because they could not ping me. It was quite a laugh. However, Verizon and Sprint both provide high speed wireless in Las Vegas with EVDO technology. They charge around $60USD/month for unlimited access. At what point are they going to limit the unlimited like the dial up companies did? I understand that the dial up companies did it because they were limited to the physical number of phone lines, but can Sprint and Verizon come up with some ridiculous exuse? I think they are probably working on that right now.