Wireless internet question.

[Delphi]

Hi guys, this isnt gun related but i'll shoot anyway maybee one of you will know.

Ok so i want to buy a high grade laptop that will have both a bluetooth and wifi adapter. I want to be able to access the internet from almost anywhere in colorado springs with it. Is that even possible yet? Are their any services i could get for it? I've even heard somthing about it bieng free but i dont really get that.... any info appriciated.

[mr_will]

Hi guys, this isnt gun related but i'll shoot anyway maybee one of you will know.

Ok so i want to buy a high grade laptop that will have both a bluetooth and wifi adapter. I want to be able to access the internet from almost anywhere in colorado springs with it. Is that even possible yet? Are their any services i could get for it? I've even heard somthing about it bieng free but i dont really get that.... any info appriciated.

i dont think springs has wireless yet but i could be wrong, and once it is avail it wont be free, your best bet is to get a card for the laptop with verizon or tmobile or a few others out there and connect that way.

[BadShot]

+1 to what Will said.. the Verizon one is getting the best reviews from actual users right now, but it's a monthly cost. You'd have to check Verizons web site to get that cost. Also keep in mind that there are two types of PCMCIA card slots out there now, so beware what you buy for the laptop and make sure the laptop has the slot to support the card. Dell is one of the big pushers of the new PCMCIA slot types.

[PsychoI3oy]

Wireless ethernet ("WiFi" "2.4ghz" "802.11a/b/g") is akin to a cordless phone.

You have to have a base station to connect to. It is NOT a cellular phone that works (practically) everywhere. Your range is ~300m (100m gives you full bandwidth, but up to 300+m will give you a slower speed but still work).

Some cities have set up 'free' wireless all over town. This consists of hundreds if not thousands of WAPs (Wireless Access Points) networked together. More likely you're going to be able to pay $whatever to sit down in $coffeeplace to use the WiFi there or buy a WAP ('home broadband wireless router' etc.) to use it at home on the back porch/couch/kitchen counter/wherever.

As others have said CoSpgs is probably not set up for the free wireless everywhere, so you'd have to go with a cellular modem PCMCIA card.

You pay $whatever for the card and $whatever a month to have internet access anywhere you'd have cellphone service. This is... not as fast as WiFi (whch is ~11mbps, bottlenecked by whatever the WAP is plugged into) and more likely several hundred if not dozen Kbps. It's akin to being on a 56k dialup modem (though GPRS is better-ish) that's finicky about cell tower handoffs and such. It's a viable solution, but not as good as WiFi. Fortunately cell phone tech has gotten small enough to fit in a PCMCIA card, as the old 'cellular modems' actually had to plug into a cell phone and you had to have a model/brand-dependent cable to plug the modem into the phone. They charged you airtime rates ($$$$$$ back in the day) for every minute online. Now it's just like any other cell phone with 'internet access' and is usually a flat rate/month or charged by the MB downloaded.


As for 'two types of PCMCIA slots' the only two standards I know of are PCMCIA and Cardbus(32). PCMCIA is similar to ISA and CardBus is similar to PCI. Both have been around for a long time (my 5+ year old Compaq Armada has Cardbus slots) and CardBus slots are backwards compatable with PCMCIA slots. Any modern laptop should have CardBus slots. If there's something new out there, it's probably similar to PCI-X or something and is more than likely backwards compatable or the laptops with it will die a horrible death in the market. If it physically fits, it should work.

Verizon is CDMA with their own 'broadband' implimentation on top of it, T-Mobile is true GPRS but needs the GSM backbone to work on top of. One will give you better fallback and coverage at the cost of speed, the other vice-versa. Forgive me if I don't remember which.




Hopefully that explains some things. If not, blame the lack of sleep and/or beer.

[Scott]

Verizon's CDMA is only CDMA on the download side. The upload is comparable to basic GPRS (about 56k). T-Mobile has recently upgraded their GPRS to the Edge GPRS standard. Although it's still GPRS, it does something with the timing in the radios at the cell towers which allows higher ul/dl speeds.

GPRS is the one that sacrifices speed for efficiency, although, I would personally go with the Verizon card.

[BadShot]

I only mentioned the secondary standard because I got bit by it with a new Inspiron 9400, the emerging standard is called "ExpressCard" and I'm seeing it in the Dell and IBM systems that we are purchasing en'mass. Damn changing standards and lying reps

[Gman]

It's a new interface similar to the PCIe (PCI Express) that is infiltrating the market in new systems.

SATA is also taking over for the new drive interfaces, including opticals.

If you have broadband at home, go for a Wi-Fi networking setup. Just make sure to secure it. The convenience of being able to use your laptop anywhere in the house is well worth it.

Mobile broadband access over cellular networks will depend on the coverage of providers in your primary use area and the availability is nowhere near universal.

This is the coverage map for Sprint:
http://www.sprint.com/business/produ...0Springs,%20Co

The North American providers are;
- Verizon
- Sprint
- Cingular
- T-Mobile

[eerw]

Verizon is the best cell card for laptops for the area..especially in the mountains..coverage is better than the rest..

CS is not set up for free wifi..I think there is a corridor downtown and the shops at Briargate area for a fee..also there is a website that lists all the free Wifi areas..mainly from restaurants and coffee shops in the area...like Panera breads, etc.

there are some shareware programs that seek wifi signals and will tell you if they are secured with a password or open..

[Scott]

Honestly, I would never dream of spending money on a wireless internet card (T-Mo, Verizon, etc.). I have a built in Wi-Fi card in my laptop and it's all i need. Half the places I go I can usually find an unsecured network to get internet access if I really need to. A lot of restraunts/businesses that cater to the public even have networks for that specific reason.

[eerw]

Here is the website for free wifi areas

http://www.wififreespot.com/co.html