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Cell Phone Internet Access

Thanks to advances in wireless technology, cell phone internet access is a convenient reality that offers great speeds, multimedia voice and data wireless services and competitive pricing. The latest availability is 5G wireless, a high speed enhancement to the current 3G used by most cell phones.

Best of all, the cost is not high priced, making the wireless enhancements accessible to all.

Through wireless technology, mobile phones can tap into the Web and all the other online services someone may need to access while on the go. These services include email, live chats, file transfer and mobile banking. Especially valuable for travelers, you can access Web search engines to find and book hotels, transportation, and airline flights.

You can also find the nearest restaurants, entertainment venues and a calendar of events for a particular area. In short, any activity you conduct online from your computer can be done from your mobile phone with the right Web access plan.

The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network offers the best global coverage and high speed cell phone internet access service. This global digital network is available in over 200 countries worldwide, which means far-reaching Web access via your cell phone.

The general rule of thumb is to short smart. There are hundreds of well known cell phone service providers but you may be shocked to realize that some extraordinary mobile phone Internet access is coming new WIFI upstarts. In fact, it’s best to use the Internet to look for the best deal. It is possible to get unlimited Internet access for a reasonable flat rate fee. Look for providers that are current with the latest advances in wireless technology.

Some cell phone internet access providers are on the cutting edge of wireless technology, offering high speed Internet access of up to unheard of download speeds. In addition, you can connect your phone to a personal computer for high speed Internet.

By leveraging the high download speeds of newer cell phones with Internet access, the mobile user can conduct numerous activities that were not possible a few years ago. Watch movies, streaming video conferencing, access your favorite TV shows…These are possible with the new cell phone Internet access capabilities. You can also manage your mobile phone with a real time Web-based administration account.

While most cell phones use a cellular carrier wave for wireless Web access, the next generation of mobile phones utilizes the Advanced Wireless Services (A.W.S.) Spectrum, which allow for a variety of wireless services.

Eliminating multiple, desperate devices with one integrate cell phone with Internet access is the almighty goal for the connected user. Why not consolidate and simplify technologies into one very fast mobile phone. You can instead tap into your cell phone’s service to get wireless access. The new wireless and Internet access via a mobile phone enables users to manage business on the go or to work entirely via the Internet.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has approved networking requirements and access to the Advanced Wireless Services (A.W.S.) Spectrum as a means of keeping pace with the fast growth of voice and data services. The competition among the cellular service providers is heating up. New service packages offer high bandwidth with standard Internet access via the mobile browser as standard packages.

A.W.S. is the next generation in wireless mobile. Allowing the use of the microwave bandwidth for cellular services will allow for a whole new level of data transfer and mobile phone services.

the Right Card for Mobile Internet

Once deciding to purchase a Mobile Broadband Card for you laptop there are still several choices to be made. The first is: Which Carrier to get?

Since Sprint & Verizon are generally considered the leaders in this technology, we will limit the discussion to these two choices. As far as monthly pricing goes they are exactly the same, $59.99 a month. However, there is a very important distinction. Sprint offers truly Unlimited service for businesses and a 5GB limit for individuals, where Verizon has a 5GB limit per month for all customers. For the casual user this is plenty of data, but for a power user, Sprint clearly is the better choice here.

The other factor is coverage. Both carriers are going back and forth with their claims of “more coverage”. The best thing to do is check the coverage maps and see who has the most Rev A coverage in the areas you need service. Rev A is the fastest service currently available, so go with the carrier that covers you the best, but if it seems equal, Sprint would be the better choice since you do not have any usage restrictions.

Now that we have picked a carrier, it is time to decide which card to get. This involves several steps depending on what you plan to use the card for.

If using the card only in your current laptop, then determine what kind of slot your computer has. There are 3 types of slots now in use.

1) PCMCIA or Type ll Card Slot.

This slot is the size of a Credit Card and has been around for over 5 years. Most older laptops have this slot. The advantage of using this type of card is that it keeps most of the card inside the laptop, with just about an inch of the card sticking out. You can install this card once and just leave it in the laptop. As these are going away and being replaced by the smaller express slots, it is probably best to go with one of the options below unless you know you will be staying with the same computer for a few years.

2) ExpressCard Slot.

This is the newer type of card slot that is about half the width of the PCMCIA card. Most of the newer laptops will have this slot. Once again, the advantage here is that most of the card is inside the computer and you can just leave it there without risk of it getting bumped or loosing it. ExpressCards vary in price from $0 to $150 with a new agreement.

3) USB Card Slot.

Every modern computer has a USB slot. This is the main advantage of a USB Card – it will work with a new or old laptop, and even desktop computers. If you have an older laptop with a PCMCIA slot, but know you will be upgrading laptops in the next 6-18 months, then get a USB card so that you won’t limit your selection of a new laptop. The one slight downside to a USB card is that most of it is external to the computer, making it a bit more to keep track of when transporting your laptop. USB cards are usually priced from $0 to $100 with a new agreement.

Other factors to consider:

Mobile Routers.

If you want to use a Mobile Router to share your connection, currently you will want to stick with either the PCMCIA cards like the Novatel S720, with the Kyocera KR2 router. Almost all the USB and Express Cards are compatible with the CradlePoint line of routers.

GPS Functionality.

To take advantage of some neat and free GPS functions like finding the nearest restaurant, gas station, mapping your location, and even real time traffic updates, go with a Sierra Wireless Card from Sprint. The Sprint Connection Manager for these cards allows you to use this service at no extra charge.

Mobile Internet Satellite Broadband – chapter 2

We were the first beta testers of a Mobile Command Center with full Internet Access in 1999. Our mobile command center was also the first unit with WiFi and Internet Mobile Access.

The next generation of this system of Broadband Satellites was introduced in 2004. And the next wave of technology almost exists for the 10 times that speed. Looks like Moore’s Law may just apply to Satellites, however with the former practice tries by Motorola and the incompetence with the FCC we saw previously we may find that there are significant obstacle to over come still.

The biggest gripe back then was the Iridium pricing of $134.50 per month and the ridiculous cost of $1.34 per minute. Of course GlobalStar proves that they are worse at 150 per month and 1.39 per minute and International calls at $1.79. The cool thing about Inmarsat is that it is 20 years old and still has the 9.6 kbps data speed and sometimes you can get the 64 kbps. Inmarsat A is ancient and 18,000 ships have the maritime Global distress system aboard. GMDSS. If you look at most all commercial ships you will see the antennas on top that can run fax machines, Telephones and various data interfaces. Previously they ran below deck Telex systems. This system as you would guess is purely analog which has much advantages in weather conditions at sea. Inmarsat B is a whole different story with it’s digital technology, you can definitely get 64 KBPS all day long for broadcasting audio streams, video (a little jumpy), and voice and fax transmissions.

The pricing of data transmission due to speeds can save users up to 40% simply because it takes less time per minute to down and upload data. Of course the hardware runs about $ 10K, but for what it is that is not bad considering the original costs of data transmissions. Now here is the new deal Inmarsat C, two way data communications, terminals are portable and small, brief case style. Costs for terminals are only $4K approx. and everyone in the TV business has one or more. Inmarsat also has a system for voice, which needs only a little antenna of 9.3 or more inches and comes in a small dome. These were recently featured in Popular Mechanics in Nov 01. Trac Phone antennas for boats, RVs etc are expensive at $6,500 but work well. This is also known as the SatCom system mobile. It is a briefcase laptop system and is only 5 lbs. Costs only $3,000. People call it their brief case phone. It uses a SIM card for multiple users a system if you will remember never took off in the US like the smart card phones in Europe. Remember the PCS Phones had that little slide in cards, but they were too expensive for mass production in cellular technology. Inmarsat F77 is another innovation of 2001. ISDN and mobile packet data service capabilities. Delivering Fax, phone, voice and data. 64kbs, Absolutely and without a problem. Almost trouble free, this is nearly fully operational. We are almost there. This technology takes advantage of the B-GAN services that will be provided by the Inmarsat 4 being launched in 2004.

This will be cool. US Based ComSat Mobile, a division of Lockheed Martin Global Telecommunications has announced it’s cooperation with Fleet F77 in the first half of 2002. Ah ha, now we are getting somewhere ? Says the people at Stratos, who are arrogant Canadians. Why is this so cool? It means that users can send and receive data but only be charged for the data sent and received. Serf the web in broadband from anywhere or even a remote log cabin on vacation, emails and web browsing for about $89.95 per month all in real time with about 2-3 second delays for distance or in another system the one we have now it will be a half second delay with even higher speeds (I will talk further about this in a minute). Internet based systems like this means we can track every ship, truck, terrorist school bus in the country real time, just like they now track all the aircraft as we saw on TV during the 9-11 act. We watched charts of the US with every single aircraft flying.

Imagine the system capabilities for efficiency, safety, storm and weather watching, and safety of our people. I am really liking this a lot and everyone in America will be safe and the President can have his missile defense program because we will be able to track everything that moves which is not cloaked and right now that is everything that we know about. We can even track stealth bombers by frequency disruption patterns from cell phones. We win. Guess what these systems have a built in safety switch so important transmissions get there first for instance a ship in high seas in trouble, DEA transmitting while profiling a smuggler, or mayday distress calls. So if you are surfing or on line sending emails it will be delayed until the safety priorities are taken care of and at those speeds and numbers of users and the forthcoming Craig McCaw’s Law I predict to replace Moore’s Law for satellites that will not be more than a nano second by 2005. In other words you will assume a solar flare or even a thunder cloud.

Orbicomm is another data source with no voice capacity and handles two-pager and alphanumeric operations using a small network of LEO Satellites. Another web site we found of interest to you if you are using any of these technologies.