Mobile broadband for an XP Laptop?

Is there a specific type of adapter you could add to an old XP laptop to be
able to access the Internet anywhere on the road (assuming you have suitable
service with Verizon or AT&T, or whatever)? I'm just curious what it is
called. I don't just mean at Wi-Fi hotspots, but wherever you would
normally be able to do it (as with a smartphone).

Bill in Co wrote:
Is there a specific type of adapter you could add to an old XP laptop to be
able to access the Internet anywhere on the road (assuming you have suitable
service with Verizon or AT&T, or whatever)? I'm just curious what it is
called. I don't just mean at Wi-Fi hotspots, but wherever you would
normally be able to do it (as with a smartphone).

Check your service provider's products web page.
What you want is cellular and commonly refered to as an "air card" or USB modem.
I use a Verizon G3 USB modem. Reception and transmission is horrible.
Don't believe their coverage map. Delete about 50% of the area is more like it.
ATT is ok. My boss uses Sprint. It's the best of the three.
Even at home in Houston Verizon G3 speed averages 214 kbits.
My G3 averages about 0.04 kbits in small towns in the USA.
However, 0.04 kbits is still better than 0.00 kbits.
It's better to drive to a bigger town with McDonald's wifi.
Especially when the boss wants the report by tomorrow morning.
I don't know how much it costs. Company buys blocks of time.
http://www.verizonwireless.com/inter...sb-modem-551l/
No reason to get G4. Coverage is non-existant outside of major metro areas.
G3 is all you will need.

Bill in Co wrote:
Is there a specific type of adapter you could add to an old XP laptop to be
able to access the Internet anywhere on the road (assuming you have suitable
service with Verizon or AT&T, or whatever)? I'm just curious what it is
called. I don't just mean at Wi-Fi hotspots, but wherever you would
normally be able to do it (as with a smartphone).

The concept is called "tethering", and every provider
has a punitive terms of service and billing for
the privilege. They go out of their way to detect
people doing "tethering", who aren't paying for it.
The base service is X, and tethering might add
$15 a month. And there would still be tiny data
caps involved.

At one time, you used a "CradlePoint" router, and
stuck an "Aircard" in it, to "tether". I don't
know what the popular solutions are now.

From the providers perspective, they're expecting
you to go nuts, and "always hit the cap". Whereas
someone with a smartphone, might leave lots of
their cap remaining at the end of the month. So
in terms of statistical multiplexing, people
who tether are "pigs" from the mathematicians
point of view. The providers want to run 10x
as many people as properly belong on the service,
and they can do that by having lots of people
"not use their cap". So they'd really prefer
that people who tether, would just "go away".

Paul

In message , Bill in Co
writes:
Is there a specific type of adapter you could add to an old XP laptop to be
able to access the Internet anywhere on the road (assuming you have suitable
service with Verizon or AT&T, or whatever)? I'm just curious what it is
called. I don't just mean at Wi-Fi hotspots, but wherever you would
normally be able to do it (as with a smartphone).


In the UK, it's generally called a "dongle"; most (all I think) of the
ones sold on the high street are tied to one provider, but unlocked ones
are available online, or how to unlock several models is too. They look
like a (largeish) memory stick, but take a SIM card.

The other way is "tethering" - where you use a smartphone to do the
actual connecting, but the smartphone in effect acts as a small wifi
point.

Both are expensive, and coverage is patchy. Also, the contracts that
allow data on the 'phone often specifically exclude tethering: I don't
know why, since you pay for the data by the unit of data anyway, but
they do.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Mike Jackson |\ _,,,---,,_
and Squeak /,`.-'`' -. ;-;;,_ Shame there's no snooze button
[1998] |,4- ) )-,_..;\ ( `'- on a cat who wants breakfast
zzz '---''(_/--' `-'\_)

On Mon, 29 Jun 2015 07:28:21 +0100, "J. P. Gilliver (John)"
wrote:

In the UK, it's generally called a "dongle";


Although that use of the term "dongle" is common, in the US as well as
in the UK, as far as I'm concerned it is *not* correct. A "dongle" is
(or at least originally was) a device that had to be installed on the
computer to enable a particular piece of software to work. It was
essentially a form of copy protection; if you had the software but not
its dongle, you essentially had nothing.

Yes, the term is now so widely used for almost any small plug-in
device that its original meaning is all but gone. One of these days
I'll have to give up and use the term like almost everyone now does,
but I'm an old fussbudget, and I'm not read to give up yet. g

In message , Paul
writes:
Ken Blake, MVP wrote:
On Mon, 29 Jun 2015 07:28:21 +0100, "J. P. Gilliver (John)"
wrote:

In the UK, it's generally called a "dongle";
Although that use of the term "dongle" is common, in the US as well
as
in the UK, as far as I'm concerned it is *not* correct. A "dongle" is
(or at least originally was) a device that had to be installed on the
computer to enable a particular piece of software to work. It was
essentially a form of copy protection; if you had the software but not
its dongle, you essentially had nothing.
Yes, the term is now so widely used for almost any small plug-in
device that its original meaning is all but gone. One of these days
I'll have to give up and use the term like almost everyone now does,
but I'm an old fussbudget, and I'm not read to give up yet. g

Me too, but unfortunately things change - I know, my brother's associate
editor on the dictionary. I hadn't heard mention of the old
software-protection dongle for a while! I think the
cellular-network-connection dongle is disappearing too - there seems to
be an assumption these days that if you use data from the cellular
networks you'll do it with a smartphone, or if you're old-fashioned
enough to still want to connect your netbook/laptop, you'll still use a
smartphone in tethering mode.
[]
or something. It's a pretty nasty way to enforce licensing
on software.
[]
Well, yes, but I don't know any other way that provides the same degree
of piracy prevention.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual
rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities. - Ayn Rand, quoted by Deb
Shinder 2012-3-30