Cell Phone with Data Plan - what to get

[rockymtnhigh]

Ok, on April 25th we will be in temporary housing for a month, between the close on our house, and when we can move into our new one. We will be living in a church rectory (don't ask! ), and will not have a land-line, or internet access at home. While I have a treo with a data plan, it will not help my wife, who will need to have internet access to run her business for the month.

While an Verizon EVDO card seemed like the ideal situation, except that the wireless card requires a 1 or 2 year contract - so, my thought was to just purchase her a new phone that is data capable, and just add the data plan/tether capability for her until we finish the move. Then shut off the data plan.

of course, to complicate this, she is not eligible to upgrade at the discounted price until June, and we need the phone in April.

SO.... I am looking for suggestions on what phone to get her. I saw a Verizon Motorala Q on ebay for about $130. But don't know if it is capable to be tethered.

I could also get her a used Treo 650 or 700 for pretty cheap; and I am used to it (since my phone is a 700p), but am looking for suggestions on what to get - and what people recommend - particularly those who have used the phone to tether to a PC.

I am going to try to tether my treo to her PC tonight or this weekend, to see how easy it is to get it to work (I will admit that with my laptop, it is not always easy to get the connection to work).

Thoughts?

 

[jayn_j]

Thoughts?

Before you do anything, try hooking up your 802.11 and see if it hits anything. I have never had a problem finding somebody who left an unprotected connection lying around.

Once you have established communications, go find that person and arrange a month rental of internet usage. Offer him half of what they pay and they will likely go for it. Even if you find someone who has protected their lan, you can probably negotiate usage and a password. Also, offer to protect their connection if it is open.

We did this on the current house. I used the neighbor's connection (with permission) for three weeks until I could get Comcast hooked up.

Does the church have lan? Could they be convinced to set up 802.11, especially if you offered to donate the router?

 

[digiblur]

Get a wireless broadband card and rotate companies based on their trial periods.

There's always the Sprint SERO plans for $30 a month too.

 

[Buzzdar]

I have a Verizon Voyager and teather it quite often and it works great.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

Get a wireless broadband card and rotate companies based on their trial periods.

There's always the Sprint SERO plans for $30 a month too.

Ah... a 30 day trial plan. I like it.


ALSO think the hop on the neighbor's wi-fi is not a bad idea. Of course, need to get a wifi modem for my wife's PC.

 

[IcEWoLF]

Ah... a 30 day trial plan. I like it.


ALSO think the hop on the neighbor's wi-fi is not a bad idea. Of course, need to get a wifi modem for my wife's PC.

Who said the Sero plan is trial?

 

[dfergie]

Ah... a 30 day trial plan. I like it.


ALSO think the hop on the neighbor's wi-fi is not a bad idea. Of course, need to get a wifi modem for my wife's PC.

Walmart has the Belkin USB rigs that will work for $36... I got a data cord for my New LG phone the other day and tried out and worked fine...

 

[mikew]

The Treo 650 is not a good option. When tethered, you cannot make or recieve calls.

 

[daves29]

you can tether the Q

 

[rockymtnhigh]

The Treo 650 is not a good option. When tethered, you cannot make or recieve calls.

If I go treo, it will be 700; indeed, after tweaking a bit, I got it to work with my laptop - and is on EVDO now. Not zippy, but it is getting me around satelliteguys


I am more inclined towards a treo for her, since I have had one for awhile, and know how it works.

 

[digiblur]

The Treo 650 is not a good option. When tethered, you cannot make or recieve calls.

Neither can the other CDMA phones.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

Neither can the other CDMA phones.

Yes, it can. at least the 700p can - When I used the treo in Florida it would disconnect the modem to receive calls. And I could call out, it just used the normal broadband access that the palm modem has.

But you are right that you can't surf and talk at the same time.

 

[mikew]

If you're talking Sprint, they have the Mogul down to 199 after rebate. I just purchased a program from My WMWifiRouter - Login that allows you to tether using the wifi in ad-hoc mode. It makes tethering so very simple and requires nothing other than a wireless connection on your PC. Matter of fact, you can actually use multiple computers off of this wireless method. Software is about 24 bucks...

 

[digiblur]

Yes, it can. at least the 700p can - When I used the treo in Florida it would disconnect the modem to receive calls. And I could call out, it just used the normal broadband access that the palm modem has.

But you are right that you can't surf and talk at the same time.

Correct. Even though EVDO RevA has the provision to do it I haven't heard of Alltel, Sprint, or Verizon doing it yet. They still use 1X for voice.

Come to think of it... the 700p is the slower EVDO Rev0 anyways so it couldn't do the voice & data at the same time anyways.

You should see a tethered RevA phone in a RevA area. Snappy! I was hitting around 2000/600 the other night. Latency is a lot lower too which helps to make it faster.

 

[digiblur]

If you're talking Sprint, they have the Mogul down to 199 after rebate. I just purchased a program from My WMWifiRouter - Login that allows you to tether using the wifi in ad-hoc mode. It makes tethering so very simple and requires nothing other than a wireless connection on your PC. Matter of fact, you can actually use multiple computers off of this wireless method. Software is about 24 bucks...

Awesome program! I use the older free version that works fine weekly. No cables, no drivers, just click and browse.

 

[SatinKzo]

I too like the WMWifirouter program on my Mogul. Works very well. I never got to try my mogul with non-RevA, but I do agree, the RevA is quick.

 

[LER]

I like the EVDO speeds off my PPC6700 (Sprint)

 

[digiblur]

Wait till you see RevA tethered. Feels like a real broadband connection.

 

[Hall]

Be careful with Verizon. It's my understanding that with their data-capable phones, maybe it's only the Blackberrys though, you must have their data plan too. They do have a 30-day "grace period" though, but when that's up, you either keep that phone and the add'l $30/month data plan or toss the phone....

 

[rockymtnhigh]

Be careful with Verizon. It's my understanding that with their data-capable phones, maybe it's only the Blackberrys though, you must have their data plan too. They do have a 30-day "grace period" though, but when that's up, you either keep that phone and the add'l $30/month data plan or toss the phone....

You absolutely do need the data plan; but the data plan can be cancelled at any time, not like with the Wireless cards.

And remember, I already have a data plan on MY treo. So, this is all about trying to get her reliable access.

I am not buying her a new phone - will get her something on ebay, and just activate it to replace her phone; thus, no new contract, so we can decide whether to stay with Verizon after we move, when the contract ends in October.