Internet on the road?

[Soundhound]

My wife is going to visit her mother for a few weeks and wants to have good internet access on her macbook pro while she's there. Her mother has internet, but just wired, no wireless router. My thought was two options:

1) Could she take one of our Airport Expresses with her (we have 3 'g' expresses and one 'n' express), and perhaps a firewire hub and tap into the internet connection at her mother's house that way?

2) Get one of those satellite cards, either through AT&T (we have iphones and at&t, i'm afraid) or through some third party, and just get internet anywhere with that setup?

Anyone familiar with either or both of these options and who I contact to buy what I need etc?

thanks!

 

[Gabriel GR]

My wife is going to visit her mother for a few weeks and wants to have good internet access on her macbook pro while she's there. Her mother has internet, but just wired, no wireless router. My thought was two options:

1) Could she take one of our Airport Expresses with her (we have 3 'g' expresses and one 'n' express), and perhaps a firewire hub and tap into the internet connection at her mother's house that way?

2) Get one of those satellite cards, either through AT&T (we have iphones and at&t, i'm afraid) or through some third party, and just get internet anywhere with that setup?

Anyone familiar with either or both of these options and who I contact to buy what I need etc?

thanks!

If her mother has an ethernet she could just plug in a cheap wireless access point in it and share it.

 

[j26]

Plug an ethernet cable into the router?

Does it really need to be wireless access for the sake of a couple of weeks?


Edit: A long cable should give plenty of freedom.

 

[GGJstudios]

My wife is going to visit her mother for a few weeks and wants to have good internet access on her macbook pro while she's there. Her mother has internet, but just wired, no wireless router. My thought was two options:

1) Could she take one of our Airport Expresses with her (we have 3 'g' expresses and one 'n' express), and perhaps a firewire hub and tap into the internet connection at her mother's house that way?

Yes, you can simply plug an ethernet cable from her mom's router into the AE. You don't even need to reconfigure any wireless settings on the AE. It will work exactly as it does at home.

 

[m85476585]

As long as it's high speed internet (and not dialup), plugging a router (or Airport) into the modem is probably best. You could get a router with more than one ethernet port if you want to connect a computer by ethernet at the same time, or you could get a wireless card or USB dongle for the PC.

A 3G cellular internet card is not worth it unless you are truly on the road. The cards are expensive without a contract, and the data plan is even more expensive. They don't work well in all areas, and if there is no 3G coverage where you are staying, it will be very slow. I used one driving across the country, and I was able to stream Last.fm in areas with better coverage (I wasn't driving while using my laptop-- don't worry). I didn't have to pay for the card or the data plan, though, since I was just borrowing it from a friend.

 

[e²Studios]

As long as it's high speed internet (and not dialup), plugging a router (or Airport) into the modem is probably best. You could get a router with more than one ethernet port if you want to connect a computer by ethernet at the same time, or you could get a wireless card or USB dongle for the PC.

A 3G cellular internet card is not worth it unless you are truly on the road. The cards are expensive without a contract, and the data plan is even more expensive. They don't work well in all areas, and if there is no 3G coverage where you are staying, it will be very slow. I used one driving across the country, and I was able to stream Last.fm in areas with better coverage (I wasn't driving while using my laptop-- don't worry). I didn't have to pay for the card or the data plan, though, since I was just borrowing it from a friend.

I have a AT&T 3G aircard, I paid $199 for it with no contract, its $40 a month for 5GB of transfer. I love the convenience of having internet wherever I go, worth every penny.

I have a Option Quicksilver aircard, USB based, looks like a memory stick.

http://support.option.com/quicksilver/

 

[Flyinb]

I just use my iphone with MyWi and never worry about it, its always with me.

 

[iThinkergoiMac]

VirginMobile has a $99 USB card with a variety of no-contract options depending on how much data you want. I think 5 GB data is $60 and it goes down from there.

 

[rwd hero]

My iPhone teathers great with the benm hack.