Mobile Broadband for powerbook users (15 and 17's only)

[upperblue79]

Here's a solution for Powerbook users that want broadband while traveling, but be sure to check the link below for cities with service available. Buy the Audiovox PC 5220 from a Verizon store or anywhere else that might sell it and put it in your powerbooks cardbus slot and it will self configure. They advertise 300-500 kbps with bursts to 2 Mbps. No more looking for WiFi hot spots or paying additional accesss fees at Starbucks or Hotels. You can be anywhere*, even a moving car, and surf the net... quickly.

Two downsides: a) monthly fee of $80 (ouch) for unlimited usage, and b) Broadband speeds are *currently only available in certain cities. I understand it works at 60-80 kbps with bursts to 144 kbps in non-supported cities.

http://www.barefeats.com/quick.html

 

[jonat8]

Vodafone UK offer this over this side of the pond using W-CDMA I believe. You get a PCMCIA card for the laptop (Windows & Mac compatible) but the prices are ouch! £88.13p/m for 1000Mb. And it doesn't cover my area yet.

Orange also offer the same service for a lower price (£60 i believe) but their datacard doesn't work with Mac OS X so you would have to use a data cable or Bluetooth to connect via. a 3G phone. I am thinking about it... they're offering 3 months of 1000Mb p/m traffic free if you take up a new contract ASAP.

I can't get broadband at home at the moment, so that's why it is appealing to me.

 

[garybUK]

Orange also offer the same service for a lower price (£60 i believe) but their datacard doesn't work with Mac OS X so you would have to use a data cable or Bluetooth to connect via. a 3G phone. I am thinking about it... they're offering 3 months of 1000Mb p/m traffic free if you take up a new contract ASAP.

Voda's 3G is a lot better than Orange's anyway, with the Orange card if you drop out of a 3g zone it will disconnect you, Voda will automatically switch you to GPRS and then back to 3G when it finds one. Also the Orange signal indicator is static and only shows you the connection signal when you first connected? very odd!

A few of my friends have the Voda 3G cards and they get connections of about 350kbps which aint bad!

 

[upperblue79]

I would probably go ahead and do this but I only have a 12" powerbook. Maybe that will change within the next couple years.

 

[englishspark]

Vodafone in the UK

I have been using the Vodafone 3G card in a G4 for nearly a year, I started out with the German Software. Its certainly had its problems and still suffers from "Network congestion", but generally is pretty good. IT AINT CHEAP.
I managed to get the card as a free upgrade from an existing Vodafone phone which I had...so entry cost was nil...their Mac support is very limited but as long as you go the round the Sleep, put the card back in (do not use the Vodafone app) and wait for the flashing lights to stabalise then connect its usually fine. Hope this helps. colinfenton@mac.com