Recently when I was in Nicaragua I stayed at a simple hotel in the jungle (Rio San Juan area), very isolated place. No roads, all traffic is via boat. However, there are scattered (Claro!) cell phone towers here and there....

Anyway, I needed to upload some photos to a magazine under deadline and the owner of the hotel told me no problem. She had a cell phone (which I did not tether to) but she also had this gizmo which she let me use. I don't have a clue what it is called and I need your help.

It was a (white) cable, shaped like the letter Y. There were 2 USB "plugs", 1 each on the end the the Y. At the meeting point of the Y was a built-in little rectangle which glowed red when one of the USB ends was plugged into my netbook. The whole thing transmitted off the nearest cell phone tower, which was quite a distance away (according to her about 20 km, a 1/2 hr boat ride).

What was this thing? A German visitor told me it was modem it must've had a built-in antenna to have such great pick-up. Do we have them here in the US? I've never seen one. Thanks.