Does anyone use/know of any good cellular based modems for lap tops? When I travel & sit at airports I cannnot use my internet, would be great if I could.

Ric

Have you considered using your cell phone? A separate card usually requires a seperate account with additional monthly charges... OK of you spend ALOT of time at the airport.

I use my GSM/GPRS phone and connect to my laptop. My old phone used either IR or a cable - now I have Bluetooth.

It's not fast, but it works well enough to get me on my company's VPN.

thanks for your thoughts.

I will reply if/when I make a desision.

Ric

If you have sprint or tmobile you can easily add on data to your account for a low price (approx $10-20) and either connect by cable (sprint) or a pc card (tmobile).
i've used both in many airports.

You can also use a cable or Bluetooth for T-Mobile ($20/mo unlimited usage) (have no idea about Sprint).

I've used Sprint 1xRTT for 2.5 years, anywhere you have Sprint coverage, you have the avg 50-70k. Sometimes this goes to 10-30k, but often it's 100k+. EVDO is coming for Sprint at far faster speeds, but in limited geographies. Verizon is way ahead with their EVDO roll-out.

Cingular has EDGE everywhere too, 100K+ avg. UMTS is in 6 cities now at 200-250K avg (384 top). GPRS is available for Cingular and T-Mobile, but that seems too slow for me and I've never bothered trying it.

It's a toss up though, Cingular will be consistent everywhere at 100K+ (and UMTS supports voice+data), Sprint/Verizon will be slower where they don't have EVDO. I don't know what I'll do personally, as I think I prefer 100K+ everywhere with EDGE versus 50-70K with EVDO at 200-2000K. Airports though should mostly be EVDO.

I use my tmobile BB with the unlimited data plan and it says its 115kb. Good enough for casual browsing.

Im from Aus and frequently travel to the USA on business - on the last couple of occassions have rented a Verizon EVDO service. I found it very useful and consistently got speeds in excess of 400kbps. The company I used was www.wiredsky.com.au Not sure if they deliver in the USA though...

The T Mobile Blackberry with the USB to a laptop, functions as a modem. No data plan needed. Search on google.com it is an easy setup, if your Blackberry manager software is running, you can add a standard modem on an additional COM port and it works fine...

I do this with mine.

get on the verizonwireless network -- there 3G network will let you surf at high speeds. they sell PCMIA cards for about $50.00 that slip into your laptop much like a wireless card. you'll need to subscribe though...

Yes, almost all airports now have Verizon EVDO -- so if you have a verizon phone with EVDO (LG VX 8800 or higher) you'll be able to surf the internet on your phone for $15.00 per month for unlimited usage -- you can also watch some video clips as well. good way to kill time while waiting for your flight.