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.

Yes the German is right!

It is just a usb-modem! They come in alot of shapes and forms, could look like this!


The range depends on the cellular network! GSM has a range for normal use up to about 38 KM, and UMTS is not impossible to reach 20 KM (tried that myself)!

The reason for the Y-wire is that it gives more power to the dongle, better reception, faster speed, etc!

Intresting, I guess for a hotel in that situation, it is cheaper to pay the monthy rate for a handful of those, then try to setup WiFi.

Yes, that is very similar.

So you're saying that this is essentially the same as a USB "stick"? I didn't think the sticks were very strong, maybe only pulled in service from a tower within a 3 mile (plus or minus) radius.

I haven't seen anyone here in my area (Florida) using these USB cable modems, maybe because we have so many dang towers around us. But when I travel to remote regions it would sure come in handy. Does anyone know where you would buy one? [I have NO mobile data plan now so I'm open to suggestions]....

There is the mifi in the states from Verizon and Sprint that is a stand alone modem like this. If you are looking for something similar. It seems to get decent reviews, though I haven't tried it my self.

odd because they make routers with UMTS options on it.... best of both worlds

Yes I got one of those! The one I got includes a RJ11 port for a regular phone! Very neet when going somewhere, like a second home, or so! Mine is the Huawei E 968!

Here in Denmark they sell these usb-dongles at a price of around $50, and then the monthly rate is $50-60 (6 months contract) for for a 10GB cap in 16 mbit/s... That is pretty fast for mobile broadband!

The future lies there, as I see it...

MiFi is avalible here too, but I don't really see a market for that!

I'm using a Sprint MiFi now, on a quick weekend trip in a place without wireless, and would never leave the house without it now.

Do a search for Hauwei E220 to find the particular unit in the photo. Unlocked versions are available on eBay.

That was exactly what I did

I bought one two years ago, and used it, and sold it last year! I got the Huawei E960 now, and a modem inside my dell laptop! The E960 can also be used as a regular modem, like the E220!

Whats the advantage of these as opposed to mifi or PCMCIA mobile cards?

It is basically the same thing. The minus of the PCMCIA version is that it sticks out of the laptop and runs the risk of getting broken. MiFi is nice, except the total energy used is greater (two extra wifi radios to power) so if one is often in places with limited/no power outlets, that may be a problem. And the big minus of this thing, is unless you somehow attach it to the laptop, it's a bit of a kluge to move around / travel with.

So each has good and bad qualities, it's all about what makes more sense for your travels. In this particular case, I would imagine the hotel went with the USB version because USB ports are found on all modern laptops (while WiFi and PCMCIA are not).

I also got the PCMCIA version, but it will only fit in old computers, since the new pc-card standard is ExpressCard! So now it is collecting dust on my book-rack! (want to get rid of it to sby.) Mine does not stick out very much, ca. � inch, and when in use you pop the antenna out!

The usb fits into all computers less than 5 years old, incl Mac's

I have had several bad experiences with the PCMCIA card, when I was using it, but it was easier to adapt than the usb version! I even got it to work in Ubuntu...

Now my modem looks like this

Granted, I am a bit of a privacy nut, but that photo has your IMEI number in it. Granted one would need access to the cell provider's network, but once in, it is fairly trivial to link IMEI to name, address, credit card, SSN, and other personal info.

Good point... But I'm on the safe side of the pond

I did not take the picture, and it is not my particular modem that is on the picture!

I did just a google image search for the modem model... Dell Wireless 5530

It even got GPS