When there's no Wi Fi available, how can you connect a laptop using a cell phone?
by Bruce Meyerson
Associated Press

Q: Sometimes, in places where you can’t get a Wi‑Fi signal, you see people connecting their laptops to the Internet with a cellular connection. What are the pluses and minuses of using cellular instead of Wi‑Fi? Is there a way to use cellular if you don’t have the modem card for your computer?

A: A cellular laptop connection is very different from using Wi‑Fi to go online. While a Wi‑Fi signal is faster, the limited range means that users can’t venture very far from a transmitter at home, in the office, at a coffee shop, or other retail location before losing the connection.

By contrast, a cell modem is likely to work most anywhere that users have a signal on their phones to make and take calls. But the speeds are more akin to a low‑level DSL or cable TV broadband line.

Where Wi‑Fi access is occasionally free or priced from a few dollars a day to about $30 a month, cell‑based Internet service typically costs $60 a month for unlimited usage. As such, the service most often appeals to mobile professionals who need to log in many times a day.

Almost every new laptop sold today has built‑in Wi‑Fi capability, and computer makers have started cutting deals to install cellular modems in certain models, too. But most machines still require a special external PC card for a cellular connection. These modems, often costing from $50 to $250 depending on the contractual commitment you make, are inserted into a side slot on the laptop.

For those with more occasional needs, a mobile phone can often double as a wireless modem, though the potential savings is not always so substantial.

The phones are usually tethered to the laptop using USB or another wire. It’s also sometimes possible to use Bluetooth, the short‑range wireless transmitter that’s already a default feature on most new cell phones and increasingly common on computers.

Cingular Wireless, jointly owned by AT&T Inc. and BellSouth Corp., appears to offer the greatest flexibility in terms of phone options and pricing for those who don’t want to pay $60 a month for unlimited cellular data use.

Nearly 40 phone models can be used with Cingular’s LaptopConnect service. However, more than two‑thirds of them are not compatible with the company’s national “EDGE” network, which provides downloads about twice as fast as dial‑up, or the much speedier HSDPA technology that’s been launched in about 70 markets so far. Instead, they connect using older technologies half the speed of dial‑up or slower. Besides the unlimited $60 option, Cingular offers four

metered plans for phone subscribers, ranging from $20 a month for 5 megabytes of data use to $50 for 50 mb. BlackBerry users with a voice plan can pay an extra $35 per month for unlimited LaptopConnect on top of the $45 fee for unlimited e‑mail and Web browsing on their hand‑helds.

Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group PLC, charges $60 a month to use its BroadbandAccess network with either a laptop card or phone as modem, though discounts are available to subscribers who pay for wireless e‑mail service on their hand‑helds.

There are 13 handset models equipped for modem use with Verizon’s high‑speed EV‑DO service, as well several more that can connect at slower speeds. A kit with the cable to connect those handsets to a laptop costs $40. For customers already paying for a voice plan and e‑mail on an organizer phone such as a Treo or BlackBerry, it costs $15 extra per month to use the wireless laptop service.

Sprint Nextel Corp. offers three options for using a laptop card on Sprint’s EV‑DO network, which is not yet as widely deployed as Verizon’s. The plans come in at $60 a month for unlimited usage with a two‑year contract or $80 without a commitment, and $40 a month for 40 mb of data.

Sprint also offers eight handsets that can double as modems. Voice plan subscribers can sign up for two “Phone as Modem” packages: $40 extra per month for 40 mb of data or $50 for unlimited usage. Those willing to sign a two‑year data contract can get unlimited usage for $40 a month.