Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Verizon...."air card"?

Heard about it but haven't got around to checking into it...

I guess it's another wireless answer to dial up for rural dwellers such as me. A buddy up the road was in the process the other night of loading the disc for one that he's convinced is going to work. Haven't heard any feedback yet.

My question/concern is that he's a tad higher elevation than I am, and a tad more "inline" with the transmitting tower they are using. I'm sorta hidden behind a ridge and he's sorta not.

How good are these things and will my slight geographic difference with my buddy's house make a difference? We get "useful" cell service here at the house, but it's not the greatest. I can drive up to his house and it's perfect, but we're not using Verizon cells either.

Also, how "safe" is wireless internet...are the transmitions/receptions hackable?

Sick and damn tired of this crap dial-up and have thought about the satalite dish systems too. It'll be years, if ever, before they come out here with DSL.........

I use one everyday for work and the signal is consistent with cell service no matter which provider, if not better in places.I would suggest try your buddies at your residence.I'm not sure on hackability but i work for a major insurance co. and each pc is insured for 1 million because of privacy issues so i assume they are secure with the aircard.

Thanks might hafta drive out to the Verizon place and check into it...I guess they have a "map" of where it will work and where it won't.

Had Verizon cells one time and can say they have FAR more dead zones than they think they do. Called 'em one time from one of their dead zones, and on a non Verizon phone, just to pitch a bitch on 'em about their dead zones, and what my bill said I was suffering for it.

Can you hear me now?

They didn't see the humor in it......

That's funny right there...Unless your experiencing it right now. Then it�s not so funny.

Joel

Don't worry, it's funny......

I use a Verizon Air card and it works very well. In my area, Verizon has the best coverage. I was able to call home in California from the middle of Alberta. Its a good option to avoid dial up. A good hacker can crack anything and the govt has the capability of monitoring air cards. One caveat, if you forget your password you must erase everything and reload the program. You can only do this once and then the :air card" stops working. You cannot have it fixed!

I have several people that use Verizon air cards specifically when they go onsite with clients - in a largely rural state. There are many dead zones and even in the urban regions the speed is more comparable to 'fast dialup' as opposed to broadband.

The transmissions are as secure as cell phones which can be monitored. As can the hardwired internet. On the other hand, encryption should be as secure wirelessly - so the SSL connections (when the lock symbol is shown) typical with any financial or personal activity are secure. Encryption is end-to-end, it doesn't matter how the data is moving in between the two points, it is encrypted and secure.

The aircard is a high speed modem using the cellular provider network. Most times much faster than dial up, with data rates near cable speed.

Test the signal strength at the location of intended use with a cell phone on the same network or an air card on the same network.

Most cellular providers still have EDGE networks in rural areas with 3G networks (faster speed) in dense population areas (cities). The Cell phone will display the network coverage by name and a signal strength (level of bars).

Check what data plan the carrier offers, get a flat monthly rate rather than a metered by usage calculated charge. Saves you money.

We bought one of Alltell's air cards last winter. They gave us a 15 day trial period where at the end of 15 days, we could get a full refund if not satisfied. About 3 weeks into using it, our service got so bad that it was more frustrating to use than dial-up.

Our cell service at our home, where we used the air card, was on the weak side but mostly usable. I would suggest you borrow a Verizon phone or air card from some one and test the signal at your home before you buy an aircard and get locked into a contract. Cost us $200 dollars cancelation fee to drop the service, plus we're out the cost of the air card too. (It's for sale by the way, very low miles).

I have a Verizon phone and it works good on the river below you. I would check the signal on a Verizon phone first. You're welcome to try mine.

I have had the Verizon air card for three years and have used it in the 13 western states without a problem. We also have one on our main computer at home and have been very pleased with the service so far.

I started with Alltel but it is now Verizon. Mine works so well that if DSL became available for the same money I doubt that I would change over.

mine is sprint and it works fine...not as fast as cable, but pretty good, and I use it all over the place.

We live in a rural area that has neither cable nor DSL. We had the DSL option at our last address, which was semi rural. We opted for the Verizon Air Card, as it was the only thing available except dial up or satellite. Dial up sucks, and satellite has weather limitations and also limits on the amounts of data transmitted from day to day, i.e., if you have a large amount one day they will limit you the next day. It is also VERY expensive, so unless it's business related and can be amortized, I wouldn't opt for it. The Aircard has been great! We have been using it for a year, and have no issues at all. They limit you to 5G of data every month, but the charge per kb after that limit is .05/kb if I recall. I have yet to exceed my limit yet, and I spend alot of time on financial sites and doing transactions, including video downloads. The speed is equivalent to anything we ever got with DSL, and since I've never had cable, I can't compare it.

All in all, we've been very satisfied with our Verizon Air Card, and recommend it wholeheartedly.

edit for sp

I have the verizon card for work, It works ok. The keys are signal strength and type of signal 2G or 3G.

The idea of trying a friends card at your home is a great idea, if thats not practical then see if you can sign up- try and then cancel without penalty if it works.

Speed wise on the 3G service (with good signal) its faster than what I remember dial up to be but not as fast as My DSL at home. The 2G service is more like dial up.

If your home is covered by multiple cell towers, its possible that another carrier would have better service at your home than Verizon even if overall Verizon has good service in your cell market. I would tend towards the one with the best service at your home.

Sprint uses the same type of 3g service as verizon and has some very good deals. My verizon card roams to sprint service in places. ( I don't know if I pay for that as my card is billed directly to my IT department) Sprint maybe able roam to verizon. wether you would pay I have no idea, depends on the data plan.

I haven't kept up on the 3G offering from ATT/ cingular, but there 2.5G ( edge service was significantly faster than the Sprint/Verizon 2G service). I have used a laptop with intagrated ATT 3G in LA and it seemed as good as my verizon card.

Of course in a Rural area, coverage at your home tops all, and thats a function of just one cell site and the orientation of the service on that one site. and trying is the only way to know.

Good luck,

The signal from a cell phone has nothing to do with the aircard's signal, they're two completely seperate networks. You could have five bars on the cell phone and nothing with the aircard.

The only real way to know how it will work in your area is to try it. What matters is how the local tower you hook up to is equipped. If it's a 3G tower then you'll get good speed, if the tower is an older 1xRTT type tower then you'll get dial up speeds. Verizon also has a 5GB a month data cap, not a problem if you're surfing the internet but if you like to download big files then you'll likely go over the limit and get charged extra.

Wildswalker: No cell service? You should consider yourself blessed. 1Minute

Yeah 1minute, I'm pretty happy living out here where the only folks going up and down the road are people I know.....

Lot's of good info here and I thank everyone, I can probably borrow my buddy's card to see if it will work then I'll know for sure.

Marc, stop by and we'll bed that rifle, drink a beer, ect........

I have extensive experience with these things as I support dozens of mobile laptop users at work. I also set up mobile evdo wifi hotspots in the fire and ambulance vehicles.

Sprint showed minimum about double the data throughput as Verizon under similar conditions. Sprint maxed out at 1.5mbs and Verizon maxed out at around 600kbs.

The Verizon cards had slightly better coverage areas in fringe parts of town.

Bottom line- if you travel or live in areas of challenged coverage, go with Verizon. If you will be using it in areas with expected decent signals, go with Sprint.

Both vendors' connection software blows and can be unreliable.

BEWARE- the "unlimited" plan is bullschitt. There is a damn limit. Make sure you ask and use the software to monitor your usage!!!

It works well. There is a 3rd party program for $20.00 that makes it easier to use, and run faster. It was developed by a textile company for their salesmen. I'll get the info together and post it.