The internet answer!!!!u

[Baker]

Sprint will be launching the 4G HTC EVO cellphone. Among other things, it will be able to act as a wifi hotspot for up to 8 devices. Google HTC EVO for details. This is the hottest cellphone release this summer.

 

[Keith]

Yea, but it's still Sprint. I hope they're better than they used to be. I had to drop them for poor service. Verizon has the mifi if you want to set up hot spots.

 

[Codger2]

I Googled the HTC EVO and am a little confused. Do I understand that it will act as a WIFI, allowing me to use our iPad and access the Internet? We must be in a Sprint signal area of course.

 

[Baker]

Keith, I know what you are saying. I have been with Sprint since the Houston Cellular days....so I went with them thru their downturn. They have really turned it around in the last 5 years. You remember how bad Continental Airlines used to be 15 years ago....that would be a good analogy with Sprint. SOmebody realized how bad they were and made a very good effort to turn them around and they were successful. ANyway, blah blah blah. Their customer service is very decent these days. *Verizon does have the Mifi......FOR 60 FUGGIN' dollars PER MONTH!!!! and is only 3G. This is the world's first 4G device AND it acts as a hotspot for NO ADDITIONAL CHARGE. 4G gives DSL type speeds(2-5mbps down) where available(small areas but growing...Houston happens to be one of them of course)

To answer your question Walt....ABSOLUTELY YES!!!!...iPad...netbook...laptop...whatever.




-- Edited by Baker on Sunday 16th of May 2010 08:46:46 AM

 

[Keith]

What's the "G" for in 3G and 4G?

 

[Baker]

Generation???.....it is the next level regardless.....

 

[Forkliftt]

Keith,
I read your article in the SSH newsletter about wifi. We purchased a Linksys Range Expander this weekend from BestBuy and tried to pull in some free wifi. No good. I called the support number provided at J&J and got a quick call back but no help. The tech tells me one signal near us comes from the fuel pier but there can be too much interferance for us to pull it in. Are ther any other ideas for pulling in a weak wifi signal?

 

[Marin]

Keith wrote:

What's the "G" for in 3G and 4G?

Generation.* It's a relatively meaningless marketing term.* A company can (and will) add some inoccuous new technology to their system and start calling it a "5G" system because it's a "generation newer" than their "old" 4G system which for all practical purposes as far as the user is concerned might have been no different than the 5G system.

*

So for awhile the company with 5G has bragging rights over everybody else until the rest all catch up with their own 5G systems at which point someone starts figuring out how to do something so they can say they have a 6G system.

 

[Keith]

I've got a bunch for wi-fi, but if you're talking specifically about the SSH one, I've never been able to log into it. The help line guys just tell me "we don't really know Windows 7". I can log into all other unsecured wi-fi networks, or ones that I have the passcode for, but the SSH harbor one is problematic. Let me know if you're having problems loggin in even with the password.

 

[Delfin]

Forkliftt, as posted elsewhere, the easiest and best way I've found for 'free' Internet is using my iPhone to tether to my laptop.* As long as I have a phone signal, I have Internet.* I'm really not sure why anyone with an iPhone would use any other approach.

 

[Forkliftt]

Delfin,
I'm glad you brought that back up. I had considered trying it a while back but it seemed a little complicated with jailbreaking and such. Would you mind posting it here again? Please keep it simple for my limited tech skills. Do you use the USB port or Bluetooth?

 

[Codger2]

Baker wrote:Sprint will be launching the 4G HTC EVO cellphone. Among other things, it will be able to act as a wifi hotspot for up to 8 devices. Google HTC EVO for details. This is the hottest cellphone release this summer.

Since Baker wrote this, I have investigated this phone at two Sprint stores, several hours on the Internet, iPhone people, 2 Droid people who were iPhone users, and countless conversations with my daughter who is an iPhone nut. Conclusions? If this phone (HTC EVO) lives up to only one half of its expectations it will be the best communicator a coastal cruiser can have on his boat. For those of you that have laptops, iPods, iPads, (any WIFI device) and want to access the internet while cruising, I'm convinced this is the answer. They are available on June 4th and I am on their waiting list. No, I don't work for Sprint. I'm just a guy who wants to stay in touch when I'm boating or traveling and I don't want to go to Starbucks or pay a hotel $10/day to use* WIFI.

*


-- Edited by SeaHorse II on Tuesday 18th of May 2010 08:43:41 PM

 

[Baker]

I don't have an upgrade until November. But I might end up paying full price for that puppy. That is gonna be one badass phone!!!

 

[sunchaser]

Delfin

Free? For Verizon, monthly internet access fees alone from our personal*smart phone are $30 and double for Canada. My home laptop via cingular works in any McDonalds for "free" too but my monthly home phone/computer pays the freight.

What a racket this "connected" business is. Not to mention BBX on the boat, Direct TV and a business cell with all the goodies. Whew, I'm ready to go cold turkey.* Oh well, I now have 5 GPSs on the boat!

Last year, a good buddy dropped his loaded smart phone in the drink as he climbed abourd our vessel. Now I know what catatonic means!

-- Edited by sunchaser on Thursday 20th of May 2010 05:17:26 PM

 

[Delfin]

Yes, FREE is a relative thing.* Let's put it this way, I need a data plan for email and Internet on my iPhone for business.* By jailbreaking the phone, I can tether it to my laptop and use it for high speed Internet access for (free????).

Here is my original post:

A few months ago, I discovered that I could use my unlimited dataplan on my iPhone to connect my laptop to the Internet via the phone.* This has proven very handy, as I can connect at anchor, in the car, etc.* This basically does the same thing as an air card, except you don't need the aircard, or the cost of that plan.* All you need is the iPhone, and a dataplan.

I won't go into all the details of this fairly simple process, but you have to start at www.blackra1n.com.* This application 'jailbreaks' your phone, meaning you can install the other application you need to to have your iPhone look like a computer with Internet access to your laptop, or choose another wireless carrier if you like.* www.cydia.com has the other needed application, and the utility you end up installing gives your phone a new function called 'Internet Tethering.' Here is a link to information on that application:* http://www.funkyspacemonkey.com/howto-enable-internet-tethering-iphone-os-3x-carrier-att-included. This function is available outside the U.S., just not here.* Here is official Apple information on the topic:* http://www.apple.com/iphone/iphone-3gs/tethering.html.* When you connect your iPhone to your laptop via USB (and have iTunes installed on the laptop), you automatically go into Tethering and you can get to the web just as you would normally.* Speeds at 3G levels is very good - about the same as DSL.*

Those with iPhones might look into this if free high speed Internet has any value to you.* Download blackrain to your iPhone to jailbreak it, then check out the sites above to learn the balance of what you need to know.

I wish I could make this sound simpler, and I must say that is turns out to be simpler than the instructions end up making it sound.* However, it may be worth the effort to make it happen.* Today, I did a webinar on the boat showing a dentist how to use a piece of software that was making Internet calls for data, all while talking to the person on the same iPhone I was using for the Internet access to do the webinar.* So it does work.

Forkliftt, the connect is through the USB port.

-- Edited by Delfin on Thursday 20th of May 2010 09:54:52 PM

 

[Forkliftt]

Got it. I will give it a try as soon as I am able.

 

[JD]

Baker, Seahorse,

Well yesterday I went to the Sprint store and got the skinny as they say.

Presently my bill with Verizon is right at $160 a month and that is for my phone, the Admirals phone, 750 talk anytime minutes (split between us) and my Internet net card for the laptop.* No data package for either one of us which would add $60.* And what ever other BS they can find.*

Sprint tells me that we can have two new HTC EVO*4G*Androids($400 for both after rebates), all of the data, streaming, email, unlimited mobile to mobile regardless which carrier we call, 1,500 land line anytime minutes and unlimited*Internet WiFi for up to eight people for each phone for*$150 a month.

We pick up the new phones sometime after the 5th of June and have 30 days to decide if we like them and they will give me cash back for each old cell phone I turn in up to eight.* I never asked how much for each phone because I really don't care.

Thanks for the heads up.

-- Edited by JD on Friday 21st of May 2010 10:38:02 AM

 

[skipperdude]

I don't go out on my boat to be in touch with anyone.

So this would not be for me. I figgure it will wait till I get back. I just plan it that way.

"No pool no pets no motor car as primitave as can be."

Well pets OK. Got to have the little monster dog along.

SD

 

[Baker]

JD....you are dead on!!!! Sprint is cheap...and there service is decent!!! *You will soon find out that you don't need 1500 minutes since everything except lanlines are free....so it will get even cheaper.

-- Edited by Baker on Sunday 23rd of May 2010 10:46:44 PM

 

[Baker]

Also, I don't know who you work for....if anybody, but you can likely badger them into some sort of discount. My company gets 25% off with Sprint....one of the main reasons I am with them.

 

[timjet]

Considering wireless carriers, Verizon has always been known to be the pricer of the major carriers. But, the reception for those who travel is generally better with Verizon and for me I rarely have a problem with connection issues in the many places I travel to. I guess you get what you pay for, however if you get good reception at your normal locations and don't travel much, then it would make sense to shop around.