I am not too familiar with this stuff, so give me some advice:

My cell phone service is via SprintPCS - I get a 25% discount through my employer. The only real reason I have a home phone is so that my kids and I can get online and the cost is about 36 bucks a month. My cell phone plan is 300 day minutes (from 7am to 8pm) and unlimited nights and weekends. I know I need to get another phone that is a 3rd generation and the data link cable in order to connect. I can add another phone to my plan for only 20 bucks, but I would have to switch my internet provider to Sprint which is 15 bucks - but all this is still within the 25% discount. My current internet is MSN. So if I go this route, I can save about 30 Bucks per month.

So I am looking at any thoughts/experience with this setup - connection speed, can I use this on both a laptop and desktop computers, etc.

Thanks

runnert

 

Well, I'm not on Sprint, but I am on Verizon, and I have access to their "Express Network" connections. If you have the means to connect your phone to whatever computer you want (via a cradle or other portable cable), then you should easily be able to use it as a modem provided it has that capability and your service plan supports it. On average, when I use mine with my laptop, I get about 95 Kbps download speed (about 70% faster than a 56K modem).

 

I know someone with the PCS internet thing. E says he gets about ISDN speed with it. Another trick is if you get the wireless web (I think) where you can use the phone to browse the web, you can just buy the cable and it will work with the laptop too without any extra service charges. Now, he pays like $100-120 a month for the plan he has. I'm not sure how you get the cable or set it up, but it is possible. Otherwise you have to pay for the "PCS connection card" stuff. Anyway, hope this helps.