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questions about wireless internet

16 years ago

Forgive me as i am kind of behind the times on my wireless internet stuff. i currently have DSL at 512k speed for $35.00 a month through our landline phone company. I was at my cell phone place today.(alltel) I recently got a new blackberry and the salesman was trying to sell me wireless internet for my home computer for $40.00 a month instead of my dsl. Included in the deal was one of those small acer mini computers 4 gig for $99.00 with the wireless internet card with 3 months free internet, and free activation. 2 year contract required. He told me that the wireless would be way way faster than the DSL, and that the card could be used in my home computer to make it wireless without a router or used in the mini laptop but if i wanted to use both the computers at the same time that i would need a router which i knew. he quoted the price on the router to be $179.00 so my questions are these:

Is this a good deal? Should i do this and will it really be faster that my DSL?

Is this removeable wireless card the same thing as the wireless card they ask if you want when you order a home computer? ( i guess i was thinking this was something that was integrated?)Is having a usb slot enough to have access to wireless?

Someone told me that i could use my blackberry plugged into a computer to get wireless access of a laptop, and that they do it all the time. is this true because the guy at the cellplace told me i could but it would cost me $30.00 a month and that it would be slow.

Would i need that $170.00 router or would any router work? I am confused on that.

How safe is wireless internet from hackers? If i use zone alarm or something similar would i be protected? How is a blackberry protected for that matter?

Thanks for any advice you can give me.

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Comments (3)

grandms
16 years ago
I'll try to answer several of your questions. Yes, you will need a special router, but I would NOT buy the one the salesman is pushing on you. I have one made by Cradlepoint (the CTR350) which I bought at Amazon.com and did not pay nearly that much for it. It is very small and I plug the wireless "card" (modem) into a USB port on the router. Then I connect my desktop computer via Ethernet (cat 5 cable). I connect my laptop via the wireless signal sent from the router. It is very easy to set up the security on the router. In addition, I also use software firewalls on my computers. The built-in wireless in the laptop is not the same thing as what you plug in. It allows the laptop to receive and use wireless signals, and all new laptops come with this.

Now whether this would be faster than your DSL is questionable. Sometimes my service with Verizon is quite fast, but at busy times, mostly evenings, it slows down quite a bit. With DSL you have a dedicated line, so your speed should remain constant. I went this route, because I cannot get DSL or cable, and I suffered over 2 years with satellite. Then Verizon's 3-G (EVDO) became available to me. You need to be fairly close to a tower to get a good, strong signal also. If your cell phone service is good, chances are the wireless Internet would be good, also. I was able to buy a used "card", which is really a modem, so that I was not locked into a contract and I can end the service at any time without penalty.

So it's your call. If you are unhappy with your DSL, you might give it a try. Do they have a trial period during which you can return anything and only owe for the usage you had? If not. . . . .It's your call.
ravencajun Zone 8b TX
16 years ago
what you were talking about using your blackberry is called tethering and yes it can be done, I know several people who have done it successfully for quite a while. You can do some google searches for tethering and find out some info.
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polarprincess
Original Author
16 years ago
thanks!!

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