www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Geek Hall 3G Internet

I am wondering how many have tried 3G Internet with either their computer or mobile phones? I have had the chance when traveling in Europe to pick up a 3G usb key for my netbook on a pay and go or prepaid basis (the rates were very reasonable). Like cell phones there are dead spots, but when I was in a cell enabled area it worked great. I was able to get my email done, upload files to my online storage and get a lot of work accomplished rather than having it all pile up for when I get home.

Anyone else have experiences with 3G?

In IC XC,
Father Anthony+

God help,

I use frequently 3G net on my mobile phone Samsung Omnia Windows Mobile, because I travel quite often to Rome, Italy or to Bucharest. It is fast enough in order to read mail, news, to search for info or to download a Father's word in mp3 or a pdf book.

I have good signal almost all the time. It is faster than the old modems from years ago.

Also I use sometimes on laptop when in Italy a USB key for net, very good speed.

The price is ok, used with measure of course.
Settings are easy to be setup. Almost all phones get automatic settings.

It's great until it isn't. Flipping from 3G to EDGE can drop calls and kill Internet activity. I live on the border between two overlapping zones so in my office I get EDGE and when I walk to the front door I get 3G. Drops my call every time I go to answer the door.

What does 3G even mean, anyway?

Here in Atlanta, a Internet service provider newcomer called "Clear" is available. You can access the Internet anywhere on your computer, even going down the highway in traffic (if you happened to have your laptop on you). Unfortunately, my family lives too far out of the city for it to be available (we don't even have cable where we live, so the Internet is through satellite and is really, really slow).

So far it's only available in Atlanta, Portland, and Vegas. Is that "3G"?

Alexis

Alexis,

3G for a basic explanation is connecting to the internet using mobile phone frequencies. I just completed a working trip in France, and was able through one of the providers, SFR to obtain a usb key and upload my work when possible. This saved hunting around for an internet cafe, and the problems with moving files around from one computer to another, security and the like. Since the way I obtained 3G from SFR was on a prepaid basis, it worked to about the same rates as an internet cafe, without the hassles. Now I have the device (it looks like a regular usb key), it is only the matter on reactivating it on future trips and the hourly cost.

With service improving all the time, I figure I am ahead of things in this area for future work.

Also 3G can be used on devices such as mobile phones like the iPhone and other devices such as Blackberries etc.

In IC XC,
Father Anthony+

3G is used a lot over here as well . BUT having said that it's not available everywhere - even in the big cities there are spots where it can't be used.

I had looked into getting a 3G dongle for Raymond while he was in hospital - it would have been allowed - but there was no guarantee that it would have worked well. Most ISPs/Providers can produce maps of coverage - but even they admit that it can be trial and error getting it to work.

That I can agree with from experience, but it was still better than the alternative of either not having it, or having to put your work through on public internet cafe computers. The latter was least desirable since you never know if your security will be compromised.

In IC XC,
Father Anthony+

Have to admit it - I may well do something about a 3G dongle for my next trip to Europe - it will have to be a French Supplier I suspect - the prices for Roaming here are far too high and the Data allowance is not good. Sadly PAYG is not available for Roaming from the UK .

Where I have been in the past Internet cafes are very thin on the ground and even 'open networks' seem to be well screwed down.

Tourist Offices have been helpful in the past , and their rates for public use have not been extortionate . If you bounce in with an Ethernet Cable they realise that you have some knowledge and are usually willing to let you use your own machine.

I've used both a Blackberry and now a G1. It's amazing that it works, but it's painfully slow when you're used to regular DSL or university lines. For email it's great; for web it's painfully slow, especially with images.

But I have too many of the things in my life. In addition to my phone, there's the fire-snorting quad-processor in the living room, and four (4) ! laptops as of yesterday! (An old Acer with vertical lines that they didn't honor the warranty on, my main laptop, the one that it replaced after only a couple of months, that then broke it's screen, getting replaced by AmEx, and the replacement for it purchased yesterday. Then there's an old MacPortable, a Tandy 102, a Mac Classic, an original Mac, and some Apple //e's, just counting what are known to work--but none of the apples get used these days).

Anyway, 3G is great for email, but the best connection I've seen is on a former work laptop at .5MBS.

hawk, computer hating technologist

I am currently using an Hp 1115NR netbook for field work (I repair Industrial computer controlled machinery [CNC]) Having a Verizon 3G wireless connection has worked out well so far. I am in a region with excellent wirless coverage. It is considerably slower than DSL, though not so slow to be unusable. Youtube videos stream well, though other formats (usually higher resolutions) have good sound, but the video often lags.
The 3G technology is great for email in my appllication. I don't have to move away from the machine to send emails/images to the manufacturer to describe the problems. Works ok (slow) downloading large PDF's, though once downloaded, the PDF's can be quickly brought up for viewing.
I'll give the technology a test later this month while travelling via train to Olympia, WA on vacation.

Doc, I only had the use of 3G recently and only for the trip. I would not consider it for my mobile phone, primarily because the screen would challenging to my eyes (even on my iPod Touch, the screen is too small for viewing web pages enjoyably). I was interested in using this on my netbook, since this was the first real test for it as a machine that could process work while I was in the field.

On my netbook, it was great when I was in an area that was enabled. Being that I was using it in Europe, I think the speeds were a bit faster at 7.2MPS on a GSM network (AT&T and T-Mobile use this type also, but on different frequencies) as opposed to the North American CDMA networks that companies like Verizon and Sprint use. I am not considering getting it for here in the states, because I would not have the use for it that would justify the cost. For the trip though it served me.

Steve, I do not know what your coverage would be like on a trip like that, but you may find it works great in some areas and not all in others.

In IC XC,
Father Anthony+

Fr. Anthony,

I'll post my experiences when I find out how well the coverage is. I don't start the trip until Aug. 19. The speeds do seem very influenced by the quality of the connection I have found.
I'll be traveling by rail (Amtrak) so I will also see how well a 3G network can keep up with data traffic while moving.

Steve,

Enjoy the trip, and let us know what happens.

In IC XC,
Father Anthony+

Hmm...well I have a BlackBerry, but I still don't really get the usefulness of 3G, since I get my emails, etc. sent to my phone, anyway. I can open up PDF documents etc. with it.

Maybe I'm using 3G and don't know it?

I also don't understand Bluetooth. A friend tried to explain it to me, but it was over my head.

Alexis

You are.

In IC XC,
Father Anthony+

Oh!

Well, see, I'm just not the nerd the rest of you are. Haven't keep up with the lingo!

Alexis

Some interesting observations regarding 3G data flow when traveling in various reception areas.
If reception is ok and one isn't moving too fast, data transfers are good. But, if the reception is only "ok" at best and the train is going 90mph, then things get interesting. Both my wife and I had posted on facebook, using different 3G technology (Verizon 3G connection on my netbook and 3G via Kindle I) and had the same issues of posts "appearing" then disappearing when traveling fast.
Perhaps the data hand off from various cells doesn't go perfectly causing mysteries. Otherwise few problems so far.
There are dead s[pots along the Coast Starlight route, mostly through Vandenburg AFB, and portions of the Cascades