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Brendan Tompkins [MVP]

Blog First. Ask Questions Later.

Surf the web on your Vacation - Use your Sprint cellphone as a FAST USB modem

I just had to post about this… It’s vacation time, and if you’re like me, every year you have the problem of how to connect from the beach, in the woods, on your road trip, or wherever your travel plans may take you.  Last year, I had to drive 50 miles to a library to do some emergency server work. This year, fingers crossed, I’ll be able to relax on the dock and connect to the web.  If you have a Sprint phone, here’s a great solution.

BTW: I checked into the Wireless Broadband data cards, and Sprint’s current cost of $80/month +2 year contract for the service, it wasn’t really something I thought was worth the cost.

Then I found this article from Engadget –

HOW-TO: Use your CDMA cellphone as a USB modem - Engadget - www.engadget.com

Travel plans about to take you beyond the land of broadband? Venturing far afield from the great kingdom of WiFi? You may have been born with 802.11b in your mouth, but you’re going to want to get prepared for that next trip to the sticks. This How-To will show you how to get a decent Internet connection for no cost other than the phone minutes you use while connected.

I purchased my USB cable for $9.99 somewhere online, then somewhat skeptically followed the directions from the article.  It works like a charm! And it was fast, like the article says – speeds typically somewhere between a 56K modem and DSL/cable.  

So for a total cost of $9.99, I actually got a 500 + K (will verify the actual speed later - but it's fast!) connection through my laptop!

-Brendan



Comments

Jeffrey Palermo said:

I've been doing that with Sprint for over a year. It works good on even the most basic Sprint phones. At Tech Ed, everyone was complaining about no wireless, but I never missed a beat.
# July 18, 2005 10:46 AM

daughtkom said:

Verizon offers something like this for some of their phones (counts against your plan's minutes), too. I've used it with decent success.

Mine cost about $40 though, instead of $10. I got ripped off. :(
# July 18, 2005 12:13 PM

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About Brendan Tompkins

Brendan has been programming with .NET since the first public beta and is owner and operator of Port Technology Services, a consultancy company providing .NET application development services to the Maritime industry. In July, 2007, he was awarded the Microsoft MVP award for ASP.NET. He's also a proud co-founder of failed .COM startup Intrinsigo, and has had a hand in the failure of numerous other businesses. He currently runs CodeBetter.Com and Devlicio.us, and lives in Norfolk, Virgina with his wife Tiara and son Ian.

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