Temporary wifi on the go

[nevadacrab]

My situation: I recently broke my leg and am recuperating. I will be going down to visit my father & stepmother in Yucca Valley, California, for 3 weeks. They do not have any kind of wifi (my dad uses dialup). I will take my laptop, and with limited mobility, it's pretty much the only thing preserving my sanity (we have DSL at home). Is there any kind of wifi that I can sign up for temporarily? I understand that I will have to purchase some kind of USB device, but my cell phone company wants a two year commitment at $50 per month. that definitely will not fly for me. anyone have any experience with this kind of situation?

[plodr]

No experience at all. If you want no commitment, you might want to look at Virgin Mobil's Broadband2Go.
Here is the device and some reviews on the BestBuy site.
 http://reviews.bestbuy.com/3545/9361834/vi...eviews.htm 
Walmart also sells the device; it might be cheaper there.

I'm not sure what sort of signal you's get.

There are 4 free wifi hotspots along the 29 Palms Highway.
Get someone to dump you at the Starbucks.

[nevadacrab]

plodr wrote:

.....Get someone to dump you at the Starbucks.

That's the worse come to worst alternative. McDonalds could work also. But my Dad & Stepmom are not near the city center, and neither drive much. I expect to have lots of time on my hands, and some kind of wifi that I can access from my guest room would be great.
I will look into what you suggested. I may make a trip to Best Buy, since they seem to have multiple alternatives under one roof.

[nevadacrab]

Virgin's Broadband2go looks like the best bet. $50 for a 3G device, $35 for a month of "unlimited" access (speeds drop after 2.5 gig). Since he alternative is dialup (monopolizing my folks phone line), it should be workable. I'll let everyone know my results.

[curious john]

There is a way to set up wifi using dialup, connection sharing, and normal broadband router. Or there are special routers that will direct connect to dialup assuming isp doesnt require special software. Course doesnt increase speed, so it is way to say use one of the electronic book download things or android tablet that only connect via wifi. But probably only one device at a time.

Boost Mobile offers "unlimited web", though like Virgin, they "can" throttle it after first 2.5gb. And "tethering" officially only offered if you have their $300 phone and pay for 4G monthly service and get the official "wifi hotspot" deal for another $10 fee per month. Unofficially you can use 3rd party software to easily make any of their 3G Android or Blackberry phones tether without rooting your phone. If you dont get too piggish from what I read, they dont create difficulties. In other words if you dont try to stream video or download huge files, probably no hassle. BM uses Sprint network.

[nevadacrab]

Only one week in, but Virgin's Broadband2go is working well for me. Getting a good signal (and good speed) in an out-of-the-way place.
The software is a pain to install (and crashes occasionally), but once you get it running, works well. I am able to get online, do basic surfing, email, and downloading (no videos, yet) at good speed. Would be well worth it for travelers. Will update.
Advice: buy he modem at Walmart. Competitive price, and special "top-up" deal available.

[curious john]

I went the other way. I upgraded my Boost Mobile account and got cheapest Boost Mobile Android phone at current time, Samsung Replenish. Got it off ebay, new, never been registered for any account, and saved $20 over buying it from Boost. Been trying to get up to speed in making it all work. My Sprint Network 3G reception 2 bar if I get it hung in window just right. But that gives me fast download speed tethering (whole lot faster than dialup or 2G that I had on the iDEN phone). Voice calls drop a bit.

So I ordered a Zboost amplifier/repeater dohicky off ebay. Got it today and have it temporarily set up. Still somewhat mixed results even though I now have 4 to 5 bar, but its been doing pretty good this afternoon. Like I said, if you dont get piggy, this is big step up from dialup, for about same total cost once I drop my landline and dialup isp. And once the monthly price starts dropping every six month until it gets down to $40 a month.

Oh big suggestion, dont add minutes via Boost phone or website, they charge bunch extra fees and taxes. Look for independent seller of reboost cards though they tend to not want to send actual card, they want you to give them your phone number and they will add the money to your account for you. Not sure why but at $55 (first six month) the extra fees/taxes if you buy from Boost is another $5 a month. Thats silly.

I was tempted at Virgin Broadband2go for $35 a month, but I really wanted to dump the landline to even out costs and wasnt too sure if VOIP works very well over cell data connection. The Boost setup gives unlimited free voice calls within USA. I make darn few calls but need phone to be reliable, thats why I havent cancelled my dialup yet, want to make sure the cell does well without holding phone against the upstairs window.... Seems to, but I need to be within few feet of the booster gizmo. Not great but no worse than running upstairs for the dialup phone. (The landline going downstairs went bad and I make so few voice calls, that I never ran new wire, just used the phone upstairs.) Maybe I will figure how to expand inside range of the Zboost gizmo. Like to get 4 bar downstairs.