In December I bought a Sierra Wireless AirCard 875U. It’s time to tell you how the experiment is going.
What it is: The AirCard is a wireless 3G modem that you can insert into your Mac or PC laptop’s USB port to gain connectivity to the broadband Internet.
Why I did it: I’d put up with Internet downtime from Comcast, my service provider, for years. Comcast is a monopoly, and acts like it. There’s no DSL service in my East Bay community, and I know of no satellite service that provides true broadband speeds. So whenever the cable broadband connection went down, I was stuck for days without an Internet connection. I was also tired of going to too many coffee shops and airports only to find wifi at skyjacker rates with Tmobile. So I finally ponied up and bought the AirCard (a) as insurance when my service went down, and (b) as a handy way to jack into the Net at conferences and on the road.
Interesting angle: Last month, during our blogger posse’s trip to Israel, Israel’s leading wireless provider outfitted all of our Macs and PCs with … Sierra Wireless AirCards. We were up and running in minutes, and they worked like a charm, though a bit slow on Mac X 10.4.11 (Tiger) rather than superfast 10.5 (Leopard). We blogged merrily on the bus all up and down Israel from Haifa to Jerusalem.
Lesson learned: I knew I wouldn’t be using it much, so when I signed up for the accompanying AT&T Premier service, I chose a plan that assumed a ridiculously low megabyte usage per month for a price of something like $30/month plus overage charges. After using the AirCard exactly twice in the first month, — just to check Gmail — my first bill came to over $150!
I quickly switched to an unlimited plan of $51/month. It’s pricey, for sure, but I’ve been using it more and more. Today, for example, while other NewsTools2008 attendees moaned about the poor wifi at Yahoo!, I bypassed the hotspot and used my AirCard. Dan Gillmor also uses a 3G USB modem, and more than a few conference-goers took notice.
Drawbacks: After traveling with the AirCard to New York, San Francisco, LA and Carmel, I’ve yet to find a city where AT&T’s 3G network doesn’t reach. (Granted, I haven’t used it in the hinterlands.) So the only drawback from my perspective has been the price: $149 to $335 for the device plus $610 a year for the service plan. Still, for me, it’s worth the convenience and peace of mind.
If you use a different detachable 3G modem and like it, feel free to post your findings below.
JD Lasica, founder of Inside Social Media, is also a fiction author and the co-founder of the cruise discovery engine Cruiseable. See his About page, contact JD or follow him on Twitter.
Boy did I have an awakening this morning. I talked to Sprint after getting a rather curt letter indicating that they were now going to instigate a limit of 5G per month even on the unlimited plan which I have. So much for unlimited! I checked with Verizon and ATT and got the same! Don’t know what I will do next! Any comments?
Gary in the midwest
Hi there! I’m glad to get some info. on the subject, but I’m unsure of the specifics. I am fed up with my local phone carrier, Qwest, so I’d like to avoid doing DSL if possible. I was thinking about going to satellite internet. How is this different from satellite, and do you recommend having an internet carrier that does aircards instead? Like the comment before, I am a freelancer, and I’m looking for a system that I can travel with widely and still have access to the net.
Thanks!
try cricket. they have an aircard and a usb connect. it’s the most affordable. with phone service you get a 5 dollar discount so it’s 35.00 and without it’s 40.00. i had the aircard but either my computer decided it didnt like it anymore or the aircard was bad, which of course they said it wasnt, so when i start service again, i’ll use the usb. right now it’s on sale for 59.00 and the aircard is free. no contracts. stop whenever you like. alltell also has a card but they don’t service my area which i don’t understand since it’s wireless, but go figure…