PCMCIA Data Card for mobile access to internet

AMO

I wish to purchase a PCMCIA Data Card for mobile access to the internet when I am away from home.

My main requirements are:
- To VPN into customers sites when no broadband via a landline is available or wireless broadband is available, e.g. when I'm sitting in a park.

However, I am a little confused by what my options are.

As far as I know, a PCMCIA data card will accept a SIM. The SIM can either connect via GPRS fairly slowly like dialup speeds or via 3G which is almost broadband speeds.

I understand that there are different types of cards out there that support different technologies
- where it the best place to go to find the ideal card?
- if I get a card from a specific network operator, will SIM cards from other network operators work with it?
- where can I go to just buy one from an independant retailer and know it will work with any network operator?
- is there anything else I should be aware of?

Thanx

AMO

seanyseansean

AMO wrote:

I wish to purchase a PCMCIA Data Card for mobile access to the internet when I am away from home.

My main requirements are:
- To VPN into customers sites when no broadband via a landline is available or wireless broadband is available, e.g. when I'm sitting in a park.

However, I am a little confused by what my options are.

As far as I know, a PCMCIA data card will accept a SIM. The SIM can either connect via GPRS fairly slowly like dialup speeds or via 3G which is almost broadband speeds.

I understand that there are different types of cards out there that support different technologies
- where it the best place to go to find the ideal card?
- if I get a card from a specific network operator, will SIM cards from other network operators work with it?
- where can I go to just buy one from an independant retailer and know it will work with any network operator?
- is there anything else I should be aware of?

Thanx

AMO

Wouldn't it be easier to use bluetooth between phone and laptop, using the phone as a modem?

AMO

seanyseansean wrote:

Wouldn't it be easier to use bluetooth between phone and laptop, using the phone as a modem?

I wish to explore all my options. Many of our customers now have VPN access and it would mean that I would be dialling into the internet and then activating VPN to access a customer's site. This gives a slow link.

If GPRS is faster or 3G, then I want to work out the cost/benefit.

AMO

roxorx

- where it the best place to go to find the ideal card? shop around a bit, speak with independant stores near you and see if you can see one working
- if I get a card from a specific network operator, will SIM cards from other network operators work with it? i don't think so, not totally sure though
- where can I go to just buy one from an independant retailer and know it will work with any network operator? again, speak with a local shop
- is there anything else I should be aware of? check coverage for whichever network you are with to see if you could get 3g there

i use a vodafone and an o2 one a lot with work and both are a bit 'flaky' speed wise unless you are in or near a town/city. they will work over gprs fine from most places, but depending on what you want to use them for that might not be suitable.

if you let me know what apps you would want to run over vpn and possible amount of data that you would transfer each session and maybe per month i can have a look around for you.

AMO

roxorx wrote:

i use a vodafone and an o2 one a lot with work and both are a bit 'flaky' speed wise unless you are in or near a town/city. they will work over gprs fine from most places, but depending on what you want to use them for that might not be suitable.

if you let me know what apps you would want to run over vpn and possible amount of data that you would transfer each session and maybe per month i can have a look around for you.

I need to run PC Anywhere and Remote Desktop over VPN. Its mainly for adhoc access to customer sites when I am away from home and from work.

Ideally I would like to access via 3G than GPRS as I want the connection to be fairly fast. At the moment, I either connect a mobile phone and dial straight into the customer site or dial up the internet and then access the customer's site via VPN. However, the latter is slow.

The requirements are only for managing and administrating the servers. I don't know how much bandwidth this would result in, but certainly when accessing the customer sites, it will not be surfing the internet and so I am not sure whether its seen as more like VoIP in T-Mobile's eyes.

I also don't know the types of Data Cards supplied by the different network operators. I assume that they all have 3G and GPRS functionality and possibly also double up as a wireless network adapter. I am not sure if the data card supplied by one network operator is more future proof than another.

T-Mobile used to have a £19.99 package, but that has now risen to £29 / month. All the other network operators appear to be expensive.

I also can't work out why you can't just buy a GPRS/3G data card and plug it in, enter a few settings and be connected. From what I can tell, the data cards are locked to each of the network operators and you need the software to each network operator to get things working. Why is that?

Thanx

AMO

amcluesent

A datacard won't be any faster than a mobile phone with GPRS and 3G linked by bluetooth. The best you'll see is in the hundreds of kbit/sec, so it's not really broadband speed. Shop around for an airtime deal, a friend has just signed on with T-Mobile and gets unlimited data for less than £25/month.

AMO

amcluesent wrote:

A datacard won't be any faster than a mobile phone with GPRS and 3G linked by bluetooth. The best you'll see is in the hundreds of kbit/sec, so it's not really broadband speed. Shop around for an airtime deal, a friend has just signed on with T-Mobile and gets unlimited data for less than £25/month.

Why not? From what I can tell on the various websites, 3G gives a speed of almost 384K.

How often am I likely to reach speeds of this kind?

Thanx

AMO

everythingblogcast

You need a USIM or Data Sim card for 3G laptop cards not any sim card can do. Buy one off ebay and buy a pay as you go sim with Orange that means you can pay £1 for GPRS for all day.

everythingblogcast

However if you just go for a GPRS laptop card you do not need a USIM or Data Sim card. Just use a standard Sim card.

roxorx

AMO wrote:

Why not? From what I can tell on the various websites, 3G gives a speed of almost 384K.

How often am I likely to reach speeds of this kind?

Thanx

AMO

it all depends on signal strength, so woudl depend on where you dial in from.

if you are just using pc anywhere and remote desktop, i'm pretty sure the bandwodth would just been screen refreshes, so 20kbps tops i'd say.

do you know anyone you can borrow one frm to test, that'd be the best bet imo.

MickKnipfler

I need GPRS or 3G access from a desktop in a motorhome. Where is the best deal now? I heard that T-mobile are doing a pretty good deal? Could I get a bluetooth mobile and then just a bluetooth USB thingy for my desktop?