No kicking and screaming necessary! You should really consider a
smartphone. Like I said, for minimal surfing like you do, a smartphone
might be all the internet connection you need. Check out the pre-paid
companies. You can buy a very nice Virgin Mobile android smartphone for
about $150, and then pay only $35 pet month for unlimited text, and
data. (But limited to 300 anytime talk minutes). There are many, many
companies, phones and plans, so you've got to do a lot of research to
find the exact best one for you. But if your regular cell gets good
coverage, go to 'their' website and see what they offer in smartphones
and smartphone plans. The pre-paid companies are all "pay-as-you-go", so
there's no contract to sign, and no monthly bill. You can either pay
each month with top-up cards bought in a store, or let them auto deduct
it from a debit/credit card.
All you need to know about choosing a smartphone is to get any phone
running the Android operating system. Google owns android, so any
android phone you buy will work with all google services (like maps,
navigation, gmail, google Docs, Google Play Apps store, calendar, etc,
etc,) right out of the box. The alternatives to android are Apple which
is very expensive, and in my opinion not nearly as feature rich as
android. And Microsoft now sells a few phones that run the Windows
operating system - but these are new and don't have nearly the number of
apps or support that Androids do.
Just some thoughts. :-)
Good luck,
Donk
On 10/8/2012 2:25 PM, salemagnet28 wrote:
> Thank you, Donk. I am probably the only person on the planet who does not
> have a smart phone. :-) However, my regular cell gets very clear service,
> for being a sparsely populated area....maybe an occasional dropped call, and
> that is usually remedied by powering down for a minute or two, the powering
> back up, again. Yes, many options are very expensive, and since I'm only at
> that location at what amounts to less than a week per month, it's kind of a
> waste of money for me. The nearest neighbor is a nursing home, so
> piggy-backing is probably not an option, though it was my first (and
> preferred) option. :-D I will look into the others you mentioned, and
> hopefully, one will have coverage in my area. If not, I may be pulled
> kicking and screaming into the world of smart phones, another area where I
> have very little expertise. :-P
>
>
>
> --- In A-1-Computer_Tech@yahoogroups.com, Donk <d.knieriem@...> wrote:
>> Really, the cheapest, best solution would be to knock on your neighbor's
>> doors and ask if you could piggy back on their network for 1 weekend a
>> month - maybe offer to pay them $10 or something. Yeah, it might be a
>> little creepy if you don't know them, but, heh, that would be the
>> cheapest way. :-)
>>
>> Do you have a smartphone? You can do most of the same surfing on a
>> smartphone that you can on a laptop. Also, if you do have a cellphone
>> contract plan you should ask your carrier how much it would be to add a
>> data plan to your monthly plan. Usually around $20-$30 a month with a
>> limited amount of data (maybe 5GB - which isn't much if you watch many
>> Youtube vids). Ask them about tethering plans too. That's where you use
>> your phone as a modem for your laptop. But really a smartphone might be
>> all you need/want. (Of course this is all assuming you've got decent
>> cell signals where you are).
>>
>> Most phone companies sell little USB broadband adapters and then charge
>> you for how much data you use. You mentioned Netzero, so you already
>> know about these plans. You'll have to do some research to find the
>> cheapest carrier that offers the most data. I think generally the
>> pre-paid companies like Netzero, Virgin Mobile, Cricket, etc. will be a
>> little cheaper than the big boys like Verizon.
>>
>> But again, if you don't have a cell signal then you are pretty much
>> outta luck for access unless you want to sign up with the same ISP your
>> neighbors use - and that can be expensive. I think that some ISP's
>> (including Verizon, Comcast) offer a monthly, no-contract internet plan,
>> but it's likely pretty expensive.
>>
>> Good luck,
>> Donk
>
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