Cellular Options:

Mobile phone operators in the United States have been investing billions into building out their mobile broadband networks. Of the four major mobile carriers, three (Sprint/Nextel, Verizon and AT&T) provide high speed mobile broadband to their customers. The little brother of the bunch, T-Mobile, is still only delivering a slow EDGE network to subscribers but are rumored to be rolling out a 3G network soon.

AT&T has a 3G network that uses a technology called High-Speed Download Packet Access (HSDPA) that can support download speeds of 1.8-14.4 Mbit/s. Globally there are 102 HSDPA networks in 55 countries. In the United States, AT&T has rolled out HSDPA to most major metropolitan areas.

You can access HSDPA through specific handsets that support the technology or via USB/PCMCIA cards that plug right into your laptop. Note that not all AT&T handsets support HSDPA, particularly BlackBerrys and the ever-popular iPhone. Yet. These non-3G handsets utilize AT&T’s slower 2.5G EDGE network. HSDPA is quick and speedy, but you pay in lowered battery life.

The cost of 3G data access is in addition to whichever voice plan you have with AT&T, and varies depending on the device you have. To add data access on to your non-smartphone handset, AT&T charges start at $19.99 a month for MEDiaNet access. Data plans for smartphones (BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, etc.) start at around $30/month. To add a data plan for your laptop, you must subscribe to a DataConnect Plan starting at $60/month for 5GB of monthly bandwidth. To use DataConnect, you must have either a USB or PCMCIA data card.

Sprint and Verizon Wireless both support the same 3G networking protocol which is different than HDSPA. These two wireless carriers use a 3G technology called Evolution-Data Optimized or EVDO that comes in two flavors – the faster Rev A and the older Rev. 0. The speedier version (currently used by both Verizon and Sprint), can reach download speeds of up to 2.4MBit/s.

EVDO has been around longer in the US, and as result Verizon and Sprint have more handsets available that use this 3G technology. Also, the reach of Sprint’s and Verizon’s high-speed network is wider. Not only are major metropolitan areas well-covered by EVDO in the US, but access is also available in smaller communities.

Verizon’s data plan, BroadbandAccess, ranges in price from $40/month to $60/month. The less expensive plan allows you a measly 50MB of bandwidth. For the typical web worker, I would recommend the 5GB $60 plan. Sprint, on the other hand, has an unlimited data plan with no caps for $60/month. Alternatively, they feature a less expensive $40/month plan that caps you at 40MB/month.

Cricket (previously covered by WWD) is a low cost cellular service provider that is available in limited areas including Portland, Oregon, Central Texas, Denver, San Diego, and others. Cricket offers EV-DO rev. 0, which is slower than Sprint and Verizon’s EV-DO. However Cricket’s data plan is $35/month for unlimited data usage. If you’re looking for a lower priced option and can work with the slower speeds, Cricket is worth consideration.

If you’re looking to be able to use a broadband data plan for a few days, check out RovAir. They offer cards from AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon for daily rentals.

With these cellular providers, you must check their coverage maps on their respective websites to ensure you’ll have broadband access in your area. Just because you have a cellular signal on your phone does not mean you have 3G/EV-DO network connectivity in that area.

Wi-Fi Options:

If you need Wi-Fi for mobile connectivity, you can rely upon free Wi-Fi hotspots at coffee shops and the like, or pay a subscription fee. To find Wi-Fi hotspots, check out the resources we featured in a previous post.

JiWire is an excellent resource for finding Wi-Fi hotspots around the globe.  In addition to their website locator, the company features downloadable applications for Windows, iPhone, and Mac OS X that will make it easy to find a hotspot.

Are you willing to share a piece of your home Internet connection with others in exchange for access to additional hotspots while on the road?  Fon is a company that sells you a wireless router that will enable you to have a ‘private’ network which is for your own use, and a separate network for fellow Fon users.  Once you’re sharing your network, getting on other Fon wireless hotspots (which are available all around the globe) is free of charge.

For subscription services, there are three major players in the US: T-Mobile, AT&T and Boingo. T-Mobile’s Wi-Fi service is well established and available in many locations. In related news, recently it was announced that Starbucks would eventually ditch T-Mobile in favor of AT&T’s Wi-Fi. AT&T advertises 71,000 places to get online with their subscription service.

T-Mobile’s Wi-Fi service plans start at around $30/month. Please see their website for detailed information. AT&T offers their Wi-Fi subscriptions starting at $20/month for unlimited use. If you’re already an AT&T DSL customer, you get access to AT&T hotspots as a part of your monthly DSL rate. See AT&T’s website for additional program details.

If you’re traveling outside the United States or spend a lot of time in airports, you’re more likely to find access via Boingo Wireless than T-Mobile or AT&T.   Boingo plans start at $22/month for laptops and $8/month for smart phones that feature Wi-Fi capabilities.  With all plans, be sure to read the small print regarding roaming charges.

What method do you use to get online while on the road?

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• 3G network expansion. AT&T currently offers HSDPA (their current 3G Network technology) to a limited area of the United States. As of this announcement, they’ll be drastically expanding this to 80 new cities, bringing the total to around 360 metropolitan areas.
• High Speed Uplink Package Access (HSUPA) adoption. This will be the United States’ first network of this type and will allow super-fast upload (ranging from 600 and 1,400Kbps) and download (ranging from 500 and 800 Kpbs ) speeds. In a few words, AT&T is upgrading 3G network speeds for those of you fortunate enough to be within AT&T’s 3G footprint. This will be welcome news for those who use cellular network cards in their laptops for mobile broadband Internet access. The speeds AT&T is rolling out are faster than EV-DO, which is currently offered in the US by Verizon Wireless and Sprint, in most cases.
• Long-Term Evolution (LTE) on the horizon. LTE is going to be the next thing in wireless broadband for GSM networks. Verizon Wireless is also looking at LTE for their 4G wireless broadband, so AT&T jumping on the LTE bandwagon is of no surprise. Lets just hope the US LTE networks are standardized with the European networks so if you travel abroad, you can take your handset and have high speed data access where ever you go.

All this means AT&T will have a far-reaching high speed wireless network footprint. Mobile access to the Internet is a great concept, but at this point in time, mobile data users are being forced to pay too much for these data plans. We’re happy AT&T and other mobile carriers have been investing loads of money in building out their ultra-fast wireless data networks.The fact is, Verizon Wireless, Sprint, and AT&T competing is welcome news for web workers. This cut-throat competition will ultimately drive down costs as high speed networks spread to more geographic areas.To many, current broadband pricing is simply out of reach. Having monthly data access cost more than DSL or cable modem seems ludicrous.Additionally, we would also hope increased competition would encourage Verizon Wireless to take off their 5GB cap on monthly bandwidth.

(Image credit: smith on Flickr)

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