Verizon and Internet on cell phone?????????

Tim R. · Mar 27, 2011

A smart phone that runs android is good. Make sure she gets the wireless tethering plan.

RAD · Mar 27, 2011

Agree with Tim.....I have a Droid smart phone and it can access the internet and I can tether it to a lap top and this like other smart phones has access to great applications that you'll use every day

gettinthere · Mar 27, 2011

isn't tethering an extra $60/month on top of the data plan?

srhummer · Mar 27, 2011

Watch out - AT&T and Verizon have both gone to metered data plans. Sprint is still unlimited. After so much data they charge you more $, IT CAN BE BIG TIME MORE $$. So if you plan to use it for watching TV online, or up/downloading large amounts of data just figure it out before you get the surprise bill.

That being said - If you want to connect a laptop you can try 1) an air card - seperate account from the phone that plugs into the laptop 2) a wireless router - also a seperate account from the phone - a small box that is a Wireless (cell network) router that creates a WiFi hot spot for your laptop to connect to. or 3) a phone that has the "hot spot" feature, which turns the phone into a WiFi router that your laptop can connect to - same account. The cell networks going along the coast will all be slower than what you would have at home on a cable WiFi router. Do not let the salesman tell you about their 4G network since the parts of the networks you will see sailing up the SW coast of Florida will probably not have been upgraded to 4G, if they say it is ask to see the coverage maps. I have had both a Palm Pre and a Samsung Epic on Sprint, both have had the Hot Spot feature and it worked well. Allowing us to connect up to 5 laptops to the internet at 3G speed while on the boat, sending the data over the phone, allowing us to work from the boat while sailing (well mostly motoring) up the ICW from Key Largo to Annapolis. Some carriers/phones charge to enable this feature others do not so ask. Best of luck!!

Deadhead · Mar 27, 2011

I found it cheaper at $32.50/mo +/- to get a Verizon mi-fi wireless router than to tether my Droid X to the laptop. Unlimited data.

Indysailor · Mar 27, 2011

I got my Droid Incredible at amazon wireless for a buck. Am using Verizon 3G right now and it works well. Unlimited data plan runs me about $65/mo. The 3G network is comparable to what I get when I hop on a wireless network.

inarathree · Mar 27, 2011

I use a Verizon air card from St Petersburg to Tarpon Springs. Never have a problem with coverage even well outside the IWC, good enough that the joke around work is that I really don't work from home, I work from the boat.

Ed Schenck · Mar 27, 2011

For a short trip you can do everything you need to do right on the Droid. Problem with the air card is that you are tied up in a contract. I used Verizon from Lake Erie to Tampa, worked great. But I didn't need it after that and I the termination penalty was over $150. Still better than $60/month for another eighteen months.

Maine Sail · Mar 27, 2011

I tether my Droid. Cost $29.99 mo for my "grandfathered" unlimited data plan for the phone and $14.99/mo for tethering. $44.98 for unlimited data on my phone and laptop.

I use so little data, even though I have unlimited, I dropped the "paid for" tethering and just use PDA Net and tether for free. If I want to do movies or upload/download while off cruising I just turn "paid" tethering back on for a month. You can turn on and off the tethering feature as often as you like with Verizon as it is a feature not a contracted plan.

If you are not a huge download or uploader you can used PDA Net and never get caught. If you're greedy and download a lot using PDA Net on a "limited" plan you will get caught like a friend did. I use PDA Net almost daily and it works great but don't be stupid with it. General web surfing is fine but Pandora, movies, video games, youtube or picture uploading/downloading etc. will get you busted..

So if your smart about it you can tether your laptop to a Droid for $29.99 mo with PDA Net... If you don't already have a phone with grandfathered "unlimited" data your stuck with a "limited" data plan so be careful using a third party tethering software.

gettinthere · Mar 27, 2011

when did they drop unlimited?

Anyone use the unlimited plan from straight talk? It's thru walmart and it uses verizon service. unlimited talk/text/data for $45/mo, no contract. Don't know if pdanet would work with any of the straight talk plans.

jackhartjr · Mar 27, 2011

Gettinthere, I am getting ready to tell AlLtel to stick it you know where and go to the Straight Talk plan.
You can not teather it to a laptop.
Some of the phones work on the verison network, some on AT&T. The folks where you get the phone can tell you which.
Jack

BrianW · Mar 28, 2011

I have a Verizon unlimited data plan with a Blackberry. Earlier I had an aircard for $60/mo. The smartphone data plan is $30/mo. I can tether to my laptop with a USB or Bluetooth (wireless) connection. I originally had a tethering plan with Verizon. 4GB/mo. for an extra $30/mo. . I learned about an app called Tether. You can go to their website (see link below) and see if they have an app compatible with the smartphone you have. I downloaded it on sale for a one-time $30. It works great so I dropped the Verizon tethering feature. Last year I had a land-based vacation along the Florida west coast. Great reception the whole time. BrianW
http://tether.com/

Tim R. · Mar 28, 2011

I have a mifi from Verizon with unlimited data through work for $42.50. it is nice but is another contracted device. If I did not have this I would use my droid unlimited data plan with wireless tethering.

Most coastal ares now have wifi all over the place and with a few hundred dollar antenna you could probably be covered all along the coast accessing free wifis.

Witzend · Mar 28, 2011

Got a great wifi antenna and MajicJack. I would not do your banking over unsecured networks, but for most everything else it works great. wifis in so many places now, there is one in a marina across the river, I just tap into it, interruptions do occur like when a big ship goes by, but for $1.70/month you can't loose. I no longer carry a cell phone. I came to the realization that when ever I called someones cell I always get phone mail, so why should I carry one, they can leave me phone mail, it turns into email and I listen to it on my craptop.

soling42 · Mar 28, 2011

We use Verizon on an unlimited data plan with our Driod X that sits in a verizon dash mount in the car/boat with a 12v cord. We plug in a small FM transmitter to stream Pandora or music files to our on board sound system and have phone coverage everywhere on the SW Fl coast up to a few miles offshore. It'll get spotty offshore coverage between larger cities but is usually fine. The Droid X is a fantastic smart phone that is nearly as versatile as my laptop and yet travels in my pocket everywhere.

Good luck in your travel plans to our neck of the woods. I hope the weather is as favorable as it was for us down your way a few weeks ago.
Mike and Kelli.

FourPoints · Mar 28, 2011

For anyone with a Android phone on AT&T (and probably any other carriers too) who wants to have the option to use the wireless tethering, but don't expect to use it often, you can bypass the paid tethering plan with a little bit of research (it varries by phone, it takes about 5 minutes to run through the one time process to enable thethering on my AT&T Samsung Galaxy S Captivate, you almost certanly find the info for any make / model phone here http://forum.xda-developers.com/)

After you do this, you are still limited to the amount of data included in your plan, so you are not getting anything for free, except the ability to use the data you are already paying for with your data plan on your laptop as well as your phone.

If you are going to use tethering frequently, you are better off paying for the upgraded plan as it includes additioonal data transfer that you will probably use.

I enabled thethering on my phone so I have it as an option, and aside from testing to make sure it was working, I haven't used it yet. I expect it will come in handy at some critical moment for work and I'll be very glad I have it. I normally never come close to my monthly data cap as I use wifi on my phone whenever I can (much faster than 3g), so paying for the extra thethering service every month, just in case I need it, and getting double the data would be a complete waste for me.

soling42 · Mar 28, 2011

I fully intended to tether my Droid X to my laptop with PDAnet and an unlimited plan but after using my Droid X with it's big screen I realized I can do everything I need from my smartphone and rarely bother with a laptop on board. My data use for the last 6mths is about 1gb a month even running my GPS car nav and Pandora radio.

With a million phone and plan variations I wish you good hunting.

Bad Obsession · Mar 28, 2011

I have to tell you that the Droid X through Verizon is my chosen method. I have been tethering with Verizon for a few years now and I have been impressed on the Chesapeake Bay. There are very few places where I am not getting a signal (Tangier Island) and most of the time I am a few miles out and I am able to attach to the lap top and surf the net.

Verizon does a good job for service.