Welcome to our mobile internet website. I hope you will find these pages useful if you have decided to connect to the net while you travel, or you just want a low cost high speed alternative to your current provider.

The mobile industry has a confusing array of cellphones, smart phones, PDA devices, satellite phones, software, hardware and service providers. Choosing the right provider, rate plan, equipment and software can be a daunting experience.

We have developed an online database system for mobile users, and as a result we have had a considerable amount of experience with internet enabled mobile phones.

I have spent many tens of thousands of dollars over the last 10 years trying to find the best solution. I've suffered through many instances of over-billing, bad support, misinformation, equipment and system malfunctions, and poor provider attitudes (remember Ernestine?).

The industry has improved over the years, but there are still plenty of pitfalls that can cost you a lot of money if you aren't careful.

The purpose of this site is to try and help clarify the best mobile options available to you by sharing our experience. I sincerely hope you find it helpful.

- Adrian Biffen, Communications Analyst
  (Last update: August 28, 2008)

Connecting to the Internet While Traveling: Introduction

If you are looking for information about how to connect satellite phones, cellphones, air cards or other wireless devices to the internet, you've come to the right place. We have operated a web hosting service in San Diego for over a decade, and I have been using mobile internet for almost as long, as I need to be in touch at all times.

These days I'm using (pictured left) the HTC Touch™ a 3G (third generation) cellphone manufactured by HTC in Taiwan, that has been adopted by many service providers such as Sprint, Verizon, Vodaphone, Bell etc. They are often branded differently by the various providers, with different model names, but they are all essentially the same unit as the Touch, manufactured by HTC in Taiwan.

Some providers will have the phone manufactured with some hardware features removed (eg. the Bell Touch has no WiFi) and modifications made to the Windows Mobile operating system. The ability to customize Windows® allows them to add features and/or restrict functionality (eg. limit tethering options).

I got my Touch from Bell, and I'm into my third month of service at the time of this writing. I'm am very pleased so far: I haven't experienced any over-billing issues, my monthly bills are exactly as they should be, support and service has been very good, and my $7 per mo unlimited service has been just that: unlimited with no restrictions. The EVDO data system has exceeded my expectations and the HTC Touch has been a pleasure to use.

It has numerous methods of input such as several different screen keyboards, handwriting recognition, voice control and a standard joystick button for navigation. It has a pop-out stylus that can be used on the touch screen in place of your fingertips. It features a touch screen with gesture based software technology called TouchFLO 3D™ that is clearly designed to compete with the 2^nd generation iPhone™ from Apple®.

It provides me with an 'always on' high speed internet connection with unlimited bandwidth, not much different from my cable modem back at the office. Somewhat slower, yes, but I don't notice a whole lot of difference.

Running Windows Mobile 6 Professional®, which makes it a workable computer in its own right, it provides a theoretical maximum download speed of around 3 Mbps (million bits per second). Using an internet capable data system called EVDO Revision A, which actually puts it in the 4G category (fourth generation), it is an impressive piece of compact hardware that works very well. Being a computer, it can freeze up just the same as a laptop, but my unit has so far been very stable. So that's progress for you; now I have a phone that can crash!

I'm experiencing speeds of around  0.5 to 1 Mbps for fetching email and surfing the net, but the unit I'm using does not have Rev A, instead it has the original 3G Revision 0 version of EVDO (an acronym for Evolution Data Only or Evolution Data Optimized - often abbreviated as EV-DO, EvDO, 1xEV-DO or 1xEvDO). Still, it is plenty fast enough for my needs.

Contrast this to my first mobile online experience, waay back in 1998, when I decided to try and set up a mobile internet system so that I was not out of touch while traveling. Those were the days of analog cellphones (pre Telus), and I was lured by the prospect of being able to use my Motorola analog flip phone to connect my laptop to the net with my dial-up service provider (Earthlink) at the astounding speed of 4800 bps (bits per second).

This data rate was enough for me to send and receive email, but surfing the net and trying to do online banking was virtually impossible (not to mention incredibly expensive). Nevertheless, I was happy to get voice and email as we traveled the west coast from Seattle to San Diego, mostly in our motorhome, but sometimes by plane.

I'll spare you the details of these early days, but if you want to read about that experience, please go to our mobility archive section.

NEXT: Choosing a Cellphone Provider and Rate Plan