Should I buy into a wifi plan?

[jbrink]

I have a wireless enabled laptop and just bought one for my dad. I have a home network with all the expensive High speed internet/Routers/bridges, etc., and use it quite well. My 76 year old dad cannot afford all that, but I now am learning about wireless hotspots, in hopes of at least steering him towards this way of faster internet browsing (he has the good old dialup thing going on). My question is this. Should he buy into a plan, from someone like Veriszon or AT&T, or should he just search for "free" hotspots. If he should buy a service, which is best/cheapest/largest network?

[spiderbite]

Hotspots are a last resort internet solution. I'll tell you why.

My biggest peeve is that most of the morons that tack these things up have no idea what they are doing. 9 times out of 10 I will be in range of several AP's on several different networks. Without the ability of a good ol' Cisco card to set it not to roam, you will invariably associate to another AP on a diiferent subnet causing your laptop connection to fail, until it gets a DHCP address from the new AP and then it works again. Then the process starts all over. Try maintaining a VPN connection while this is going on...

Second, you have to leave the house...

Third, If your not mobile why not use the 100Mbps connection with the cable?


If you really love your Dad ( you did hook him up with a laptop !) earn some extra points and get him some DSL

Its the gift that keeps on giving.....

[M/Q]

I as usual agree with Spider about the hotspot idea. Also they are notorious for all sorts nefarious malware and ner-do well types. If you father would like to be able to access the Internet from anywhere that he can use a cell phone then a pc card from Sprint or Verizon will allow that. Cingular is working on one as well, but I do not think it it ready for prime time yet. This link talks about Sprint's version.

http://www.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,122411,00.asp

[jbrink]

Thanks for all the advice. I was getting pretty excited about the hotspot thing, but as with your replies, I kept on running into articles on problems, etc.

Even at 75 and 76, my parents travel alot and I didn't want to pay for High Speed Internet, if they were not home to enjoy it. Still planning on giving it to them for 6 months just so I can do some remote troubleshooting and teaching so they can at least get comfortable with the new laptop.

thanks again..

[spiderbite]

I will use a hotspot if I have to.....but as a sole source of internet juice it is a major pain.....

[M/Q]

You must not have looked at my link. That is not hotspot technology it is GSM/GPRS technology using the cell phone system. It is very secure and as I mentioned available anywhere they can call on a cell phone. It is more than twice as fast as dial up and can be used almost anywhere, even in a moving car.

It might be the ticket as then then can still use it at home as well. Just wanted to make sure you understood that the technology is very different than wifi hotspots.

[spiderbite]

will look into that a bit harder...thanks for the re-direct! :cool: