Tech Geek and More

(http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/pdanet NULL.jpg)    Its hard at times trying to stay connected while waiting for a plane, many airports don’t have wifi yet and those who do require you to pay $5.99 (or more) per hour. Then you have hotels, where you can get internet but its $9.99 to $14.99 a day (Easy revenue for a hotel) or hotels where they will offer Internet but only in their lobby area (After a long day I don’t want to sit in a lobby, I want to sit in my hotel room). Finally you have client offices where they may not want you on their network because their I.T. doesn’t know where your laptop has been (I can understand that) or even if you could would you like to risk your client being able to scan your laptop and possibly get a hold of a document that they really shouldn’t be seeing (I know of a few places that have done that)?

   Those are just some of the many scenarios that road warriors go thru during their day to day tech life.  These as well as many other issues has made the wifi card (which basically all cell phone carriers now have) very popular.  The problem I have with the situation is that most of those cards have limits as to how many bytes of data you can send/receive per month (unless you pay for a seriously high end plan), and in all cases your looking at $49 or $59 a month with a 2-year commitment (they really want you around for a while). Then you have an option from these same phone companies to Tether you phone, which means that you use your phone as a modem.  This used to be a free option for the most part but now the phone companies have become wise and will charge you $15 or more a month for the Tethering option. 

    The cost may not seem so bad, but in these economic times, where every penny counts, I have another solution to get your internet access.  A company call June Fabrics (I don’t know why they choose that, before you ask!) has software for Windows Mobile, Treo, ( and earlier releases for the iPhone, Android and Blackberry) that will allow you to Tether your phone and not have to pay the extra monthly fees.  They call it PDAnet and it uses your phones built in internet service to provide your service to your laptop or whatever other device you connect to.  I have been a user of PDAnet for over 3 years (Again for the record, I am not in any way associated with June Fabrics, I’m just a satisfied customer), and have had no issues with their program. I have used Sprint the entire time, and have always kept the unlimited data plan on the phone itself.  There costs run from $29 to $34 dollars (one time fee) per license, which means per phone, however, you are allowed to load the software on as many pc’s as you need if you connect via multiple devices thru your phone.  I have in my travels 2 laptops (not that i carry both at the same time, plus a Samsung UMPC) and run the application perfectly, being able to switch between the 3 devices on the fly when need be. The application is simple to use, and sets up in no time at all.  The speed is very good, i would explain it as low end DSL speeds.

    The only negative is that company does not have immediate phone support, but they have always been good in getting me a response via the online support tool, in most cases in less than 24 hours.

**The only thing to keep in mind is that you really need to have an unlimited data plan on your phone, because if you don’t you will get an unpleasant surprise, from your cell phone provider.

   So if you need to have internet access and cant or don’t want to pay more than you already are check out June Fabrics http://junefabrics.com/index.php (http://junefabrics NULL.com/index NULL.php).  Its a lot easier to convince a boss to let you expense a 1 time $29 or $34 dollar charge, than it is to convince them to pay $15 to $59 every month.