In some areas of Canada, Rogers is now offering a new Portable Internet service. The service is based on Wimax technology and requires a special wireless modem available from Rogers. While the solution is not mobile it is portable! let me explain.
Mobile internet allows you to connect anywhere and is usually acheived by adding a PC Card to a laptop. It is typically fairly slow and very expensive in Canada. It does however allow you to roam and switch stations, and is generally available anywhere there is a cell phone signal.
The portable Internet service relies on transmitters on specific Cell phone towers and the modem requires a power outlet. This modem does not automatically switch to different towers as you move about.
The service however is extremely cost effective! Rogers offers it for 49.95 per month (minimum 1 year contract) and requires the purchase of the modem for 99.00. The published speeds are quite impressive however (nearly double todays cellular technology) at 1.5 Mb per scond download and 256K uploads. In addition you get 30GB downloads per month, 5 email addresses and the abilty to take your connection with you to certain areas. At this cost, and with these bandwidth amounts it is a far better deal than going with a cellular based service.
With a power inverter in your vehicle you do get some roaming ability.
We have not decided if this would be a good solution for Sysguy yet but are looking very closely at it.
Please let us know if you have tried this service and if it works well in your scenario.
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