The day after writing last week's column we visited the Cingular store in New Tampa and signed up for an unlimited Data Connect plan with a two-year contract. We have been using the service for almost a week and it has proved to be a reliable Internet connection, but at Travelers Rest it is not very fast.
The three major cell phone carriers, Cingular, Verizon and Sprint, all offer Internet connect service, and the services are broadband in most metropolitan areas. Cingular's broadband network is known as 3G, and promises connection speeds rivaling the speed of a cable modem. When not in an area serviced by 3G, the connection is made through Cingular's Edge (2G) network, which operates at speeds faster than dial-up but slower than DSL.
Immediately after signing up for the service, we headed to a coffee shop near the Cingular store to try out our Internet connection. The greater Tampa area is covered by 3G-service, and the connection was lightening fast. The New York Times home page, which is graphics intensive, loaded seamlessly and fast, as did a financial management program, Active Trader Pro from Fidelity Investments. Active Trader monitors the stock market in real time, and worked flawlessly on the 3G network.
Back at Travelers Rest we are connecting to the Internet through the Edge network, and download speeds are considerably slower. The biggest disappointment for us has been Fidelity Active Trader Pro, which does not work well on the Edge network. The stock prices do not update in real-time, and it is not possible to use the program for trading. A call to Cingular support told us that they do not recommend using Active Trader over the Edge network. On the plus side, the connection through Cingular has been reliable, while the connection through the TR wireless network has not!
On balance, we still haven't made up our minds whether we are going to keep the service or not. With a thirty-day window for cancellation without penalty, the clock is ticking, and we have to make a decision in the new two weeks. By then we will be on the road, making our trip out to Tucson, and we will have the opportunity to test the network in a variety of locations - most of them outside of metropolitan areas.
What we are hoping for is this: If we find ourselves in a traffic delay we can go online, check the traffic report, and find a way around the tie-up. When we need gas, we can check for the lowest prices in the area*, and we can check restaurant and hotel reviews on the fly. We will also have access to Weather.com, MapQuest, Google Maps, and Google Earth when we need them. All-in all it should be a good test and I will report back to the TR Times readers in a future OnMouseClick column.
*Did you know about finding gas prices on the web? Do a Google search for "Gas Prices" and you will find a list of web sites that provide real-time information.
Some of the sites I have tried are:
www.gasbuddy.com
gasprices.mapquest.com
www.gaspricewatch.com
www.fuelgaugereport.com
www.fuelcostcalculator.com.
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