For consumers who want to be always connected to the Internet, at home, at work or traveling, the choices keep getting better.
Prices are lower, speeds keep getting faster, and competition among carriers continues to escalate. So here's a basic guide for the have-laptop, will-travel road warrior.
Five major carriers offer wireless Internet service in San Diego County and four in Riverside County. They are: AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless and, in San Diego County, Cricket Wireless.
Caution: The carriers' speed estimates may not be what you experience. An overloaded network will be slow, no matter what the alphabet soup technologies like "3G," "4G," "HSPA" or whatever the carriers talk about. So ask friends and business associates to share their real-world experiences.
With that in mind, here's the lowdown on what the Big Five offer:
AT&T
You've got more than 20,000 offices away from the office with AT&T. That's the number of nationwide WiFi hotspots for AT&T customers. These include locations at Starbucks, McDonald's and various hotels and resorts. Find them at: http://www.att.com/gen/general?pid=13540.
North County has about 100 WiFi hotspots, the company says.
For $60 a month, users get 5 gigabytes of wireless data over AT&T's cellular network. WiFi hotspot use doesn't count toward that limit.
So how much is 5 gigs? Plenty for intensive Web browsing and sending e-mails, including some photos. It's not sufficient for constant downloading of large files, such as videos.
The data rate over the company's high-speed 3G network (for techies, HSPA 7.2) averages from 700 kilobits per second to 1.7 megabits per second. For comparison, a fast dial-up connection is around 50 kilobits per second.
Outside the 3G network, speeds are much slower, as with all the carriers. However, AT&T says its 3G coverage includes the great majority of the American population. And the company is speeding up its network with upgrades.
But if you happen to land in a 2G area, no matter what the carrier, you don't want to use it for laptop Web surfing. So take the laptop to a WiFi hotspot instead.
Cricket Wireless
Cricket, owned by San Diego-based Leap Wireless, is not quite a national carrier, but it's getting there.
The company began by providing low-cost, unlimited local calls in some second-tier cities. Now it is building a nationwide network that covers a good part of the country.
Broadband coverage is good in North County and south to the Mexican border, but hasn't yet reached the Inland Empire. Find a coverage map at http://www.mycricket.com/coverage/maps/broadband. Voice coverage is more extensive.
Cricket offers the cheapest monthly plans: $40 for 5 gigabytes and $50 for 10 gigabytes. Cricket voice customers get $5 off these prices. The speed is a bit slower than most of the other providers, about 500 to 700 kilobits per second. (For the technically minded, it runs an older flavor of Qualcomm's 3G CDMA technology, called EVDO Rev. 0.)
Cricket's data limit is a "soft cap" in the industry lingo: When you exceed it, your connection is slowed down for the rest of the month, but not interrupted. That will still allow for light Web surfing or e-mail, but discourage large file transfers.
Sprint
Like AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless, Sprint charges $60 a month for 5 gigabytes of data. It's got EVDO Rev. A, which brings speeds up to an average 600 kilobits to 1.7 megabits per second.
But Sprint is rolling out a much faster "4G" technology that promises 3 to 6 megabits per second.
Sprint also shares with Verizon the distinction of selling the only device (so far) that combines a cellular modem with WiFi. The device, called the MiFi, picks up the Internet on the cellular data network, and resends it in a 30-foot-radius cloud of WiFi. It's made by San Diego's Novatel Wireless.
The password-protected MiFi can provide WiFi to up to five computers within range. It functions for about four hours off its battery, or indefinitely if plugged into its charger.
T-Mobile
One of the lower-priced carriers, the company offers 5 gigabytes a month for $50. And while T-Mobile has long lagged in speed, it's now got its 3G network working at a respectable 1 megabit per second. Moreover, T-Mobile is also upgrading to the speedier HSPA 7.2 standard AT&T is deploying.
Outside of the HSPA area, there's the slower EDGE network. Check the network's reach at http://coverage.t-mobile.com.
Also like AT&T, T-Mobile offers its customers WiFi for free at more than 10,000 locations nationwide, including Starbucks, through an agreement with AT&T.
Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless and AT&T are battling on the airwaves, and in court, over who has the best, speediest data network. Verizon's message is that there's no substitute for a good wireless network that lets you work from wherever you want.
Getting specific, Verizon says that means 3G (Verizon's flavor is EVDO Rev. A). Verizon hammers home the point on its 3G coverage maps, showing most of the country covered by Verizon, less by Sprint, and far less by AT&T and T-Mobile.
Verizon offers the standard 5 gigabytes for month for $60. And along with Sprint, it offers the MiFi wireless modem/WiFi hotspot.
Verizon doesn't offer WiFi hotspots to its wireless subscribers, unlike AT&T and T-Mobile. It prefers to directly provide high-speed wireless to customers in a large a territory as possible, so people can get on the Internet from wherever they are.
Weighing it all
These aren't the only options for wireless Internet access. But since this article is intended for heavy wireless users, it highlights plans best suited for those customers.
Things to consider include cost, coverage, data speed and extra perks such as free WiFi. Your cell phone provider makes a difference, because you may get a discount if you use the same provider for data.
You'll need to buy a wireless modem to use the service. I've mentioned the MiFi, but there are many others. With a long-term contract, you can get some for free or nearly free. And above all else, try before you buy.
Call staff writer Bradley J. Fikes at 760-739-6641. Read his blogs at bizblogs.nctimes.com.
