In search of a better connection

One of our readers sent in a good suggestion for this month’s column – thanks, Scott!

Are you living in an area with a good internet connection but poor cell service, or an area with good cell service but a poor internet connection? There are some gadgets that can help with both situations.

First up are “micro-cells.” These are little devices that plug in to your internet connection to provide you with cellular coverage. I got to see one of these in the wild recently, and the coverage was impressive.

I was seeing five bars of signal up to 100 meters from the house. Nice! AT&T, of course, doesn’t include any pricing information on their website, but according to the AT&T store in Auburn, the micro-cell units are currently $200 and are not bound by a contract or any additional monthly costs.

Verizon calls their equivalent unit a “femtocell” or a “network extender.” You should be able to find one using either term. The Verizon unit is $250 and is available online directly from Verizon or from the local Verizon store in the McKnight shopping center. (The other Verizon store in the Save Mart center probably sells them too, but they didn’t answer the phone during normal business hours, so I’m not sure.)

There are also no monthly fees for the Verizon unit. I haven’t yet played with one of these so I can’t say what its real-world performance is like.

If you have good cellular coverage, but the best you can do for an internet connection is dial-up, then you might try the inverse of the micro-cell: a cellular “modem.”

Verizon sells a 4G cellular USB modem for $20 (with new two-year activation) and a “mobile hotspot” for free (with a new two-year activation, of course).

The USB modem plugs in to a standard port on your computer and allows your computer to connect to the internet using your cellular service. The mobile hotspot provides a wireless network for your laptop or other computers using your cellular connection. AT&T has several similar devices at about the same prices.

With cellular modems, you have to be very careful about how much you use the internet. Although your download speeds can be fast, you get charged according to how much you use, and that can add up in a hurry. It would be best to talk with a Verizon or AT&T representative to get an idea of what your costs might be.

Finally, local company Smarter Broadband (http://www.smarterbroadband.com/) also provides high-speed wireless internet service in many areas. If you’re looking for something better than dial-up and haven’t found anything yet, try contacting them to see if they can help you out.

Happy 2012 everybody!

Have a question for the Computer Sleuth? Rob Sheldon is the owner of No Problem and can be reached by emailing rob@associatedtechs.com.