mobile internet question

I am really confused, I saw a guy from the water utilities company today who
was working on a water leak outside of my house and he had a little laptop
called a Panasonic Toughbook. It was ruggedly built and had a little antenna
sticking out of the side. I asked the man if he was connected to the
internet and he said that he had a permanant connection, how, why,
what?????? I want it and I want it now. I have a centrino laptop and I was
of the impression that you had to be within the vacinity of a hotspot to be
able to connect wirelessely to the internet and that this was quite costly,
currently around £5 per hour I believe. What sort of connection does this
guy have, is it satellite? and paid for as a business package by the
utilities company? Is this kind of technology available to the ordinary man
in the street and if so where do I get it? I am often in remote places that
it is hard to get access to telephone points let alone access to WiFi
hotspots so a totally wireless solution would be excellent. Can anyone
please advise me on best solution both, cost effective and hardware.

Headtheball

There are PCMCIA cellular cards. It's just a matter of subscribing to your
cell provider's "data" plan, usually. Most cell phones can also be hooked up
to a PC using a serial/USB cable, or Bluetooth. Of course this implies you
are using the phone in an area covered by your provider (or one covered by
their roaming agreements). Prices can be somewhat prohibitive though,
depending on your needs.

-BB

"Headtheball" <> wrote in message
news:...
> I am really confused, I saw a guy from the water utilities company today
who
> was working on a water leak outside of my house and he had a little laptop
> called a Panasonic Toughbook. It was ruggedly built and had a little
antenna
> sticking out of the side. I asked the man if he was connected to the
> internet and he said that he had a permanant connection, how, why,
> what?????? I want it and I want it now. I have a centrino laptop and I
was
> of the impression that you had to be within the vacinity of a hotspot to
be
> able to connect wirelessely to the internet and that this was quite
costly,
> currently around £5 per hour I believe. What sort of connection does this
> guy have, is it satellite? and paid for as a business package by the
> utilities company? Is this kind of technology available to the ordinary
man
> in the street and if so where do I get it? I am often in remote places
that
> it is hard to get access to telephone points let alone access to WiFi
> hotspots so a totally wireless solution would be excellent. Can anyone
> please advise me on best solution both, cost effective and hardware.
>
>

Benoît Bousquet

Buy a panasonic roughbook if it serves your purpose.

Centrino based Laptops are WiFi based. The likes of the toughbook use a modem and connect via the cellular phone network.

"Headtheball" wrote:

> I am really confused, I saw a guy from the water utilities company today who
> was working on a water leak outside of my house and he had a little laptop
> called a Panasonic Toughbook. It was ruggedly built and had a little antenna
> sticking out of the side. I asked the man if he was connected to the
> internet and he said that he had a permanant connection, how, why,
> what?????? I want it and I want it now. I have a centrino laptop and I was
> of the impression that you had to be within the vacinity of a hotspot to be
> able to connect wirelessely to the internet and that this was quite costly,
> currently around £5 per hour I believe. What sort of connection does this
> guy have, is it satellite? and paid for as a business package by the
> utilities company? Is this kind of technology available to the ordinary man
> in the street and if so where do I get it? I am often in remote places that
> it is hard to get access to telephone points let alone access to WiFi
> hotspots so a totally wireless solution would be excellent. Can anyone
> please advise me on best solution both, cost effective and hardware.
>
>
>

=?Utf-8?B?QkFS?=

Most likely a modem connected to the cellular system. All the cell
companies have PCMCIA card modems with the small antennas.


"BAR" <> wrote in message
news:33A59647-25D6-48D1-822A-...
> Buy a panasonic roughbook if it serves your purpose.
>
> Centrino based Laptops are WiFi based. The likes of the toughbook use a
modem and connect via the cellular phone network.
>
> "Headtheball" wrote:
>
> > I am really confused, I saw a guy from the water utilities company today
who
> > was working on a water leak outside of my house and he had a little
laptop
> > called a Panasonic Toughbook. It was ruggedly built and had a little
antenna
> > sticking out of the side. I asked the man if he was connected to the
> > internet and he said that he had a permanant connection, how, why,
> > what?????? I want it and I want it now. I have a centrino laptop and I
was
> > of the impression that you had to be within the vacinity of a hotspot to
be
> > able to connect wirelessely to the internet and that this was quite
costly,
> > currently around £5 per hour I believe. What sort of connection does
this
> > guy have, is it satellite? and paid for as a business package by the
> > utilities company? Is this kind of technology available to the ordinary
man
> > in the street and if so where do I get it? I am often in remote places
that
> > it is hard to get access to telephone points let alone access to WiFi
> > hotspots so a totally wireless solution would be excellent. Can anyone
> > please advise me on best solution both, cost effective and hardware.
> >
> >
> >

Christian