Message-ID: <199803061052.KAA00597@salsa.gih.co.uk> Date: Fri, 6 Mar 1998 10:52:19 +0000 From: Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond <mailto:ocl@GIH.COM> Subject: GSM PCMCIA card - can stay on=line with ease... To: mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU
Hi everybody,I usually write here for new Internet connectivity in developing countries. Let me write this time round about connectivity in developed countries.
Use of GSM for world-wide Internet access
I'm sure a lot of you are like me and travel quite a lot around the world. The most important thing for us is to be able to connect to base through the Internet wherever we go. I've come across so many problems when taking a laptop & PCMCIA modem around: different plug style, different dial-tone, problem finding a decent telephone line, problem finding a place where to plug the laptop in etc.
Often, I ended up connecting through my hotel room, thus paying some extortionate telephone rates that hotels sometimes practise.
My way round this was to use, whenever possible, a modem connected to a GSM phone, say around Europe. No more plug problems, no more trouble finding a phone line. The GSM International roaming agreements did the job.
Well, Compaq has come up with what I think is something which will greatly promote the use of GSM mobile technology to remote-connect using a laptop: they're come up with a GSM PC Card Modem. It's basically a PCMCIA card with a small antenna which is powered by the laptop itself and can therefore emit a full 2W at 900MHz. It does 9.6kbit/s -> 38.4kbit/s , which is damn good for mobile data links. You can also use it as a fax, of course.
The great thing is that it's so unobtrusive. No more playing with cables, and connecting the mobile handset to the laptop etc. etc. And I'm told the reception on it is actually better tha most mobiles since the PCs power supply is meatier than for a mobile handset.
If any of you guys are going around Europe or in areas which have GSM mobile coverage and which have roaming agreements with your mobile telephone operator, then I'd say "check this out".
It's the Compaq SpeedPaq GSM PC Card modem and it works with all laptops. If any of you know of other manufacturers of such GSM cards, please give me a shout, thanks !
Cheers,
Olivier
-- Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond, Ph.D. |----> Global Information Highway Limited Phone: +44 (0)956 84 1113 | Always 60 seconds | E-mail: <mailto:ocl@gih.com> Fax : +44 (0)171 937 7666 | ahead of the past | Web: http://www.gih.com/