unlimited laptop Internet service

George,

I am a little confused about your post here?

Not recommending just sharing a find. I called them and was assured it was a no contract month to month no limit deal. 'leave it on 24/7.

You didn't leave a link. That is why we are confused.

Well my face is red. I forgot the link.

DataJack - Unlimited 3G Internet & Mobile Broadband Solutions

Lol. That makes sense now.

Alright George,

since you're talking about this... I thought it's good to share this website too:
magicJack

This one is not for internet though... It's for phone calls. My uncle purchased me a Magic Jack a few months ago and I've been calling the States and Canada since then (And YES!!! Everyday for a long time). My mother keeps talking to my sister in Canada. She speaks at least two hours everyday. And I call my clients in the US and Canada from time to time.

I think Magic Jack costs $20/year after the first year to recharge, but I am absolutely fine with this. I mean, come on I am saving hundreds of dollars!

Too sorry I can't benefit from DataJack since I live outside the states

I've been wanting to try them, but I am skeptical that it is reliable, fast, and truly unlimited. Could you update us on how it goes for you after you've tried it for a few days? The lack of feedback about the company online really scared me.

Pretty cool find, where I am I was considering tring Clear or Comcast, which has come out with a wireless broadband connection, but this (well really the price) looks hard to pass up.

George - after you try it, could you please post a review, Thanks again.

Seems cool. Once you try it, let us know what you think. Always looking for great finds.

What cell company's towers does DataJack use?

(Where I live, AT&T only works on this side of the hill and t-mobile only works on the other side of the hill.)

George - this looks like what I have been looking for! My father passed away suddenly in October, and I have been back and forth between Reno and Cincinnati every 3 weeks since then, trying to get my mom packed up and moved. Have been using the local Starbucks or trying to handle biz emails on my iphone- and I am going blind doing it!

Just spoke with them - they have coverage in her area, AND they are mac compatible! leaving tomorrow again, so won't order until I get back from this trip - but it sounds perfect!

Thanks for sharing!

Melody

I'm paying AT&T $60/mth for a card that I use as backup to my Cable internet. It's pretty damn fast for being 3g...but this is a real steal at that price.

The coverage map page on the site has no information.

The store locator map shows only Florida and two other states. Nothing in L.A., Bay Area, Seattle, Portland, Vegas, Phoenix, Chicago, Atlanta, NYC, Boston, DC, etc.

The FAQ says that if it can't find a 3G or 2G data network, it then tries to make a Wifi connection. No mention of whether this is integrated with a laptop's or netbook's built in Wifi and connection manager in the OS.

The About page has no information about who the principals are, or how large the company is.

No mention of who makes the hardware device, or how to get warranty service.

No reviews, no press coverage.

Either this is still a start-up, with poor p.r., or they have a lot of holes in their public information.

No privacy policy for the wireless service, only for the web site.

Terms of use say they may shut down the network for maintenance with no customer refunds for this downtime, and there's nothing on the site to indicate how you would out about such a shutdown.

The site terms of use are ridiculous. They seem to be cut & paste from the most paranoid legal fears about the Web. For example, they prohibit your downloading anything from the site. Apparently they would need to send you a separate contract allowing you to download the drivers for your driver download to not violate the terms of use. They also claim that you have no right to even link to the site if you might say anything negative about the company.

It might be great, but I don't feel confident based on these issues with the public site. A web site should be much easier to make great than a nationwide 3G network and a cellular data system. If the web site, which is easy to edit, has these kinds of holes, what holes are in the network, service, user support, billing, or drivers?

Thanks for the link, Lisa. It looks like some users have a fine experience, while others get inconsistent answers or a runaround. In particular, it's shaky that they advertise 3G but when people ask, refer to "high speed." It's also questionable that the web site promotes the idea of "pay when you feel like it," but the terms actually say that once you pay at all, they automatically rebill every month. Those issues sure look like, best case, growing pains of someone unprepared for growth, who needs to get their act together. Or, worst case, potentially sleazy practices of someone playing fast & loose with the truth for a quick buck.

Chris

well, within 600 miles around LA, there is no store which sells it. when click coverage link on the site, it says:
National 3G Coverage
Coverage information is currently unavailable. Check back for updates soon.

it seems the product is not ready yet.

$5/month, star bucks can let you use wireless connect for one month (2hours/day), and the $5 can be used for coffee. luckily, many starbucks around here, so, I will keep using starbucks,


david

The idea is great in theory. Now getting consistent results may be something else. I think that I will wait a while until the kinks are worked out...

I have been using services like this for more than 3 years without much problem in Hong Kong. I am currently paying just over $40 per month for up to 7.2 MB access but with a 2 year contract with absolutely no known restrictions. Of course technically, it is much easier to set up a service in a city such as Hong Kong than the whole of the U.S.

There are a couple of things you should look out for here.

1. 1.4 MBPs is now a bit slow compared to 7.2 MBPs what you get for HSPDA (3.5G) access
2. Unlimited usage may come with a number of restrictions including not being able to use FTP or SSH, or be able to download video and music files. You must read the small print carefully.

Derek

This is incredible. I have been suffering with a local Wifi system that comes and goes and is slower than dial-up half the time and I was at the Cricket store thinking about it. I know the MagicJack is phenomenal. The datajack sounds like the perfect solution. I'm trying to figure out whether I can use it in Phoenix...looks like I can even though their 3G system is not here yet.

In Canada Rogers is offering something similar: we get a mail or call almost weekly since my wife has a Blackberry with them and I have an iPhone.

The deal is very similar: around $200 the device and monthly dataplan... or 1-2-3 years contract with free device. (see the link above)

They even have a laptop that has the "gizmo" built-in, so you just go around with your laptop and don't need anything else for internet connection

George, I'm aware of this, and Datajack seems to be a very new company that is piggybacking off of AT&T and T-Mobile's 3G bandwidth to provide this service. I just hope they can pull this off without any complications or hitches, because AT&T has a similar service, BUT it is $60/month, requires a 2 year contract, and has a 5GB monthly bandwidth cap. This would pose serious competition to AT&T's service, and I'm just worried they might shut down Datajack after a while if it becomes too popular (which wouldn't be too hard at all since Datajack is using AT&T's 3G service for the most part to provide this service).

George - he, he, he, looks like your thread and the power of the Warrior Forum have blown them out of the water! ;-)

I clicked on the order button to see if they revealed any other crazy terms or something and it popped-up a subscribe box, saying they were out of stock!

Hi George,

Great find! Thank you for sharing I am using ATT and had to sign
2 year contract. But I am still checking it out.

All The Best!

Sonia