Some of you might recall that I recently was asking about laptops and wireless internet options for a laptop.

I ended up buying a mid-range Dell laptop, which I like fine, and signing up for wireless internet through Cingular/ATT, who already had my cell phone business anyway.

The gadget that plugs into a port on my laptop cost me $150 with a $100 rebate (grrr...), so net $50, and the service is $60 a month plus I'm sure some various taxes and whatnot.

As far as speed, it's indistinguishable from the DSL line at my house, or the fast connection here in my office, IF I am here in town (Eugene, Oregon). Out at my rural home, where the signal is weaker but I am still on the G3 network, as long as I sit somewhere in my home that has decent cell service, then the speed is a little slower than my home DSL line, but plenty acceptable to do most anything- photos snap into existance, I can watch Youtube, whatever.

I am told that if I'm WAY out in the sticks, and not on a G3 network, I can expect speed in the range about about twice as fast as dialup- which would suck, but then again it would beat NOT having any net access I suppose.

Of course, in addition to this, I have wifi anywhere there's a hotspot.

I have found it to be a conversation-started, having lunch somewhere and being able to be on the 'net. It's led to two real-estate-themed conversations.

My vision of unfolding my laptop in someone's living room has not happened yet as I have not had a listing appointment since I got it set up this way. However, twice now with buyer clients we've been able to surf the net while eating lunch, which has impressed them.

-jeff

I've got verizon which is pretty well. i think they gave me an old usb modem usb cause its, well, just old looking and big. sometimes I can't get access for a few tries but for the most part its pretty well. about the same speed as my home dsl. 60 a month.

I don't think I could bring myself to pay the extra money for wireless internet access on my laptop. There are so many wireless networks around in my area, it would be easy to connect to one mostly anywhere. If that didn't work, I guess I could always use my smartphone to "tether" with my laptop for internet access. I think I can just plug in my phone and that's it.

I hear you; around town there's often wifi hotspots.

I want to be able to use my laptop in people's living rooms, though, when I'm in pursuit of the hairy spotted disgruntled EXPIRED, or the shiny fresh naive FSBO.

I'm not so sure about being able to tether through your phone like that. Oh, you can DO that, but I'm pretty sure you'd have to sign up for the more expensive account if you were gonna be moving that much data around.

-jeff

You can get a wireless adapter from your internet company. They may not have a clue what it is when you call them however, not very many people have them. When I called I had to talk to like 5 people before i found one that knew what I was talking about. It just plugs into your laptop and gives you internet. It cost about 75 a month in Canada. However it can replace your home internet since you can take it everywhere you go...

Hopefully this helps..

Sell Factor, that's exactly what I have.

It did indeed take the guy a while to get everything set up and working right on my laptop...

-jeff

Jeff,

I can tether my smartphone to my laptop anytime and I would get broadspeed internet service.

agent 007 do you have unlimited minutes on your cell? I dont...or else that would be a good deal. Verizon doesnt even offer an unlimited the last time I checked. I use my cell modem for all of my internet access so I would be on way over my limit of minutes.

I have T-Mobile service and use a Dash Smartphone. I have the T-Mobile Total Internet with unlimited data on my plan and can tether my laptop to my Dash and get DSL speed. The Internet package is unlimited. It does not have any relation to my minutes as it's data, not voice.

My total bill runs $76.97/month. I have 1500 whenever minutes, free nights and weekends, unlimited T-mobile to T-mobile calls and the unlimted Total Internet data.

I recently used it while riding (as a passenger) in a car for 4 hours. I was able to complete quite a bit of work while on the road. I'd never buy a dedicated card for my laptop as technology changes so fast.

It was as easy as plugging in my Dash to the laptop via USB and turning on internet sharing on the phone. Within seconds, I was on-line at high speed.

On my Windows smartphone you go to:

Start---> Assessories---> Internet Sharing---> Connect

Yes. I have Verizon in which they offer the unlimited internet and data package. I don't use my laptop, but if I did all I would have to do is connect my cell via USB to the laptop and I would have broadband internet access on my laptop. Verizon charges quite a bit for the unlimited data add-on. It is around $45 extra/month.

Data has nothing to do with minutes. You will not be using your minutes while on the internet, just using the data.

the convenience of having Internet anywhere is pretty cool. i have no problem with spending money on things that will help my business, but cant justify the cost of an air card. i would not want to pull comps in front of fsbo's or during a listing presentation. i like coming with all of the information in hand. that way i can review it thoroughly and have detailed knowledge where as if i had a laptop in front of me and they ask about a certain property i have no idea. i want the cma to show them what they need to sell not have all of the overpriced active listings.

my old cma's would have 15+ properties on there and the seller would get lost.

i found todd bates and have listened to some of his training and i love the 8-10 max properties on a cma. i pick them because in my professional opinion they are the properties that best represent comps and show where we need to be and why.

directly from todd bates is this. when on a multiple agent interview and you have 8-10 comps and the seller asks you why other agents have 20 properties and you only have 8 you can respond by saying that the info that all agents have access to is the same and that i picked the 8-10 that i picked because they were the best comps and then i explain why.

have you ever shown a buyer 15 houses in 1 day? they would get the houses all jumbled up in their head.

if you show 4 houses each day over 2 days then the buyer would be less confused.

sorry for the rant, but a friend of mine likes the aircard and the ability to do things in front of sellers where i would rather do them in the office and show up with paper docs that are highlited and marked to stress importance.

I would like to know your download speed with this wireless modem with your laptop. Have you run any kind of speed test with it yet? As fast as your DSL connection doesn't tell me much. I'm always interested as I live in a rural area and I have one option of a wireless internet broadband service. I'm always looking for something that might give me another option if I need it. And Gulfwinds that sounds like a pretty good deal with T-mobile. Though their connection is spotty at my house.

ColoBroker,

If you can explain to me how to run a test like that, I'd be happy to do so!

Estatereal, I hear what you are saying... but I do like the idea of being able to actually pull comps in front of a client. We'll see. I could be wrong. :-)

-jeff

http://www.pcpitstop.com/internet/Bandwidth.asp. Run bandwidth test. That will give you an idea on the speed. I usually run it a couple times to get an average.

go to dslreports.com and do the speed test....

Will do later today. I'll run it/them both here in Eugene, where's it's fast, and at my rural home (err... funky cabin) where it's slower.

-jeff

Have a Palm 700P with Sprint and an unlimited data plan - phone should cost about $300 or so - don't remember exactly what the plan costs - but it's about $40/month extra for the unlimited data. I can tether to my laptop wirelessly via bluetooth...so i can have my phone in my pocket, open my laptop, and just get online without any wires or dangly things. It's absolutely handy while riding passenger in a car - or while holding open houses - "I bring my office with me". If a call comes in to the phone, it automatically disconnects the net to take the call - so no missed calls, either. Also a breeze to set up.