Another really nice feature of using the phone to tether is that all
of the providers currently allow you to turn on and off your data plan
on a daily basis and pro-rate the fees.  So when you're done cruising
and don't need the data access for a few months, you can turn it off
and save the $50+ per month fees.  This isn't as easy to do with
aircard plans on most providers.

---===
Jeffrey Siegel
M/V aCappella
DeFever 53RPH
W1ACA/WDB4350
Castine, Maine

www.activecaptain.com
The Interactive Cruising Guidebook

..

Jeffrey Siegel wrote:

I was able to turn off the data end of my Palm Centro during our time in
the Bahamas. I opted to keep the phone active since parents phones are
on our plan, and it has worked out well. The data plan shutdown was
simply a phone call, I also shut my phone down as well, but left the
plan as-is. Making temporary changes to the plan, minutes, and juggling
that around on 4 phones would have ended up a mess, even by the Verizon
phone rep's admission. It would have also incurred a service fee, which
would have eaten up most of the savings anyway.

But the data plan was straightforward, and as Jeff says, it will be
pro-rated for the number of days it was out of service, when we return,
a phone call from my wife's phone will turn it all back on (I hope!)
Worth the savings of $60/month for the phone call, and no additional
service fees to start/stop.

Next trip to the Bahamas we'll have a GSM phone, and use phone cards
widely available here.

Steve Sipe
Solo 4303 "Maerin"
Coral Harbor, NP, Bahamas

My understanding was that tethered phones run about half the speed of
dedicated air cards, so I did some research and found out that "EVDO
Rev-A" phones will duplicate the speed of aircards, but not "Rev-0"
phones. See this link for more: http://www.evdoinfo.com/content/view/
2706/63/

Maybe Jeff Spiegel or others will chime in with additional info.

Warren

On Apr 27, 2009, at 8:07 AM, ron bruno wrote:

The chipsets are all the same.  A current generation mobile phone will
be just as fast as a current generation aircard (USB, PCMCIA, etc).

All of these things are tradeoffs.  Having an aircard will give you
the most flexibility but it is also the most expensive.  Using a
tethered phone is a good compromise especially since you can turn off
the data plan at any time without penalty.  However, using a tethered
phone has different issues if you want to use the phone at the same
time you're connected to the internet (dependent on the carrier).

---===
Jeffrey Siegel
M/V aCappella
DeFever 53RPH
W1ACA/WDB4350
Castine, Maine

www.activecaptain.com
The Interactive Cruising Guidebook

..

I've done it hundreds of times - on the boat and off.  With a 3G
connection, I often get over an 800 kb connection - just about as good
as a DSL connection.

There is plenty of help from Microsoft and other places about all of
the steps necessary to connect.  There's also a pretty good forum that
AT&T has:
http://forums.wireless.att.com/cng/

It's user-obnoxious (as opposed to user-friendly) but it does work.

---===
Jeffrey Siegel
M/V aCappella
DeFever 53RPH
W1ACA/WDB4350
Castine, Maine

www.activecaptain.com
The Interactive Cruising Guidebook

..

Terry, I have do it routinely, using a tilt. To be able to use the phone for
voice at the same time, you use "Internet Sharing." I was helped in setting
it up by phoning data tech support.

John Paterson
S/V Fine Feather (I know it's not a trawler!!

On Mon, Apr 27, 2009 at 1:41 PM, Tom Wadsworth tbw@comcast.net wrote: