Mobile Broadband - DataCard or Data Stick?

Whats the difference? Is either better?

Data Card won't take up a valuable and short of supply USB port. Data Stick will usually be plug and play with the drivers held on the device.

bluetooth and cellphone...

Make sure you get the right card if you go the card route. Laptops have either PCMCIA or ExpressCard slots, and both are different.

personally id go usb - much more usable and you can always add a usb hub though even with only 3 usb plugs on my laptop i seldom need more than that while travelling.

But yeah cell phone + bluetooth if you have the capability.

Wifi through your phone can be a bit of a power sucker and most phones have this feature removed although its easy to get around usually.

A USB stick is handy if you need to use it on a desktop as well or other machines without the right card slot but they stick out a fair bit and to me always look like they would be really easy to knock and break.

I would probably actually go with the card myself as they will sit safely inside your laptop and you don't have to whip them in and out all the time and your typically online in seconds.

I was using a laptop the other day with an ExpressCard on Optus which worked quite nicely however the connection would occasionally die for no apparent reason and I'd have to reconnect.

most phones dont need to use wifi anymore but bluetooth and 3g data can use up battery fairly quickly for extended use.

I use a short (10cm) usb extender cable which came with the usb stick and for the phone i use the usb cable if I'm worried about battery life.

yeah, my phone has the option of USB or Bluetooth.

With my GF's phone, if it's plugged in via USB it will actually charge the phone

Another advantage of USB is using an extension cable to get it to a slightly better signal area if you need to.

and drain the laptop battery

off topic but damm wireless data is so much cheaper in Oz than here. grrrrrrrrrr.

I hear turning your laptop monitor on also drains your battery. Better not to turn it on.

Cheers all

I went with Voda for a USB stick. I need to be able to switch it between my home PC (don't ask) and my lappy and I'll be fucked if I'm going to give my PC a reach around every time I want to get online on it

$39.95/mo for 5GB, not ideal, but since I cant get internet physically connected at my house _at_all_ it's at least something.

I really have to wonder what could prevent you getting online at all in your area.

No free ports on the cabinet / exchange?

smartass

some of us actually use our laptops for the purpose they are intended - sans power cable

exraordianary I know

and some of us are not blessed with macs and their 8 hour battery life or whatever it is

I don't have a mac... I've got an eeepc

This. Telsta, the fuckers, knocked up a sub-exchange to cut costs on providing phone lines to the Commonwealth Games Village (where I live) when it was built. They didnt put in the infrastructure for everybody in the development to be able to get ADSL so there is a limited number of people in the neighbourhood who can actually get it. Theres no infrastructure at all for ADSL2+ and no cable in the Village either, AND no plans to upgrade it.

Further to that, because its a sub exchange and theres a limited number of people running off it, theres little incentive for any other providers to put their own infrastructure in.

So it was either wait for someone else to disconnect their net or go wireless.

Pretty amazing for any suburb that close to the CBD to be so under resourced.

Further evidence that Telstra has massively under invested in Broadband technology here.

Yep, and guess what my options for recourse were...

NOTHING FOR CHAOS_THEORY!

I went to the telco ombudsman because everybody kept telling me they could give me net, then couldn't. Ombudsman said "its infrastructure, we have no jurisdiction", when I raised that Telstra having a monopoly over the lines into the Village was anti-competitive they sent me off to the ACCC who said "its the legislation, Telstra dont have to provide internet, just phones".

Australia = sucks

and here's me thinking it was the land of milk and honey!

Wool. Eyes.