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Cellular Internet Connection

I have a job in an area that doesn't have any internet connectivity or Wi-Fi available. It's a fairly urban area in Southern California, and my cell phone works fine. I have AT&T for my cell phone service. Is there any way to get a device for my laptop that will allow me to use my cell service to power an internet connection on my computer?

Thanks,

Phil

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tailoreddigital

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philsimmons

ASKER

WOW! That's simple. Two bits of clarification, then we can be done:

1. Is this the fastest way to connect to the internet, or are there external devices that will create a faster connection than my phone (or is all cellular connection limited by the cell provider)?

2. Someone mentioned a "satellite" connection. Is that the same as a cellular connection?

Thanks,

Phil

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Lee W, MVP

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Kimputer

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philsimmons

ASKER

I know this is a closed question, but something else came up. I got the AT&T mobile hotspot set up. My computer has a wireless connection that is working off of a wireless connection, but it doesn't recognize the mobile hotspot. My computer (and a laptop in the same room) recognizes the internet connections from a variety of local wireless modems, but neither recognizes the Wi-Fi hotspot. My cell phone identifies the mobile hot spot, so it's working, but why won't the computers recognize it? Both of the computers are Windows 7. Is the wireless reception from the computer different from the wireless reception on our phones?

Thanks,

Phil

akahan

I don't understand what you mean by "my cel phone recognizes the hot spot." If you did what the previous posters described, then your cel phone IS the hot spot. Did you turn the hot spot feature ON ?

Can you explain in precise, thorough, exhausting detail what you mean when you say "I got the AT&T mobile hotspot set up?" What, exactly, did you do?

philsimmons

ASKER

I called AT&T and paid their charge to activate the mobile hotspot feature on my account. I then went into my cell phone and activated the mobile hot spot feature. I checked with a DIFFERENT cell phone to see if the other cell phone recognized the first iPhone's new hot spot, and it did. But, when I tried to connect through my laptop (and a friends' laptop), neither computer could find the hotspot on the list of available wireless connections. Yet it showed up on the available wi-fis on the other cell phone. Strange, huh?

akahan

yup. you might want to try updating the wireless NIC's driver in the laptop. It sounds like you've done exactly what you were supposed to do, the laptop SHOULD be seeing the wireless access point.

philsimmons

ASKER

Thanks, Akahan. Wish I had point for you :(.