Nextel wireless broadband?

Can I use the Nextel wireless BB on my laptop while truck is moving.It should be here today.No charge for Hardware,$39 per month for unlimited use.Can I download software and use my laptop as a Nav.?
Thanks in advance for your help.

I would say yes. I use the Sprint/Nextel Merlin S620 wireless card and used it this past March while zipping down I26 to Daytona Bike Week.

PS: Bike was in the trailer. I would not recommend tryin it while on two wheels.

Nice. the price has really come down in the last few months. I thought it was still around $100 per month. Do you have to plug in the mobile phone?

Doing navigation this way has one major disadvantage: no GPS receiver, so the computer is not aware of your location. Thus, you have to update position manually.

Where did you find this deal? I just looked over Nextel's site and was not able to find it.

Yes, a wireless broadband card will work in a moving laptop. However, you should be aware of a few facts before you make your decision. First, cell companies, including Nextel, which are rolling out broadband wireless service have not yet implemented this service on all of their towers or service areas. I am pretty sure that when you are not in range of the broadband service, the data rate ratchets down from broadband to "dial-up" rates. Also, your actual bandwidth will vary based on how well your radio/card is receiving the signal. Generally speaking, the closer to the tower you are, or less interference from other radios and such you may get, the better your reception, and thus faster your bandwidth. For a passenger web surfing, this will result in good reception in urban areas where a signal is good, but could result in dropped signal in blocked areas or where the service hasn't yet been implemented. Discuss this with a knowledgeable person at more than one local store if you can, and ask those who are currently using the service. I've heard that some people are switching to this for home service as it is comparable with cable or satellite TV. If you get good reception, then it could be great!

Security is a big concern with wireless. Make certain that you are using a software firewall on your laptop to keep people out of it. Use the highest level of encryption possible. This will somewhat reduce your bandwidth due to the encryption, but it is worth it, and is probably negligble at broadband rates, not sure about dial-up rates.

Regarding GPS, you will need an external antenna for the GPS reception, which can be wired or wireless (bluetooth) to your laptop.

Good luck, I'm thinking about getting a broadband enabled smart phone. I find myself looking things up on the internet on my little smart flip phone and I'd like a bigger screen and a qwerty keyboard. Since my ridge has Nav, gps isn't important to me...though would be nice for rental units, but It would be nice to be able to connect my laptop and surf via the phone too. By the way, Verizon will only let you cable from the phone to the laptop--no bluetooth data service allowed (laptop to phone, that is).

Laura

As a Next hell blue chip customer they called me 2 days in a row.I said no 1st day for 59 per month.Called me again next day and offered 39 buck with free card for 2 yr. agreement.I looked at the sight and it says nothing about it.I do not no if phone must be hooked to pc but I can use phone to talk and surf at same time they said.

Well, there's some mix feelings about nextel to my opinion. Nextel was awesome when it was nextel, then sprint took over and every thing went to crap. I've had nextel service for about 10 years. Never had a drop call, can call anyone in exception to Grand Canyon area. No problem direct connects inside US and outside. Actually, i was stuck in the middle of the ocean or channel between catalina and california and had to call the coast guard for a tow on a 3 man jetski. I was riding with a bunch of friends heading to Catalina on a jetski and we got stuck in some kelp beds. So we called the coast guard and got a tow out. Nextel didn't have any problems connecting...scariest moment. Good thing i had friends with me. Anyways, back to your problem, shouldn't have any problem connecting and using your nextel to log on, unless you hit some dead spots and may loose connection.

My coastie auxilliary friends say that if you are on the water, a marine radio is a better bet to reach the coast guard...did you have their number pre programmed into your cell? All marine radios have an emergency freq and no "dead spots" so to speak. Glad you all go home safe and sound, though!

Anyway, with broadband wireless you can definitely surf on the phone/device itself, and you are *allowed* to connect to a laptop with a data cable, but *not allowed* to connect to the laptop via wireless (i.e. bluetooth). Not sure why this restriction, suppose so no one can share your connection but you. It is a policy thing from verizon rather than a technology thing.

Nextel devices still use the old nextel network for voice services at the moment, which has the push-to-talk feature, for example. Sprint phones are on the sprint network. Their frequencies are different. Sprint and Nextel have a common broadband data network (and a couple of others use this frequency/technology). This is kinda like AM and FM radio, but if you think of 'AM' as the voice part, and 'FM' as the data part, you get the idea. Each "mode" on the phone translates to a different frequency or set of frequencies used on the phone's radio.

I can't wait to get this service myself. I'm waiting for a particular device to come out soon before I switch from Sprint.

Laura

I was part of the test group for that service. It was excellent as a service, but I'm unaware of how it would function in your mentioned application.

Generally speaking it's probably a solution to Nav, but a good in-dash Navigation unit is a far superior option and absolutely worth the investment in my opinion. I'm very happy with the Honda Navigation system. It's been nearly flawless and has not caused any of the problems that typical web-based printable maps create.