I recently purchased a Vodafone Mobile Connect Prepay
Service kit, including the Sierra Wireless AirCard 750, to enable me to get some work done when I visited a part of the country that had no internet cafes. by Sali Earls
With interest in wireless technology gaining momentum, and a recent itwales.com feature on teleworking and virtual teams, I thought it was time that I get to grips with this for myself.
I recently purchased a Vodafone Mobile Connect Prepay
Service kit, including the Sierra Wireless AirCard 750, to enable me to get some work done when I visited a part of the country that had no internet cafes.
The card is in effect a fully-fledged mobile phone in a PCMCIA format, but carries data only. It comes with a SIM card, so therefore has it's own telephone number, and operates like any other pay-as-you-go service. General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is a non-voice service that allows information to be sent and received across a mobile telephone network, and users are charged for the amount of GPRS data sent and received, at a current cost of around £4.00 per MB. Users can use their own mobile phone SIM card, but only if their mobile provider allows GPRS data.
After installing the software that comes with the card, users should in theory be able to plug the card in and use it. However, during my install, the software did not work, and was unable to find the new card. Vodafone were unable to help, suggesting that I contact my laptop manufacturer - this proved unnecessary thanks to the assistance of a technically adept assistant, as it transpired the problem was an IRQ conflict.
Interrupt ReQuests allow devices connected to a computer to signal that they need immediate attention. Most PCs have 16 of these IRQs, and they are used by devices such as sound cards, graphics cards, modems, etc. As we plug more devices into our PCs, IRQ conflicts become the number one problem faced by users adding more hardware.
To resolve the
conflict, my technically adept assistant disabled the laptop's internal modem and reinstalled the card, which worked immediately. Until this time, I certainly would not have known what to do, and would
most probably have taken the kit back to shop for a refund.
With the problem overcome, and the software installed, I was able to send and receive SMS messages, at the standard rate, and also connect to the internet. Depending on signal, this should work at the same speed as a conventional dial up modem, but in reality it can be a lot slower than that. If you are used to broadband, or another fast connection, it's probably best to put the kettle on and tackle The Times crossword while you wait for your chosen website to appear. But don't forget that your pay-as-you-go account is dwindling by the minute, and you are being charged £4.00 per MB sent or received.
The user guide that steps you through the set up process is not the best, as my technically adept assistant stumbled across a great utility on the software CD that can dramatically increase the browsing speed, while lowering the costs. Basically it works by compressing pictures before you receive them, meaning that you receive low quality images, which is generally not a problem. If however, you wanted to access a site like MultiMap, this could be a problem.
There
are online services that you can use in addition to a card like this which use compression technologies to increase internet connection speed by about 5 times. ONSPEED is a good option that
compresses images and text, and used in conjunction with the Vodafone Mobile Connect Prepay Service kit could save you money in terms of MB downloaded, and make your connections a lot less
painful. The service costs just £25 per year.
There are a variety of products like this on the market, including 3G offerings (with very limited coverage at present), but I opted to buy a product that was a little bit cheaper and therefore a little bit older. The card served its purpose well, and was useful for sending and receiving email when I was out of the office. However it does have limited use when accessing the internet due to the speed and cost; but using the included software or services that compress or remove images can make this more effective.
It's common sense, but worth pointing out, that you will need to install a software firewall to protect your laptop from attacks while accessing the internet.
The GPRS version of the Vodafone Mobile Connect Prepay Service kit is available from a range of electronics retailers including Maplin and Misco and costs around £35.00.
More information is available on the Vodafone website at www.vodafone.co.uk