Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Cell phone as modem

[Grant]

> > I got this from a page about bringing a cell phone to Costa
> > Rica: "If you bring it, remember that you will have to see if
> > it is on the ICE list of approved phones, then you will need
> > to pay someone to convert it, then you will have no warranty
> > in either country.  Why bother"
> >
> > I guess certain phones only work in certain countries?
>
> Sort of.  Not everybody outside the US uses GSM. Japan and
> Korea don't.  In Australia there are GSM carriers, but coverage
> is better using their older CDMA networks.
>
> > I thought a GSM phone with a local SIM card would work
> > anywhere there is a GSM network.
>
> That'll work for Europe and parts of Asia.
>
> > Actually, wikitravel.org says: "Prepaid Sim cards are not
> > available in Costa Rica."
> >
> > I was looking for a relatively easy way to get online in most
> > places around the world, but maybe GSM isn't it.
>
> GSM is as close as you're going to get unless you want to hunt
> for WiFi access.
>
> > I swore off WIFI hunting after visiting the Greek island of
> > Corfu, and from jiwire.com it looks like there is still
> > nothing there. Check this out though:
> >
> > http://www.geofone.net/bgan-sale.htm
>
> Yieks, those things are $3K.

No need to buy though.

> > These are lightweight, plenty fast, USB, Bluetooth, ethernet,
> > and the page even mentions Linux.  $20/day and $7.95/MB
> > doesn't sound so bad.
>
> Sounds bad to me.  I guess I'm cheap.

I'm working on this.  I'll have to set up a comparison between GSM
phone rental and satellite system rental.  Lots to consider with data,
international voice calls, speed, convenience, and cost.

What would you use to measure how much data you're downloading and
uploading to/from the internet?

- Grant
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