Broadband on the phone!

Woo! I am successfully tapped into highspeed Internet via my phone. I know, this doesn't seem like that big of a deal... but really it is! Let me explain...

First, when I bought my phone (Verizon XV6700) they told me that I could use it to access the net on my laptop. There was just some program I had to get from vzw.com yadda yadda. Well, I have the unlimited data/Internet package as part of my phone plan, but I so far have only used it for phone stuff - syncing with Exchange at work, dumping my e-mail accounts into it, using Google maps, etc. So, since I was going to be out at the Quick Build tomorrow (and disconnected *perish the thought*) I decided that I should set it all up so I could be online while in the middle of no where.

So, I looked on Verizon's site and couldn't find what I needed, so I call their tech support. Come to find out, there's a $15 a month charge to do that... oh wait, never mind, it isn't even available on this model phone. (obviously not acceptable)

That just meant I needed to find out how to do it myself. When in doubt, hit the forums. So I found a great post here and followed the instructions. Guess what, its working! And according to the Speakeasy SpeedTest (here) I'm getting pretty decent bandwidth! (400kbps down - 120kbps up) Not bad for a phone.

So, although I get significantly better speeds with Cox (1600kbps down - 250 kbps up), I'm wondering if I should keep paying $40 a month for the access. :-S After all, I'm already paying an extra $50 a month on the phone for it. So I guess I'll try it out for awhile and see what happens... (and watch and see if Verizon has a heartattack at my data transfer numbers).

I'll keep you posted...