On Nov 26, 2:53 pm, Superunknown <?@?> wrote:
> Just a little FYI that worked great for me, perhaps it`s something you
> might want to consider. I am not employed by any companies related to
> this post and offer this only as a satisfied consumer.
>
> I too live in a deeply wooded, mountainous area just outside of the
> Smoky Mnt. Natl. Prk. boundaries. When I moved here I had barely one
> bar on my phone and lived with the "hit or miss in/out calling" that
> came with the area along with gawd-awful dial-up internet.
> A few months ago I was steered to a cell phone booster called a ZBoost
> WI-EX. They make one for Verizon`s 800-900mhz range and after a short
> Yahoo search I found one for $199. WHAT A DEAL!! I zip-tied the
> antenna to a 10 ft. long length of pvc and mounted it in a 4x4 on my
> back deck so it cleared my roof line.
> Works great. I not only have a constant 3-4 bars but also 3-4 EVDO
> bars to boot.
> I bought the 595U air card with the battery booster and use it in both
> my desk-top and my laptop when on the road. My DL speed averages about
> .5 MB/S at home and between 1.5 and 2 MB/S in the city. Not bad
> considering the totally unreasonable cost of that satellite internet
> system that will always depend on the weather.
> I also had my land-line ported to a cell phone and bid farewell to
> AT$T forever.
> Just my 2 cents. Happy Holidays and good luck.
>
> SU


Thanks for the info.

First, I envy you living in the shadows of the Smokies. I grew up in
Knoxville and was fortunate to start running the ridges of the Smokies
as a young Boy Scout and continued as I got older. However,
circumstances over the past several years have taken me away from the
Smokies and not a day goes by that I don't wish I were back there.

Now -- I have ordered the USB720 with the Kyocera KR-1 router from 3G
Stores. They include a desktop external antenna with the USB720 and
they have a yagi antenna that can be mounted inside or outside.

For the past few days, using only my PC5740 card in my laptop I have
been able to maintain solid connectivity -- only once in past five
days have I lost connection or not been able to connect.

I'm planning to set up the USB720 and KR-1 in an room upstairs, next
to a window that faces the nearest cell tower (which, I assume, is
where my signal comes from), where I always have 3-4 bars on my cell
phone. I'll connect an old laptop to the KR-1 so I'll have someway to
configure the router as necessary but I'll use the router's built-in
WiFi to operate a wireless net in the house, connecting to my desktop
wirelessly. My daughter is moving in with me in a couple of weeks so
she can study for the VA bar exam without interruption. Her bar prep
course is online so she'll use the wireless for her laptop.