broadband2go

I’ve been wanting to pick up a 3G adapter for my laptop for quite some time.  It’s not something I need on a regular basis, but there are times when one would have been useful.  When I’m taking classes I often like to go to the bookstore and work on papers etc. while the rest of my family reads books/plays with trains/etc.  The Starbucks in my local B&N used to charge 4.00 for 2 hours of wifi.  A bit steep, but using it once every few weeks the cost was worth it to me.  Being able to get out of the house with the family and still get some work done is great.  Recently they decided to make the service free.  Now that it’s free it’s next to useless.  When I can manage to get connected it’s too slow to be useful.  While I like being able to get some work done while out, it’s not worth 60.00 a month to me.

Enter Virgin’s broadband2go service.  The usb adapter costs ~145 and includes a micro SD card slot (lets you use the thing as a thumb drive).  The device is the Novatel MC760 (pictured). The pricing is decent for my needs as well (they’re steep for heavy use, but I’m not a heavy user).  The pricing ranges from 10.00 for 100mb to use in 10 days, up to 60.00 for 1G to use within 30 days.  In my mind, paying 10 bucks for a few days of light net usage occasionally isn’t too bad.  The speed is definately usable for browsing, and shell work.  I haven’t taken the time to run a bandwidth test on it.

One note, if you use a Mac you’ll need a windows box to get the device activated (I was able to use an XP vm in fusion).  Once activated it works great.  The device comes with drivers that will install the first time you plug it in.