Beach Condo Wireless Internet help

Hi,

So my mom just bought herself a condo at the beach(yay, it's mooching time). As part of the condo dues, she gets limited cable. Internet service is not included, and would cost $60 and up to get. Is there some sort of fairly inexpensive wireless hot spot, preferably a pay-go service ( since she will not be at the condo for more than a couple of weekends a month)? She looked at turning on the wireless on her phone, but Verizon makes it cheaper to just turn on her Internet at the condo.

Thanks

I don't suppose you can have cable internet turned on/off on demand? Like enable it just for the time you'll be there? The minimum billable time may be a full month though.

I thought adding internet hotspot connectivity was a $20 option for 2gb and $30 for unlimited. But thats assuming a ~$30 data plan, so you're probably right, ~$60/month. I assume they're locked into that internet option only? You couldn't get cheap DSL service? In Minneapolis there's a public wifi service thats pretty cheap, but I think that's a rare thing.

Pool with the neighbors, get a wireless router.

bandit0013 wrote:

Pool with the neighbors, get a wireless router.

There are a ton of secured routers in her building. I am not sure if she could get someone to share. Also, I am not sure she wants to do that since she can log into her work computer and take care of business while overlooking the pool.

I am looking into DSL, but that also might be expensive.

Thanks

Ting might be worth looking, they've got some personal hotspot-type devices. I'm pretty sure they're a non-contract carrier, but more importantly, you're only charged for what you use every month. I don't know much more than that, but good luck.

EDIT: Moms ride free.

EDIT2: $75 for a USB modem-type deal, $30-$66/mo depending on what you/she does online.

Thanks, I will look at it. The usb stick might be interesting. I seem to remember a device that could turn one of those into a hot spot.

The Sprint network (my wife is on it) worked ok there.

General Crespin wrote:

Ting might be worth looking, they've got some personal hotspot-type devices. I'm pretty sure they're a non-contract carrier, but more importantly, you're only charged for what you use every month. I don't know much more than that, but good luck.

EDIT: Moms ride free.

EDIT2: $75 for a USB modem-type deal, $30-$66/mo depending on what you/she does online.

I second this type of setup. Something portable, especially if charged only on usage, would probably be the best fit. Anything installed in a home is going to be a pain dealing with that company's customer service. They aren't going to want to only charge you for part of a month, because it tends to cost a fair amount to have someone come out and install the equipment, or provide service if something goes wrong.

If the condo is covered by Comcast (we do a lot of contracts like that), you may want to talk to whoever manages the bulk accounts. At our last meeting one of our commercial techs gave a presentation about how they are trying to talk companies into letting us install routers that would be open, allowing an hour of guest access, or normal access for subscribers, at no cost to the business. It's just a matter of setting up the appointment and having the tech come and install it. The plan is to have WiFi coverage in as many places as possible, so people don't have to go searching around for a hotspot. It's some joint venture between Comcast, Time Warner, and another cable company if I remember correctly. The page set up for it is here.