Mobile internet in GTA? (not Rogers/Bell/Telus)

[Digimer]

On 11/28/2010 02:02 AM, Walter Dnes wrote:
>    I've looked at the BRAT (Bell Rogers And Telus) websites, and their
> mobile internet prices are rather high, to say the least.  Wind and
> Mobilicity look promising.  Are there any other providers?  By the way,
> Wind's website crashed my linux system twice on Saturday evening.  The
> second time, I couldn't even shut down gracefully with MagicSysReq.  I
> have a couple of questions...
>
>     1. How is their coverage and signal strength in the GTA?
>     2. Do their USB mobile internet sticks work with linux?

I've been using Wind for some months now with my Nexus One, which I very 
frequently tether my laptop to both using USB and as a Wireless AP. 
Their coverage is good, but not awesome. There are two spots on the Go 
train's Lakeshore West corridor where I often drop, but they are fairly 
small.

As I understand it, their Internet stick works fine under Linux and it 
has no port restrictions. When on a phone though, non-standard ports are 
blocked. As most of our servers use non-standard SSH ports, I've had to 
setup SSH on 22 at home (static IP), and I route to all my server 
connections through there.

Wind's "Home Zone" requires 3G. In my basement, I lose 3G. As a phone, 
this was not good. However, I just got a super-cheap VoIP number from 
Unlimitel, installed Siproid and I and told my phone to forward calls to 
it whenever I lose reception. This works very well, and I don't have to 
think about it any more as the switch is automatic.

The take-away message is; Wind is good, and I've found ways around the 
less perfect bits without trouble. For the peace of mind of unlimited 
bandwidth, I still think it is the best option currently available. 
Doubly so when you look at the other carrier's frightening overage charges.

-- 
Digimer
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