Sprint advertises they have the largest coverage area. They should have

a map on their website showing coverage area.  I haven't used a broadband card yet.   I know someone who used a Verizon air card and they said they were able to get service everywhere they went.  They were on the west coast, where it seems more reasonable that there would be a wider range of service.   You can check Verizon's website for coverage area too.  Another option may be for you to get dial-up at your mother's house.   You can get People PC for $10.95/month, but I don't know if they require a contract.   If none of the big ISPs have a local number you can get service through a small local provider and they usually do not require a contract.  I have traveled extensively and have spent several weeks in some places where dial-up was the only available option at the time and even though I had an ISP they did not have local service.  

Another option is to try the free trials with various ISPs if they have service in your mom's area.   There is no charge is you cancel before trial period is up. 

• Does anyone travel with their laptop - gotlatte
  • Sprint advertises they have the largest coverage area. They should have - me
  • Laptop - TD
    • Thanks, I've done that too, stayed - gotlatte
      • Ack, Sprint that is, NOT Spring...nm - gotlatte
  • Laptop travel - gcal-tex
    • Thanks, I checked - gotlatte

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should I take this with a grain of salt?  Like, you must be with the company for a year or produce an outrageous amount of lines before you get it?  There is a company on mtdaily.com stating they will give $1500 bonus for acute care.

Thanks

Is that just a euphemism for the successful candidate will be placed on MULTIPLE accounts?

That's like saying a tiny little house is a cozy cottage .   .   .  

Thought you'd want to know.  I contacted them and was told they do not hire anyone local in the USA, and only hire overseas.  How interesting?  Since you don't support overseas coming and taking our jobs, I thought you'd be interested in knowing this, or maybe you already know?  

Have a great day!

"air" cards that allow you to go wireless provided you are in their service area.   The service is about $50/mo I think and then you have to buy the card.  I think the card is about $200, but they have deals sometimes where if you commit to 1 or 2 years that you get the card for free.   You can probably go to the websites of both companies to check to see if you have service in your area.  

We also have a service in my area called Clearwire.  They have a modem that you plug into an outlet and you can take it and plug it in and get service anywhere within range.  They have different levels of service, similar to DSL, where the faster the download the more the $$.  I think the cheapest package is $25/mo.   They may have the same service under a different name in other areas. 

My Sprint USB card is in my husband's PC, connected to a Linksys router and then to mine with Ethernet cables. You just have to run the internet connection sharing wizard on XP. I've been using this for almost 2 weeks now and absolutely love it. Also, Verizon has a cap on how much bandwidth you can use each month (5 GB) and you have to pay for overages. Sprint has unlimited usage for the same amount per month ($60). If you have any questions about it, I can give you the website where I purchased my equipment. My e-mail is pixie.chick@earthlink.net.

I don't mean to hijack the OP question, but you mentioned you use a PC card for your Internet since you live in the country. I too live in the country and do not even have cable available - only dial-up.

I recently purchased a laptop and it only came with an ExpressCard slot (which it is my understanding that laptops in the future will be built with these and not PC slots). The ExpressCards have not hit the local Verizon or Sprint stores yet but I hear they are to soon and I plan to try one. I hope to be able to drop my dial-up ISP and just use my laptop for my on-line job. I also have my own local account where I pick up tapes and deliver their transcription and I can continue to use my regular PC for that work if I choose to.

Anyway, I would really appreciate knowing how you like your "card" for connecting to the Internet and how well it works out for you. Do you know if Verizon or Sprint has more coverage area? Have you traveled much with yours to see if you are able to get connections? How reliable has this been and how fast of a connection rate do you get on average?

I sure would appreciate any info you could share regarding this. Thanks so much.

Sandi

Hi to everyone!

Is anyone out there using the wireless broadband, like Sprint or Verizon (not so unlimited)?  I am currently using Verizon and have now found out the unlimited is not so.  I have ordered Sprint and the USB modem will be here in a few days, but am now paranoid about 0ver-Use on that!

I just moved to a house in the country, with no DSL, no cable and am unsure about Wild Blue for satellite because of the start up cost and then not being satisfied.

Any country living transcriptionists out there with advice?  I am in northern CA.

Thanks for any help!

I think it's great to see a thread discussing this subject. 

However, when it comes to "prejudice," it has always been with us, since the beginning of time.  It is a human problem, not a white American problem, as so many people seem to be saying.  Some of the most prejudiced people I have encountered in my few decades of life have been non-whites.  When I lived in Latin America, I learned that brown-skinned people discriminate each other based on how light their skin tone is - the lighter the skin, hair color and eye color, the more prestige they had.  Some of our U.S. African-American soldiers were called derogatory names by the Somalians when we were over there - a real eye opener for them.  They thought they were "going home" and then were assailed with hatred and expletives because of their dark skin.

We all need to guard against letting our attitudes harden our hearts towards other people.  It is a life-long process.  I recently realized that my financial concerns because of income loss from this job of MT - with losing jobs to overseas, the foreign-born dictators making it so hard to earn a decent line count - were hardening my heart towards immigrants.  I am in the process of reassessing my attitude and thoughts about that.  I don't want to turn into an angry, hateful, bitter old bigot. 

That is the one problem with own accounts.  After three days to Tahoe-Reno I came back to 14 tapes as no one wanted anyone else.  But am thinking of taking nearly a week off later this year and so I would like some coverage.  I used to work for a small local MTSO here as an IC and still keep in touch and I might see if there is someone there that wants to do an extra tape or two during the week I am gone.  Also see if there is a chapter of local AAMT in your area -- and I am not sure if it is the national AAMT but here in Portland there is a group of MT's and I got a list of names from them who will do back up and overflow.  I haven't joined but have talked to a few people there and we do some networking.  I have been doing this for so long in the Portland area that I continuously run into people that did either the OHSU account I did or worked for one of the offices previously, etc.  It is a small world.  That is also how I get my people contact.  Also run an ad in the paper well ahead of when you are going to leave.  But there is always the fear that they could "take away" your account but since most of the gals that have helped me out I used to work with -- I don't worry about that.  And you know how it is the first few days on the account -- you don't do that well so they are either ready to kill my docs since I am so used to them or the office says -- "don't ever leave again" because that person does things different that we all appreciate each other immensely when I get back.  But there are ways, just gotta put a little effort into it.  They don't need to do it all but I came back to 14 tapes and if I could have had half done, it would have been nice.  Good luck. 

The payment's not that big on it, except when there's a mixup at the bank and they deduct one check twice with the same amount and same check number.  It just feels like the money mojo magnet is gone from my life this week!  LOL  Everything seems to go wrong all at once. 

I have five accounts and two I have IC's who work for them -- psych accounts no problem when I leave town.  But my other three, have asked that I have NO ONE work on the account but me and they hold the tapes and I do them when I come back as fast as I can and sometimes wishing I had not taken time off.   No they work with me but then I don't take off much time and when I do it is usually a couple of days and the weekend so we are all not stressed.   If I were to have surgery or something I have friends that would help out and the accounts realize that it would be necessary.  That is one of the drawbacks of having your own accounts.  No work --no money.   But it does make you appreciate your time off.

S/B able to get something reasonable.  If you're looking for family coverage it is doubtful you would find anything under $350.00/mo.  You might want to look into medical savings accounts.  You have to qualify for these and I'm not sure what the criteria is, but Google it.   If you are a non-smoker and have no pre-existing medical issues, aren't grossly overweight, and not planning a baby anytime soon, you might want to look at getting mainly a major medical plan that would cover you in event of hospitalization or something catastrophic, and just pay routine care out of pocket.

We currently have insurance through DH job, but when I was looking for independent coverage Celtic had the cheapest and then Medcost was the next cheapest.  I called several agencies and they all quoted me on Medcost, but the premiums varied as much as $200.00/mo.   BCBS has something caled Blue Advantage that you might want to look at.  I hate BCBS because they are such a pain to deal with and deny a large percentage of claims, but it might be an option. 

I have offered just coverage for vacations, etc. and have networked that way, but I know that is tough when you are full-time from home and not in a medical type setting.  I think it is a shame that more do not frequent the State Boards here.  I like hearing everyone's opinions, but if the State Boards were frequented more, I think we could all really network a little more.  I'll scratch your back, you scratch mine type of thing.  Most people do not like to do that because they are afraid you will take their account, but I believe in being trusting, and that is bad karma!  JMO.