Verizon Wireless USB 760 Broadband Modem Review

I guess I must be back into a technology kick. A few months ago I discovered that Verizon Wirelees had several options available for mobile Broadband internet service with no contract. Basically you take a USB modem like the one shown on the right (Verizon Wireless USB 760 Moble Broadband modem) you plug it into your computer and pay for a day, week, or month with out signing a contract. My modem came in on Monday so Tuesday I decided I would try it out. I had been looking at these for several months, but didn't want to spend the money for it. This one happened to be on Ebay for about half the price of a new one so I put a bid in on it and won the auction. Paid for it and wala I have moble broadband internet.

On Tuesday I plugged my modem into the computer and started the process of activating the modem. I decided I would pay the $15 for the Verizon Wireless Day pass. I figured I wouldn't use it more than once in the next little while as I have another project that I am working on that will keep me busy. My use for this will be while I am out railfanning I will have internet access to send email, view the web, and I can also see the ATCS servers that are available. What happens when the the activation process finishes is the modem is assigned a temporary cell phone number. Then I had access to the web where ever Verizon's 3G service is availble. Which is pretty much every where. Bascially it is a constantly connected cellphone connection through Verizons mobile internet service.

I took my laptop and plopped it on the front seat of my car, plugged in the modem, and away I went. I was impressed with how well this worked. The speed of the internet via this modem was very comparable to my DSL connection that I have here at home. I went places out in the country where I didn't think it would be possible for this modem to work (out in the sticks) and I still had an internet connection. The only problem I saw was I lost the connection a few times, but this is typical of cell phones as there seems to be dead zones here and there. All in all I liked Verizon's cell phone service as there were very few dead zones (went to a prepaid cell phone service as I wasn't using mine that much). The 75MB of data allounce that Verizon gave me for the day was more than enough as I think I might have used 6MB all total . If you are looking for a mobile broadband solution for your laptop computer I highly recommend the Verizon Wireless USB 760 modem.

My railfan blog

I finally launched my Railfan blog. I went out Tuesday railfanning and took pictures. The other blog will be to highlight the photographs that I take on my outings. If you are interested in seeing those photos or reading about my rail outings the other blog can be found in my blog roll. Or you can click this link http://northeastindianrailfan.blogspot.com

When did it get to be "OK"

I have spent the better part of this afternoon feeling like crap, so I stopped at Walmart and bought some cookies and got a movie from Redbox. I brought the movie home and watched it. I decided I would return it to the Walgreens around the corner and just got back from doing that. While I was standing in line, yes there was a line, I saw a woman who had this written on her shirt. Now, I am sensoring the saying as I don't believe in profanity. The saying read "F you you F'n F". My kids call it the F word. She had it at least three times on her shirt and she had two little kids with her. I know this country believes in free speach, but this is just ridiculous. My son gets in trouble at school if he says "Freekin" and we allow people to walk around with sayings like this on their tee shirts. No wonder this country is going in the crapper.

Streaming Video via the internet and the Emachines E725-4520

First off this is my 100th post. I started this blog a little over a year ago and finally reached 100 posts.

Over the past week or so I have continued to test and try out my new Emachines E725-4520 laptop and I am happy to say I am very well pleased with my purchase. Last Sunday I decided to try some streaming video from the internet via the new laptop. I had it sitting on my kitchen table and was able to get cartoons for the kids from different sources via the internet. Other than the band width problems I have because I have a low end DSL the performance was outstanding. Today I decided to take my new laptop with me to breakfast at Mc Donalds and was able to connect to the internet no problems. I ran the computer the whole time on batery power and everything went well. I believe what I have read that the battery would last about 2.5 hours as I have about 2 hours of time left via the meter when I started it just a few minutes ago. One of the other things I wanted to try was an external monitor, keyboard, and mouse. I just removed the old laptop and plugged the new one in and all worked fine. If you are looking for an inexpensive laptop I would highly recommend this one. So far I have really enjoyed having it over the past couple of weeks.

Emachines E725-4520 Notebook Review

I guess sometimes it doesn't pay to shop. I as a rule of thumb don't shop when I go into a store. Or did it? I usually go down get what I need and leave the store because I usually end up spending money I don't want to spend. This was the case on Monday of this past week. I found my self with a day off and had stop at Walmart for some groceries. I had been wishing that I could get a new laptop comptuer for my self so I thought I might get one after I accomplished my financial goals for this year. Kind of a reward for doing what I need to do.

Now, I like Dell computers. I have owned about 3 or 4 of these Dell machines and they all have worked well. Matter of fact my old Dell D400 laptop still works, it is just starting to fall apart. It is six years old and the battery in it doesn't hold a charge any more. It is missing the backspace keep and it runs really slow. I have a hard time getting the computer to connect to the internet anymore. My son with his new laptop doesn't seem to have any problems. I bought this Dell Used over three years ago. At this point and I really didn't want to spend any money, but I was looking at laptops at Walmart just trying to figure out if I would buy from a store or order one from Dell when the time came. The nice thing about ordering from Dell is I could customize the machine anyway I wanted it. The down to that is it ends up in one spending more money on it because I would add a faster CPU (Processor), more memory, and more hard drive. I probrably wouldn't add much else in the way of frills.

I was at Walmart looking at the laptops when I came across this laptop the Emachines E725-4520. Walmart had this for $298 plus tax. There was a lady in front of me who was telling me she was going to buy two of them. One for her son who was going way to college and one to upgrade her old one. Hers was about six years old. I stood there staring at this machine trying to decide if I should buy one or not. The fact that it was an Emacines computer bothered me, but the price was a great deal. The macine is built by Acer corporation. I have had a two Acer computers over the years and both were good machines. So when I discovered that it was build buy Acer I was a little more statified with my purchase. They two I owned still worked when I sold them. This laptop has a Intel Pentium T4400 2,2GHz dual core processor. The sign said it has 3GB of DDR2 memory, but everything I have read about it says it actually has 3GB of DDR3 memory (even better). It has a 250GB HD and DVD Super Milti 8X drive, 802.11b/g WLAN, Windows 7 home, 15.6 inch 720p HD screen, and a built in memory card reader. Walmart sold two of these to the lady I was talking with, sold one to me, and sold another one just as I was leaving. So they sold four of the forteen they had in about five minutes. By thursday of last week they had sold them all. Even the display model was gone.

The only thing I am slightly disappointed with this new laptop is the sound from the speakers leaves a little to be desired. I, however, am not a big play movie clips or audio clips via my laptop. I basically want this for portaible computing power. In the event I get laid off at somepoint I will need a decent laptop to connect to the interent at say Mc Donalds, Wendy's, or Taco Bell to search for work. I do have a buch of exteral speakrs that I can plug directly into it if needed. Plus it would be rude to be jamming at one of those places when someone is trying to eat. It might have been nice had they added an HDMI port on the computer so I could connect it directly to my 720P HD big screen TV. I am a big syfy fan and there are shows available that at places like Hulu I could stream from the internet to my big screen TV from the laptop. All in all I am happy with my purchase. The good news is I didn't spend a thousand dollars for it. Heck, I spent just a little more than you can get one of those small Netbooks for.