Internet access in rural Chatham country

By Maclyn
Posted Thursday, January 3, 2008

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Chatham County, NC - I am writing this because I found an internet access alternative this year with which I have been very pleased. I dial up through my mobile phone, and get much faster service than the pitifully slow land line dial-up.

My mobile phone service is through Alltel, and in a desperate moment, I called them to ask if there was any sort of internet access available through them. There is, and there are two options for it. One is to purchase an aircard, which I did, and which worked great in my laptop, everywhere except at my home in the country. So Alltel let me return that and sent me a cable so I could attach my phone via a USB port. It has worked great. I have been using this method since April of this year.

My computers are a couple of years old, and are not Bluetooth capable. If a phone is Bluetooth capable and the computer is as well, no cable is necessary. I helped a friend set his up and it is simple.

The cost for me is $25 a month, because I have a voice plan with Alltel that meets the qualifications for it. The cost without a qualifying plan is $59 per month, with the aircard or phone.

Once I was sure this worked for me, I stopped my land line service and started using the mobile phone for everything. I like Alltel because of the My Circle feature which allows me to call ten numbers without using my anytime minutes, so I rarely use all my anytime minutes during a month. (The internet access is unrestricted use).

I know this sounds a little like an Alltel ad, but I just really am pleased. I will say that when I call them, I can get a very knowledgeable person, or a very unknowledgeable person, so I have learned to just keep looking for someone who knows.

Also, I recommend calling or going through the website. I have discovered that most Alltel stores (like the new one in Siler City) are just authorized dealers, so if you have a problem, they are not often able to really help (like with returns!).

This has worked for me, has not failed me at all, it is way faster than dial-up. Also, I just have a regular old Motorola phone, not a smart phone or Blackberry or anything like that.

It is difficult to find this stuff online. There are aircards for sale on the website, under phones, but you really have to call them to find the alternatives. 800-alltel1 is the number.

It was a frustrating effort to find this, but I am very pleased, or probably more relieved than pleased.

Good luck to everyone seeking faster internet access in rural Chatham.