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["Don Bowen" <don.bowen AT earthlink.net>]

Several cell companies offer high speed Internet.  It covers almost all
cities but coverage in rural areas is often spotty.

Here is the Verizon coverage map:
http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/CoverageLocatorController

Sprint is similar.  A slower connection called National Enhanced services
has broader coverage but there are still rural holes.  I was not able to get
coverage for either in Missouri.  For many all you need is a cell phone and
the proper USB cable.  You can find cell phone cables that will charge the
phone over the USB.  My first two years on the road I used this for
connectivity but they recently restricted access without a data plan.

Satellite is a little more a month and can be faster.  Equipment costs are
higher, around $500 for fixed location, $1500 for a tripod mounted mobile
dish, and $5000 for an auto pointing mobile dish.  Satellite has a Fair
Access Policy (FAP) where they punish you for using too much bandwidth.
Satellite as well as cell is affected by rain, satellite more so because of
bad weather at the location of the NOC (Network Operations Center).

DSL is Digital Subscriber Line, a high speed connection over standard
twisted pair phone lines.  Phone companies are rolling it out in more parts
of the country.  Before too long all but the most remote location will have
access to DSL.  DSL is also significantly cheaper than either satellite of
CELL and in not affected by the weather short of a tree falling in the
lines.

I personally like DSL.  I have installed DSL networks in several places.
Hook up a wireless router and it is a shared connection.  In Heartwood Gene
had Satellite and with two of us using the link triggered FAP several times.
We were visiting a neighbor when she mentioned that the phone company tried
to sell her a faster connection.  I suggested to Gene that it might be DSL.
He called the phone company and with a couple of false starts had a DSL
connection.  Gene who falsely claims to be mostly computer illiterate
installed it himself. We both used it, watching video clips and listening to
Internet radio and nary a glitch. 

I am on a wireless DSL connection here at my son's.

Don Bowen  KI6DIU
http://www.braingarage.com/Dons/Travels/journal/Journal.html