What do I need in order to have internet 27/7 on my lop top when traveling long distances via taxi, tracktor trailer, etc?

sorry that was 24/7, lol *

hehe you have 7 on the mind.

That is a good question. Sorry I can’t help. I am curious though.

What you need is an edge/3g aircard. I think At&t has a wireless one for about 70 a month for unlimited internet.

http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/cell-phones/pc-cards.jsp

With verizon, you can only get 5 gig total data transfer per month.

With tmobile you can also get unlimited but I’ve found that there are a lot of places tmobile doesn’t work.

For starters, access to wireless internet signal (which to mu knowledge doesn’t exist everywhere) and most likely a battery with an extended life (unless you have your wall charger and access to an outlet or power source).

tractor trailer*
laptop*
24/7* (but you already noted that)

you can buy a DC (ie, car) adaptor for your laptop at most electronics places like Radio Shack and Best Buy. That way you can plug your laptop into your car’s power system to keep it turned on, and use the wireless sattelite card to stay connected to the internet.

I just took a trip with the Verizon air card and a dc adapter for the car but still lost signal from time to time. It didn’t take much to reconnect, but would have been difficult to do on my own.

If you could somehow tap into the government satellites, you might be able to get a consistent signal…

A cell phone data card is the way to go. Theses services are pricy (I think), though. Be sure to check with the cell phone companies about service coverage areas. Coverage varies by area by carrier. Power is also something you need to deal with, but the suggestions above are more than adequete.

if you have an iPhone 3G (or plan to get one), you can jailbreak it and use a program called “PDAnet” to tether the internet connection you would get on the phone to your laptop. It’s probably not something you want to “leave on” 24/7 but to use in situations when you need to do simple things like check email, surf a few news websites, perhaps chat for a few minutes. But I wouldnt suggest using it if you plan on downloading large files or streaming music/video. AT&T frowns on that.

You use your iPhone for tethering without jailbreaking: tethering.

You can get a pay as you go SIM card here: MobilityPass.

Qualcomm