mobile broadband + cellphone?

[darkon112]

Don't know how to write a better title for this, but this is the issue:

I've heard of someone who has a iphone and uses that as modem for his laptop, so basically uses the "3G" to have broadband access to his laptop.

Now I cannot use that in my area ("middle-of-nowhere"), but I could use verizon "mobile broadband" stuff to do the job, because according to verizon, that should work where I want it to. That "mobile broadband" thing is nice, but that's not a phone.. and I also want to have a phone then, with which I could check email and can sync files with my laptop.
(hope I'm making sense here).

I went to verizons site, but.. can't really pick anything that would compare to what I want..

Has anyone dealt with this and would be able to help me to find the right stuff here? I'm open to anything there. I just want to have the right conclusion here. Where do I start?

In a nutshell:
- cellphone
- be able to read my email on my cellphone and browse the web
- plug my cellphone into my laptop and have BROADBAND internet everywhere
- affordable $$$

[vivithemage]

broadband internet is not available everywhere...not even with verizon's cards for your laptop.

What you have to do is see where 3g is for your iphone/AT&T ...and check coverage on there website. You may also have better coverage with the air card that Verizon would give you specifically for your laptop.

Verizon offers broadband air cards, but those are just as spotty as your 3G would be...liek I said check coverage and see where you get the best coverage. T-Mobile may even be better, just check coverage sites.

[darkon112]

broadband internet is not available everywhere...not even with verizon's cards for your laptop.

What you have to do is see where 3g is for your iphone/AT&T ...and check coverage on there website. You may also have better coverage with the air card that Verizon would give you specifically for your laptop.

Verizon offers broadband air cards, but those are just as spotty as your 3G would be...liek I said check coverage and see where you get the best coverage. T-Mobile may even be better, just check coverage sites.

I did that: 3G: No go (is both for AT&T and T-Mobile); Verizons broadband: Yes.

What I want to know, without having to spend HOURS and hours on their website to figure it out: I need a phone with email/web browsing ability plus be able to use it as a modem for my laptop and use their broadband internet for my modem. (so.. not another device for that, but the same device for the laptop, but also use it separately).

Was curious if someone had done that (and went thru all the research) and what they ended up with AND if they were happy with it...

[vivithemage]

sadly, as far as I know, verizon will nto let you tether with a phone. You have to purchase a USB or PCMIA card for your laptop to use it on your laptop, and that might only be a few bucks extra a month.