How to Increase Your Internet Speed Using a Cell Phone Modem and Your Laptop

As a writer, I am particularly fond of taking my laptop to the park and sitting under the shade of a pavilion and enjoying sun, children playing and even the cool breeze felt on a hot summers day. However, because I live in the outskirts of a small town, finding a wireless signal that I can attach to is simply not even a remote possibility. So, what's an "outdoorsy" writer to do without a wireless signal when research needs to be done and written content needs to be emailed to clients?

I began by picked up a USB attachment for my cell phone on eBay for $7 including shipping; my phone is a Motorola i860, so I downloaded the necessary software from the iden website - and I'm ready to go, or so I thought.

Being completely ignorant about the actual speeds a cell phone modem can offer, seemingly about 4 times slower than dialup internet access; I was stuck again. It was bad enough trying to email 200 Kb worth of Word documents through Outlook Express; let alone trying to browse the internet for research purposes on a speed deficient internet connection using a world wide web built for a broadband internet connection.

With a little bit of trial and error and a little bit of tweaking my browser settings; I am now able to access the internet with acceptable speeds for most websites using my cell phone modem. Granted, it's not the same as my DSL connection at home; but the mobile phone modem helps me to research a topic and to email my clients their content while I am spending the day at the park.

It's pretty simple to increase your browsing speeds using a mobile phone modem; I use the Firefox web browser, and there are only two settings that are changed that can significantly increase your internet browsing speed.

1) Disable Images. Loading images on your laptop using your cell phone as a modem is costly in terms of bandwidth; which you have very little of. Firefox allows you to disable loading images automatically. To disable image in your Firefox browser, from the menu bar choose Tools>>Options>>Content and uncheck "Load images automatically". Once you're done, press the "Ok" button.

2) Disable Stylesheets. While many people are aware that images can be large, unbeknownst to many people, stylesheet files can be exceptionally large as well. Disabling stylesheets for your internet browsing when using a cell phone modem can help to keep website load times down as well. To disable the stylesheets for websites in your Firefox browser, from the file menu choose View>>Page Style and be sure that "No Style" is marked. It's important to note that websites will often look significantly different with their stylesheets disabled, but in most cases the navigation will not be negatively affected.

Now, you don't have to be a writer at the park to benefit from increased browsing speeds using your cell phone as a modem for your laptop or notebook computer. Whether you're on a cross country bus trip or you're spending the weekend at the lake, far away from civilization; using your cell phone as a modem may not be an ideal long-term internet connection solution, but by implementing a couple of easy tweaks you can make your cell phone internet access experience a little bit faster.