[Columbia_kid]

My company is looking into buying new laptops, and it is leaning toward buying Macs.

This is a good thing.

The hold up, right now, is that we're unsure of what options we have to connect wirelessly. We're currently using Verizon PC cards, which would become useless on the MacBooks.

I know the MacBook Pros have the PC express slots, and that Verizon makes an air card that would work on that machine. But we'd rather be able to buy a few MacBook Pros for our heavier users and the cheaper MacBooks for others.

But how can we get wireless access for the card slot-less MacBooks? Sprint is selling a USB air card, but according to their web site it only works with the Windows OS.

So, I come to you for guidance. Any ideas out there? Anyone else deal with this issue?

I know we could connect using a USB from a broadband-enabled device (Blackberry, Palm, etc.) but that's pushing the cost up a little higher than we'd like to go.

Thanks in advance for your help.

[torifile]

Tether using bluetooth? I'm not sure why using a broadband enabled device would be pushing costs higher than you'd like to go. Can you explain that?

[Bill M]

How about this USB PC Card adapter:

Allegiance PC Card adapter report @ Engadget

The report even mentions Verizon and MacBooks. I hope this helps.

[Columbia_kid]

Thanks for the quick responses, guys.

We don't currently use Blackberries.

We'd have to buy a Blackberry and subsequent coverage for each employee at about $115 a month. That's a fairly significant jump from the current $59.99 a month we're paying for the cards.

I wondered if there was a PC card adapter out there but couldn't find anything. That might be an option.

[torifile]

$115? You must be looking in the wrong place and besides, there are so many other possible solutions to tethering than using blackberries. You could get any phone that does EVDO and has bluetooth to tether. This page this page has some details on it. It looks like you'd have to sign up for their $59.99 data plan.

Have you considered switching providers? Verizon is awfully expensive. Just a thought...

[Bill M]

Maybe Apple is indeed reading this boards...

Apple Software for WWAN products

Includes support for Verizon's USB adapters that should work just fine on your Macbooks.