Access to the Internet for news, weather, sports or other information or for staying in touch with family, friends, clients or anyone else via e-mail or social networks is now possible from almost anywhere (the almost is due to limited access or facilities in some areas).

With the advent of Apple’s iPhone and smartphones from other carriers, all these options are available on your phone. And reading your E-mail and having Internet access on your phone is way cool and very convenient.

But--although smartphones offer pocket-sized convenience, they suffer from the problems of a small screen and keyboard, sometimes clumsy menu structures and limited mobile versions of many web sites.

These shortcomings made us want to find wireless Internet access we could use away from home, but on our laptop computer so that we could have a larger screen, full-sized keyboard, full web page capabilities and better speakers.

Many of the current netbook or laptop computers already have WiFi wireless built in. You just need to find a WiFi Hotspot (preferably a free one), turn on your computer’s wireless radio, find the hotspot’s open network and log on to the Internet and your e-mail. Free WiFi Hotspots are becoming very common in coffee shops, cafes, waiting rooms, camping grounds and more. If you don’t know where to find a wireless WiFi hotspot in the area you’re in, try searching for one by using web sites such as www.openwifispots.com or www.wififreespot.com.

You should be able to get to your e-mail using webmail capabilities provided by your ISP (Internet Service Provider). Just enter the appropriate Internet address (such as www.webmail.ISPname.com),and then enter your user name or ID and password so you can read, reply or compose your e-mail. If you have e-mail through AOL or Gmail, just go to their web site and sign on. If your e-mail provider doesn’t support webmail from their own web site, try www.mail2web.com and use the secure login for your e-mail. Don’t forget to log out when you’re done.

What happens if you can’t find a convenient wireless hotspot or you need access while away from home but still want to use your laptop (especially if it contains files you need to attach to your e-mails)? Many cellular phone carriers, such as AT&T, Verizon and Sprint, provide a method that allows you to use your compatible cell phone as a wireless modem by connecting your cell phone to your PC with a provided USB cable. This is called tethering and allows you to access the Internet and e-mail anywhere you can get a broadband cellular signal.

If you don’t have a compatible cell phone or would rather not use your cell phone, you can optionally install a wireless PC card into your laptop’s PC card slot, and the card will access the carrier’s cellular network. Carriers can also optionally provide a small broadband USB modem that resembles a thumb drive and plugs into a USB port on your laptop. Some laptop manufacturers such as Dell, HP or Lenovo are now offering broadband wireless modem capability as a built-in option.

You’ll also need to install software into your laptop to make the modem (whether it’s tethered, PC card or built-in) work with your PC. The software is provided free from the carrier. And, before you can connect, you’ll need to settle on a satisfactory data plan to pay for Internet and e-mail access. Like cell phone plans, these Internet access plans are numerous and varied, with confusing arrays of options and packages that may include cell phone service in addition to Internet/e-mail access and more often then not a 1-2 year contract commitment. Pricing likewise varies between carriers, but in general is not inexpensive.

There is a difference in speed when you compare cellular wireless broadband Internet access with other broadband high speed access such as DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) or Cable Broadband access. As a simple trial we used the Internet speed test web site, www.speakeasy.net, to compare the three. Cable Internet access measured 11,562 kbps (kilobits per second) download speed and 372 kbps upload speed; DSL was 5,939 kbps download and 380 kbps upload; cellular wireless broadband was very variable at 312 to 1,340 kbps download speed and 140 to 996 kbps upload speed. This reflects our experience in having to wait sometimes 20-30 seconds for a web page to load and display on our cell phone.

We discovered that cellular broadband speed depends on your carrier and the quality of the carrier’s network in your area, the cell tower your phone is communicating with and how many others are using it at that time. So--you’re likely to find some variability in access speed. In theory, the new 3G (3rd Generation) phones accessing the Internet using a carrier with updated cell towers and networks is said to reach speeds that are more satisfactory to our instant culture, but we have to believe this happens only when you are coasting downhill with the wind at your back.

Speed issues aside, however, nothing beats having the Internet in your pocket or on your lap when you want or need access to E-mail or information.