This service from Verizon could be handy in a pinch. But isn’t the price of $79 a little steep for their mobile brand of high-speed Internet?

The trouble with wireless local area networks (LAN’s) is that they’re local, generally limiting your laptop’s access to the bounds of your home or office. Wi-Fi access in airport lounges, coffeehouses and elsewhere can be expensive, and access points are not always nearby.

As an alternative, you can use wireless data networks offered by cellular providers, but they have been slow - only two to three times as fast as dial-up modems. Now broadband service (about five to nine times as fast as dial-up, with high-speed downloads available in bursts) is available from Verizon Wireless for $79.99 a month. [Read the rest]