AT&T Wireless Modem Gets the Job Done

Now, one major point: Actually deciding if this AT&T product is right for you and your business is not something you should rely on me -- or anybody else -- to decide. I know, it is ridiculous considering how sophisticated wireless networks are internationally, but shopping for cellular products here in these U.S. remains the complete guess fest it has been since the dawn of the cell-phone era.

As anybody who has ever shopped for a phone knows, there is no meaningful data for how well a given cell product will work in a given place. Yes, there are coverage maps. But they do not reflect actual performance because that is considered a trade secret by operators. Most wireless carriers are mature businesses that tend to be undercapitalized and profit-starved. So admitting feeble coverage would be the last way to manage ever-increasing investor impatience or regulatory wrath.

And while larger companies can pay for private testing firms to measure performance, small businesses like ours are left with exactly one way to buy a data plan: Get a unit that sounds reasonable, which AT&T's is. Try it out for companies' 30-day trial period. And keep the thing if it works. Trade it in if it does not. And then go to the next.

If you are like me and you routinely move through the three carriers to test performance, you will see that while these units can help you stay connected on the road, it is hardly a perfected art.

And as we all begin to migrate our businesses online, you will probably wonder, like I do, if the mobile connectivity question will be the deciding factor as to whether our troubled economy will be able to harness the magic of online business tools. As remarkable as it may sound, a robust wireless infrastructure capable of supporting Web-based business technology may simply be beyond us.