Remote upload of photos

I'm going to be shooting for a place this year and they will want a few quick pics at the end of each day, and the remainder later, after post processing. It's a ways from home so I will be camping on location.

I'm not much of a mobile connectivity person. My only cell phone is a pay-as-you-go deal. What are my options for remotely uploading a few pics? I have an old laptop PC which has wireless, but I don't think WiFi is available where I will be. Would I need to get a "air card" or something like that? And what would I do about air "service"? Could I get a temporary plan from a carrier? I will only need it from June to September.

If this is a one-time need, the simplest thing might be to take your old laptop and drive to a Starbucks or McDonalds that has free wi-fi, long enough to do your upload of the day's photos.

Although "June to September" sounds like it might be a longer-term thing - in which case an "air card" might be the way to go. I don't know how expensive those are, though.

I just checked and there is a McDonalds no more than 10 minutes away. That my be my best option for now.

I found some aircard rentals, but they're about $10/day, but I would need it for 3-4 days minimum, since I wouldn't be able to return it until the day after I get home. $40 so I could use it twice for about 15 minutes doesn't sit well with me. I might try a 35-45 minute trip to McDonalds the first time, and see how that works out. I will need to do this 5-6 times between June and September.

Someday I may get some kind of "real" mobile service, but for the past few years, 100 minutes per year from Tracfone had been more than meeting my needs, so anything more than that would be wasted money that I could spend on glass

Thanks for the suggestions.

I'm actually finishing a review on the mobile broadband service I went with for my site, but the gist of it is - there are a lot of choices. Most of the big boys, like AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, etc... are expensive and lock you into contracts. Virgin has contract-free plans, but they don't offer much data usage. Their unlimited 3G plan throttles you after you go over 2.5gb/month - which you hit quickly uploading and downloading big photos.

Many require you to purchase the device as well and pay an activation fee. I ended up going with Millenicom who is a reseller of mobile broadband - they buy up bandwidth in bulk from verizon and sprint and resell it to their customers for a lot less than either of those networks do. No contract, but there is an activation fee and for many of their plans (the byod plan lets you use your own device) you have to buy the device. I went with the 20GB/month plan which uses verizon's network and I'm really happy with it. $60 a month with no contract. I use it as my main internet and can get online in seconds just about everywhere in the US. The speeds in many places are on par with DSL.

If you just need wifi on the go from time to time, McDonald's, Starbucks, Barnes & Noble, Dunkin Donuts and just about every other place like this now has free wifi. If you don't need it all the time, I would go the McD route and just camp out there for an hour and get your work done.

I tried the McDonalds about 10 minutes from where I will be, and it worked out in the parking lot. No need to even get out of my vehicle. So that may be the best bet for me for now.

Thanks for the tips.

You might need to go inside and buy an apple pie (two for a dollar!) so that you're considered their customer.

Old article, probably not relevant any more, but who doesn't like McDonald's apple pie?
http://arstechnica.com …ree-wifi-from-his-car.ars