So how do you connect to the Internet these days? For many, slow dialup access is the only reality. Fortunately the balance has turned since those numbers are now less than those who have some kind of high-speed access.

The phone company offers DSL that piggybacks on your existing phone lines.

Cable modems offer speedy access via the cable TV wires. And if those aren't available in your area, the rest of the country is blanketed by satellite access via TV providers like DirecTV. Of course speeds as well as costs vary depending on your location. But there's another, newer alternative you may not have considered or researched and if you can get it your location, it brings portability to the table as well as speed.

TOP Global's 3G Phoebus is a patented, portable mobile wireless router.

Looking much like a small pyramid that comes in either black, silver or white, this small device enables your existing cabled and wireless WiFi network to connect to the Internet via the newer 3rd Generation better known as the 3G cellular network. Already popular overseas, this high-speed cellular technology is already becoming available in metropolitan areas across the country.

Using your existing wireless connections, the 3G Phoebus requires no special drivers or special installation. Your existing computers use their standard Wi-Fi connection hardware or Ethernet cables to communicate to the 3G Phoebus' built-in router. To activate the 3G Phoebus, you simply insert the PCMCIA card you receive from your 3G cellular provider into the 3G Phoebus'

slot. And while you are probably provided with additional driver software for the PCMCIA card, according to Top Gobal, it's not needed. Power on the unit and all of your PDAs, Wi-Fi phones, computers and the like will be acquired by the 3G Pheobus and then be connected to the Internet via the 3G cellular network to which you subscribe. That's pretty much it.

3G mobile communications protocols supported by the 3G Phoebus include CDMA 1x, EV-DO, EDGE, and UMTS and can be easily upgraded to support EV-DO Release A and HSDPA. The unit's router enables you to connect several of your devices to the 3G network simultaneously.

Average 3G speeds range from around 400 to 700 kbps with a peak rate of up to 2.4 megabits per second (mpbs) with future speeds reaching up to 3.1 mbps. To put that into perspective, a good premium DSL speed is 1.5 mbps.

My DSL has an "Extreme" version that takes me up to 3mbps. However as with all broadband connections, speeds can vary depending on distance to the telephone company's central office with DSL, number of users on at once with cable and so on. But the last feature and probably most useful feature of a 3G Internet connection is mobility.

You can take your 3G Phoebus with you. Place the little pyramid in your car and you literally have a mobile hotspot. With a range of around 300 feet, you could leave the 3G Phoebus in the car parked next to the park and you and anyone else you like will have Internet access. Or you can enable WAP or some other privacy protocol and keep all the access to yourself. You can even be driving and have high speed Internet access. The 3G Phoebus makes all of this possible.

Of course you need to check if 3G cellular service is available in your area but it's coverage is growing fast.

The 3G Phoebus sells for $499 and is available from Top Global.

www.topglobalusa.com