My house is in a low-tech, dial-up only "hole" in rural Maine. There are ~20 households in the same predicament. (The local cable company will run cable to us for $5K per household! We are >20,000' from the nearest DSL switch. Cell phone use is spotty. Ditto satellite.)
Been using a UFO Airport Extreme, with a modem built-in. I have gotten a newer Airport Extreme (the flat model), which doesn't have it's own modem. I have tried to use one of the short-lived little Apple modems, which has a USB plug at one end and an RJ11 phone plug-in at the other, connecting the USB end of the modem to the Airport.
I can't get the new Airport with the external modem to connect to my ISP. Is that even possible?
Thanks
Rick in Maine

MacBook Pro 15" 2.2 GHz, and a MacBook(first Intel model)

no. the usb modem adapters only work on macintosh computers

and they don't seem to function on 10.6 either. (mine stopped working when I upgraded)

I find it amazing that they're charging 5k per house, it should be more like 5k to get to the development, and another $100 per house from there.

OR if you're all close enough, pay the 5k to get SOMEONE (you?) service, and then stick up a hotspot for your neighbors. If someone has a tall thing, like a grain silo or disused windmill or just a really tall house on a hill, do them instead. Put up an omni there. Then get everyone one of those directional units from ebay. They work good and claim up to 21-24db gain, good enough for any line of sight usually. (2 miles minimum to an omni) If everyone chips in that wouldn't be more than $250 per house counting service plus everyone's hardware. I got my 24db unit for about $130 iirc.

It's a project for sure, but worth it.

Thank you for your reply.
I'm still hunting for a solution. I'm beginning to think it may be more realistic to wait until the **** phone company finally runs the DSL wire the rest of the way down the road. They may be required by the state in the near future.
Rick

Hello, Rick in Maine

I am not sure if anything here might be of help to you, but wanted to provide some sources for your research.

When I need internet access and am away from my wireless home and business network, I use a Verizon USB modem and a prepaid mobile broadband plan on my MacBook Pro running Mac OS X 10.6.4.

See also: Other Mobile Broadband plans.

I am wondering if something similar might work for you?

I have no experience with:
AT&T USBConnect Lightning
AT&T USBConnect Turbo
AT&T Dial - Dial-Up Internet Services.

As you have two portables, the above may be of no use to you.

Good info, Dianne. Sad to say...not here! Been down those paths. FairPoint, our phone co. web site says 2010. Not looking good right now.

Rick in Maine