What do I need to connect my linux mini laptop to internet via a mobile carrier such as Sprint?

You need a aircard, (also called wireless modem, 3g dongle, wwan card etc), internal or USB, that is compatible with your hardware and operating system. I’d check out the ubuntu or eepc community for tips there. It might be hard to find drivers for slot of the devices that will work on your system.

Next you need a data plan, all of them are going to have te “industry standard” 5gb cap. (which is utterly ridiculous and the reason I will never get one.)

usullay the carrier will give you the hardware free or discounted when u sign ip for the plan. You will most likely have to sign a two year contract. So you may want to do it thru sprint since you already use them.

Everything I’ve seen will run you around sixty a month.

Another thing you might consider is the mi fi device. It’s an external device that does what you want, but it broadcast s a wireless bubble up to 5 devices can join. This might circumvent any hardware difficulties, since mist likely no major carriers will support your Linux hardware. ( which is cruelly unjust IMHO)

I have AT&T, and I pay an extremely ridiculous amount of money for mobile broadband. I have a 5 gb cap, but even playing Warcraft for 8 hours straight, I’ve never come anywhere NEAR hitting that cap.

I have a little stick that’s really a glorified cell phone… it has a phone number… and I can also put a card in it so I can use it to store data also.

The service is $60/month with sprint. I bet I would have to also pay another $10/month for additional phone line and number. Maybe going to starbucks isn’t so bad… Last time I visited the older folks, I couldn’t get them to understand that I was going to Starbucks for the internet – not for the expensive, high calorie coffees! :-)