Sailor needs Laptop/Internet Connection

Greetings! I need some recommendations. I work on a Towboat on the Mississippi River, sailing from New Orleans to St. Paul and all over really. I have a laptop / Motorola V551 / Cingular Data Connect service, that I've been using here lately to get online with. This has served me fairly well for the most part considering I travel far and wide on the Mississippi River System. But last week the display on my V551 expired, so I'm looking to upgrade. I haven't kept up with all the new stuff coming out, so does anyone have any suggestions on a better setup??? I use an external antenna for the V551, in my quarters for better reception, because the bulkheads are steel. I've thought about using 3watt amplifier to boast it up in fringe areas of reception. But I need a new phone when I get off next week, hopeful one that has a external antenna connection. I've heard about the aircards but I'm not familiar with their performance. But what every I get, I need to hook an external antenna to it. Any help would be appreciated. Michael.

most Motorolas have the external antenna port ... or you can skip that and purchase an amplifier/repeater that'll make you a ship's hero.... (there are others, that's just the model I covet )

We have a "Smooth Talker" onboard for the 'Bridge' communication cellular package. It's a 3 watt booster. I thought about that, but my last few phones have only lasted a year or so. Maybe using them as a modem is hard on them. Perhaps an 'aircard' of some sort would be a better setup. As long as I could plug an external antenna into it--that's the thing.

Aircards generally don't have external antenna ports. But again, a wireless repeater would work just the same, and be wireless