USB modems/aircards

Hello and thanks to all of you who read this e-mail, and a special thanks to all or anyone who responds.

First let me say I am not an IT person, nor does my small company employ an IT person, a decision I sometimes regret, but there is not enough business yet to justify the cost nor to keep him or her busy. The individuals in my company constantly travel between the USA, Europe, Asia and the Middle East and are very dependent upon our cell phones and laptops and cannot always rely on the hotels and internet cafes’ wi-fi for connections. We know that we can buy sims cards just about everywhere we travel which saves a lot of money vs us having to pay the enormous fees our carrier here in the USA charges when we travel overseas. It is my hope that one of you IT guys/gals have experienced this type of problem within your own organization as I am certain you have employees who travel all over the globe.

Having said that, I was wondering if a sims-free, unlocked modem or aircard would be of benefit to us when we travel. We all have the Toshiba Qosmio X505-Q8104 laptop [64 bit, windows 7, intel core i7-2630QM processor with mobile intel HM65 express chipset, 10/100/100 ethernet, Wi-Fi wireless networking 802.11 b/g/n, bluetooth version 3.0 plus EDR, iLink IEEE1394, with 4 USB v 2.0 ports]. I know its viewed as a gaming laptop, but we need it for its screen size and speed.

Presuming you answer that a modem/aircard would indeed be beneficial to us, which modem/aircard would best suit our needs? How does one in fact do a comparison? Do you just look to see which gives the fastest download (i.e choosing the Huawei K4505 for its 21Mbps speed over say a Nokia CS18 or Option Icon 505M or Sierra Wireless 308 that can only do 14.4Mbps?) or does one only look at 3g capabilites vs 4g capablities along with other connectivity abilities? Obviously reliability matters, but I would presume that Sierra Wireless, Huawei, Option, and Nokia all offer pretty reliable products and warranties. If your answer is all three, then my question is what specific modem (brand and model) would you recommend?  Is an extended antenna of any real value to us? Is there an extended antenna even available for the model you recommend?

Your answers will be greatly appreciated as I have tried contacting the various manufacturers and have not been able to receive a response. Our service provider has never traveled around the globe, so they were useless and I cannot find any answers on the internet that compares modems.

Thank you.

R. Sanit