Over the summer I want to make a tiny device (ideal for hooking to a key chain) that can communicate with my PC from a far distance. I'd most likely have a small LCD screen that would display your current download speed, percent of completion, CPU temp, and the possibility of booting and shutdown.

The only problem is I don't know how to send and recieve this signal. If it was somewhere close or outside my house I could just use a wireless access point, but for being an hour or so away at a store or at school it would not work at all.

The only thing I can't think of is trying to manipulate a cell phone signal because you can get a signal litterally anywhere in a suburbia.

Any ideas? I can work out the programming and chip construction over the summer but first I need to know if I can actually get a signal to my computer.