[$tinkle]

just got turned on to obsessable.com, and found this article about EV-DO -vs- HSDPA -vs- WiMAX. our company is totally revamping our data packages just as we get comfortable, and so now it seems we're going aircards for all.

do aircards work only off a cellular network, or can they overlap w/ satellite?
who have you found to have the best rep for coverage & speed?
what's the most compatible phone to have w/ this?
should i consider aircard & phone as separate, or in tandem?

 

[syadasti]

I don't have any experience with satellite equipment (other than expensive phone calls in Africa) or WiMAX but at the time we were buying aircards we had the most luck with Verizon EVDO aircards. They have the largest 3G data network with the best coverage of the major cellular providers. Verizon was also the first to roll out 3G and due to their cellular bands had much better building penetration than EDGE aircards we had in the field. WiMAX and to a lesser degree 3G from ATT and Tmobile (no share in 3G coverage) aren't viable unless you only travel to areas with good coverage which are much more limited than Verizon/Sprint (coverage partners).

You can also go with blackberries or other smartphones rather than aircards as they support tethering (using the phone as a modem). Depending on the provider you may also have to add a tethering plan (Verizon for example, $15/month I think?). Tethering would probably be better for lighter users.

There are USB, PC Card, and Expresscard aircards. Also you can buy routers (specialized ones and also high end consumer and above general purpose routers like the DIR-655) that support cellular WAN connections and then just use wifi to connect rather than the hassle of dealing with their software on your laptop though most cellular connection don't perform well enough to support more than a few users.

 

[$tinkle]

the only thing i don't want to get dinged with is the monthly limit (where in place it seems to be 5G), and i'd like performance & coverage to meet my primary needs, as this is intended to be

did a server install this wknd in boston @ an army site, and they were adamant about their strict "no wireless laptop connectivity", but had absolutely no problem w/ any manner of phone & its associated data plan.

to include the iPhone

 

[syadasti]

In a major metro area like Boston, providers will have comparable coverage but when get further away from the major markets Verizon is the provider of choice.

The iPhone does not yet officially support tethering and it will cost $30 extra a month when released. Also a lot of business and government sites do not allow camera phones which is why RIM makes models without cameras.

If you are transferring a ton a data I would go with an aircard that runs off your laptop battery/AC adapter otherwise your smartphone is going to be a deadphone most of the time in regards to battery life. You could charge off USB with a smartphone if you laptop puts out enough current when unplugged - some power saving schemes may prevent that.

 

[$tinkle]

just when i thought i had options, i'm told i get issued an iPAQ 910, which is hooked up w/ UMTS/HSDPA over MMS. but it will allow piggybacking from my pc (ad-hoc right?), as well as other goodies bundled in. and i get to ditch sprint for at&t.

as for the aircard, i have to stay w/ sprint (wtf?), using the novatel ovation u727 (back to EVDO!). so it seems in theory, i could get em on my iPAQ, but if i'm out of sprint coverage, i can only reply from my handheld, & not my laptop/pc.

seems this could have been better thought out, or maybe i don't appreciate the overlap using 2 providers offers?

 

[syadasti]

Two different cellular providers is ideal. Coverage varies by area and provider.

 

[$tinkle]

slight last second change in policy:

i'm 100% sprint, but w/o data plan on handheld (now it's a treo 800w), unless i want to pay for it.

speedtest on aircard is just south of 1Mbps (cf home dsl is 1.3).

is there a way i can ditch my dsl & share my aircard between all my machines without having a machine dedicated to the sprint connectivity - which isn't a deal-breaker, just seems stupid? seems ridiculous to pay for both, so naturally with my company paying for the aircard, i'd like to cut [my] costs.

i'm thinking: install aircard sw on all machines, and pass it around as primary machine is dynamically defined. i assume there's non-trivial ip routing to be done on my end. kinda like i'm on my work machine, wife wants to check em from her laptop, and so she ad-hoc's into my box. could that work?

if i could swing this, it would mean $600/yr savings.

 

[$tinkle]

this seems helpful for my 'doze boxes:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/networking/setup/adhoc.mspx

setup for ubuntu machine should be trivial, as it will never act as the base station

 

[syadasti]

If it was USB some modern routers can use the USB as the WAN source. There are some specialized routers than have PC Card ports too.

You have 30 days, you could return your aircard for a USB aircard and buy a DIR-655 (or similar) that support the USB WAN to keep software/routing off your machines completely.

 

[johnbryanpeters]

just when i thought i had options...offers?

So now we know who you work for, I think...

 

[$tinkle]

If it was USB some modern routers can use the USB as the WAN source. There are some specialized routers than have PC Card ports too.

You have 30 days, you could return your aircard for a USB aircard and buy a DIR-655 (or similar) that support the USB WAN to keep software/routing off your machines completely.

unfortunately, i'm locked in to the specific hw, as it's issued to me. now if i can only find a way for to dedicate one low power machine as my router...

i want to get cute, like have a bootable flash drive w/ a thin rhel (4 or 5), so my machine can hibernate; no need to have the disk grinding away if all it's doing is doling out packets. of course, this solution would betray everything i was taught in school

So now we know who you work for, I think...

methinks ih8rice is a fellow slave, and w/o a whiff of irony, i can't find buy-in for hurd in my company

 

[johnbryanpeters]

I fight to use your servers

 

[$tinkle]

i'm 100% sprint, but w/o data plan on handheld (now it's a treo 800w), unless i want to pay for it.

just linked in my palm to my wifi router & i'm good to go -- without activation. not that i would ever want to surf from a handheld habitually, but it's good for the crapper or if i just want to jump on to check the weather (i don't leave any machines on 24/7)

next for the ev-do router...ordering it 1st thing tomorrow

 

[$tinkle]

cradlepoint mbr1000 just arrived & set up in 10 minutes (unsecured), and macfiltered & locked down in 10 after that.

sweet allah that was easy - and cheap, too - $180 on ebay ($250 msrp).

goodbye broadband payments - and speed too: speedtest sez 522k up & 134k down. maybe i should change router location...

 

[syadasti]

FYI, DIR655 is $95 delivered from Amazon and has 3G USB support with 1.21 firmware too.

I think those numbers are due to your WAN connection and/or router processing power, not your wifi. What speeds do you get directly connected to the PC?

 

[$tinkle]

dir655 is incompatible w/ my modem - novatel u727.

speeds:
you mean a wired connection? i shall never know. i only tether as a last resort.

according to speedtest.net, i get the aforementioned speeds when using a denver server (~60 miles north). when using kansas city (hundreds of miles east), i get a full meg.

i don't get it.