Toss Out the DSL or Cable, Share the 3G

[Jon Westfall]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.betanews.com/article/DLink_Debuts_3G_Mobile_Router/1125334684' target='_blank'>http://www.betanews.com/article/DLi...uter/1125334684</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Networking equipment manufacturer D-Link has released a router that allows users to share a 3G mobile wireless broadband connection at speeds of up to 2.4Mbps where service is available. The device supports EVDO, UMTS, Flash-OFDM and HSDPA technologies and includes a slot for a PC-card, as well as 2 USB ports to connect either a cell phone or print server to add functionality."</i><br /><br />D-Link's router promises to help, in the long run, those fortunate enough to have high speed mobile internet ditch their home solution and have only 1 internet bill to pay each month. Decreasing bills is good, but enjoying the internet at home, at work, or anywhere using the same setup sounds really good!

[Jonathan1]

The problem as I see it is that this solution works similar to how XM radio works where there is one piece of hardware you have to take with you everywhere. In theory this sounds like a good idea. But as an example…a person with a family would be at a disadvantage since anyone at home would loose net access when you are on the road. Or some of us host our own web servers (In my case web and personal storage server.) off our connection so we would loose that.
That being said I can see this being very appealing for those who don’t need an always on connection at home.

[Paragon]

Man would I love to tell my ISP where to put their modem. ;)

The only problem is that on paper it sounds good with speeds up to 2.4mb, but in reality 3G cellular speeds are hovering around 300kbps. Rather slow to the 5mb I'm getting now.....I still like this option though. It can only get better as time goes on.

Dave

[jglev]

The problem as I see it is that this solution works similar to how XM radio works where there is one piece of hardware you have to take with you everywhere. In theory this sounds like a good idea. But as an example…a person with a family would be at a disadvantage since anyone at home would loose net access when you are on the road. Or some of us host our own web servers (In my case web and personal storage server.) off our connection so we would loose that.
That being said I can see this being very appealing for those who don’t need an always on connection at home.

But the router has a PC Card slot. Couldn't you get an EVDO PC card and put it into the router so that you don't have to hook up your phone to the router? The question I have is: can a PC EVDO Card and an EVDO cell phone both access the EVDO network at the same time using the same account? If it can, then just use an EVDO PC card for your home and use your EVDO phone everywhere else.

[genius74]

In my case, this would be adding a bill, since I get my DSL for free at home, and I really don't need a carry with me BBC since I don't have a device that I see can really take advantage of it ie.. Laptop, high end PPC etc.

[Dyvim]

The question I have is: can a PC EVDO Card and an EVDO cell phone both access the EVDO network at the same time using the same account?

I doubt it. Otherwise you and a group of friends could all chip in and "share" one EVDO account and each have their own PC cards. The carrier would never allow it.

[PetiteFlower]

Unless they set it up as a family-style shared minutes plan, like with cell phone service.

[Taltoz]

This is not really a solution for people who already have DSL or who need to constantly take the connection with them. This is perfect for a person who cannot get DSL (which is still a good number of people) but are within coverage of a cell connection.

I have been researching setting up something like this for family that is moving to an area with no DSL. I have already verified that my wireless cell card works great there and this would allow you to share that connection across the house just like they are currently using their DSL wireless router.

[yowzator]

This sounds like it could be a good mobile access point. I've been considering building a StompBox for my Suburban, but an off the shelf product might be cheaper and less effort. Hopefully it is cheaper than the Junxion, Telabria, and Top Global boxes. Since D-Link normally offers economically priced products, it could do really well. Of course, this assumes the wireless providers don't figure out some way to keep people from sharing the connection.

Check out these sites for the alternatives:

http://www.stompboxnetworks.com/index.html
http://www.junxion.com/
http://www.telabria.com/products/msystem_ap3g.html
http://www.chinatopglobal.com/products.asp

[martin_ayton]

this assumes the wireless providers don't figure out some way to keep people from sharing the connection.

Would they care? In Europe cell 'phone data connections are charged by the bit (though you can buy packages where you get the first, say 35MB/month at a reduced rate). So the operators here are likely to say "go for it: the more, the merrier"

[szamot]

I think this news should be filled under that's idiotic category. I don't understand the excitement however great. Let's see, unlimited home DSL account with discounts is about $20/month. My 1x and in about 4-5 months EVDO is about $60/50MB/month and $10/MB over and above. Let's do some basic math. I use about 120GB/month so 120 GB minus 60MB is 119.4GB times $10/MB is about 1.2M for internet access. Yeah I be sure to be looking forward to this like root canal work in the medieval times. Even if data access goes down by a factor of 9 that’s still a fortune.

[yowzator]

I don't think some people are understanding how this would be useful. I certainly don't think it should be to replace your existing land connection. At least not at this point. But this product would be great for creating a mobile access point. I'm already paying for mobile data, so why not make my mobile data more useful?

Here's how it would work... I install a 3G/WiFi router into my vehicle. This router has a EVDO or HSDPA or some other high speed wireless PC Card to provide internet connectivity to the router. The router also has a builtin WiFi access point that will provide access to my laptop, pda, passengers, and so forth. There would be high gain antennas on the car to widen the coverage area of the wifi signal as well as to increase reception of EVDO.

Whenever I am on the road, my passengers would have internet connectivity as long as I'm in range. Onboard computers could have internet connectivity. I could stop and use the internet whenever I need to. If I'm in a restaurant or building near where I parked, I'd still have access. I could access the net from my PDA while waiting for my dentist appointment. And so on... If I had to, I could pull the PC Card and take my laptop with me if I was going to be away from my car.

With automatically recharging battery powered systems like used in StompBox, this could conceivably be running 24 hours per day. I could even use it as a backup system at home while my car is in the garage if my cable modem was down.

To me it makes sense. Maybe it doesn't to others...

[ADBrown]

I think this news should be filled under that's idiotic category. I don't understand the excitement however great. Let's see, unlimited home DSL account with discounts is about $20/month.

I don't know where you live, but even those $15 a month DSL plans really aren't $15. If you factor it out for the life of the service contract, it's $30-$35 a month. And out here, if you're lucky enough to be able to get DSL, it will cost you $45 a month for a flakey connection that's still tied to one place. So from that perspective, $60 a month for a connection that goes anywhere is not a bad deal.

And nobody ever said that this would work for anyone who downloads 120 GB per month.