Popular Science: "Be Your Own Hotspot"

[Janak Parekh]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.popsci.com/popsci/how20/6a278ca927d05010vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html' target='_blank'>http://www.popsci.com/popsci/how20/...ecbccdrcrd.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"I love the fact that more and more devices are sporting built-in Wi-Fi--the Sony PSP, smartphones, even Kodak’s EasyShare-One digital camera. The lone hitch: Wi-Fi is useless without a hotspot...What if you could marry the short-range power of Wi-Fi with the huge coverage areas of high-speed cellular services such as EV-DO to create a portable hotspot? You could use any Wi-Fi-enabled gadget anywhere you’ve got a cell signal. Play multiplayer games with friends in the park, or blog an event in real-time. Since EV-DO works at freeway speeds, you could even give Internet access to an entire road-trip caravan. Those are exactly the kinds of things you can do with the backpack below. Its secret ingredient: the Junxion Box. Plug a cellular-network card into the book-size open-source-based device, and voilà--instant Wi-Fi hotspot, with speeds averaging around 700 kilobits per second."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/parekh-20051128-PopSciWiFiBackpack.jpg" /><br /><br />Now, who says Bluetooth is complicated? :lol: In all seriousness, this is a pretty neat hack. And, besides, until we migrate to BT 2.0 it won't be able to handle full sustaned EVDO speeds, so it's either USB cables or heavy backpacks until then.

[welovejesus]

Here is a statement (http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/store/controller?item=planFirst&amp;action=viewPlanDetail&amp;sortOption=priceSort&amp;catId=408) from Verizon:
Subject to VZAccess Acceptable Use Policy, available on www.verizonwireless.com. NationalAccess and BroadbandAccess data sessions may be used with wireless devices for the following purposes: (i) Internet browsing; (ii) email; and (iii) intranet access (including access to corporate intranets, email and individual productivity applications like customer relationship management, sales force and field service automation). Unlimited NationalAccess/BroadbandAccess services cannot be used (1) for uploading, downloading or streaming of movies, music or games, (2) with server devices or with host computer applications, including, but not limited to, Web camera posts or broadcasts, automatic data feeds, Voice over IP (VoIP), automated machine-to-machine connections, or peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing, or (3) as a substitute or backup for private lines or dedicated data connections. NationalAccess/BroadbandAccess is for individual use only and is not for resale. We reserve right to limit throughput or amount of data transferred, deny or terminate service, without notice, to anyone we believe is using NationalAccess or BroadbandAccess in any manner prohibited above or whose usage adversely impacts our network or service levels. Verizon Wireless reserves the right to protect its network from harm, which may impact legitimate data flows. We also reserve the right to terminate service upon expiration of Customer Agreement term.
Do companies like Verizon really enforce the preceding policy? It would be nice if data access were treated like other broadband ISP's.

[rhelwig]

This seems pretty cool, but what I want to see is a $50 (or less) box I can buy that just has a WiFi router powered by solar cells.

Imagine just dropping them off around your neghborhood. They should automatically form their own network, finding some way onto the Internet.

[BugDude10]

Reminds me of Al Franken's self-contained satellite reporting unit from the old days of Saturday Night Live... (http://franken.8k.com/cgi-bin/i/snlpic5.gif)

[Jonathan1]

8O Two words....... SCOTT ePACK :D

[Cybrid]

[i]"I love the fact that more and more devices are sporting built-in Wi-Fi......That mind reading is quite a neat trick. 8O
Just yesterday I started to think about how it is seriously hard to get EVDO capable hardware and perhaps might be easier to build a portable battery powered stomp box. If not today, perhaps tomorrow I might have even started a thread on it.

[davea0511]

Rental cars should have this built in. That way if you need to look up an address or a phone number or find out about the night life, you can pull over and do it from your own notebook or PDA with ease.