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Date:  Fri, 24 Feb 2006 08:37:35 -0500 (EST)
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From:  "Stanley Sidlov" <os2-wireless_users@2rosenthals.com>
To:  "os2-wireless_users@2rosenthals.com" <os2-wireless_users@2rosenthals.com>
Subject: [OS2Wireless] Platform independent mobile wireless

On Thu, 23 Feb 2006 08:55:36 -0800, Neil Waldhauer wrote:

>I don't have a contract with Verizon, Sprint or Cingular, but if you do have
>their wireless broadband, here is a way to use it with the wireless support in
>OS/2 or eCS.
>
><http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/23/technology/circuits/23pogue.html?_r=1&oref=slogin>
>(Sorry for the NY times link, but it's all I've got for now.)
>
>But don't the above companies charge for bandwidth? Every year, Warpstock has
>problems with internet service. Even with a bandwidth charge, it may be better
>than using the hotel system.

The issue for Warpstock since San Francisco, has many facets. 

1. They want to charge very large daily fees, usually 20X-40X what they charge for any 
rooms' internet.
2. They want to charge that fee per computer connected or for a very limited number of 
computers.
3. They want to charge when they give it away for free, 50 ft from the room.

It is perfect possible for WS to buy one computer connection per room and clone out all 
the MAC addresses either by making changes to the presenter's configs or by using a 
router, but we have had fights with the hotel's IT department over this very issue even 
when it was specified in the contract that we were going to 'setup our own nat'd network.'

Meanwhile, this tech in the article sucks. I have "Internet" on my phone with "High-Speed 
Edge" it's pitiful and I certainly wouldn't want to run several computers with it at the 
same time or even on the road. My wife's Samsung can be used as bluetooth serial connect, 
and access the web. I also have my second phone that can be used directly as a modem/aka 
web interface via RS-232, IR, Bluetooth or USB connection (and I have all the cables) to 
connect to the network, a Siemens S66.  My first was a Siemens S46 which does IR and 
RS-232 - if you have Cingular service, I'll sell you one, I have two but it's only 40kbs 
at best, and works fine under eCS on a laptop with IR. Even if I pickup the all you can 
eat plan, I wouldn't want to do it.  Siemens phones never seen to get mentioned, they are 
fantastic phones with some of the best open interfaces (unlimited access to the files on 
the units). The S66 has 32mb of internal memory and comes with a 32mb RS-MMC card. It can 
use up to a 1G RS-MMC card that has low voltage requirements. 1.3mp camera, flash unit 
sold separately. (fwiw: eCS recognized that there is a device attached via USB, but not 
what it is.)

February 23, 2006
David Pogue
Wi-Fi to Go: The Hot Spot in a Box

YOU know what would be so cool? A portable Wi-Fi hot spot. Whenever you wanted Internet 
access, you wouldn't have to hunt for a wireless coffee shop or pay $24 a night to your 
hotel.

Instead, you'd travel with a little box. Plug it into a power outlet - or even your car's 
cigarette lighter - and boom, you and everyone within 200 feet could get onto the Internet 
at high speed, without wires.

Actually, such boxes exist. They come from companies like Kyocera, Junxion and Top Global, 
and they're every bit as awesome as they sound. (Unfortunately, the category is so new 
that it has no agreed-upon name. "Portable hot spot" is descriptive but unwieldy. 
"Cellular gateway" is a bit cryptic. Kyocera's term, "mobile router," may be as good as 
any.)

Before you start thinking that you've died and gone to Internet heaven, however, you 
should know that these boxes don't work alone. Each requires the insertion of a PC laptop 
card provided by a cellular carrier like Verizon, Sprint or Cingular. The card provides 
the Internet connection, courtesy of those companies' 3G ("third generation") high-speed 
cellular data networks. The box just rebroadcasts that connection as a Wi-Fi signal so 
that all nearby computers - not just one privileged laptop - can go online.

With those PC cards, you can go online anywhere there's a cellular signal: in a taxi, on a 
bus, in a waiting room or wherever. In major cities, the speed is delightful, like a 
D.S.L. or slowish cable modem (400 to 700 kilobits a second). In other areas, you can 
still go online, but only slightly faster than with a dial-up modem. (Also note that 
uploading is far slower than downloading.)

All right, go ahead, ask it: If you can already outfit your laptop with one of these 
miraculous cards, why do you need a mobile router that translates the cellular connection 
into a Wi-Fi one?

First, not all computers have the necessary card slot. ( Apple's iBooks and new MacBook 
Pro laptops come to mind.) Second, a mobile router can accommodate machines with no 
wireless features at all - like desktop computers - thanks to standard Ethernet network 
jacks on the back. (The Kyocera has four, the Junxion two and the Top Global one.)

Above all, Wi-Fi lets lots of computers share the same Internet signal. Cellular PC-card 
service is very expensive: $60 a month for unlimited use ($80 if you don't also have a 
voice plan). That's a lot to pay for a single computer to go online. A mobile router opens 
up that signal to any computer within about 200 feet; $60 a month is a lot more palatable 
when 10 or 20 of you are sharing it.

MOBILE routers have become essential equipment for traveling groups. Bus and train 
companies are experimenting with these boxes to see if having high-speed Wi-Fi on board 
appeals to passengers. These boxes are also becoming standard amenities for the casts of 
TV shows and movies and for rock bands, so that they can check e-mail or surf the Web 
between takes or whenever they're on location or on the tour bus.

But a mobile router might make sense even in stationary environments. Small businesses can 
use one as a backup connection when the power goes out. (A mobile router can draw its 
power from a car or battery pack.)

Other people are canceling their home D.S.L. or cable modem service altogether. Instead of 
paying twice for Internet access - for a cable modem and a cellular laptop plan - they use 
the cellular card at home and on the road and save a lot of money.

To use a mobile router, you insert your cellular laptop card (which must first be 
activated in a Windows laptop). Then you connect the router to your computer using an 
Ethernet cable (included). You type the box's numeric address into your Web browser, and 
presto: you're viewing its configuration page. Here's where you indicate which brand of PC 
card you have (Novatel, Sierra Wireless or whatever), turn on password protection, and 
fiddle with pages and pages of network and security settings, if you're into that sort of 
thing.

The Junxion box is a biggish slab of folded sheet metal, unimpressive except for its 
bright green paint job, measuring 6.3 by 10.3 by 1.1 inches and costing $600. As you can 
tell from the price, Junxion seeks corporate buyers, not individuals. Yet only a few of 
its features cry out "corporate." (One of them lets a network geek configure a fleet of 
Junxion boxes by remote control, from the comfort of company headquarters.)

For $600, you might expect more than two measly status lights, and geeks might expect the 
wireless signal to be 802.11g instead of the older "b" variant. On the other hand, the 
Junxion has some neat features, including the ability to greet colleagues with a splash 
screen. ("Welcome to Dave's free Wi-Fi highway! Click Connect to continue, and don't 
forget to thank Dave by dropping off cash or baked goods at his cubicle.")

The new Kyocera KR1, developed jointly with D-Link, is more attractive for a couple of 
important reasons. First, it costs only a third as much ($200 after rebate). It's also 
much smaller and better-looking (8.5 by 5.3 by 1.3 inches) and feels more like a finished 
commercial product.

Note, however, that the KR1 works only with Verizon and Sprint cards - or as the techies 
might say, it works only on EV-DO networks. Its rivals, by contrast, can accommodate 
almost any card from any service, including the new BroadbandConnect service from Cingular 
(so far available in 16 cities).

On the other hand, only the KR1 can draw its Internet connection from certain EV-DO 
cellphones instead of a PC card. That is, you can connect the Samsung A890 or Audiovox 
8940, for example, with a U.S.B. cable. The phone becomes a sort of Internet antenna for 
the router.

If the Junxion box represents the complete absence of industrial design, then Top Global's 
3G Phoebus represents the height of it. This mobile router is a white, gray or black 
plastic pyramid (7 by 7 by 5.5 inches) that makes no attempt to look like a piece of 
networking equipment. You either love that approach or you don't.

Design aside, the Phoebus has a lot to recommend it. It's the only model with an on-off 
switch - a clicky chrome marble on the front. It's also the only model that when used with 
Sprint or Verizon cards, automatically configures itself; you can skip the setup steps 
involving the Ethernet cable and Web browser. You literally plug the thing in, insert the 
card, and start surfing. That feature, and its super-clear browser-based Web setup page, 
makes the Phoebus the simplicity champion.

The only causes for pauses are the single Ethernet jack in the back, the price ($400) and 
the difficulty of finding a place to buy the thing. (Homemade-looking Web sites like 
americanevdo.net carry it.)

There's no overstating the joy of carrying around your own Wi-Fi hot spot, ready for your 
whole gang to enjoy wherever you can find a power outlet or even a car's cigarette-lighter 
socket.

Not everyone is happy about this product category, however. Verizon, in particular, 
strongly objects.

"Broadband access is designed for individual customers," said Brenda Raney, a Verizon 
Wireless spokeswoman. "When customers use unauthorized devices to share the service, they 
are in violation of their service agreements."

Yet this objection should sound distinctly familiar to anyone who remembers the dawn of 
the cable modem era. The cable companies originally hoped to charge $40 a month for each 
computer in your home, and did everything in their power to dissuade people from hooking 
up network routers that could share the signal. In the end, of course, common sense won, 
the cable companies lost, and now just about every home D.S.L. or cable modem signal is 
shared among two or more computers.

If you like the idea of a mobile router, any of these hot-spots-in-a-box will do the 
trick. But considering its polish and low price, the Kyocera KR1 has the edge (provided 
you're a Sprint or Verizon customer). Until the United Nations finally gets around to 
blanketing the earth with an uninterrupted cloud of Wi-Fi coverage, these gadgets are the 
next best thing to finding a wireless connection everywhere you go.

E-mail: Pogue@nytimes.com
 

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