TechBlog from Sewell

Broadband is great, right? I use Comcast cable at home and for as much flack as Comcast gets (I have had my own set of customer service issues with them), the cable internet is fast and reliable (in two months we haven’t had any downtime).

So that’s great when I’m at home, but things are different when you’re on the road. I’m noticing a frightening trend - every WiFi hotspot I try to connect to wants me to pay money or join some sort of a service. Not cool…

I finally just sucked it up and got a Sprint EVDO card for my Dell. The card worked pretty well, but dropped out at times. I don’t know if this was Sprint or Dell’s fault (the wireless management tools didn’t seem to like each other).

Recently, though, I “upgraded” (depending on your point of view) to a Macbook Air. I love the laptop for traveling, but getting 3G on it from Verizon or Sprint requires a USB card, meaning I would have to get a new broadband card. I wouldn’t really have minded doing this, but with the speed of innovation it seems like within a year or two I’m going to have to upgrade again to get a 4G card (this may be wishful thinking).

Instead I just got a mobile broadband router (another type is the Kyocera KR2). The cool thing about these routers is that you can just plug your PCMCIA or USB 3G adapter and the router will auto-detect your settings and just give you a WiFi signal. You can also have several people share your connection (or lock them out if your selfish).

The one thing to keep in mind when you travel is that in order to use the router you will need to find an available power outlet for the router. I have had some challenges in the airport, but in general it’s not too hard.

We’ve posted several times here on the Sewell Tech Blog about the Top Global Phoebus. This mobile router has been with us for years, allowing hundreds of our customers to access the internet from anywhere and create a mobile internet hotspot. The mobile router allowed you to plug in a PCMCIA card from your cellular provider that received a 3G signal from cell towers. It then translated that signal into an 802.11g signal that you and your posse could use while only paying one data plan fee.

Many people complained about the form factor. It is in the form of a pyramid. According to leading geometrists, the only shape less portable and convenient to carry around would be a cubic rhombus.

The latest in mobile routers comes from Kyrocera. The Kyocera KR2 makes all other mobile routers pale in comparison with some necessary modernized features. Note however that you can only use this router if you are using the EV-DO network.

Kyocera’s KR2 now features the long-awaited ability to use all three common interfaces that receive EV-DO signals: PCMCIA, ExpressCard, and USB. The new router also features the newer 802.11n standard, which uses MIMO technology, allowing for bi-directional up and down streams of data. This essentially makes data transfer max out at twice the speed. 802.11n also allows a much wider distance and increases transfer speeds for areas that are further away from the router.

With a price point lower than the Phoebus, the KR2 is a no brainer (as long as you’re on an EV-DO network).

There are pros and cons to cutting out the middle man and dealing directly with China ourselves. One of the pros is the price point that we can pass on to our customers when we find a really solid deal. In this case, we have a steady channel for Cat5e Bulk Cable at a cost that is far below the market average. This 1000 foot UTP Cat5e cable comes in a spool box and is unterminated at both ends for easily customized lengths. As any network expert will attest, having extra network cable around is always a good thing.

One of the biggest headaches when wiring a home or office network is running wires through walls, floors, and ceilings. Cutting holes and fishing for wires through drywall is not my idea of a good time, so I was ecstatic when Mark in tech support showed me a simple solution for low-profile wiring with zero impact on your walls or floors. This can also be a cost-saving solution to industrial wiring conduit. And to do it you only need three things:

	Taperwire Cat5e Ethernet Cable, 100 ft Retail Price:$119.95 From: sewelldirect.com
	Cat5e Keystone Jack Retail Price:$5.45 From: sewelldirect.com
	Surface Mount Box, White Retail Price:$2.95 From: sewelldirect.com

Taperwire is flat enough to run under carpet, wallpaper, and even paint without leaving a noticeable impression on your wall or floor. One side is a strong adhesive for tool-free installation and the other has been surface-prepped for easy painting. One thing to remember is that it’s also unterminated, meaning that you will have to wire the plugs - thus the Keystone Jack and Surface Mount Box. If you’re a neophyte, don’t be intimidated, just google a Cat5e termination guide, there are dozens of good ones out there.

Once you’ve got your flat Cat5e cable laid, terminated, and housed in the surface mount box, all that’s left is to plug in. Voila! You’ve got your very own home or business network without all the hassle, cost, and damage of unsightly in-wall wiring.

If you are having probs getting your USB to Cardbus adapter (SW-7851) working with an Option wireless cards then try these steps provided by ELAN.

If you find the ultra cool iPhone lacking the in the internet connectivity department, this hack is for you. While the iPhone is by far one of the most advanced cell phone/portable computers available today, many question the reasoning behind limiting the iPhone to the painstakingly slow EDGE network. Some experience decent internet speeds in major cities such as New York, San Francisco, and Chicago, but on average most people are disappointed at Apple choosing the EDGE network over 3G.

So what’s a proud iPhone owner to do? With a *little* money and a few pieces of equipment, you too can achieve 3G speeds on your iPhone utilizing the Wifi connectivity portion of the iPhone’s features. This setup can also be found on some metropolitan bus systems.

Step 1 - Purchase the following equipment:

	Apple iPhone Retail Price:$499.99 (4Gig) / 599.99 (8 Gig) From: apple.com
	3G Phoebus Portable Cellular Wi-Fi Router (MB6000) Retail Price:$269.95 From: sewelldirect.com
	Sierra Wireless AirCard 875 Retail Price:$285.00 From: Cingular.com
	Standard 150W Power Inverter Retail Price:$34.95 From: Sewelldirect.com
	Unlimited Data Plan Retail Price:$59.99 per month From: Cingular.com

Step 2 - Configure the router for use with the iPhone

Set up the router by first connecting the computer and modifying the network name (SSID), IP address range, WPA security, and any other settings you require.

Step 3 - Connecting everything together

Setup the router in a car or other mobile location using the power inverter. Once powered on, insert the AirCard to get the internet up and running. The phoebus should show a positive internet connection. Then sign on your new wireless network and you’re good to go anywhere!

Total Costs

Total:
1149.88 (with iPhone)
649.89 (if you already have the iPhone)

So i just spent several minutes trying to find my way around Verizon’s not so organized website trying to find the VZaccess software. When i finally found the download i realized it wasn’t even on verizon’s main web URL. I thought i’d save some of you that frustrating time finding it.

The URL it’s found on is Vzam.net

Hope that helps some of you on your quest to get your ever conflicting wireless cards to work.

In many homes, wireless Internet connectivity is a blessing. There are no wires, no mess, and you can resonably avoid the “web” of wires that occures when many different colored Ethernet patch cables are all bundled up together connecting to routers, computers, printers, and other networked devices.

However, the wonderful cloud of wireless technology only spreads so far. Wireless signals generally do not penetrate concrete walls or metal framing very well. Boosters can be added to some routers to extend the range to those hard to reach areas of a home, but will hardly help through previously mentioned cement or metal framed walls. If you have a home theater room or office in a poor location, there is a solution that can offer comperable speed to wireless that uses standard AC power lines.

The Intellinet HomePlug adapters and router provide a solution that transmits networking signals through conventional AC power lines already installed in many homes.  If you think this would be a viable solution to your needs, you can choose between a router and/or HomePlug adapters.

If you already have a router setup in your home and just need to setup a “bridge”, purchasing a HomePlug kit is the ideal solution to connect a computer or networked device that’s hard to reach wirelessly. The Intellinet HomePlug kit comes with 2 adapters (sender/receiver) and can be used with any device that connects via a standard Ethernet port.

When you need to split or distribute your interent connection to multiple computers or networked devices (one of them needing to connect via HomePlug), Intellinet provides a router with HomePlug capabilities built-in. This allows you to share your internet connection and hook up a computer with the AC power cable already installed in your home.

For more information about these HomePlug adapters, their prices, speed, and availabliliy, please visit the following product pages:

Intellinet Homeplug Starter Kit (85 mbps)
Homeplug Wireless Router (85 mbps)
Intellinet Homeplug Network Adapter (200 mbps)

A lot of people spend time looking for the connection information for their service provider so that they can connect with a manual windows connection to their wireless internet. This is information that is needed when using the USB to 32 bit PCMCIA Cardbus adapters. (It also applies for the USB to 16 bit PCMCIA adapter.)

Fortunately Elan (the chipset manufacturer) has provided this information for us. If your provider is not listed below, i apologize, but you’ll still have to call up the provider to get this information.

The information provided is not guaranteed to be correct since providers may change their connection settings. As far as we know, this should be the information you need to get it to connect.

Many network administrators and consumers generally choose one color of Cat5e Ethernet cabling when they network various parts of their business or home. Here are some examples as to why you would choose various colors for different projects.

1. An room with that has Ethernet cable looks better when the cable matches the color of the carpet or walls.
2. When organizing a patch panel or server solutions, it’s much easier to troubleshoot problems when you know a certain color comes in to the switch or router and a certain color goes out.
3. When connecting a cable or DSL modem to a wireless router, having a different colored shorter Ethernet cable as the input can ensure you connect the modem to the right port on the router.
4. When laying long cable through walls, sometimes you don’t have access to see what Ethernet cable is plugged into where on the switch or router. By simply having a different cable color, you can quickly assess which cable leads to where.
5. Using different colored Ethernet cable can be a way to spice up the office or bring attention to a particular computer or switch.

All the cable that Sewell Direct sells is made from high quality polymer and is designed to last for years. Check out our selection of Ethernet cables today.

Cat5e - blue, gray, yellow, red, black, white, green
Cat6 - blue, gray, yellow, red, black, white, green