Kyocera KR1 Router

[Jeff Bayley]

I have the Verizon service with a Sprint card as back up and rarely have a change to use the Sprint card as the Verizon always works. I didn't even bring the Sprint card with me on the trip we are on now. The only place nothing seemed to work (not Nextel, Sprint, Verizon or any of it hardly) was the Grand Canyon. My Verizon card worked at the White Sands missle range where they tested the first Atom Bomb about a week before showing it off the rest of the world. Talk about the middle of nowhere. I've had very very few places I couldn't connect and I'll say the same about Verizon cell phone service.

[BrianE]

The real-time tracking that this router offers with the GPS is interesting. But, I think we (POG) could still use a tracking system, even though it's not real time, and perhaps not even GPS driven. I am looking into writing something that may be usable by our group. (posted on this thread by Ray Davis)

Jeff, Talk about coincidence. We were also at the Trinity Site (White Sands) which for the uniformed, was only open for one day on April 7th this spring. With a POG tracking system we could have at least said "howdy" if not shared a meal together.

We also use the Verizon EVDO system. We chose to use their Motorola Q phone which doubles as a cell phone and USB modem. The main advantage of this phone is that it can be placed in a window near the computer giving it a little better reception than a PC card. Either way, the Verizon network seems to have the best national coverage.

[Ray Davis]

From what I've heard, the upload speed will be about the same as a Verizon card (when the card has a good signal) and the download speed should be faster and more consistent in speed when compared to the V card.

Ben, my suggestion is this. Don't get the F1 dish (the small dish). Spend a little bit more, and get the F2 dish. At least with a bigger dish you have the ability to pay for more bandwidth, if you need it.

The iDirect service even has emergency type of service high speed paid on a daily rate. Might be really important if the situation arises that you absolutely need high speed for a day or two?

The lower service with the F1 dish is probably fine for people who's access is not critical. In your case, I'd get a little better system, with expansion capability.

Ray

[Jerry Winchester]

I would echo whomever made the comment that Ben needs to get a flippin cell phone first; numbnuts

The new router and GPS set up will be here tomorrow and I should have it installed in the old beater coach by the time we are wheels up on Friday.

And being this far out on the foreskin of technology, the techno-envy should be way high.

[Ben]

I actually have a cell phone now... it just took me a while to get a replacement SIM card. FYI: My old cell disappeared on my trip to Russia.

Ray, I was under the impression that the price difference between the small and mid-sized dish was $5500 vs. $12K... if that's the case, I'd rather save teh $$ and park somewhere that has net access to save the $$. The $$ is the only reason I haven't been able to talk myself into buying the small dish quite yet.

[Jeff Bayley]

Regarding the dish vs. Verizon (or equivilent) it only seems to me to be neccessary if you need to do teleconferencing or it seems like it could be handy for Voice over IP as a substitute for a sattalite phone if you had no cell service. I reley heavily on the net for my business and find the Verizon suitable.

What I learned to do was change my browsing habits. I have a few windows open at a time and when I click one window to change it up and go the other window and look there for a minute while the one I just clicked on is downloading. Seems like you only really NEED the big gun dish for video or sound. Ray, what do you find the dish affords you ? Do you use a lot of down up up video and do you make sure your wife is asleep in the other room first ? I always found that to be a problem in close quarters. he,he

[Ray Davis]

Ray, I was under the impression that the price difference between the small and mid-sized dish was $5500 vs. $12K

No, the mid-size dish can be gotten for about $6500 installed? Somewhere in the area. The large dish like mine is in the range you mentioned.


Jeff, I chose the dish because I made a "deal" with Pixar. They would allow me to work remotely, but I had to be online during my normal business hours, and able to get my work done without a degradation in what I do. I am also required to go through a hardware or software VPN, which adds encription to every packet, which makes it slower than normal.

As mentioned earlier, it's a matter of whether or not you have the right cellphone coverage, whether a EDVO card will work or not. There are more places in the US which have no coverage, not to mention high speed digital coverage. With the dish, as long as I have a clear view of the southern sky, I should have reliable internet service.

Just ask Ben about the Verizon coverage at Kerrville. Nice, place. High free wireless (almost useless), and Verizon coverage was spotty at best. Even in a fairly built up area, it was pretty much unusable.

If you HAVE to be online, with reasonable speed, then cellular is not the answer, at least not yet. Granted, there is problems with satelitte internet. I don't know if I've been lucky, or just because I purchases a higher end system, I've never had connection issues. I DID have a problem at Kerrville, which took me out for 1/2 a day, when a mechanical set screw came loose, and the dish wouldn't raise.


Honestly, if I were just routinely browsing the net, and checking email, then the EVDO cards are probably fine in MOST cases. But, given my deal with Pixar, if I am not online when I'm remote, then my ability to work remotely terminates.

Ray

[bill&jody]

we use both the verizon evdo card and a hughes satellite.
1. if you get an evdo card, get the one with the external antenna connection. the kyocera jdub mentions above has it.
mine does not. doh!! but when the digital signal is hot, we've done upwards of 1.5mbps. thats faster than the dsl i had with my brick 'n' mortar house in virginia. the weaker the signal, the slower the connection. if you have a verizon phone, the card is $60/mo.

2. the satellite: we use a tripod mounted, .9 meter dish. i orig'ly intended to get the roof mount, but it won't work with the rv port we have in florida. the tripod mount is manual, but it's less than $2grand, with modem. plus, if you get hughes direct, its half the price of datastorm - we pay approx $60/mo.

the downside is, you gotta set it up. most times its a piece of cake, sometimes its a pain in the ass. but it works anywhere you can see the sky over west texas. i'm currently in cottonwood cove just outside searchlight, nevada, works great.

my setup is somewhat complicated for various reasons, but a simple setup is quite attainable - with a wireless access point, you can use multiple wireless computers simultaneously.

where do you get such a thing? i got mine thru a (rv friendly) dealer in clermont, fla. i don't think you can get it on a tripod directly thru hughes - they don't even want to hear the R word (RV). anytime i have issues (once really), i call the guy in clermont, we work things out, and i'm back up.

you don't get all the datastorm bells 'n' whistles, its raw access, but how often do you need all that fluff anyway?

anybody want add'l info, i'll post it.

cheers,
wmm

[Jerry Winchester]

IF you have Google Earth, fire it up then go to the "Add" button, select Network Link then paste this in the address;

http://dubprevost.homelinux.org:8888/xkml

Then go to the refresh tab just below the link box and select "Fly to View on Refresh

Then go to the box directly below it and select "Perodically" then make everything zero but the seconds. Put 5 in there and click okay.

It will zoom in on the JDUB coach sitting in Tucson.

[dalej]

The future is here. This is going to be just the begining of how we can keep an eye on jdub.

jdub are you going to keep posting this info?

I think I was within a spot of you when we were there last February.

I just think this stuff is cool!