Electronics Question

[garyde]

Does anyone know how the Sprint Air card works for WIFI?

I have had Sprint cell phone service for many years and I would really like to stay with Sprint.

I believe a Sprint card will allow you to connect to Sprints Cell sites, not to a Local Wifi system which is different. Gary

[bill&jody]

wifi cards and "air cards", also known as wan cards, are two diff technologies. the verizon and sprint cards are basically cell phones on a pcmcia card (the slightly larger than credit card sized gizmo that plugs into the side of a laptop) that carries digital data where the voice usually goes. near a cell site with excellent digital service, it has a theoretical speed near 2Mb, ie., 2 million bits per second, roughly 200 thousand characters per second. i vaguely recollect seeing some ref to a card that can dance to either tune however.

if you live inside a stainless box, radio waves have difficulty getting in and out. when using the verizon card, i usually put my computer on a desk near a window, otherwise it goes deaf and dumb, and speed deteriorates.

a company called wilson (as well as others) make a box that has an external, higher powered antenna, and an internal low powered antenna that boosts the tower signal to the inside of the bus. see http://wilsonelectronics.com/

if you haven't already bought a wan card from verizon or sprint, please please be sure to get one with an external antenna. you'll be glad you did.

[Gary & Peggy Stevens]

if you haven't already bought a wan card from verizon or sprint, please please be sure to get one with an external antenna. you'll be glad you did.

Bill I got the external antenna and put it on the roof of my "plastic" coach but didn't see any improvement in reception, over just the Verizon AirCard Antenna? Is that because I am not lucky enough yet to have SS all around me like most of you guys in your bus, therefore my reception in plastic is not hindered?

[lewpopp]

Gary,

I have been wondering for a while. You have more DISCOVERIES than Christopher Columbus. What's the story? Yes we are cornfused. Do they only last for a year? Should we all list our past laundry. I guess that's what you are doing in your signature, am I correct?

Lew

[bill&jody]

hmmmm......
does external antenna mean an antenna connected to your wan card via a small cable? or do you mean something like the wilson mobile amplifier? i don't own / havent tried the wilson (or similar) boxen.

i have a cheapy external antenna for my cell phone that takes me from one dot to 5 bars. i would expect the external wan card antenna to dramatically improve your reception. as for the stainless, curb your stainless envy. no, it only serves to shield both the incoming and outgoing signal. fiberglass is much more wifi/wan friendly.

the verizon software that runs on the windoze pc indicates signal strength - i would imagine the sprint s/w does the same. either way, you should see an improvement with the antenna. maybe somethin's hosed. check your "meter" in your pc software. re-orient your antenna. check your connections. if you have good cell phone _digital_ service, you should have good wan service.

[Stelan73]

Sprint has a new mobile broadband device just reaching the market, made by Novatel Wireless. You install the drivers and plug the device into your USB port with a USB cord. It sports an external antenae. It supposedly gives broadband speed and the good news is you can use it on multiple computers unlike an air card which is computer specific. I have had one for a week and it works great. I use it on the bus and take it home and use it on my PC which has eliminated the need for a separate home broadband service.

[Gary & Peggy Stevens]

Gary,

I have been wondering for a while. You have more DISCOVERIES than Christopher Columbus. What's the story? Yes we are cornfused. Do they only last for a year? Should we all list our past laundry. I guess that's what you are doing in your signature, am I correct?

Lew

Lew, I was wondering when somebody would ask me about all the Plastic I have?

The answer is A TIMESHARE. I know everybody knows what a timeshare condo say in Florida, or California is, where you own a Fractional week or two?

Well that is what we have in these 3 40' Discoveries. We have a Fractional Ownership in these coaches. We reserve them online when we want to use them, and they are delivered to us washed, clean and full of Fuel. All we do is load groceries, clothes and take off, and bring it back when we are done.

Will talk more about it ( if anybody is interested ) if we get to make the POG III Rally, which we are trying to do. But it really has been a great experience for us, to be sure we liked the traveling, camping, whole breaking down along side the road thing. KNOW WHAT I MEAN ? Oh and by the way we do like the WHOLE THING, and that is why we are still looking for the right bus.

Gary S

[Gary & Peggy Stevens]

hmmmm......
does external antenna mean an antenna connected to your wan card via a small cable? or do you mean something like the wilson mobile amplifier? i don't own / havent tried the wilson (or similar) boxen.

Bill the external antenna I am talking about is shown below, and is connected via coax from the base of the ant. to the wan card. I am sure if I permanently and professionally mounted the antenna and ran the cable properly, I would see a big improvement in reception, but I love the Verzion Air Card and its connectivity anyway.

http://booster-antenna.com/index.php...roducts_id=275

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

Gary, According to the mfg/seller. ( No ground plane required ). The radials on the mast probably act as such. Check this out further unless you don't mind drilling and screwing things to the bus shell. You deffinately don't need a professional instalation of a permanent devise that can be kept portable and still function for all practicality. JIM RATING: 5/10