Mobile Broadband Modem

[Lil Bunny]

BG: At work we have satellite which I swear to Gord is the crappiest connection around. There are times when it works ok but other times it's slower than dial up. We won't even discuss how many times it takes a crap on me in a day. Of course it also waits til I'm downloading financials. Go figure....*glares*

Well we're with Qwest (I know I know, not my choice) and sadly neither they nor Cox offer broadband/cable service here. Across the road yes. Here, no. While they are keeping us posted, the very nice sales consultant sent us out two Mobile Broadband modems to play with for a month.

Pros: The thing is fast. Pages actually load all the way, I don't get time outs, I don't have to hit esc every time I refresh a page to stop animation, in short, it's pretty nice. It also stores files in the memory. LOL thankfully it also works with Vista. If traveling, my boss would be able to use it with his laptop.

Cons: We have two computers and a BizHub printer station (copier, printer, fax, scan) that is connected to my computer. All scanned files go to this computer.

SO here's my problem. How in gord's good name do we network this together? Boss man did get another stick but we would like to be able to just run one if possible. Is it even possible to do what we'd like to do?

Help?

[Pedersen]

I know this will work with Verizon Wireless. I think it will work with others.

I'm not sure of the difficulty to set it up, though.

Kyocera KR-1 is a wireless broadband router that will do the sort of thing you're looking for.

[Lil Bunny]

I think these are Franklin CDU wireless. Don't suppose you could recommend a website walk through to help a poor admin assistant who's been thrown into an IT position against her will?

[Pedersen]

I wish I could, I really do. Unfortunately, you'd be charting new territory for me, even.

I know this stuff works, but have only done it once. Well, with that device anyway.

It can be done, but it's not something I can step you through. Maybe someone else can, but not me.

Basically, for me, depending on needs/etc, what I might well do is get some PC together, and put that modem onto it. Attach a regular network card, and then have everybody use that PC for internet connection sharing.

And that's an *extremely* high level view of it.

Sorry, I know it's not enough, but maybe it'll help you get started? Alternately, find someone locally who can do that work, and pay them a day's (consulting) wages to do it. That's all it should take, really.

[Lil Bunny]

Cool, tyers!!! LOL now to get EQ to give you cookies.

[LostMyMind]

Since it's a modem, going to be hard to directly attach it to router.

Your best bet is to get something like the Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector (which will only allow nintendo devices to connect). Someone who deals with computers sales more probably could point out something that will work for PCs.

[Pedersen]

Since it's a modem, going to be hard to directly attach it to router.

Unless, of course, the router in question is built to do exactly that. Since I'm not familiar with Lil Bunny's equipment, I can't say for sure if it will or will not work for her.

However, I have made the router itself work at my previous job. It's not necessarily easy, but it can be done. In particular with the USB720 USB card from Verizon Wireless.

[LostMyMind]

Well, when I did a search for the device. It came up with a usb style instead of PCIM slot cellular modem. And since she said

Boss man did get another stick

I assume that what they got.

[Lil Bunny]

They're normally used to laptops. The full description is:

Franklin Wireless CDU-680 CDMA 1x EV-DO USB Modem with Flash Memory

[Pedersen]

Well, when I did a search for the device. It came up with a usb style instead of PCIM slot cellular modem. And since she said I assume that what they got.

As I said, I've dealth with this. Not extensively, but I have. Specifically, the USB720 from Verizon Wireless. It very much looks like a stick, and has a USB port on the end, much like any number of flash drives.

So, saying the boss got another stick just kept that image in my mind.

Franklin Wireless CDU-680 CDMA 1x EV-DO USB Modem with Flash Memory

That's enough for me to give some actually useful information finally And now, a quote from here:

EVDO Router Support
UPDATED 02/07/08: The CDU680 is compatibile with the Cradlepoint CTR350, PHS300 and the MBR1000 . The CDU-680 does not work in the Kyocera KR1 EVDO Router. For the latest on router compatibility, see our EVDO Router Compatibility Chart.

So, the KR1 is a bad choice. There's three others listed there that will work with it, though.

[Lil Bunny]

Heh sorry about that. Told ya I was thrown into this with little to no knowledge. It helps to read the box eh?