Mobile Lan

June 30, 2008 on 12:29 pm | In Updates by Josh Jones | 23 Comments

Guess who got a 3G iPhone… two weeks early?

Try not to be too jealous of me, but… me!

Hooo yeah, it is SO sweet, being able to download web pages, like 90 times faster. Not to mention, I can access the iTunes Store anywhere now, so I can rock out to 30 second clips of whatever song I want, anytime I want, for FREE. Plus, YouTube works better now, with higher video quality and faster streaming.. not to mention downloading and updating apps is lickety-split!

To top it off.. my 3G iPhone is already UNLOCKED and on T-Mobile, AND I share the 3G network over wi-fi (802.11g) to my laptop, my Nintendo DS, and everybody else riding my bus!

Now, how did I finagle all this awesomeness? You might say, being the greatest corporate blogger IN THE WORLD is finally starting to pay dividends!

Or, you might say… I just got one of these:

The PHS300 from Cradlepoint

So, the truth is, I’ve still got my old iPhone.

Ain’t nobody beating down my door with free new gadgets to test and review. But, what this “Personal Hot Spot” does is take any one of the USB high-speed data modems on the market right now in the US from Verizon, Sprint and AT+T and turns it into a portable, rechargeable battery-powered, wi-fi hotspot!

I had heard about this thing before but I’d sort of forgotten about it. And with the new iPhone news, I was thinking, “Man, if only the iPhone could just share its 3G network over wi-fi, turning itself into a little portable hotspot, that would make it perfect.”

And that’s what made my brain remember about it; it was right about the time I was testing all the various USB modems and starting to accept that I was going to have a HUGE dongle sticking out of my laptop all the time. The PHS300 saved the day with its 100% pure awesomeness..

Pure Awesomeness

Oh, pure awesomeness, let me count thy ways:

1. You can plug any of the various USB modems out there and they immediately just work.
2. Therefore, you don’t have to install any of the relatively crappy software drivers on your laptop.
3. Therefore, my VPN now works fine on all of them.
4. Therefore, macs/pcs/linux machines all work fine… and with zero configuration.
5. Now, dozens of machines/phones/gaming systems can all share your one USB modem.
6. The web-based management it provides works great and has every feature you’d expect from any 802.11b/g wireless router.
7. From completely off to connected to the 3G network on wi-fi only takes about 30 seconds.
8. The battery lasts a bit over 2 hours, enough time for my daily bus rides.
9. The PHS300 also works while charging from the wall.
10. It only costs $145.

More Testing

Being a huge nerd, I decided to do some performance testing of my new 3G wi-fi setup. In this case, since I’d already returned the Sprint Compass 597 USB modem, I tested another Verizon modem (the USB720 this time) vs. the AT+T USBConnect 881 modem, both directly connected to my laptop, and through the PHS300.

Set Up	% Loss, Min/Avg/Max Ping	Down/Upload
Verizon Direct	0% Loss, 60/88/162 ms	160/28 KBs
Verizon PHS300	0% Loss, 79/117/682 ms	160/28 KBs
AT+T Direct	0% Loss, 124/137/185 ms	230/35 KBs
AT+T PHS300	0% Loss, 118/147/361 ms	110/20 KBs

(A few notes:

1. My apologies to Verizon. It looks like the slowness from my last test was more due to the PCMCIAM interface to my laptop, rather than the speed of their EVDO Rev. A network! Using this USB720 modem brought it up to the speeds I’d seen from Sprint’s modem.

2. I pinged craigslist.org this time instead of google.com. For some reason craigslist’s ping times were much better across all the various networks.)

Now, for the two things I found:

1. The PHS300 added about 10-30ms to average ping times it seemed. No big deal.

2. For some reason the AT+T down/upload speeds were essentially HALVED by the PHS300. I thought that I must have been hitting some (surprisingly low) threshold for throughput of the device, but then the Verizon modem performed the same whether it was through the wi-fi or not! Weird.

So…

That “halving” effect is a technical mystery to me… and it’s making it hard for me to decide if I should keep the AT+T modem or just stick with the (USB) Verizon one. HMM! The Verizon USB720 does have this annoying super-bright flashing green light on it, but that doesn’t matter if it just stays hidden in my bag all the time I guess.

Anyway, in case I haven’t made it clear, I really like this PHS300 thing. It’s 100% pure awesomeness. In fact, it’s so awesome, it’s small enough to fit in my pocket, so I can walk around and be a human hotspot, a full five years before the rest of America!

I also like having a hotspot in my car (again, a full five years before it comes standard in all new KIAs).

Especially since you can’t talk on the phone while driving in California anymore, I’m definitely going to have to be doing a lot more emailing, instant messaging, and pushing out while driving!

Mobile Man

June 23, 2008 on 12:50 pm | In Hardware, Insider View, Musings, Tech News by Josh Jones | 16 Comments

So, what with all this mobile spam and iPhone 3G talk, I spur-of-the-day decided last week to check out Sprint and AT+T’s current wireless data offerings.

Well, mostly spur-of-the-day. It was also because my current laptop is starting to die (just like my last three VAIOs, something comes loose somewhere deep inside its soul, and it begins to just randomly turn off), dammit. So, since I’m pretty sure my next laptop is not going to have a PCMCIA slot to fit my current Verizon EVDO modem, I need to get a USB dongle one anyway.

I also kinda wanted to check out how the coverage and speed was on AT+T’s 3G network, just in case I need to switch over to it come July 11th. I’m sorry T-Mobile, it’s been great, but you still ain’t got no high-speed Internets!

While at Radio Shack I also decided to get the USB modem Sprint makes and try it out. Despite the 2-year contract you need to sign to get $60/month (for only 5GB of transfer now!) and the $150 off the devices, both providers have a trial period so I figured might as well. And, Sprint has their new “Compass 597″ USB modem which is not only itty-bitty, but has a microSD card slot AND GPS.

A few things I noticed right at the store: Sprint’s rebate (at least at Radio Shack) was mail-in and left the price of the modem at $50, whereas AT+T’s was instant and made the modem free. But, as if to make up for that, AT+T did a sleazy thing where they automatically add one month of “free” roadside assistance to your account. You cannot opt out of it, and if you don’t call to cancel they’ll start charging you $3 a month for something probably all your credit cards already provide you for free. Boo!

The Tests

To test each card, I first did a bunch of pings to google.com, and recorded the dropped packets, minimum, maximum, and average ping times. Then, to measure the download speed I downloaded iTunes (56MB) from apple.com, and to measure the upload speed I then uploaded it right back to a DreamHost server via FTP…

At Home

At home, I have pretty close to perfect coverage for Verizon, Sprint, and AT+T. Under these ideal conditions I found:

Carrier	% Loss, Min/Avg/Max Ping	Down/Upload
Verizon	0% Loss, 141/175/363 ms	45/20 KBs
Sprint	0% Loss, 106/137/236 ms	110/16 KBs
AT+T	0% Loss, 154/161/198 ms	230/35 KBs
TW Cable	0% Loss, 101/148/128 ms	700/100 KBs
DreamHost	0% Loss, 76/77/78 ms	9000/9000 KBs

Wow.. DreamHost is the bandwidth king! Ha!

Ha, well, I just threw in my home cable modem connection and DreamHost’s data center for comparison purposes… AT+T seems to be the current wireless bandwidth king! Sprint looks a bit better in the latency department, but only by a hair, and all three were fast enough to not even notice a lag in a remote shell window.

The Road

For my next test, I rode the bus to work like I do, down the 10 freeway in Los Angeles. Along the way, all three have great coverage; except actually Verizon’s EVDO Rev. A (”Broadband Access”) drops down to 1xRTT (”National Access”) a couple of times. 1xRTT, like everybody’s “2G” technologies, is slowwwwwwwww and suuuuuuuuuuucks. And, annoyingly Verizon’s “VZAccess Manager” software seems (at least for me) to never be able to jump back up to EVDO once it’s dropped down to 1XRTT without manually disconnecting and reconnecting.

At 60 MPH, both Sprint and AT+T’s download speeds were cut in about half, to 60 KB/s and 130 KB/s, respectively. Good scientist that I am, I, um, forgot to do the upload test (or test Verizon), but even if Verizon performed exactly the same as it did at home, it would have still been slower!

Ping times more or less stayed constant.

The Office

Our new office is way up there, and cell phone coverage of all kinds is a bit spotty. What I learned at the office was you do not want to use any of these in a location where they drop back to their “2G” speeds.

At 700 feet, all three of them are in the 10-30% packet loss with 400 ms ping times range… along with download speeds around 10 KB/s and upload speeds around 5 KB/s! I did learn that it seems like both Sprint and AT+T are better at automatically noticing when they can switch back to EVDO/HSDPA than Verizon was, and it’s nice not having to re-connect things yourself.

The Software

Something nobody seems to ever mention in reviews of these wireless data services is what the client software you have to install is like. Well, nobody bar me!

Sprint’s is garbage, Verizon’s is fine, AT+T’s seems good.

Sprint’s software took the longest to start each time (AT+T was a little slower than Verizon, but both were still twice as fast as Sprint), couldn’t minimize to the system tray, and, worst of all, doesn’t work with a VPN! At least not mine! If you connect to the VPN while connected to Sprint, about three seconds later you’re disconnected. Then, if you tried to re-connect, the Sprint software gives an error about being connected to another network device! DEAL BREAKER!

Also, the MicroSD slot is useless for me, and the built-in GPS I guess is interesting but I couldn’t figure out how to make it do anything besides give me my current latitude and longitude.. in degrees! Are you supposed to cut and paste it into google maps or something? Anyway, if I’ve got an Internet connection, I generally don’t need GPS.

As for Verizon’s software, the one thing I always wish they added was a signal-strength meter in the system tray when minimized. AT+T’s software does this, yay! Other than that, both are pretty much fine. They’re simple, don’t get in the way, and work with my VPN. (Er, I think.. I think I need to do a little more testing with AT+T…)

The Device

It’s true, Sprint’s modem is the smallest. However, it also sticks out the furthest from your laptop, like a USB stick. The AT+T one is about as big as one of those old Nokia brick phones, but at least it has a hinge so it is aligned veritcally. The Verizon one actually has the smallest form factor outside the laptop, just because the PCMCIA part is so big. But, my next laptop probably isn’t going to have a PCMCIA port, dammit!

ATT BFF

So, I guess it’s probable pretty clear by now, I’m going to go ahead and stick with the AT+T 3G device. It does have the biggest physical footprint, but I’ve already devised a plan to deal with that! Stay tuned for how that turns out…

I guess I’m sort of glad my laptop started dying, dammit.

(My mobile broadband is now four times faster!)

Mobile Spam

June 9, 2008 on 2:56 pm | In Funnyish, Musings, Rants by Josh Jones | 18 Comments

The other day I bought one of those new banana creme-filled Twinkies!

It seemed delicious enough, and it was!

After eating it in six seconds, I noticed on the wrapper they had some kind of cool contest going on!

It said I could enter by visiting their website or by sending a text message to them.. how modern of Hostess!

Since I couldn’t find anything about the contest at hostesscakes.com, I decided, what the hey… I’ll text em to win!

I’d never done any of those “text blah to 1234 to win” things before, so I was mostly curious to see if I’d start to get mobile spam…

Well, I texted. And, I got:

Sorry, UR not a winner. Play again tomorrow! Thx from Hostess. See rules at www.hostesscakes.com. Std/other txt msg rates apply. Help? Txt HELP.

So I decided to send them “HELP”. I got back:

4 help w/the sweepstakes, pls email us incl cell number hostess@promosvcs.com or call 8663510327 2 stop, txt STOP. Other charges may apply

Hmm, okay, I figured I’d better send them “STOP” now. So I did, and received…

This message confirms that u have unsubscribed and will no longer receive messages from Hostess sweepstakes. Questions email hostess@promosvcs.com

Alright, fair enough… I figured after that perhaps they were nice and legit and weren’t going to keep sending me messages or sell me out to 3rd party lists.

Two Days Later

I got a text message.

It was from “757-14″, and it said:

RingAZA! Enter UR PIN online to get UR BONUS TONES & Credits! 9.99/mo UR PIN = 2679. Info=HELP or 1-866-616-6067 Quit=STOP. othr chrgs may apply

Twinkie the Kid had sold me out!

I couldn’t believe it. Well, I sort of could. I guess I asked for it. Nevertheless, I texted back, “STOP” though I did it with the same feeling one gets when trying to stop a tsunami with a paper napkin.

RingAZA! U have been unsubscribed from Text Alerts. You will not receive any additional messages going forward. More info 866-616-6067

Hmm, well, maybe I was in the clear after all…

The Next Day

RingAZA! Great Job, Ur Ringtones R Ready! Reply YES now & Pick all Ur Bonus Content! UR not being billed 4 this msg. 4 info: http://75714.net. Sub = 9.99/mo

There’s just something so creepy about TXT-speak in corporate messages (and spam).

Just for the hey of it again, I once more sent back “STOP”… and again got exactly the same unsubscribe message.

RingAZA! U have been unsubscribed from Text Alerts. You will not receive any additional messages going forward. More info 866-616-6067

The Next Day

To my absolute surprise, nothing!

And actually, I haven’t gotten a single sms spam since then. Maybe there IS some sort of higher level of accountability to txt spamming, since for your “short code” (e.g. 75714) to work you have to actually make a deal with all the major cell carriers?

I dunno why, but this incident got me thinking a little bit about what the “state of the spamming world” must be like these days.

It’s got to be getting at least a little harder to get people’s email addresses as a spammer, right? It used to be everybody had their email address on their web site, or in their WHOIS info, or publicly posted to a newsgroup or a mailing list, or used it when registering for anything online.

Nowadays, it seems like everybody’s just got a contact form, uses Domain Privacy, just posts in online forums (where their email is hidden), and uses throw-away hotmail/yahoo/spam.la addresses when creating online accounts.

And on top of it all, spam filtering is finally getting a bit better. I bet them’s some lean times right now in the email spam business.

One More Anecdote

In fact, I have another little story about how desperate times seem to be for spammers!

My wife recently started a floral design business, and so she got a couple of those door magnets for our car advertising her business URL, phone number, and email address.

Well, one time we got back to the car and noticed one of the two magnets was gone! How strange we thought.. had it fallen off? Had somebody taken it? If so, why? As a prank? Was it a competitor? Maybe a potential customer who didn’t have a pen handy?

That was sort of annoying, but not a huge deal; it was only $17.

But then a funny thing happened.

About a week later, my wife got her first spam ever to her newly-created business email address.. the one that’d been on the magnetic car door sign!

Man, those spammers must really be desparate to stoop to such labor-intensive, low-brow email address-harvesting techniques!

And what was that spam for?

Magnetic car door signs!

Ha, I couldn’t believe it! And ever since then, she gets about three spams a week to that address.. all for magnetic car door signs!

It’s not spam, it’s blackmail!