Mobile Lan

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

My iPhone 3G is black like that.

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 stands for Pretty Hot Shit 300.

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..

THIS is only 99% 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.

There\'s nothing weird about that.

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!

23 Responses to “Mobile Lan”

  1. Brian Says:
    June 30th, 2008 at 12:42 pm

    Just so you know, that high-five image isn’t just some piece of art floating around the ‘net, but it’s a t-shirt that is available from TopatoCo.

    http://www.topatoco.com/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=TO&Product_Code=RB-HIGHFIVE&Category_Code=POPULAR

    Seems like if you’re going to use the image, it’d be a nice courtesy to link back to the shirt or something. :)

  2. Josh Jones Says:
    June 30th, 2008 at 3:26 pm

    ah, I didn’t realize!

    LINKED!

  3. Greg Says:
    July 1st, 2008 at 8:10 am

    What I would love more than an iPhone is affordable DreamhostPS pricing :(

    I love you guys, but seriously - you’re nearly 2x the price of other VPS’.

  4. Jason Says:
    July 1st, 2008 at 11:29 am

    I don’t really see how this will be better than just plugging the usb dongle into your PC, other than the fact that multiple people can connect simultaneously..

  5. Jason Says:
    July 1st, 2008 at 11:33 am

    Ok well now I see there are a few advantages. Do the carriers have software for mac and linux machines or do they leave it up to independent developers? It looks like you can also tether your phone to it if you have a data plan (Of course with sprint you are now limited to 5 gigs).

  6. Seth Says:
    July 2nd, 2008 at 5:21 pm

    Awesome. This is a wonderful follow up to the last piece! :)

    (Plus, in response to Jason from Comment #4, perhaps the Nokia N810 or the WiFi blackberries may be a nice complement to this cute little machine.)

    Thanks!

  7. Sharon McCormick Says:
    July 2nd, 2008 at 8:24 pm

    Another gadget makes a girls purse… that makes an 15 lb purse… laptop included… geez! Thanks Josh!

  8. INT Says:
    July 4th, 2008 at 3:01 pm

    Just get a Dell with a built in cellwifithanger

  9. Lozbo Says:
    July 6th, 2008 at 12:45 pm

    A human hotspot! Sounds nice! But I wonder where do you plug that in?

  10. Palacio Del Mar Says:
    July 12th, 2008 at 10:31 am

    Right here in Baja no one spent the night outside a phone retailer for the iPhone release yesterday, but there where very long lines. However, some of us couldn’t get our iPhones activated right and there, but this morning all seems perfect.

  11. ffxi gil Says:
    July 13th, 2008 at 9:19 pm

    iPhone is cool. Mobile Lan tile is perfect for iPhone :D.

  12. Dave Says:
    July 15th, 2008 at 7:45 pm

    Josh, you didn’t mention how you got the earlier hook up? AT & T connection?

  13. Festival Plaza Hotel Says:
    July 17th, 2008 at 1:43 pm

    Nor how he got it unlocked… please do tell..

  14. TimC Says:
    July 18th, 2008 at 8:46 am

    So, according to their website, the iphone isn’t supported. You’re confirming you’ve got this working with an iPhone on AT&T? I just want to make sure since that’s the route I’m going, and I don’t want to buy this and have it be a nice paperweight.

    I’m also trying to figure out the difference between their various models… their site is less than helpful. The only big difference I see is some have multiple uplinks, and expresscard slots which could be useful. It’d also be nice if maybe they had a frigging dollar bill next to each of them to get an idea of the size of them.

    Not so concerned with price, but I travel a LOT and don’t want some bulky piece of crap.

  15. Baja Real Estate Says:
    July 21st, 2008 at 9:13 pm

    I take it they don’t have an open board where you’re hosting now and you come here to release your boredom. Or is it that you miss DH a little?

  16. Retard Alert Says:
    July 22nd, 2008 at 12:51 am

    It’s cute when retards claim to have left and yet can’t seem to actually leave.
     
    I guess that’s what happens when Dreamhost boots you for being an ass and the new host won’t let you be an ass on their sites.

  17. LINT FILTER MAJOR OVERRIDE Says:
    July 22nd, 2008 at 1:40 pm

    I think most people would have 100% uptime if it was monitored only every 25 minutes :)

    GO DREAMHOSTTTTTT GO

  18. VOO Says:
    July 23rd, 2008 at 11:46 pm

    I guess that’s what happens when Dreamhost boots you for being an ass and the new host won’t let you be an ass on their sites.

    I thought being an ass in the blog comments was an advertised feature of Dreamhost. As far as I’m concerned it could even be one of the extra pay for options… I’d get that before even call backs.

    VOO

  19. VOO Says:
    July 23rd, 2008 at 11:49 pm

    Hell far… do blockquotes not work, or did I misspell blockquote up there or somethin? Let me try it out a coupla ways and see…

    I guess that’s what happens when Dreamhost boots you for being an ass and the new host won’t let you be an ass on their sites.

    I guess that’s what happens when Dreamhost boots you for being an ass and the new host won’t let you be an ass on their sites.

  20. VOO Says:
    July 23rd, 2008 at 11:51 pm

    Ah yes… I spelled blockquote wrong. Probly put the damn o before the u or somethin.

  21. Josh Jones Says:
    July 28th, 2008 at 5:06 pm

    Hey Tim,

    When they say it doesn’t work with the iPhone, they mean you can’t plug an iPhone into its usb port and share your iPhone’s internet connection via wifi.

    But what you CAN do, and what I do, is use it with a verizon/at+t/sprint usb data modem, and then connect to the wifi on your (2G) iPhone! That way your iPhone gets to be speedy even if you’re on T-Mobile.. plus your laptop can share that same speediness at the same time.

    The one I got is the PHS300, which is the only one with a battery, and it’s about the size of a deck of cards.

  22. kayol Says:
    July 28th, 2008 at 7:34 pm

    Reasons why I’m iffy about getting an iPhone

    * poor battery life
    * no flash/java support
    * favoritism on apps aproval/cost to program an app
    * canada gets a rare deal/no unlimited data plans in canada

  23. TimC Says:
    July 31st, 2008 at 2:16 pm

    Ya… that’s the problem. Work is busting our balls over getting the access cards because they’re *too expensive*. Kind of makes the iphone a pita since we can’t tether it.

    Back to the drawing board.

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