Somebody wrote:

> Hi!  I was wondering if any of you guys have had any experience under Linux
> with Telus or Bell WiMax or Cellular aircards (either USB or PCMCIA) ? I
> will be required soon to have an aircard service and would prefer to use it
> under Linux, however Telus (as well as manufacturers) do not provide any
> Linux versions of SierraWatcher, Kyocera Passport or Novatel's access
> manager.

This is a bit belated a reply. 

I picked up a Rogers-branded Novatel 950D at Futurecrap months ago when they 
first started getting them in stock. One store told me that they had to sign me 
up for a year for the $130 price tag, but they were out of stock. The other 
store just sold it to me for the sticker price sans contract.

Turns out it's unlocked too, I know since I was recently in Germany and my 
friend's 25 euro unlimited data flat rate SIM worked no problem in it. Though 
he paid over 100 euros for his cellular usb stick. That's right... 25 EURO 3G 
unlimited data flat rate data.

On the tech side with the Novatel 950D you don't need to have the access 
manager, you can have a little script and use wvdial to get nice HSDPA access 
anywhere. I've been meaning to post a little blog howto about how I got mine 
working and if you're interested, I will.

That said, all the Canadian data/isp providers (amongst other tech comm 
companies) all suck. You (we) are living in the dark ages. All these companies 
have squandered the lead in data communications we had over a decade ago. This 
Hell Canada throttling is just par for the course.

If you care, I urge you to read Michael Geist's blog and get involved in the 
net neutrality and other important CRTC related tech issues.

I just read that Hell Canada is trying to not share the last mile of new fibre 
to the home, last mile deployment despite us all paying lots of a tariffs 
already for "upgrading and maintaining the network" --- so fibre will be like 
the good old copper monopoly days if people don't fight this.

Back on the cellular front, did I mention in Germany for 5 euros (free 7.50 
euros balance on purchase) you can get a GSM cell number while visiting there. 
All incoming calls are free and I pay 0.10/minute outgoing. And this is pay as 
you go. Calls to Montreal are 0.12c/m. And by law, as long as you don't have a 
0 balance, they can't disconnect your number for 12 months.

Every Canadian has to wake up to how badly the ISPs and telecoms are 
squandering our techonological future.

A.M.

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