Re: [PLUG] Wireless broadband and Linux...
On Sat, 13 Aug 2011 21:56:12 -0700 Matt McKenzie lnxkni...@gmail.com dijo: Since you want to connect to a computer, you probably want to investigate which carrier supports 4G in your area. Verizon is rapidly expanding its 4G LTE service, with Portland area supposedly being lit up sometime this year. Sprint, ATT and T-Mobile have their versions of 4G as well, though I am not sure of their coverage areas. Verizon's LTE service has been available at the airport and Gresham area for some time. About a month ago the rest of the city went LTE. The theoretical bandwidth of Verizon's LTE is 52 Mbps, but in the real world you will get 12-14 Mbps. T-Mobile just enabled their HSPA+42 network in Portland, The theoretical bandwidth is 42 Mbps, but the real world speed is expected to be about a third of that. They have only one device which can use the HSPA+42 network, a USB modem. I have no knowledge of whether the modem will work with Linux, but Google might know something. ATT is attempting to go LTE, offering the same bandwidth as Verizon. However, they are badly lagged compared to the other carriers. They claim they need to buy T-Mobile in order to gain the spectrum necessary to deploy LTE, yet leaked reports from inside ATT indicate otherwise. There is a great deal of controversy about the proposed ATT - T-Mobile merger. Sprint offers WiMax, which cannot deliver the same speeds as the other carriers. Having said all of that, all the carriers require an additional payment for tethering a computer to a phone. However, it is hard for the carrier to detect if you are tethering. A lot of people do it in violation of their contract with the carrier. If you just want a connection for a computer I'd go with the T-Mobile HSPA+42 modem, assuming it works with Linux. But bear in mind that the Android world changes every 15 minutes. ___ PLUG mailing list PLUG@lists.pdxlinux.org http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
[PLUG] Wireless broadband and Linux...
Comcast is expensive. I pay for my cable Internet every month and at the end of the 1st year, even if I drop digital voice service, I'll probably pay more. Yeah Comcast is reasonably fast, no it is not cheap. I don't like the games Comcast plays with special offers where it's cheap in the beginning and excruciatingly expensive 6 months to a year down the road. At least the basic phone service is cheaper than CenturyLink basic line. Forget the deluxe phone service. So one question I'm asking is, what kind of backup broadband service do I want, if any, in the future? Another question I'm asking, will that be wireless broadband? I own my cable modem and was thinking, I can disconnect and later reconnect service... Trouble is, for how long will the current Arris TM722G be the ideal cable modem to have? I'm hovering just below $64/month right now and will be till Christmas probably. I really don't have any complaints about Comcast service overall, just the price bothers me. So I see that Sprint offers wireless broadband in the Portland/Scappoose area and ATT of course has some offerings as well. There's Verizon, but I think Verizon equals expensive. Pay as you go could be attractive, but I see ripoff big time. For pay as you go to be attractive, it has to be purchasable in one month increments and should be preferably less than $60/month for a reasonable amount of time online to unlimited time online. Also mandatory, no contract and no automatic re-enrollment. If voice service can be thrown in with the wireless broadband, great. What I want to know is what works with Linux as far as wireless broadband is concerned? What doesn't work with Linux? If I'm going to be paying $60/month or more for broadband staying with Comcast, can I get portable broadband for the same price or less? SO far using google I'm haven't been impressed with what I've found out. ___ PLUG mailing list PLUG@lists.pdxlinux.org http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
Re: [PLUG] Wireless broadband and Linux...
ClearWire offers a wireless modem with an ethernet port. -wes On Sat, Aug 13, 2011 at 12:41 AM, Michael C. Robinson plu...@robinson-west.com wrote: Comcast is expensive. I pay for my cable Internet every month and at the end of the 1st year, even if I drop digital voice service, I'll probably pay more. Yeah Comcast is reasonably fast, no it is not cheap. I don't like the games Comcast plays with special offers where it's cheap in the beginning and excruciatingly expensive 6 months to a year down the road. At least the basic phone service is cheaper than CenturyLink basic line. Forget the deluxe phone service. So one question I'm asking is, what kind of backup broadband service do I want, if any, in the future? Another question I'm asking, will that be wireless broadband? I own my cable modem and was thinking, I can disconnect and later reconnect service... Trouble is, for how long will the current Arris TM722G be the ideal cable modem to have? I'm hovering just below $64/month right now and will be till Christmas probably. I really don't have any complaints about Comcast service overall, just the price bothers me. So I see that Sprint offers wireless broadband in the Portland/Scappoose area and ATT of course has some offerings as well. There's Verizon, but I think Verizon equals expensive. Pay as you go could be attractive, but I see ripoff big time. For pay as you go to be attractive, it has to be purchasable in one month increments and should be preferably less than $60/month for a reasonable amount of time online to unlimited time online. Also mandatory, no contract and no automatic re-enrollment. If voice service can be thrown in with the wireless broadband, great. What I want to know is what works with Linux as far as wireless broadband is concerned? What doesn't work with Linux? If I'm going to be paying $60/month or more for broadband staying with Comcast, can I get portable broadband for the same price or less? SO far using google I'm haven't been impressed with what I've found out. ___ PLUG mailing list PLUG@lists.pdxlinux.org http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug ___ PLUG mailing list PLUG@lists.pdxlinux.org http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
Re: [PLUG] Wireless broadband and Linux...
On Sat, Aug 13, 2011 at 12:41 AM, Michael C. Robinson plu...@robinson-west.com wrote: So one question I'm asking is, what kind of backup broadband service do I want, if any, in the future? Another question I'm asking, I use a Verizon Android as a backup to my DSL service. You tether the phone to the system via a USB cable and a tethering app and if you have good 3G coverage, your in business. I have had to use this as a backup about 3 times over the last year. Bill ___ PLUG mailing list PLUG@lists.pdxlinux.org http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
Re: [PLUG] Wireless broadband and Linux...
Okay, I checked out Clear which has a great 4G package, but unfortunately it doesn't cover 97201 or 97056 yet. I'm on the list though for when it becomes available. I hope that list grows enough to convince Clear to expand to Portland and beyond. I wish Comcast would reconsider their pricing policy. Penalizing customers for staying with you seems ludicrous. Christmas is the magic date when I have to change. Either I drop Digital Voice service and continue with cable Internet or I do something altogether different. What does Android cost and who offers service for it? On Sat, 2011-08-13 at 11:38 -0700, Bill Barry wrote: On Sat, Aug 13, 2011 at 12:41 AM, Michael C. Robinson plu...@robinson-west.com wrote: So one question I'm asking is, what kind of backup broadband service do I want, if any, in the future? Another question I'm asking, I use a Verizon Android as a backup to my DSL service. You tether the phone to the system via a USB cable and a tethering app and if you have good 3G coverage, your in business. I have had to use this as a backup about 3 times over the last year. Bill ___ PLUG mailing list PLUG@lists.pdxlinux.org http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug ___ PLUG mailing list PLUG@lists.pdxlinux.org http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
Re: [PLUG] Wireless broadband and Linux...
On Sat, Aug 13, 2011 at 5:38 PM, Michael C. Robinson plu...@robinson-west.com wrote: What does Android cost and who offers service for it? I only know what one specific Verizon service costs. The data service is about a $30/month add on to regular voice service. Phone prices vary a lot depending on contract lengths etc. Verizon recently started limiting the amount of data that includes, so your cost might vary depending on how much you data you transfer. They might also have a data only service which might be more useful as a backup broadband system. Bill ___ PLUG mailing list PLUG@lists.pdxlinux.org http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
Re: [PLUG] Wireless broadband and Linux...
On Sat, Aug 13, 2011 at 5:38 PM, Michael C. Robinson plu...@robinson-west.com wrote: Okay, I checked out Clear which has a great 4G package, but unfortunately it doesn't cover 97201 or 97056 yet. I'm on the list though for when it becomes available. I hope that list grows enough to convince Clear to expand to Portland and beyond. I wish Comcast would reconsider their pricing policy. Penalizing customers for staying with you seems ludicrous. Christmas is the magic date when I have to change. Either I drop Digital Voice service and continue with cable Internet or I do something altogether different. What does Android cost and who offers service for it? Android is a smartphone OS, based on Linux. You can use an Android phone to tether with your computer, and share the phone's 3G or 4G cellular data connection. Service is provided by all the major cellular carriers, they all offer Android devices. Data rates vary, but all of them have started to implement data caps and tiered access levels, except I believe Sprint, and they are likely to follow suit before too long. Since you want to connect to a computer, you probably want to investigate which carrier supports 4G in your area. Verizon is rapidly expanding its 4G LTE service, with Portland area supposedly being lit up sometime this year. Sprint, ATT and T-Mobile have their versions of 4G as well, though I am not sure of their coverage areas. Each carrier also offers a standalone 3G or 4G data only modem, which would be similar to the offering from Clear. They have models that plug in to USB, I think some that plug in to ethernet, and ones that offer up a WiFi signal and act as a 3G/4G to wifi bridge, a cellular to Wifi access point. The wifi model would probably offer the best compatibility with Linux, since it just presents a standard 802.11g/n signal. The USB model would probably present compatibility issues, but some of them may work with Linux. If you only want the data connection, getting an Android phone would probably not be the best option, since you would be paying for features you wouldn't be using. If you do want to look into a smartphone, which would be able to access the internet itself, as well as share with a computer, there are a lot of choices to be explored. I would suggest looking at the Android lineup of your current cellular carrier. On Sat, 2011-08-13 at 11:38 -0700, Bill Barry wrote: On Sat, Aug 13, 2011 at 12:41 AM, Michael C. Robinson plu...@robinson-west.com wrote: So one question I'm asking is, what kind of backup broadband service do I want, if any, in the future? Another question I'm asking, I use a Verizon Android as a backup to my DSL service. You tether the phone to the system via a USB cable and a tethering app and if you have good 3G coverage, your in business. I have had to use this as a backup about 3 times over the last year. Bill ___ PLUG mailing list PLUG@lists.pdxlinux.org http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug ___ PLUG mailing list PLUG@lists.pdxlinux.org http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug ___ PLUG mailing list PLUG@lists.pdxlinux.org http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
