Tuesday, December 2, 2008

WIred up Wirelessly


Now for my techie freinds...

Since we are tied up in Panama City waiting for a weather break.... I started tinkering with a WIFI router I picked up a couple of months ago at Best Buy.
It's the Cradlepoint MBR-1000. This thing is really neat for $250.00
I have both my AT&T USB Aircard and Melonie's Verizon USB Sierra card (We have a couple of months left on the Verizon Contract before we turn it off.. although it seems to be faster in more places so far) hooked up on this little box. Sometimes one is better than the other and the router will actually sense this and connect to the faster one automatically. Throughput is like any other wireless N router.
But to take it a step further in anticipation of WIFI only in the Bahamas... I hooked up the Port Networks MWB-200 which is a WIFI amplifyer.
It all works together very well so far.
If the AT&T Aircard has a weak signal the Verizon picks up the slack unless the MWB-200 has a better signal. How slick is that for 250 Bucks.
Next test will be to load up SKYPE on the Non-Cellular port and test that. I'm sure it will work here in the states just fine. Sitting at anchor just off Elbow Cay in the Abacos will be the real test. In theory it should work well.
Here is a review:
http://www.evdoinfo.com/content/view/2259/63/