Since ditching my geriatric Dell for a "new" laptop made in this century, with about ten times the everything of the old machine, and saying hail and farewell to Windoze for the surprisingly painless charms of Linux Mint, my 'pooting has become much more pleasant.
But I did have one problem. W and I have a satellite connection bootlegged to a wi-fi router hung on the front of the barn. Instantly upon moving to the new machine I started getting a lot of dropouts I hadn't suffered before. Natch, I was inclined to blame it on the new wireless card. Except just about then W found it damned near impossible to stay connected, and he was running familiar hardware. Then over the past few weeks it got worse and worse until it was just about impossible for both of us.
So a few days ago W went crazy and spent hundreds of dollars on a super-router, and neither of us have had a dropout since. Still a bit slow sometimes, but that's probably the dish. Very cool.
I have worries, though. This is the third router we've gone through since getting the satellite connection, and each of the previous times it worked...for a while. These gadgets are under cover, but still outside in the wind and the dust and I'm worried that that's what's killing them. They're really not hardened against weather. The other two were cast-off routers of the sort you can buy at any Staples, but this one would be an expensive murder.
We need to mount them on the barn, because that's where the dish and the modem are. We need to mount them outside, because the barn is basically a big Faraday cage. W's been noodling the idea of going to a new service that uses the cellular network rather than satellite. If we did that, we could put the whole thing in the powerhouse which is a wooden building and more centrally located. Our cell coverage is surprisingly good considering how far out in the boonies we are - not perfect, but adequate. But I have no experience with that sort of connection and have doubts. Anybody have any experience with that?
I dunno - maybe we'd be better off paying the satellite company to move the dish and modem where we maybe should have put it in the first place.
News and Commentary for April 19, 2024
1 hour ago
10 comments:
Would it be worth installing a clear Lucite box around the router, maybe with holes drilled for the antenna and power cord, and seams caulked if needed?
You know, like those boxes institutions put around their thermostats so you can't adjust the temperature setting? If you went with a lockable box, that would provide security from natural *and* two-legged predators, since it's a pricey unit.
Dunno, but wishing you luck.
--Lightning
http://www.streakwave.com/Itemdesc.asp?ic=Pico2HP&eq=&Tp
Outdoor access point. $89. Dial down the power to what you need to lower your profile.
Good luck.
-S
http://www.streakwave.com/Itemdesc.asp?ic=Pico2HP&eq=&Tp
Outdoor access point. $89. Dial down the power to what you need to lower your profile.
Good luck.
-S
I run one of those celluar modem antennaes out in the boonies.
It works pretty well. Like a slow-ish DSL connection instead of a full on broadband/cable but still good enough and better than dial-up and cheaper than satellite with better latency.
I use a Cradlepoint router to give WiFi from the USB stick antennae.
The main issue is that there is a monthly bandwidth cap at least from the provider i have (Verizon). 5 gigs of transfer a month and over that you pay per meg. So that means taking it easy on the streaming video.
fm
fm,
Sounds as if your setup is about the best we could expect here. The "super router" Joel writes about is a Cradlepoint MBR1200. Top of the line. (Yes, I did go crazy and spend hundreds of dollars). That router is capable of taking our wired connection, but also of taking up to five broadband wireless cards -- USB sticks -- whatever.
IF we were to switch from satellite to broadband wireless, we'd have the same Verizon 5GB limit that you have. For now, with the new router, satellite is working okay and it has a 7.5GB limit for slightly less money than Verizon wants. With satellite, any big amount of streaming anything (or gaming, or VPNs) is pretty much out of the question, in any case.
Other pepole besides Joel and me have to be in on any decision to switch, but I'd be glad to hear any more reports on how reliable or fast Verizon's service is, and how decent Verizon is to work with.
All I know so far is that the people at the local Verizon store know slightly less than I do, which scares me.
Oh yeah, two other things. Putting the router in a box is a good idea for protection against dust, etc. But another worry is temperature extremes. It regularly goes way below the Cradlepoint router's lowest recommended temperatures here and sometimes goes above its high limit.
Also, it took about 15 minutes to configure two Linux machines to get them talking to the router.
I spent six hours trying to configure Windows XP Professional with service pack three and never got a connection that functioned for more than five minutes. It's an authentication problem of some sort, I know. Windows is pissed because we don't (yet) have any security set on the router. But it makes me laugh that people think Linux is "too hard" and Windows is easy.
Oh I forgot to add that I have installed a couple of these at really remote sites with poor reception.
You can get a fancier modem that is directional, or an external antennae that is directional and mountable on a pole. Then you take a gps reading from where you want to mount the antennae and call Verizon and they will give you a heading to aim the antennae at the nearest cell site.
Hi,
OK a bit more detail.
I do IT work and do quite a bit of VPN, ssh and remote desktop type of applications and it works fine for that. Doesn't drop VPN connections or ssh tunnels and is fast enough for remote desktop mouse moves and such. Youtube sometimes has to be paused to let the loading catch up to the vid etc.
It is my only connection and I've been using the setup for over a year and have likely become used to it. At first I thought it was a bit slow but I used to work in an office with a gig uplink to the net so I was spoiled.
I went with the cheapest USB modem they had at the time that would work with Mac and Linux (novatel usb727). Using a USB extension i've positioned the modem in a window to improve the signal and also positioning the router someplace else for better wifi reception.
The only time the service has gone out is during severe storms but it really doesn't go out, it will just slow down for a minute or two and pick back up. Power outages don't effect it if you can power the USB modem some other way. (i'm on grid)
I haven't measured the speed but it reminds me of DSL. One of my client offices runs Qwest DSL plan that is supposedly 1.5 down and the speed seems comparable at times (but I think their DSL is running slow). The speed is sensitive on how good of a cell signal the modem is getting. Sometimes it fluctuates and slows the speed down, but I have trees between me and the nearest cell tower.
Dealing with Verizon is fine. Haven't dealt with them aside from going to the store and picking it up. Your billing (and bandwidth usage) cycle starts on the day you buy and activate the modem.
To find the current usage for the month you call an 800 number and enter some numbers and passcodes and it will tell you. Or you can plug the modem direct into a computer and use their software app to check usage but that only works on Windows.
Their software client does have a Mac install that lets you direct plug the modem and connect. You can also direct connect with linux and kppp or similar programs.
When I signed up Verizon was doing a 30 dial money back trial so that might come in handy to test it or check signal quality.
The portability is handy. Take the modem, laptop and phone and you have an office.
fm
Try a Tupperware container. Only costs a few bucks, if you have to buy new, and you don't care if you have to cut holes in it.
Get a big enough one and you may only have to cut a hole for the power cords and the screws to mount it with.
I am very interested in that Linux Mint thing you mentioned Joel.
I have a laptop with XP Pro on it and I barely use it because the XP Pro treats me like a rank beginner.
[HOW does it know ?]
I had Plinker send me a linux sampler and I put one of the versions on the disc onto a laptop and gave up when I couldn't even find the tools to configure my pcmcia modem card for it.
I need a Linux that speaks english not ~com>lish.go
Where do the designers of that open source stuff expect a newbie to learn the vocabulary REQUIRED to even open the D*^#ed os ?
Is there a help file on the Mint version that is labeled "Help File" and not chmhlpscr.dll ?
I'm Interested in switching to Linux but I'm Not interested in having to learn a non-intuitive "language" to use it.
Please tell me that Linux has developed a version for us rank beginners in plain old American English ?
gooch
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