Bandwidth Dinosaurs: The Domestic Version

Back in mid-December, Maury wrote about his experiences attempting to access his Slingbox while overseas. I recently experienced a similar case of backwards broadband thinking and, while in the earlier case it's not sure if Maury's hotel or the hotel's ISP was to blame, this time the culprit's much clearer.

As Paul Rako pictorially documented yesterday, I brought a Linksys 3G broadband router down to San Jose two weeks back for an editorial meeting that preceded EDN's Innovations Awards dinner that night. It's the WRT54G3G-ST that I mentioned in part 1 of my two-part, two-city EV-DO Rev. A coverage a month back. Here's why I had it along: the hotel we were staying (and meeting) at in Silicon Valley quoted us $1000 for eight hours' use of a projector, screen and 'T1 connection' (probable translation: they'd turn on the CAT5 port in the conference room and give us access to the T1 line that all users at the hotel shared) for some computer- and Internet-based presentations and demos we wanted to run.

Instead, Maury asked me to bring down my 3G EV-DO wireless card, and I also offered to tote my InFocus X1 DLP projector (but not my projection screen) on the train to San Jose. And, figuring that others might also want to sip on the 3G pipe, I thought that this'd be a good opportunity to test-drive the WRT54G3G-ST. It worked great; the user interface (which enabled me, among other things, to enable encryption, change the default 'linksys' SSID and disable SSID broadcast….I do wish the router's GUI supported alphanumeric encryption key entry) mimics that of any other full-featured Linksys router, and it's both more user-friendly and quicker-connecting to available cellular data networks than is my Kyocera KR1. Here's a bandwidth test screenshot:

Comparing it against my earlier Mountain View, CA results suggests that in this particular case, I was probably connected to a Sprint base station that only supported the older EV-DO Rev. 0 standard. I'm typing this report from Sacramento airport enroute to Las Vegas for NAB, and I have the WRT54G3G-ST with me again. I'll report back later with more bandwidth test results from my hotel there.

I've found only one minor glitch with the WRT54G3G-ST so far; although the router worked fine with the Sprint-supplied Novatel Wireless Merlin S720 EV-DO Rev. A PC Card, it didn't recognize the Verizon-supplied Sierra Wireless AirCard 595. I suspect this is a (temporary) reflection of Linksys' business partnership with Sprint, not an inherent limitation of the WRT54G3G-ST, and will eventually be rectified. I haven't yet attempted using the router with my two EV-DO Rev. 0 cards (Sprint and Verizon); I also have these cards along with me on this trip and will report back after I try them out.

$1000 for a shared T1 (and projector and screen) rental? Gimme a break….

Followup: Greetings from Lost Wages. Oh dear….looks like I'm currently connected to Sprint's service on slow-as-molasses (how quickly I get spoiled, huh?) 1xRTT tether. I can't say for sure because the only cellular status information the router provides is signal strength, currently reported as being 'excellent':

I recall having this issue before at the Sahara. It's a bit surprising, though, given that there are signs promoting WRT54G3G-ST/Sprint Wi-Fi hotspots at all of the Monorail stations. I'll periodically try again throughout the next few days and report back if the bandwidth situation improves.

Followup 2: Here's the WRT54G3G-ST connected to Verizon's service via the Kyocera's KPC650 (note: an EV-DO Rev. 0 PC Card).

Much better, although EV-DO Rev. A would be better yet. I sure wish Sprint's cellular data coverage was more robust here at the Sahara….