3G Followup: Hands-On With An EV-DO Router

As indicated in part 1 of my three-part high-speed cellular data series published last week, Top Global Systems (US website here, China website here) sent me a 3G router a few weeks ago, and I got the chance to benchmark its capabilities earlier this week. The concept is intriguing, and it's made practical by EV-DO's ~400 Kbps sustained downstream bandwidth. Instead of using cable (Comcast, in my neighborhood), DSL (SBC) or fiber (SureWest) as your broadband provider, tap into Sprint, Verizon or another CDMA-based provider's wireless cellular data network.

Granted, the per-month charge ($60-$80) might be higher than you'd pay a traditional broadband supplier (SBC, for example, is running a $14.95/month promo right now, while Comcast is touting a $19.99/month deal for cable television subscribers, and for the first six months of service). And granted, traditional broadband is still speedier than EV-DO. But when you travel, you can take the EV-DO service with you (a point I first made a few years back in my Ricochet Wireless writeup). And for those of you not capable of being serviced by a traditional broadband supplier, EV-DO may be your only alternative to a costly satellite or sluggish dial-up ISP.

Top Global's product line consists of three 3G routers; the consumer-tailored MB6000, EV-DO module-inclusive MB7000, and enterprise-focused MB8000. I haven't succeded in getting prices out of Top Global, although Froogle currently lists the MB8000 on sale at $849 (regular price $1,119) from one vendor. Clearly, for the concept to become more widely adopted, equipment prices are going to have to come down (after all, you can buy traditional CAT5 WAN-fed and WiFi-inclusive routers for free after rebate nowadays!). I'm curious to do a feature set comparison of Top Global's products to the upcoming sub-$200 3G router co-developed by D-Link and Kyocera (and to see what the unveiling of this product does to Top Global's prices!).

Speaking of WiFi, the MB8000 I've got incorporates an 802.11b transceiver for LAN connectivity, along with a single CAT5 port; you'll need to append a separate hub to comprehend multiple wired LAN clients. 802.11b wireless connectivity might not noticeably hinder LAN-to-WAN communications, but it'll be an intraLAN bottleneck; I'm surprised (especially considering the price) that Top Global didn't build in 802.11g capabilities. The product datasheet (link is to a PDF) does tout 802.11b/g wireless LAN connectivity, but this box, at least, is definitely 802.11b-only. I asked Top Global to compare and contrast its routers for me, and here's what I got back: "For the difference between MB8000 and MB6000, they all are 3G router basically. MB8000 has ruggedized iron box, MB6000 has fashion out looking; MB8000 has rich security, accounting and users management features such as: RADIUS, SSL, Web Portal, 802.1x, SNMP features; MB6000 are more foolproof and easy operating."

Operating the MB8000 was a simple matter; I inserted the already-activated Kyocera KPC650 card, plugged in the AC adapter, and logged onto the router's embedded web server over WiFi from my laptop. The status page I was greeted with is here and here; as you see, it scrolled beyond the dimensions of one screen's worth of real estate. I then visited DSLReport's Speed Test site (as I'd done in last week's EV-DO testing) to benchmark bandwidth. To say I was shocked would be a bit of an understatement; three consecutive tests returned downstream/upstream bandwidth combinations of 93/85, 93/18 and 84/46 Kbps. The MB8000 status page indicated I had solid EV-DO reception, and my laptop was less than 10 feet away from the router. To ensure Verizon wasn't having a 'bad day', I popped the Kyocera card directly into my laptop, and measured 423/124 Kbps speeds.

The next morning, Top Global reported that whereas the firmware that shipped with the MB8000 would have worked fine with the Sierra Wireless AirCard 580 I got from Sprint (whose EV-DO service, unfortunately, still isn't activated in my neighbourhood), it wasn't optimized for the KPC650. Top Global sent me the latest-and-greatest firmware file, but the MB8000 uses the TFTP protocol for updates. I didn't have access to a TFTP server, and frankly I wasn't motivated to mess around with installing one (even if it was free). So, Top Global instead did a remote update of the router over the EV-DO link. Pretty cool! And the post-update (here's the new status page 1 and 2) results were much better, delivering 257/124, 345/113 and 174/123 kbps download/upload speeds.

Thanks to Top Global for letting me play with their gear. Although I'm happy with my DSL service here at the home office, if they were to make the MB80000 DC power-capable (and significantly drop the price) it's be a cool accessory for Bertha, my '81 Adventurewagen Volkswagen camper. Comments, anyone?