Broadband On The Go...

[Schugy]

I've found a quite affordable offer here in Germany with 10GB high speed traffic and throttling after exceeding it. The USB HSDPA stick costs only 150 Euro and I just wonder whether it needs any driver to run with Linux on ARM.
And of course we need the final end user series of the pandora but even the first series for developers isn't available yet.

 

[AireTamStorm]

These are really useful. I have a HSDPA usb modem I take with me everywhere to use with UMPC (U810)

On the train to work and home again, it just works, even going through tunnels. I could imagine myself using the Pandora as well if someone made a driver for it. It the Maxom version which does not have any linux drivers, but has max support.

Does anyone know about any 3G or 3.5G (Or even 2.5G) drivers for USB wireless modems?

Alot of things -just work- with the usbserial driver. If they do a dialing process, they likely work in Linux.

 

[impreziv]

i wish wireless data was that cheap here in Canada. the best wireless company in canada is Rogers, and they offer 1gb/month for $60. but only on their "PC card plans". you can activate any Sim-card with them on their "PC card plans", and drop the SIM into any phone or device you like.

much cheaper in the UK im sure because of the size of your country. your networks can service a much larger population with fewer towers. i mean our country is about 40x larger than yours

 

[Holokauston]

I got a data plan (5GB / month for 9€) for my 3G mobile, sure it's a bit slower but still works, not counting on download large data when not via my home WiFi.

As for drivers, should be able to find/fix some, my Mobile as modem via USB works OOtB with my Ubuntu system and has been for the last 3 releases, and since Ubuntu is Debian derived there should be a Debian driver and perhaps already ported to ARMEL?

 

[Balzac2m]

... with one of these: http://www.three.co.uk/personal/products_s...band_/index.omp

Any one know of any drivers for Linux? (And more importantly, will it be likely to work with little modification for the P&|A?)

Random OT note: I just read an article that Pandora was the codename for a portable Spectrum in the mid-eighties.




Sorry, i didn't read the whole thread, but yes there are linux drivers for this device which is sold in the whole world under different names (e.g. O2 sells it in germany). I'm too lazy to link to a linux driver site but be sure it has been done not only once under linux.

 

[Holokauston]

... with one of these: http://www.three.co.uk/personal/products_s...band_/index.omp

Any one know of any drivers for Linux? (And more importantly, will it be likely to work with little modification for the P&|A?)

Random OT note: I just read an article that Pandora was the codename for a portable Spectrum in the mid-eighties.




Sorry, i didn't read the whole thread, but yes there are linux drivers for this device which is sold in the whole world under different names (e.g. O2 sells it in germany). I'm too lazy to link to a linux driver site but be sure it has been done not only once under linux.


A friend of mine says Vodaphone has a debian driver+app that he uses with 3, but don't know if (don't think) there is a ARMEL version

 

[craigix]

I'm also very interested in getting one of these working, it would sit really nice with a right angle usb adaptor at the back of the Pandora.

That way we would have internet everywhere. The Pandora's potential even surprises me sometimes.

These adaptors are usually free too if you have a contract with your phone.

 

[scarath]

As soon as I get my Pandora I'll be off to the t-mobile shop to test out one of these., Im guessing it uses the same tech as their larger version which is said to work with Linux.

A quote from T-mobile from here:
QUOTE

The USB Modem supports most of the major phone data standards, including HSDPA, UMTS, EDGE, GPRS and GSM, and can be used with Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Mac OS and even Linux!


However I have not seen any testimonials yet.

 

[yodaofborg]

I've used one of the UK branded ones (from O2) on Ubuntu 6.06, and yeah, it just works. Like mentioned above, it uses the usbserial driver, Linux just see's it as a modem, and yes, they use "dialing" to log on.

Afterall the technology is based on mobile phones, so its got to be pretty standard. The only problem on Pandora that I can forsee is the huge power drain. On my laptop, I get around 4 hours battery life (constant use, but only web browsing) when connected with a cable to my router, and around 1.5 hours if i use the internal wifi card. With the O2 dongle, I also get around 1.5 hours, so drain is just as bad as a mini pci-e wifi card. But hey, I'm sure we could add battery packs to the dongle

 

[craigix]

Wow sounds like they pull a lot of power! More than a phone would! I wonder why that is?

I'm sure we can make a work around for it, it's something I think we NEED to get working!

 

[Chip]

Wow sounds like they pull a lot of power! More than a phone would! I wonder why that is?

I'm sure we can make a work around for it, it's something I think we NEED to get working!

I can confirm that those cell modems really suck down the juice. The EVDO PC-Card I have for my laptop cuts my battery life from over 4hrs to under 2hrs. The sucker also gets pretty damn hot. I suspect it's just a matter of them cranking the radio's output as high as they're legally allowed. I've noticed I'm able to get reception (not great, but something) with the EVDO card in some areas where my phone (same network) gets absolutely nothing. Perhaps there are settings that can be played with in the firmware?

For me, I plan to tether my cell over bluetooth to my Pandora. In the US at least is it much cheaper to add an unlimited data plan to a broadband capable phone than it is to get a plan for a dongle. I don't know why this is, but since I have the plan already, I might as well use it until they throttle me. This is assuming I can get a bluetooth adapter and DUN working on the Pandora.

 

[Schugy]

The E-Plus UMTS USB Stick E169 might be a nice option too.

 

[Holokauston]

Wow sounds like they pull a lot of power! More than a phone would! I wonder why that is?

I'm sure we can make a work around for it, it's something I think we NEED to get working!

My guess is that a phone supplies the power itself, also most phones just run GPRS or 3G and not Turbo 3G, the difference in speed is

(These are max values AFAIK and might not be available everywhere)

GPRS
depending on class but max is
32 - 48 kbps both up and down

3G
0.384Mbit/s up and down


Turbo 3G
7.3 Mbit/s down

0.384Mbit/s up
or with latest modems and data plans
1.4Mbit /s up

-->> So you see the speeds are different depending on what dongle you use and so on and the fast ones require more juice.

 

[Chip]

Wow sounds like they pull a lot of power! More than a phone would! I wonder why that is?

I'm sure we can make a work around for it, it's something I think we NEED to get working!

My guess is that a phone supplies the power itself, also most phones just run GPRS or 3G and not Turbo 3G, the difference in speed is


3G coverage is pretty poor in the US and there is no turbo3G. Basically, anybody who wants actual high speed mobile broadband has to go with EVDO from Sprint or Verizon. The theoretical top speed is something like 3Mbps, but you'll never see that in practice. The fastest download speeds I've seen is around 150KB/s on both my phone and PC-card adapter. So network frequency / speed is not the problem.

 

[Schugy]

Maybe it will be cheaper to buy a pandora with a 2y mobile broadband contract. A Pandora V2.0 could have an internal modem and a gsm/umts card slot. I think someone should design a new cover for the ones who like to use oversized batteries. It's ugly but still portable und it´s better than shutting down the device once an hour.

 

[Holokauston]

3G coverage is pretty poor in the US and there is no turbo3G. Basically, anybody who wants actual high speed mobile broadband has to go with EVDO from Sprint or Verizon. The theoretical top speed is something like 3Mbps, but you'll never see that in practice. The fastest download speeds I've seen is around 150KB/s on both my phone and PC-card adapter. So network frequency / speed is not the problem.

Oh that sucks >( in Stockholm I have a few buddies that have Tubro 3G and they get the more or less full speed and the 3G network according to our tele communication department reaches I think just above 90% of all people in Sweden (Turbo 3G just covers 40 something % I think, but most "bigger" cites.

(bigger in Sweden doesn't really mean big since we as a nation is half (read not even, and just a few more than New York city ) the population of the stat of New York ;P

Maybe it will be cheaper to buy a pandora with a 2y mobile broadband contract. A Pandora V2.0 could have an internal modem and a gsm/umts card slot. I think someone should design a new cover for the ones who like to use oversized batteries. It's ugly but still portable und it´s better than shutting down the device once an hour.

That could actually work as a sales pitch to some major mobile companies ^^

 

[Schugy]

I hope the pandora firmware will include the pl2303 usb2serial driver to use my gprs handy. Then I can get HSDPA later because monthly fees decrease from month to month.

 

[filiphhh]

... with one of these: http://www.three.co.uk/personal/products_s...band_/index.omp

Any one know of any drivers for Linux? (And more importantly, will it be likely to work with little modification for the P&|A?)

Random OT note: I just read an article that Pandora was the codename for a portable Spectrum in the mid-eighties.



the Huawei e220 USB Modem is the one that three uses mostly needs 2.6.2 kernel and the pandora is said to use the 2.6 kernel. so it won't work natively.

 

[yaustar]

the Huawei e220 USB Modem is the one that three uses mostly needs 2.6.2 kernel and the pandora is said to use the 2.6 kernel. so it won't work natively.

Do you which modems are supported natively by Linux?

 

[bigtruck]

the Huawei e220 USB Modem is the one that three uses mostly needs 2.6.2 kernel and the pandora is said to use the 2.6 kernel. so it won't work natively.

I don't remember reading anything specific about this, but whoever said 2.6 probably meant the 2.6 series, i.e. 2.6.x, as opposed to the 2.4 series which gp2x uses. I rather doubt it'll be using 2.6.0. It will certainly be newer than 2.6.2, which is around 4 and a half years old.