Air Card/Cradlepoint Limitations?

[RickO]

We're into our third month of full timing and loving it. However, I've run into what appears to be limitation to the network I had planned for the coach and wanted to give a heads up as well as ask if anyone had found a solution to what seem to be limitations to the air card and/or Cradlepoint 350.

I'm using the Verizon UM175 USB air card with the Cradlepoint 350. I'm in the process of adding an external antenna from 3G Store but love the network already.

I had intended to add both my DirecTv DVR and my Wii game console to the wireless network. This would allow me to utilize video on demand from DTV and to play Tiger Woods Golf against friends I have in different parts of the country. This all worked great in my stick house, but now I find that it's really tough/impossible to get either of these connected via an air card connection. I've poured over various technical forums and about 90% say it can't be done while a few report success using somewhat exotic set ups. Verizon technical support is vague and just says that they don't support those applications but scuttlebutt is that they just don't want bandwidth being used up by these apps.

Has anyone been sucessful getting either of these applications to function on an air card connection?

[FlyingDiver]

I can't think of any reason why it wouldn't work. What did you use to connect to the Wifi network at home? Are you using the same device in the RV? Did you have to reconfigure it because of different network addresses between your home Wifi network and your RV Wifi?

I have the MBR 1000, and it's set to a different Wifi network than the Linksys that's the access point for our satellite connection. If I wanted to change the bridged devices over, I'd need to change them to the other network address range.

Joe

[RickO]

Hey Joe, thanks for the reply.

In the stick house I had DSL service which fed the Lynxsis wireless access point which fed another Lynxsis signal repeater... but the root internet service was via relatively fast DSL service.

In the coach, my only internet connection is via a cellular USB modem connected to my Cradlepoint 350. I'm currently set up in Kerrville, Tx for a couple of weeks and only have about 46% signal strength so I'll be interested to see what happens when I get a stronger signal. I have ordered an external antenna from 3G Store but won't get that installed until I can pick it up in Phoenix in a couple of weeks.

I've just been surprised at the lack of a definitive answer via other technical forums and wanted to see if anyone here had been sucessful with a similar set up.

[Bill Adams]

Your signal strength likely has nothing to do with these problems. Are you getting EVDO service? If so, it's unlikely that the external antenna will change anything related to the problems you are seeing.
Warning: Video on demand from anyone (DTV or otherwise) will consume massive amounts of bandwidth and likely push you over your 5GB/month limit in short order.

[FlyingDiver]

As Bill said, be careful what you try to do over the aircard. You won't be able to use the DirecTV VOD service at all. But you will be able to get program guide updates that way. I'm not sure what you plan to use the internet connectionon the Wii for.

At home, you used a Linksys router and a Linksys extender, with the extender connected to the DirecTV and the Wii through an ethernet hub (or the 2nd port on the DTV unit), correct?

In the RV, how are you extending the signal from the Cradlepoint to the entertainment units? The same Linksys extender, or something else?

joe

[mrschwarz]

It sounds like it's a configuration problem, not a problem with the internet connection itself. If you can connect to the internet using your laptop, an antenna won't help. If one device connects, the others should, too.

Here are couple of things to check:
1. Are the other devices getting an IP address from the router? If not, you need to make sure that DHCP is enabled on the router.
2. Cradlepoint has a security feature that blocks devices from accessing the network unless that either have entered a password or have been manually approved. Since these devices don't have a web browser, they need to be manually approved. Have you done that?

3. The Cradlepoint router has a single ethernet plug. Are you using it for one of the devices or are you trying to connect via wireless? If using the ethernet plug, is it set up properly for the LAN or WAN. You can configure it for either. In your case you want it to be set up for LAN.

You may want to contact Cradlepoint tech support. They may be able to help you configure. If you have more specific questions, I may be able to help.

Good luck!

[John Hilley]

Signal strength does have a direct affect on speed. It isn't a linear relationship. Several things contribute to slower speeds with lower signal strength including latency and errors , which cause retransmission. What you want to do does seem like it would be more than you can do with the AirCard/CradlePoint CTR-350. It is more the EVDO connection than the CTR-350. If you do get it to work, you will probably get a very large bill for going over the 5GB limit.

[RickO]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrschwarz It sounds like it's a configuration problem, not a problem with the internet connection itself. If you can connect to the internet using your laptop, an antenna won't help. If one device connects, the others should, too. Here are couple of things to check: 1. Are the other devices getting an IP address from the router? If not, you need to make sure that DHCP is enabled on the router. 2. Cradlepoint has a security feature that blocks devices from accessing the network unless that either have entered a password or have been manually approved. Since these devices don't have a web browser, they need to be manually approved. Have you done that? 3. The Cradlepoint router has a single ethernet plug. Are you using it for one of the devices or are you trying to connect via wireless? If using the ethernet plug, is it set up properly for the LAN or WAN. You can configure it for either. In your case you want it to be set up for LAN. You may want to contact Cradlepoint tech support. They may be able to help you configure. If you have more specific questions, I may be able to help. Good luck!

Thanks again guys. Let me take the questions one at a time:

* Am I getting EVDO? I'm not sure. I looked throughout the Cradlepoint menu and couldn't find anywhere that displayed this connection detail. I am getting the laptops on line but I believe that could be just via a fail over to National Access. How do I tell?

*DHCP seems to be working fine. All devices are getting valid IP addresses assigned.

*Cradlepoint requires a password or manual configuration... it's true that the DVR and the Wii don't have real web browsers but they do have a user interface which detects wireless networks and allows for the input of the proper passwords. Once the passwords are entered, the Wii fails in attempts to connect to the internet and the DVR reports success connecting but then quickly rejects any attempt to download content without even reporting an error. Nintendo technical forums indicate that it could be a firewall problem but I've disabled all firewalls to test it and no change. DirecTv technical forums indicate that the connection via an air card is just too slow and will not work. I have also connected the devices manually via MAC address filtering with no change in results.

*The Wan/Lan port is configured for Lan. Last night i had some sucess connecting the DVR via the Lan connection. In the stick house, we DID NOT utilize a hub to connect the devices to the wireless extender. Both were connected wirelessly. The Wii has a built in wireless adapter while I purchased the DTV wireless adapter for use with the DVR. Both worked fine in that configuration with a DSL connection.

*I realize that VOD will be a hog and only plan to use it for the ocassional program I can only get in this manner. The Wii allows for playing games against others real time on line. I have two good golf buddies on opposite sides of the country and we'd like to play Wii golf against each other on line. It might make collecting my bets a little tougher though.

Thanks again guys for your thoughts. I think a call to Cradlepoint is probably in order at this point.

[John Hilley]

A quick Internet speed test will tell you what type connection you have. Goto

Speedtest

If you have around 50Kbs you are on a 1RXT connection , 100kbs or more you are on EVDO. Another quick way, although not positive, is to check what type connection your cell phone is seeing.

[two2go]

My Wii connected to my Cradlepoint router right off. All I had to do was enter the security code. Then the Wii downloaded an update which took a good half hour. I can get weather and surf via the Opera browser that I downloaded via the Wii.
As far as speed from Verizon, I am underwhelmed. I usually test out at .3 to .5 Mbps and upload of about .10 or .11. Hardly close to the potential 1.5 Mbps.

[RickO]

I ran the speed test and, if I'm reading this correctly, my download speed is .8mb/s and upload is .25mb/s with a ping of 104ms. John, that sounds pretty fast relative to the numbers you listed. Hmmm....

[Bill Adams]

Rick,
You would most certainly be connected to an EVDO network and you are seeing about as good a connection as you could expect. So speed is not the issue and with 100ms ping times that would not be an issue either.
I do recommend that everyone go into the settings option of their Cradlepoint and remove the user log-in requirement. This causes way more problems for user connections than is attempts to solve. See if that helps in any way.

[mrschwarz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill Adams Rick, You would most certainly be connected to an EVDO network and you are seeing about as good a connection as you could expect. So speed is not the issue and with 100ms ping times that would not be an issue either. I do recommend that everyone go into the settings option of their Cradlepoint and remove the user log-in requirement. This causes way more problems for user connections than is attempts to solve. See if that helps in any way.

I never really had a problem with it, other than remembering the password. I would just go to the status page and manually OK anyone I wanted to let in.

[RickO]

Ok, just got back from seeing the movie "Blind Side". I highly recommend it.

I just let down all the user password fences on Cradlepoint and got the same "Failure to Connect" error code. I then added the Wii to Cradlepoint's "DMZ" which should give it an unobstructed path to the internet and still got the same error codes.

So, thanks to all for the great discussion but I'm forced to look back at what those on the Nintendo and DirecTv technical forums said and that is that these dogs just aren't going to hunt... at least not right now.

Since I was able to get the VOD functioning when I connected it via an ethernet cable to the Cradlepoint Lan, I'll bet dollars to doughnuts that if I connect the Wii via the same method, I'll have success. To test this I need to pick up an adapter from Nintendo but it's not a big deal and I don't think on line gaming of the type I have in mind is very band width intensive.

I think the VOD idea is DOA. Although I was a very early adopter of Verizon's air card service and have a contract that says "unlimited" all over it... from what I've learned on this forum it seems there is some fine print which slams me if I get over 5GB/mo. I'll check it out but I'm sure it's there so I'll give up this little nice to have feature for now.

I'll follow up with another post once I get the adapter and get this all settled out.

Thanks again. This is a great forum.