posted
Ok I think there has been some discussion on this topic but I couldn't find the answer, so here it goes. We are looking for a backup for our Datastorm and are looking into the Verizon Air card. Since we have two computers on board I would like a device that we can plug into our existing wireless router. Because we have a wireless printer we both need access to it as well as needing to access the air card at the same time. Anyone have a solution in mind?
-------------------- Steve&Jessie 2003 HR Traveler 28RB towing Jeep Wrangler F1/D3/HN7000S See Where We Are Today Posts: 96 | From: Eureka, California | Registered: Mar 2006
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A normal router knows nothing about air cards - I'm not aware of any device except a specialized router that will function with an air card.
I would get a cradlepoint router and when you want to switch to it just change the WAN cable of your current router from the modem to the cradlepoint. Of course that means you have to get a cradlepoint that has a LAN port - I'm not sure that the cheapest ones do.
Like many/most it is hard for me to get to the wiring at the back of devices. My solution was to bring cables to a forward-facing 4-port switch so that I could simply patch whatever I needed for any sort of configuration. Mine is somewhat more complicated than that, using 2 switches and a couple of straight couplers, because I have a total of 4 routers.
posted
You can take a look at our website at www.cellular5.com for information on the Cradlepoint routers. If you want you can connect an MBR900 or 1000 to the Datastorm in place of your Linksys router and they also have a USB port for the air card. I am not personally fond of this solution so I use a separate CTR350 for the air card and my Linksys for the Datastorm. The only slight pain is that I have to connect my computer to the wireless network hosted by the Linksys to print, but this network is still live even with the dish stowed so it's just a couple of clicks.
-------------------- Bill Adams Winegard Company Posts: 15677 | From: Traveling the Western US | Registered: May 2003
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gee Don that sound complicated. Does the Cradlepoint allow for other wireless devices such as a printer to connect to it? I dont want to loose my connectivity to my wireless printer. Maybe Bill Adams has some info on this issue.
-------------------- Steve&Jessie 2003 HR Traveler 28RB towing Jeep Wrangler F1/D3/HN7000S See Where We Are Today Posts: 96 | From: Eureka, California | Registered: Mar 2006
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No, it's really simple. It works exactly the same as your current wireless router except that you use an air card for the connection instead of satellite. You can connect up to 16 devices to the CTR350 and up to 32 devices to the MBR line.
-------------------- Bill Adams Winegard Company Posts: 15677 | From: Traveling the Western US | Registered: May 2003
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So Bill, So this would replace the Linksys router? Would my wireless printer connect to this device as well? I see this has no antanna, what kind of distance can I get ? Last, whats the price of this? Thanks Bill
-------------------- Steve&Jessie 2003 HR Traveler 28RB towing Jeep Wrangler F1/D3/HN7000S See Where We Are Today Posts: 96 | From: Eureka, California | Registered: Mar 2006
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You can replace the Linksys with the MBR1000 but there have been some reports that the WAN port connection can be a bit flaky at times. Your other choice would be to keep the Datastorm network setup as is and add a CTR350 to host your air card. You can make this the primary network and use it either wired or wireless with your printer. Since the router can go most anywhere, it makes setting up a printer really easy since you just plug it into the Ehternet connection and forget about the wireless setup. If the printer is not in a good place to receive the cellular signal then you would want to place the router at the best location for that and connect to all devices wirelessly. You can take a look at our pricing at our website http://www.cellular5.com/cradlepoint.html or just give me a call.
-------------------- Bill Adams Winegard Company Posts: 15677 | From: Traveling the Western US | Registered: May 2003
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Hay Bill, still a little confused. Must be getting old. I need the wireless printer because it services both a PC & Mac at the same time plus I don't want wires running around the place. Can I plug the CTR350 into the Linksys and get my internet that way? If I can, thats easy.
-------------------- Steve&Jessie 2003 HR Traveler 28RB towing Jeep Wrangler F1/D3/HN7000S See Where We Are Today Posts: 96 | From: Eureka, California | Registered: Mar 2006
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Wow, that's a good question. The easiest thing would be to just setup another network with the Cradlepoint and you could continue to use your existing network to print by switching back and forth (or setup the Cradlepoint as the primary network depending upon which network you would use most often). The CTR350 does have an Ethernet output that can be set to either LAN or WAN but I would assume you would need to send the Cradlepoint output to the WAN port on the Linksys and that is currently being used by the Datastorm. If that's correct (help me out here someone) then you could turn off the Cradlepoint wireless broadcast, swap the WAN connections depending upon which you wanted to use, power cycle the router then refresh your wireless networks and you would only have one wireless network which would always be connected to the Linksys. You would also need to change the Cradlepoint router IP address to 192.168.1.100 and ensure that it hands out IP addresses in the 101-150 range just the same as the Linksys.
-------------------- Bill Adams Winegard Company Posts: 15677 | From: Traveling the Western US | Registered: May 2003
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Here you go. this is what we use, I have not hooked it up with the datastorm because I will take it in the truck sometimes. Linksys WRT54G3G $99 on ebay.
Posts: 14 | Registered: Apr 2004
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