Cradlepoint

[Jeff Russell]

Anyone using any of the three Cradlepoint products? Any problems?

[Jerry Prsha]

I use the CTR-350 personally. Been using it for at least a year. What would you like to know?

[cedwards]

I've been using the 350 for a year. It actually works better than connecting the aircard directly to the computer.

[Gordon Spencer]

Best Cradlepoint dealer is www.wirelessnwifi.com . They have great prices and support. Prices are so low they cannot publish online. You have to put item in cart to see price. They also load latest firmware on before shipping . Others actually charge for that.

[L.B. LaForce]

Ive always wondered what the point of having one was, unless you have a group of people, and your gonna share your bandwidth across the router. Now I would buy one if the connection is better, or works faster than plugging the aircard directly into the USB port.

[Ben Holcomb]

I've got the 350. It works great for multiple reasons. I can just use the wifi on the computer which is built into Vista instead of Verizons crappy connection manager. I can also tether my phone pretty easily.

It's also nice for tucking away my data connection somewhere in the car and leaving the antenna and power wires away from my laptop.

[Dan Robinson]

I also have the 350 and love it. I agree it tends to work better than the aircard's own connection manager. I have it tucked in the sun visor with the aircard hanging down from the ceiling. Seems to get much better reception up there than being down below window level on the laptop. Frees up a USB port, no worries about bumping the protruding aircard, and I can share my connection when needed.

It basically makes my truck a full-time WIFI hotspot. I can leave it running when at a restaurant in the morning, take my laptop inside and still pick up internet from the truck (as long as I'm parked relatively close) - again, without worrying about an aircard sticking out waiting to get broken or to bend/break the USB port.

[David Wolfson]

I upgraded my VZW aircard from PCMCIA to USB, using the occasion to retire my degraded Linksys mobile router a few months ago and get a CTR-500. Haven't personally taken it out on the open road yet, only used it in the Phoenix area so far, where it's working just fine.

The direct cable connect works simultaneously with the wi-fi. I use it to get broadband for a rather low-end linux desktop box. This is a useful feature on the road that allows direct connection in motels and other stationary public areas where you may not want to be an open hotspot.

Since the router has its own firmware, you're also not depending on your computer's connection sofware and using CPU cycles. The router is designed to avoid dropping connections when changing towers and has a heartbeat, I think, to keep connected during periods of inactivity.

The power supply is 5v which is a little hard to come by if you need to replace it and the power connector is a bit fragile. I would get the auto accessory power adapter in addition to the a/c adapter so you have a spare source if one fails.

I was just talking to a VZW support rep today and he reminded me to update the PRL of my phones regularly (*228, for Verizon). The point of this here is that the router and aircard will not do this automatically. With Verizon you have to use their VZ Access Manager software by direct-plugging the air card into the computer in your home area. The broadband access tower configutrations are changing quite fast, so it's especially important to do this before you hit the road with your aircard.

[J Kinkaid]

A huge advantage with the MBR -1000 is that you can load balance and use 2+ data cards at the same time from 2 different providers

[Mark Blue]

I have the CTR-500 and really like it. The firmware is updated often and has all kinds of goodies and options built in. I put all of my equipment in the SUV last weekend and drove around town to test that everything was working and it worked just fine. The advantage I see is you can use wireless B or G to connect so there are no cables whatsoever. Cradlepoint also uses Wi-Pipe technology, which seems to make browsing snappier compared to just using Sprint Smartview with your data card. I put the router in the back of the car with my cellular amplifier and connected those two together, then I connect wirelessly using my built in wireless with my laptop. The connection was rock solid and felt as though I was sitting in my bedroom at home. Everything worked like a champ! If you're thinking about buying a Cradlepoint you will not be disappointed.

[Jason.Webb]

I am using the CradlePoint PHS300 in my truck, it does seem to increase the speed of the connection and is well worth it

[Corey Sloan]

I agree with a lot of the other posts...I just purchased the MBR1000 out of necessity really...I have one express card slot on my Toshiba laptop and am using a firewire express card to live stream...I was a little hesitant on the wi-fi aspect, but my concerns were for not...I plugged my Alltel Kyocera KPC680 into the router, made some basic configurations and I was off...I have tested it in good cell coverage and poor cell coverage areas...I tend to agree it actually provides me with better service than the air card does alone...it also frees up my express card slot and is tucked nicely away in the rear of the vehicle....no complaints as far as I am concerned and a good purchase IMO....

[Sean Waugh]

The MBR1000 is a nice unit as it allows you, as many have mentioned before, to share the connection load (load balance) between several different cards. There are two USB ports, an Expresscard slot, and an Ethernet port if I remember correctly. This allows you to use up 4 different sources of connection, which means if you for some reason had a ridiculous amount of money and were able to afford 4 different cell carriers, you would have an incredibly redundant system and would probably rarely run out of coverage.

I will mention a few problems however. The router wants to prefer the Ethernet connection if you have anything plugged in to it. So if you have something there and something in a USB port for example, you'll have to manually switch between the two. It also has some problems in actually switching the connections. Basically there are two settings you can use. You can share the load between everything, or you can have it switch to another card when one goes out. However, the latter setting requires that you set up a ping time, which means that the card pretty much has to be getting absolutely no information for like a minute before it will switch (the unit will ping the internet over the card for the specified time and if it does not receive a response, it switches the connection if available). Most of the time you can't really function on the internet well before you hit that point, so if you use that setting you will probably want to monitor the connections and manually switch between cards (assuming you have more than one) to whichever card has the highest connection signal.

[Scott Bennett]

I have the CTR-350 I love it, on a side note Best Buy has them in store with a free car adapter if you are a I WANT IT NOW person. $99.99

[Bill Hark]

I used the PHS-300 this year and was very happy with the results. I had it connected to a Verizon USB cell modem and while chasing, I had an external antenna plugged into that modem. Using the laptop's wi-fi and the portable hotspot kept things simple. My two USB ports were used with WX-WORX and the GPS. The signal was strong enough to use my computer in a nearby restaurant or sitting ooutside in hte shade by the car. I could also allow others to share the data connection. At one point last year, a couple of friends were able to use the connection from a separate vehicle while driving down the road. The PHS-300 has a battery that lasts a couple of hours. I used it a couple of times in restaurants with no wi-fi and once in a hotel that had a broken wi-fi. I highly recommend it.

Bill Hark

[Gordon Spencer]

WWW.Wirelessnwifi.com has a great sale on right now till the end of the year. Buy a MBR1000 and get a CTR-350 for free.

[Benjamin Rock]

I used the PHS-300 this year and was very happy with the results. The PHS-300 has a battery that lasts a couple of hours. I used it a couple of times in restaurants with no wi-fi and once in a hotel that had a broken wi-fi. I highly recommend it.

Bill Hark

I agree with Bill. I upgraded my Sprint card to the 4g and got the PHS-300 free. I love it. I use it to create a wi-fi in the house if someone else is using the desktop and it lets me update all my computers at the same time. Really nice thing to have. And battery feature is nice if you only need it for a hour or two. Fits in the posket and goes anywhere.

[Jason Foster]

Ah...OK, if I'm reading this right, that's how you can get around the fact that Sprints 4G USB devices doesn't have an antenna port, you route it through on of Cradlepoints devices and that has the antenna port to go out to a good quality antenna. Now I can see it being worth get the 4g card...even if we won't see it for a while in the open areas of the plains.

[Eric Friedebach]

I don’t see where the MBR1000 has a provision for an external cellular antenna. I believe you still need a card that has one.

[Skip Talbot]

I don’t see where the MBR1000 has a provision for an external cellular antenna. I believe you still need a card that has one.

Right, even if it did, it would still have to interface with the data card to get that antenna's signal into the data card. So if the data card doesn't have an antenna port, its not going to be able to use an external antenna connected to the cradle. You can't send the signal through the express card slot or USB, so the only other option would be induction and that would be an odd feature for the cradle router to have and probably wouldn't work well either.

[Jason Foster]

Ah..OK, appreciate the clarification. I wasn't sure, hence my previous post. I will admit I didn't see it described on the cradlepoint site, but sometimes antenna ports/connectors are not in the description of many data devices.

So I guess I'm back to avoiding the 4G cards for now...since they don't have antenna ports/connectors.

[Sean Waugh]

If you are wanting to go the route of an external antenna, use a Wilson Amp. They pick up the incoming signal on an external antenna and rebroadcast it inside the car via an internal antenna. It works the same in reverse. It will significantly increase you range of cell coverage and it works on any cell carrier. So you could have three different cards plugged in to your Cradlepoint and then use a Wilson Amp with it's own external antenna to boost the signal.

[David Wolfson]

With respect to the sort of internal-external amp Sean describes, one should research its limitations and read through the other ST threads with respect to 3G data. Per Gordon Spencer such amps (aka "wireless amps") are so far only efficient with voice handsets, although there are some improved designs working their way through the FCC approval process.

[Sean Waugh]

http://www.wilsonelectronics.com/ViewProduct.php?ID=129

It's kind of expensive, but if you have the money to spare they work pretty well. As the documentation shows, it works phones and data cards, if that's what David is referring to.

[Gordon Spencer]

Wireless amplifiers can increase your reception on a cellular data device but will actually decrease your throughput speeds. Most of the members here use Cyfre direct connect amplifiers . These members have used both wilson and Cyfre and have judged the Cyfre as superior.

which most have http://www.wilsonelectronics.com/ViewProduct.php?ID=129

It's kind of expensive, but if you have the money to spare they work pretty well. As the documentation shows, it works phones and data cards, if that's what David is referring to.

[Sean Waugh]

Noted. Thanks Gordon, I had no idea that it would decrease your throughput speed. I don't have a Wilson Amp personally (I can't justify spending an entire years worth of chase money on one amp), it's just what we use at work. I'll look into the Cyfre though.