San Franciscans are among the likely folks in America to take to WiMax 4G. So why'd they have to wait so long to get it, despite indications that it was pretty much ready to launch months ago? Hooray, bureaucracy! Apparently the people who push pencils in the San Francisco government have among the strictest cell antenna approval processes in the country, which caused a whopping eight months of red tape delays. As though that weren't bad enough, when Sprint and WiMax finally did get approval, they were hit with an appeal over earthquake preparedness. Fortunately, it looks as though that's all old news at this point, as 4G has kicked in for the Bay area. Somewhere, some HTC Evo owner finally got all the phone he paid for. [SF Weekly via Engadget]
The next (and most likely last) step in extending the lifespan of 3G data is dual-carrier HSPA, a technology not unlike using two modems at the same time to effectively double the width of the pipe. Novatel's got a new dual-carrier-capable USB stick out that it claims to be the world's smallest -- and it's launching as a Movistar exclusive in Spain initially where the company demonstrated speeds this week topping out at a face-melting 40.5Mbps downstream. Who needs 4G when you're getting those kinds of numbers? After its tour of Spain, the Ovation MC545 will launch with other carriers around the world, though with just 900, 1900, and 2100MHz 3G support onboard, we wouldn't expect to see it grace North America -- at least, not without a radio swap back at the factory. Follow the break for Novatel's full press release.
In jumping from Comcast to AT&T for his internet service, J figured he was stepping up in the world of customer service. But he was actually switching over to a company that operated against the rules of capitalism. Try as he might, he could not get this phantom business to hook him up with service and take his money. For he was ordering service from a company that operated in... the Twilight Zone.
just wanted to share my awful experience in the last 3 weeks of trying to switch my high speed internet service from Comcast to AT&T. My account of this whole experience is not 100% accurate because I've made so many calls to AT&T that I can't remember how many times I called and exactly what was said in every call. I also won't elaborate on the long hold times, countless transfers, numerous dead end transfers and all the misinformation that I also experienced. Sorry if this is too long to read. Some time end of August: I saw a good deal on AT&T for DSL and decided to switch from Comcast. I set up the service for September 9th (might have been the 8th, I can't remember) because that's the last day of my Comcast service. Then, I called Comcast to see if I can get my current month pro-rated if I cancel early. They said it was fine, so I call AT&T to reschedule my activation date as soon as possible, which would be on September 3rd. In hindsight, that was a HUGE mistake.
September 3rd: I called AT&T to make sure activation was going to be on schedule. They said I should be able to go online by 8pm. When 8pm came along.....no internet!! I called technical support and they told me that it hasn't been activated yet and I needed to talk to a different department about it. I called the number that he/she gave me only to discover that this department only works from Mondays to Fridays. I spent the whole Labor Day weekend without internet access. Yay!
September 7th: I called AT&T and they told me that after I rescheduled the activation date, somehow I had two accounts and therefore, they couldn't activate my service due to the conflict of information. The rep told me that he/she would fix the problem and gave me a new account number (my third one) and said that my activation was still scheduled on Sept 9th. Between this date and Sept 9th, I called AT&T several more times to confirm my activation on Sept 9th. They kept telling me that everything was fine.
September 9th: No internet by 8pm!! I called AT&T tech support again. They told me that my account was already active and should be working. They diagnosed the problem to my third party DSL modem which I bought online, saying that they don't support that model and I needed to reconfigure it to receive their signal. The rep then transferred me to another department where another rep tried REALLY HARD to sell me a technical support service for $15 a month so that I wouldn't face so much trouble the next time I needed help. I had to decline MANY TIMES. She then offered to guide me on the phone to configure my modem to work with AT&T for a one-time fee of "ONE TWENTY NINE". I asked why I should be paying $15 a month when I can get this done for a one time fee of $1.29? She then corrects me that it wasn't $1.29.....but $129!!! I was furious and declined and asked for an alternative. She then told me that I could try to configure it myself. Before I hung up, she "spoke to her manager" and managed to get the one time tech support fee cut down all the way to $50! What a deal!! Too bad I declined it yet again. I stayed up until about 3am in the morning and leeched off my neighbor's unsecure Wi-Fi (sorry!) to find instructions to configure my third party modem. Sadly, I couldn't figure it out. Before I gave up, I tried to do an online chat with AT&T tech support. Long story short.....I found out that I still wasn't getting a signal from AT&T. The nerve!!! How dare they try to "help me" configure my modem for $129 when they still haven't activated my service? It wouldn't have worked anyway!
September 10th: I called AT&T and found out that all three of my accounts still exist!!! That was causing the pending status for my activation. This time I made sure all the accounts were canceled except for one....which would be activated on Sept 14th. Between this date and Sept 14th, I again called AT&T many times to make sure my activation was going to happen.
September 14th: I received an automated phone call from AT&T telling me to go to their website to get instructions on how to register my account once it's activated. I looked up the website and downloaded the manual. Within the manual were instructions on how to configure third party modems.....FOR FREE!!! I got home again that day and.... surprise surprise....no internet access!!
September 15th: I called AT&T again and this time was told that there may be wiring issues that's causing the problem and they would send a technician out on Friday to take a look at the problem and activate my account. Why wasn't I told of this problem the other hundred times I called AT&T?
September 17th: The technician didn't show up and I still didn't have internet access by 8pm. I decided to cancel AT&T even though it would mean that I have to go back to Comcast.
September 20th: I called AT&T several times and was told different things every time. Some would say my status is still pending while others say it's active. When I questioned them about their inconsistency, the rep did more research and told me that my account was still pending and there was no order in the system to have a technician come over last Friday. Awesome! I told him I wanted to cancel my order. He told me to let them send a technician over on Tuesday to fix the problem before considering to cancel. Fine. This time he gave me a case number for the technician visit.
September 21st: A technician did show up today and I assume he fixed some wiring outside the house. When he was done, I spend about 5 minutes configuring the modem WITH FREE INSTRUCTIONS. When I was done, I could go online...just like that! By my calculations, their tech would have cost me up to about $1,550/hour if they charged by the hour!!
When I wanted to switch from Comcast to AT&T, I thought I could take my business away from a horrible company to a better place. Little did I know that I was jumping out of a lion's mouth into the jaws of a crocodile. Thank you, AT&T for a great start to our new business relationship!
We just wouldn't feel comfortable recommending the NetComm. It's a victim to stability issues, and was our most frustrating router to deal with in terms of simply trying to connect to the wireless. Perhaps a firmware update will eventually solve our issues, but at this point we'd look elsewhere for your modem/router needs.
Good: Multifunctional USB port
Bad: Stability and interface issues • Interface can get confusing • Wireless signal issues
RRP: AU$169.00
NetComm's 3G15Wn, as the product name not so discretely gives away, can handle 3G connections. That doesn't mean it comes with a 3G modem built-in — rather that the USB port on the rear can have one plugged into it, and that it will switch to 3G as failover if your ADSL connection fails. Just make sure it's on the compatibility list (PDF) before buying.
Specs at a glance
Firmware tested
L411-402NCM-C01_R10
ADSL2+ modem
Yes
Annex M
Yes
3G modem
Yes, through USB
Wireless protocols
802.11b/g/n
Highest wireless security
WPA2
WDS
Yes
Ethernet ports
4x 100Mbit
USB print sharing/storage
Yes
Accessories
Ethernet cable, phone cable, CD containing quick-start guide and manual
UI and features
NetComm's web user interface (UI) was easy to navigate, although for no reason we could determine loading any of the wireless configuration pages took an exceedingly long time, leading to frustration. Almost every menu option also creates a drop down when you mouse over, which is fine enough, but some of those drop-down menus then expand sideways when you mouse over them, with no indication that there's further options hidden there in the first place. With 16 menu items under the "Advanced" menu, many of which have daughter menus, it's really quite easy to get lost, or have an idea of just how many features there are. As seems to be sadly the norm with most routers, no effort is expended on explaining what any of the features do — it is up to the user to self educate, sometimes a daunting prospect given manufacturers often use different terminology for the same function.
NetComm's interface is quite simple, although it hides so many sections under the drop downs it can get a bit hard to keep track of where you are. (Screenshot by CBS Interactive)
Features that stand out from the norm include TR-069 support, time of day restrictions, a URL filter, guest Wi-Fi access (giving users access to the internet, but not your local network) and grouped interfaces — although the latter was buggy and didn't allow us to remove grouped interfaces we'd created. During configuration we also managed to crash the router twice — this in combination with the weird long pauses on the wireless configuration page makes us think a lot of firmware work has yet to be done.
Performance
After analysing the spectrum with InSSIDer, an empty channel of either 1, 6 or 11 is chosen for 2.4GHz wireless testing. The router is restricted to the 20MHz band and is set to only allow 802.11n clients. If possible, the MCS is set to 15. We use iperf to determine throughput, running eight streams, with a TCP window size of 1MB, and an interval of one second. The test is run for five minutes in three different locations, on two separate occasions. The locations are in the same room as the router, one floor down around spiral stairs and with concrete walls and floors, and two floors down under the same conditions. The wireless throughput is tested using three chipsets, the Atheros AR5008X, Ralink RT2870 and Intel 5100AGN, then all results are averaged.
2.4GHz throughput (in Kbps)
Billion BiPAC 7800N
Linksys WAG320N (2.4GHz)
Asus DSL-N13
NetComm 3G15Wn
Location one (same room, no obstructions) 69.2065.9765.1761.43
Location two (one floor down, some obstructions) 64.6354.3753.4350.90
Location three (two floors down, some obstructions) 38.2335.2729.7325.45
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
Here's where a graph doesn't tell the full story — while the averages look good, the performance was wildly variable during the tests, often troughing to zeroes then charging back up again, particularly with our Ralink connection. We had a hard time even connecting our wireless clients to the 3G15Wn to begin with, to the point where we gave up and simply left it for another day. The next day, the wireless client connected fine — we hadn't changed a thing, and the surrounding Wi-Fi networks hadn't changed either. ADSL performance is simply measured by the sync speed on an Internode ADSL2+ connection to the St Leonards exchange, on the company's high speed profile. If the connection remains stable over a period of time, the sync speed is recorded.
ADSL2+ sync speed (in Kbps)
Billion BiPAC 7800N
Linksys WAG320N (2.4GHz)
Asus DSL-N13
NetComm 3G15Wn
Uplink 1349134213461349
Downlink 22306225792192122172
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
Power consumption
We measured power consumption using a Jaycar mains digital power meter. It's important to note here that due to limitations of the meter, measurements are limited to values 1W and greater, and are reported in 1W increments. The wireless radio was turned on, and an iperf test begun for measurement, using one wireless client and one wired.
Juice Box
Transmitting
9W
Idle
9W
The NetComm isn't a particularly thirsty or frugal router — it pulls 9W, an average result.
Warranty
NetComm offers a three-year warranty, but only if you register online.
Conclusion
We just wouldn't feel comfortable recommending the NetComm. It's a victim to stability issues, and was our most frustrating router to deal with in terms of simply trying to connect to the wireless. Perhaps a firmware update will eventually solve our issues, but at this point we'd look elsewhere for your modem/router needs.
By Stuart Corner The pocket-sized device is simple to set up: if it has been bought over the counter on first usage the user is directed to a setup page where they can select and pay for a usage plan. If they have signed up for a contract (available only online from vividwireless) the device works pretty much out of the box on delivery. It can support up to five users over WiFi.
Vividwireless isn't keen to talk specifics about speed, although its web site boasts: "We are ranked the fastest consumer ISP in Perth, according to Speedtest.net," and a video shows a (simulated?) comparison. Elsewhere it claims to offer "seriously faster 4G wireless broadband."
However it does state: "Our network testing of the USB modem reveals an average download speed of 6.7Mbps, with typical download speeds between 5 and 8 Mbps within our coverage areas. The speeds experienced across the network are not only lightning fast - they are remarkably consistent day and night, when you expect more users on the network."
According to vividwireless the radio section of the ViViFi is identical to that of the USB modem. Both use MiMo on the downstream side with dual antennas and beamforming. Better performance is likely with the home gateway: it has higher antenna gain and uses MiMo on the upstream side.
Using speedtest.net we obtained about 7.9Mbps downstream and about 2.5Mbps upstream. However consistency is totally lacking when using speedtest.net: it is highly dependent on the server chosen. We got the best performance from an Optus server on the NSW Central Coast. For others upstream speeds exceeded downstream, 2.10/2.25Mbps was one result we got within minutes of the peak result, and no other server available would give more than 5Mbps downstream.
We noted similar discrepancies when we tested Telstra's new Ultimate HSDPA modem recently. However for speedtest.net results for our normal ADSL service were extremely consistent. Vividwireless was unable to offer any immediate explanation for this result. A spokesman said: "internally we don't use Speedtest. Our engineers don't trust it."
Vividwireless launched its WiMAX network in Perth in March 2010, having previously announced plans to build networks in five mainland capital cities, targeting inner-city and university communities, starting in the second half of 2010.
It said that coverage would be provided within five kilometres of major universities: Sydney University, the University of NSW and UTS University in Sydney; Melbourne University & RMIT; The Australian National University in Canberra, the University of Queensland in Brisbane and the University of Adelaide. A total coverage area was put at 471 square kilometres with a population of 1.25 million.
It now has networks operational in Melbourne and Sydney. The coverage map for Sydney shows near completed coverage south of the harbour: the CBD, west as far as Summer Hill, south to Botany Bay and east to the coast.
For Melbourne, coverage is roughly from the CBD, north to Brunswick, West to Flemington Racecourse, east to Fitzroy and south to St Kilda.
This article first appeared in ExchangeDaily, iTWire's daily newsletter for telecommunications professionals. Register here for your free trial.
Globecomm Systems recently announced that the U.S. Army Communications—Electronic Life Cycle Management Command has exercised a $4 million contract option for the continued production of the Joint Internet Protocol Modem for use on military and commercial satellites to provide demand-based satellite communication transport services to the warfighter. The task order brings the base contract value to nearly $23 million. It has a total potential value of $87 million.
Patton-the leader in business and carrier-class network access, connectivity, VoIP and mobile video-surveillance equipment-announced today the company's RocketLink 3200 Series EFM G.SHDSL Modem has won the prestigious Next-Generation-Network (NGN) Leadership Award for 2010, granted by Technology Marketing Corporation's (TMC) NGN Magazine.Deployed on customer premises or within the carrier network, the RocketLink 3200 enables service providers to use existing copper last-mile infrastructure to deliver profitable broadband-access or data-backhaul services to businesses, governments, and other institutions. Bonding up to four twisted-pairs (8 wires) into a reliable communications channel, RocketLink's 3202 EFM modem extends Ethernet connections over SHDSL (EoSHDSL) up to 1.6 miles/2.6km at symmetrical nx64 rates up to 22.8 Mbps. "In the current economic climate, operators feel immense pressure to generate profitable revenue from existing infrastructure investments," said Johnnie Grant, Patton Product Manager. "The business case for leveraging pre-installed copper today versus rolling out new fiber is more compelling than ever." Announced last September, the RocketLink 3200 immediately became popular with carrier providers because, as Mr. Grant observed "Operators can use the infrastructure they already have to deliver new, revenue-generating services." "Yet compatibility among network elements is critical," Grant added. "Patton is leading the charge for interoperability as vendors begin marketing their CPE and DSLAM implementations of EFM." Compliant with ITU-T G.991.2, Patton's RocketLink 3200 series implements the IEEE 802.3ah PAF variant of EFM, also known as 2BASE-TL. Patton hosts the LinkedIn group Implementing Ethernet in the First Mile (EFM) over Copper, a forum for discussing and promoting interoperability among EFM equipment manufacturers. "Patton has done exceptional work to advance NGN services and technologies," stated Rich Tehrani, CEO, TMC. "The RocketLink 3200 has contributed to the transformation of the industry. Congratulations to the entire Patton team! We look forward to many more technology innovations from Patton in Ethernet Extension, VoIP, Mobile Video Surveillance and NGN arenas." TMCnet's NGN Leadership Award recognizes growth, evolution and distinction among the technologies that enable next-generation networks. Earlier this year Patton's SmartNode Session Border Controller scored the brand's ninth VoIP award, sustaining Patton's five-year winning streak. Recently, Patton published its new Remote Access Guide while announcing a price reduction on its US-manufactured RAS equipment. For more information or a free catalog, contact sales@patton.com
NetComm's interface is quite simple, although it hides so many sections under the drop downs it can get a bit hard to keep track of where you are. (Screenshot by CBS Interactive)
