It's hard to describe how valuable the broadband service I have from Verizon has been to me. When I was in Indiana two weeks ago for the K-12 Open Minds Conference, it literally saved me from the lack of wireless in my hotel room. I would guess I use the card for some amount of time every day.
So I was very disappointed to find that after I upgraded my Toshiba Portege laptop to Ubuntu 7.10, my wireless connection would hang up immediately after connecting. I kept getting a "USB disconnect" that immediately hung up the connection. I had previously followed Tina Gasperson's directions on setting up the EVDO card pictured above within Linux, but in my searching the web found that Ubuntu 7.10 reconfigured how USB is handled, and apparently the PCMCIA EVDO card is accessed through the USB settings.
But in trying the setup outlined here, which was stated specifically not to work with Ubuntu 7.10 (but that someone later noted had worked for them), I was back online again. Even better, these directions from the Ubuntu Forums are much easier to automate, allowing me to create a menu item to connect, and so I'm actually glad I had to solve the issue. As an aside, I did a speed test with the card today from my house, where Verizon reception has always been poor to middling, and I was at 400+kb down and 100kb up. Not bad for anywhere access.
I am beginning to become a big proponent of having mobile broadband! I am glad you found a work around. The thing that has really hit me is based on the current California fires. Although I am not to close to them my house is up against hills that could be a fire zone and I have friends who have been evacuated across California. I have been trying to help a couple people locate evacuees and have been talking to bloggers in the fire regions. One wrote a wonderful story of his experience but he also talked about how glad he was that he had verizon mobile broadband.
ReplyDeleteJust struck me how helpful it might be.....
Yes, Barbara, I really agree. And since I attended the Office 2.0 conference this fall where they GAVE each of us an iPhone, I've found that two great threads of technology are combining into one device: ubiquitous access to the web, and portability.
ReplyDeleteI've also been thinking about how important it is for those who have fled their homes to have access to the Internet. After hurricanes Katrina and Rita, we set up www.publicwebstations.com, which gives access to a free, Linux live-cd that just opens a web browser. It can be deployed on computers as old as PII's with 128MB of RAM and no hard drives, and require no maintenance--only an Ethernet connection. It also allows anyone to rapidly deploy hundreds to thousands of used computers FAST at disaster sites and refugee shelters.
You sure you want to do business with Verizon Wireless, especially after they're getting ready to sell your private information out to the highest bidder?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mguhlin.net/archives/2007/10/entry_3773.htm
Miguel
I don't have verizon but broadband is a great thing. When you cant get internet you can just use the card.There are many types out there but i know verizon is always comming out with the newest things and will always stay on top for there products and service.
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