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An 802.11 Router For 3G Internet Service
An anonymous reader writes "Possio AB has launched a Linux-based wireless access point that allows users to connect to the Internet through 3G (third-generation) mobile telephone networks, which carry Internet data at broadband speeds. According to the Swedish company, which has filed for a patent on local-to-cellular routers, the PX30 can bring broadband wireless Internet service to small sites such as cafes, temporary hotspots such as building and event sites, mobile hot-spots such as buses and limos, and hot-spots in locations without a wired backhaul alternative. It can also be used, Possio says, by mobile-only carriers wishing to offer broadband Internet service, and in data acquisition and remote management applications such as M2M (machine-to-machine) applications."
I don't get this - how can you file for a patent on routing between two networks? There's no way this is non-obvious to an engineer in the trade.
Jeez, I've done this with nat under linux to my Verizon Wireless 1x phone.
Patents are out of control.
Please, please don't slashdot me, but I've been talking about this so called patented invention for some time and I've got one sitting right here. Feel free to contact me if you're a patent attorney with an axe to grind
I am very easy to get along with, but I don't have time to waste being nice to people who are being stupid. -Theo
Seriously, who needs broadband on the cell, and who's going to lug around a laptop for high speed access? What are you going to do, jerk to high quality pr0n on your local park bench?
Seriously though. High speed access may be neat for transferring large, high quality sound files, images, and even streaming video (boy, all those places that banned camera-enabled cells will love that), but I think the data / voice streams shouldn't intermingle. That way, if one gets hogged up by a lot of activity in a concentrated area, the other isn't adversly affected.
But it isn't gonna happen.
Since every existing 3G network (kddi, docomo's foma) are billed per packet/per second for each connection.
While Verizon is charging something like $90 a month for unlimited 1xEVDO in south california.
How's the situation with 3G data in Europe?
Is it all flat-rate as well?
ok... I know that everyone likes broadband, and I think that this idea is pretty cool, but in all reality, being practical, you need to consider the fact that you generally won't need broadband on today's cell phones, but... in the future it will be useful, cell phones in the future may have the ability to stream video to a nifty little screen, or audio files, or who knows what, so setting up this technology as a framework for others to build on in the future is not a bad idea, it probably wont hurt anything... and another thing to consider is that as the services that cell phone providers offer increase, which is happening right now: 1. more and more people will use the services and 2. the features themselves will take up more bandwidth. So, for both of these cases, having a system like this will help. just my two cents
Kinda hard to surf the net at the speeds mentioned in the article when carriers like Sprint haven't made 3G fully functional. I am still only able browse the web at a mere 5k or so, 10k bursts if I'm lucky.
"Some fight for law. Some fight for justice. What will you fight for? One day, you will see."
I was more of an "Ashley" man myself.
Well, take the Treo design, merge it with broadband. What do you get? Highspeed internet on your pda.
Connecting my Bluetooth GPRS phone to my Wi-Fi enabled mac laptop and adding a couple of routes would accomplish exactly this. Is this actually patentable?
How the hell is the trivial and obvious combination of widely available consumer technology patentable?
Will we need a patent license to plug a phone into a laptop, if the laptop has a Wifi card in it?
Will my zaurus w/GPRS card and built-in wifi be an infringing device?
I mean really, it's not like you need a pHD. to connect to two wireless networks at the same time on the same device.
I gots ta ding a ding dang my dang a long ling long
I have had this idea, and I am surely far from alone. There are probably people here who are handy with embedded Linux (or Windows CE, a la Microsoft's own home broadband routers) who have hacked together a similar device. With consumer-market PCMCIA cards that can handle the cellular end and mini-PCI 802.11 cards you can extract from most any home cable/dsl router, this is more of a hardware geek's weekend pleasure hack than a non-obvious, patentable invention.
Build one of these and mount it in your car, and you have Internet access for your laptop, PDA, and other gadgets when you hit the road. Run it on batteries and make a picnic basket or backpack that carries a wireless LAN wherever you go (power requirements shouldn't be huge, especially when the device is configured for use outdoors at very short ranges). The possibilities are endless. (Alas, I don't have the technical knowledge to build one myself.)
Microsoft Windows is, fittingly, the official Desktop OS of Olig
The article only states an NAT box which connects a 3G mobile (as modem). What makes it differ from a MS machine with a 3G mobile modem and enable Internet Connection Share? (Or the equiv on Linux, ppp on demand + MASQ)... strange!
Possio was certainly first, but a company formed by ex-Monet Mobile (Burst) folks, including its founder, has a similar item in the U.S. called the Junxion Box. I wrote the first feature about it for The Seattle Times a few weeks ago. The Junxion Box can use 2G, 2.5G, and 3G cellular data networks. Junxion's technology allows interchangeable cell data PC cards from normal subscriptions -- its sort of generic hardware with simple drivers.
Freelance tech journalist for the Economist, MIT Technology Review, Macworld, and others
Is broadband speed a pre-requisite for wireless services nowadays?
Personally I would rather be able to use the Internet from as many locations as possible, than having a broadband conenction via 3G only in the city central.
Is 1G or 0.2G (or whatever older technology) too expensive to implement mobile Internet?
Rock that crushes, Paper & Scissors that don't matter.
I claim Prior Art on their patent.. I can easily share my 3g connection across my network using Linux or WindowsXP as a router/gateway/firewall. I routinely do it when I'm having problems with my DSL to stay connected.
Better yet on the Linux system if the card is inserted if GW 1 fails for any reason GW2 activates and assumes the MAC ID of GW1 so it's nearly seamless switching to one.. minus the lower bandwidth wireless usually gets.
I have absolutely no idea how this would be implemented realistically (or if it has, and I'm just an idiot), but I'd also be very impressed if there were a way to have a bridge go in the opposite direction... in other words, you'd be able to set up a miniature cellular tower that would be able to route everything through existing IP networks (through some kind of tunnel) onto the telecom carrier's voice or data network.
I know that this has sort of been discussed before, but what about on a much smaller scale? This would hopefully provide a seamless way to patch up holes in a wireless coverage area in a cost-effective way...
well I dont know about wireless conectivity but the invention of the wheel has severly shortened the life span of humans.
boycot the fucking wheel I say!!!
please visit www.thewheelkills.com and stop the madness
So don't use Windows update or virus definition updates (that would be an automated function). You can't use chat or newsgroups (not listed in i, ii or iii). Actually you can't use it all since "machine to machine applications" are prohibited which is pretty much what TCP/IP does. And you have to have a seperate working Internet connection anyway since you can't use this as a substitute (or a backup).
Jeez, we were talking about running NAT/Routing on an iPaq with a Merlin/Ricochet card and an 802.11b card long enough ago that we scrapped the nickname ("The Grenade") because of 9/11.
Linksys ultimately built just such a device (more like a WAP-11 with a PCMCIA slot), and Ricochet Networks sold it for a while.
You have violated Robot's Rules of Order and will be asked to leave the future immediately.
In 3G, your connection's speed is managed by overhead signaling and your connection will vary by the resources available (as implemented by CDMA 2000). To the layman, you may get only a basic channel of 9.6k if there is a lot of traffic. However, during periods of less activity, you'll peak up around 60-80 as an average. You may see it hit around 100k/sec, but voice traffic takes priority and will quickly knock you back down (unless you live in the sticks, or surf at 3am...after the drunks have called for their ride home).
You mention Mobile Internet, so I'm thinking you're alluding to Mobile IP. Mobile IP is only implemented in 3G, and uses Home Agent, Foreign Agents, AAA servers (authentication, billing), Packet Data Server Nodes (PDSN) and Packet Control servers (PCF). To the layperson, these are tunnels within IP, using care of addresses, to manage a network connection that is changing its point of connection. In implementation, you could fire up your laptop in NYC, and drive to Southern California without changing IP address. This way your applications don't break.
I could post a thesis on this, but I'm currently sitting in a Software Engineering class (ignoring a slide show on Java Beans) so I'm gonna cut it short here.
forget not a deep sleep mode for you laptop after you convert it into a semiautomous rover Crap if they can't get it right what makes you think you can?
So true, and these companies feeling the pressure to rush to market, to be there first, with new apps, hardware,etc. forget that it's all in the timing to make it come together for the end user. And selling something that almost, halfway works. I guess that's all taken care of in the fine print.
Anyone seen my jagged little pill?
The difference in speed is the difference between the 33MHz Dragonball VZ in my Treo and the 800MHz G4 in my laptop. I've tried Treo600's and will be upgrading to a 610 when it's released. Moving up from a 33MHz to a 312MHz processor will make a huge difference.
Think about it. What would broadband do for a 33MHz Pentium?
I just don't see how 3G can survive as mesh networks spread across the U.S. and as WiMax improves on WiFi. Telcos are unnecessary, the writing is on the wall. Even Michael Powell alleged as much last month: They get mad at me, but I think they should be more scared. For all their size and success and revenue, their cards are not great. Places that 3G reaches but wireless networks don't are shrinking. Shriiiinking. The tons of money going to telcos will soon be going somewhere else, or staying in the typically savvy slashdotters pocket.
For a real good write up, go to IETF and read the white paper on Mobile IP. WiFi compared to MIP/3G is kinda similar to comparing oranges to limes. They're both citrus, but don't taste the same.
I helped develop this one. It's the same concept and it pre-dates theirs by more than a year.
Of course, I vote for a wardriving option. Wouldn't it be nice if you don't have to wardrive to find an open network to make calls from?
Oh, right, this isn't a poll...
Zhrodague.net - I do projects and stuff too.
Well... isn't that dandy!
Any Haxxor with a cheap mobile (e.g S55) and a SSH-client ( mobish.com and others) can now conveniently hack our web-sites!!
Whats next? Paper-mobiles preinstalled with nmap and satan?
Ehh...I wish I could remove my last post..the S55 isn't a 3G mobile...;/
Lifespans are over-rated, wireless is way cooler. Try downloading files over your lifespan while listening to iTunes. Yeah, didn't think so.
My buddy used to carry a cdpd modem and an 802.11 card in his laptop at all times. He was, whenever anyone was around him - and he was in cell range, a mobile access point and when his laptop was in his backpack (which was fairly often) he was a mobile ap that covered many many miles (though not all at the same time). And this was years ago before IS-136 TDMA was dead (god bless the sim). How is this non obvious?
QUALCOMM has been demonstrating this capability for years using 1xEV-DO.
In December 2000, QUALCOMM provided Wireless LAN access to the 49th IETF meeting in San Diego by doing this. You can read about it in this paper.
The UCSD CyberShuttle has been doing this for over two years. You can read about it in this article.
German GSM Operator O2 showed it off at CeBIT 2004. Worked flawlessly. O2 said to roll out a service using this thing this fall. The service is called surf@home, the box looks the same but is blue with an O2 logo.
Prices are unknown yet. They should be lower than 'regular' UMTS (whatever that'll mean) because the service is working only in the 'Homezone'.
This box&service makes it possible to cut off cables and ties to Deutsche Telekom for voice&data. An interesing proposition, if pricing is reasonable.
As the router is Linux based, addition of a SMB Server and adding an USB HDD should be possible.
Yummy.
chess
i think 4G is closer than we think.
Japan's NTT DoCoMo is testing it.
India is skipping 3G alltogether and going straight to 4G.
the reason: 3G is too little, too late. It's not completely packet-based (voice calls are still point-to-point), and it allows for only up to 300kbps. read the fine print: that's bits per second. so in the best of all cases (3am, drunks home in bed, etc), you get... 30kB/seconds. rather underwhelming.
with 4G, on the other hand, NTT DoCoMo targets 100Mbit/s for the customer.
I haven't read the Possio Patent (and IANAL), so I don't really know if this is a software patent.
...For example, if a patent license would not permit royalty-free redistribution of the Program by all those who receive copies directly or indirectly through you, then the only way you could satisfy both it and this License would be to refrain entirely from distribution of the Program...
But selling a GPL-based (Linux) patent-protected product seems interesting if you look at clause 7 in the GPL.
So a competitor can buy their product. They are then entitled to the source code from Possio since they chose to build on GPLed software. The competitor can now modify the source to fit their own hardware and sell it. If Possio sues for patent infringment, they lose their right to distribute the code in their own product.
I also found this PDF document about Possios US market entry with some patent discussions.
)9TSS
...that you can setup your own local 3G/UMTS network by connecting each router with WLAN?
If so, wonder what current cell phone access providers like Vodafone will think about this product?
Though local IP 2 IP may be broadband, Internet access is NOT!!!! Practically you have an internet link comparable to ISDN, unless you sit on a small island in the middle of the night.
How is this different from plugging my Treo into my windows laptop and selecting "Allow other computers to connect through this computer's network connection" under Properties:Advanced in the network setup?