New incar wi-fi setup

[Bill Tabor]

VOIP doesn't use a lot of bandwidth, only about 56-90kbps. the problem with EVDO is that latency is inconsistent and changes from tower to tower and even from hour to hour on a tower, as load increases/decreases.

Ok, I don't think the tower to tower is as much of an issue for my VOIP phone as I am just talking about using that at home. I'm trying to think of ways to save some $$ in these days of rising prices. If I can replace my home ISP (Time Warner) with Autonet and use the same product on the road then it really justifies itself with the cost savings. I guess the only way to find out is to test it.

Brett or whoever has one. If you have a Vonage phone, Packet 8 or some other VOIP around you should plug it in and see what you get.

Wait a minute..while Autonet is just a data service if we plug VOIP into it then we can also use this on the road as our cellular VOICE service. The nature of VOIP is it can roam. That means you can have people call on your 'home' number even when you are 500 miles away in the middle of a Kansas wheat field. Hmmm...so if the connection is good enough I could potentially get rid of my home ISP, as well as my cellular data and voice service. Remember too that Autonet projects a signal 100 feet. So that means you can have a wireless handset plugged into your VOIP even when you go into eat at the truck stop and still get your calls. Cool!!

 

[Alex Sian]

Wait a minute..while Autonet is just a data service if we plug VOIP into it then we can also use this on the road as our cellular VOICE service.

which would lead to a lot of people dumping their monthly cell/voice plans.

and thats why i say the EVDO carriers are NEVER going to improve latency on these DATA plans to the point where quality is consistent enough for VOIP.

just think about the ramifications of paying "just $60/mo" for all your data and voice needs.

wonderful for us the consumer. suicide for a cellular carrier.

 

[Brett Adair]

Brett, would you mind doing a speedtest at http://speedtest.net while using the autonet device you have? post a graphic like this one:

it will tell us some things about the service, that many people want to know.

I'll certainly do it when I have the unit hooked up again. I was able to stream some video at around 300kb today to an online provider.

 

[Bill Tabor]

I too have signed up as a pre-order. Brett definitely get back to us on here as soon as you learn what the prices, and subscription details are. Thanks.

 

[Dave Carroll]

Autonet antennas

Brett,

Do you plan on using an external antenna w/ the Autonet unit? If you do, post your findings here. Last summer I put it through some informal testing, but the unit stayed connected everywhere without an external antenna so I couldn't tell much(Kevin Myatt played with an ext. antenna some in the plains last year). The jack on the back of the router takes a TNC-male connector, so I tried Gordon Spencer's Rockies kit with it (the small antenna in the kit connects right to it) from time to time, and a Wilson antenna with an adapter. I would have to think that when stretching the unit in remote areas of the plains...an antenna, and even an amp, would have to help. -Dave

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

If alltel shares with sprint and verizon now, I don't get why anyone wouldn't just get the $25/month deal from Alltel for unlimited use(of those who could). You can turn it off in the off season. I just did that test page at 1118 kb/s. I've had several chases where it just did not disconnect all day long, like over 10 hours. And for the times it happens to disconnect.....oh no, push the button on the laptop screen. IMO nothing beats this plan for $25/month(no equipment needed other than your phone.....no minutes used while using it and excellent coverage).

 

[Wesley Luginbyhl]

If alltel shares with sprint and verizon now, I don't get why anyone wouldn't just get the $25/month deal from Alltel for unlimited use(of those who could). You can turn it off in the off season. I just did that test page at 1118 kb/s. I've had several chases where it just did not disconnect all day long, like over 10 hours. And for the times it happens to disconnect.....oh no, push the button on the laptop screen. IMO nothing beats this plan for $25/month(no equipment needed other than your phone.....no minutes used while using it and excellent coverage).

The best part about this plan is that you dont even have to have it on all the time during chase season. You can turn it on for a chase day by calling them up (call normally takes 5 minutes at most) and then just have them turn it off that night and only pay a little over a dollar, if that. No hidden fees and its unlimited with EVDO in many areas. They also have finally added coverage across NW OK now so there are very few holes in their coverage across tornado alley. If you can find unlimited data for only a couple bucks a chase somewhere else, please tell me about it.

 

[Alex Sian]

If alltel shares with sprint and verizon now

just keep in mind that there are two basic levels of speed for this cellular broadband service: NationalAccess (1xRTT) and Broadband EVDO (1xEVDO)

sprint and alltel allow roaming at EVDO speeds, but verizon's roaming agreement only allows roaming at slower 1xRTT speeds.

 

[Chris Bowman]

If alltel shares with sprint and verizon now, I don't get why anyone wouldn't just get the $25/month deal from Alltel for unlimited use(of those who could). You can turn it off in the off season. I just did that test page at 1118 kb/s. I've had several chases where it just did not disconnect all day long, like over 10 hours. And for the times it happens to disconnect.....oh no, push the button on the laptop screen. IMO nothing beats this plan for $25/month(no equipment needed other than your phone.....no minutes used while using it and excellent coverage).

The best part about this plan is that you dont even have to have it on all the time during chase season. You can turn it on for a chase day by calling them up (call normally takes 5 minutes at most) and then just have them turn it off that night and only pay a little over a dollar, if that. No hidden fees and its unlimited with EVDO in many areas. They also have finally added coverage across NW OK now so there are very few holes in their coverage across tornado alley. If you can find unlimited data for only a couple bucks a chase somewhere else, please tell me about it.

I've looked through the Alltel site and can't find this plan. Is it something were I would need to go to one of their stores and ask for it? This would by far be the best bang for the buck.

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

I've looked through the Alltel site and can't find this plan. Is it something were I would need to go to one of their stores and ask for it? This would by far be the best bang for the buck.

Yeah I'm not sure I've ever seen it on there either. I'm not sure why. Should be able to get it through a store easy enough, since they sell the kits(cable and software) for it there. FWIW the cable is the exact same USB cable used with Canon cameras to download to the pc. I'm sure the software can be downloaded online. It'd be cheaper than spending whatever they are charging for the kit. I know of a whole lot of people that have gone this route. I've seen nothing that beats $25/month added onto a cell plan.

http://content.alltel.com/business/enhanced/mobilelink_coverage.jsp

Wow, Wesley is right, they have nw OK covered now.

 

[Chris Bowman]

Yeah I'm not sure I've ever seen it on there either. I'm not sure why. Should be able to get it through a store easy enough, since they sell the kits(cable and software) for it there. FWIW the cable is the exact same USB cable used with Canon cameras to download to the pc. I'm sure the software can be downloaded online. It'd be cheaper than spending whatever they are charging for the kit. I know of a whole lot of people that have gone this route. I've seen nothing that beats $25/month added onto a cell plan.

http://content.alltel.com/business/enhanced/mobilelink_coverage.jsp

Wow, Wesley is right, they have nw OK covered now.

Thanks for info Mike. When my new laptop arrives I'm going to check this out. That coverage is very good IMO and the speeds seem good enough for anything that I would need.

BTW Mike, I am a huge fan of your photography. I have one your pictures of a thunderstorm at night with the moon framed and hanging over my bar. Awesome picture.

 

[Bill Tabor]

Looks like I'm seeing nearly 1/3 white (no service) in OK and TX on the Alltel maps. Seems this is hardly the 97% coverage that Autonet promises.

 

[Derek Weston]

I'd really like to know what Autonet has in terms of agreements as compared to sprint.

As far as I can tell, there is no reason to believe Autonet will provide you with any better speed than sprint. (being that they make use of the same towers and provide the same type of data as I understand it)

If the expanse and type of coverage is nearly the same between sprint and Autonet... i'm not sure I'd go with Autonet. Not seeing the point aside from the hardware and its features.

That's where I'm at on this right now, having kept up on the Autonet saga for months.

Seems Alltel would be a bit behind both in terms of coverage...

Am I correct in my assumptions here?

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

Looks like I'm seeing nearly 1/3 white (no service) in OK and TX on the Alltel maps. Seems this is hardly the 97% coverage that Autonet promises.

Most all of western OK is covered. Eastern OK has some gaps("oh no"). They share with Sprint and Drummond has said many times how well it's covered in west TX(even though the map also shows it's very well covered...plenty for an extreme majority of chasers who don't require data each foot section of highway). I know the gaps showing in northern NE aren't as bad as indicated either. If Alltel doesn't have it covered in NE I'd be interested to see who does. I imagine they now have 90% of the chase areas covered. Even if it were only 75%, that's way more than enough....for most anyway. The areas covered by high speed is getting nuts to me too. KS is almost 100% high speed as are most areas in NE. Even if you are in a 144k area, that's plenty to chase on.

$400 for equip plus $50/month(or was it $60)............orrrrrr nothing for equipment + $25/month. Hmmmmm. Seems a horribly easy choice.

 

[scott r currens]

$400 for equip plus $50/month(or was it $60)............orrrrrr nothing for equipment + $25/month. Hmmmmm. Seems a horribly easy choice.

It's not that easy of a choice if you have a cellphone contract with another carrier. The best deal I can find for a data only plan is $60/mo with a $100 data card. I know I can get the card for "free" if a sign a contract but I don't think it is worth it. I'd rather just pay for the card and cancel the plan whenever I want. I know what you are thinking. Why would I want to pay an extra $300-400 dollers for Autonet? If I get AutoNet I can easily move it between home/car/motel so I will know longer need my home internet service ($40/mo). That and I wouldn't have to deal with extra wires or device drivers on my computers. Just plug it in and go, or stay if you are at home.