VC HSDPA network setup costs.

[CodeMaster]

Thanks FireTelkom.
We are also about 8km from the nearest HSDPA enabled tower, not sure if I have LOS though, will have to get a pair of binoculars and check
Using my cell phone, with OK'ish signal, I am getting speeds of 356kbps, so I am sure the setup will work.

At the moment the only thing stopping me is whether or not the Option card I want to purchase is compatible with the router. The cards details are here: http://www.option.com/products/globetrotter_hsdpa_72.shtml
I see it is a "Type II PC card slot", so I am hoping it will be OK.

What Option card are you using FireTelkom?

The only reasons I will purchase the card out-right is to avoid being locked into a 24-month contract, and to buy a generic data card.

 

[CodeMaster]

You get a FREE data card on any of the bundles, and it works out to R60 extra, but then you have to sign a 2-year contract

If your company want to waste money on buying the datacard outright, so be it but I am sure that a corporate client will get the datacard included in a 5G contract without paying more than R50 per month more than R989.

 

[FireTelkom]

Thanks FireTelkom.
We are also about 8km from the nearest HSDPA enabled tower, not sure if I have LOS though, will have to get a pair of binoculars and check
Using my cell phone, with OK'ish signal, I am getting speeds of 356kbps, so I am sure the setup will work.

At the moment the only thing stopping me is whether or not the Option card I want to purchase is compatible with the router. The cards details are here: http://www.option.com/products/globetrotter_hsdpa_72.shtml
I see it is a "Type II PC card slot", so I am hoping it will be OK.

What Option card are you using FireTelkom?

The only reasons I will purchase the card out-right is to avoid being locked into a 24-month contract, and to buy a generic data card.

CodeMaster

I am using the Option Nozomi HSPDA card, the one Vodacom supplied. This is still the 1.8Mbps card and works fine. On speedtests (http://speed.vodacom.co.za/speedtest) I get download speeds of 1.55Mb and upload speeds of 344kbs.

The new Option HSUSA cards can run up to 7.2Mbs but these cards have not been released in SA as yet and is not supported. I am also not able to find these cards available to buy offline on the net from the companies where I normally buy my tech goodies. Vodacom and MTN will only start to upgrade to 3.6Mbps later this year and I think only in about 2 years from now they will upgrade to 7.2Mbps. Linksys will after the release of these cards update the firmware to enable you (and me) to use these cards in future. When I purchased the router, it was not compatible with HSPDA cards and I had to wait for the 1.99.8 firmware upgrade to use these cards. Currect version of the firmware is 2.022.

Your question of whether the card will fit into the router can easily be answered. A PC card type II is what we call a PCMCIA card, and therefor will look exactly like the current HSPDA cards.

The question is what your company is going to do with the internet link. My experience is that companies do not download a lot but will use the internet access for emails, internet banking, research etc. If this is what your company will be doing, you will find that the downlink speeds of 1.5Mbps will be sufficient.

Regards

FireTelkom

 

[FireTelkom]

The Linksys firmware 1.99.8 supports the following cards:

v1.99.8 (2006/05/19)

Initial Release
-Support Huawei E620.
-Support Novatel U740.
-Support Option GT 3G+ (Nozomi).
-Support Option 3G QUAD.
-Support Option GT 3G
-Support Novatel U630.

The new firmware release 2.00.22 support in addition the following cards:

Novatel U630
Option Colt
Huawei E630
Huawei E618

It seems that the current firmware is not allowing higher speeds than HSPDA at 1.8 (effective 1.5)

FireTelkom

 

[CodeMaster]

The Option GT card I mentioned is a "7.2 HSDPA" Ready card. It is actually a 3.6mbps card with will be upgradable to 7.2 at a later stage. It is NOT a HSUPA card. It can be purchased from the local distributor of all Option products in SA - http://www.layerone.co.za for R2,399.00 Exc. VAT.

I am looking at this particular card since if I purchase it out-right, I would like to try and future-proof my purchase. This card would have a life span of probably atleast 5 years until the networks upgrade to 7.2 HSDPA.

For our company, anything around 1mbps would be acceptable.

I know that the card will FIT in the router, I am more worried about whether they are compatible or not

Thanks for your replies.
CodeMaster