Yannblog » aircard

T-Mobile Rocket 3.0

Ian Littman — Sat, 28 May 2011 04:35:05 +0000

So today, after dropping by the Colorado Mills Which Wich, I picked up a T-Mobile webConnect Rocket 3.0 (or ZTE MF683, if you’re going by device manufacturer and model number) , currently the only 42Mbps HSPA+ device available in the US. I’ll be writing a full review of the device, along with a head-to-head comparison versus T-Mobile’s original webConnect Rocket, here.

First off, I’ll state my conditions: 3-4 bars of HSPA+ signal, from a tower which got its backhaul upgraded a few weeks ago from 1.5M down and 600K to 5-8x that. My primary testing location is in Golden, CO, right next to Colorado School of Mines. T-Mobile’s service may be better or worse depending on your location, so take that into account when deciding whether to get T-Mobile service for your own use. Other standard disclaimers apply.

For what it’s worth, the folks at the T-Mobile store swapped my old SIM (a few months old) for a new, identical-looking one when I bought the Rocket. Something about SIM swaps solving issues that other people had when coming into the store with their smartphones. Also for what it’s worth, I’m running my tests from T-Mobile’s first no-overages plan: 5GB of data at top speed for $40 per month, throttled speeds thereafter.

I’ll be uploading pics of the Rocket, including what’s in the box and size comparisons with the older Rocket, shortly. But for now I’m laying off any uploads, since roommates are playing Call of Duty on my primary connection, a 20Mbit down, 2Mbit up Comcast residential connection.

Speaking of Call of Duty (specifically Black Ops on a PlayStation 3 slim), said roommate humored me when I asked him to switch from using my Comcast to my T-Mobile connection, routed from the Rocket 3.0 to Ethernet by my last-generation MacBook Pro (2GHz Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM, nVidia 9400M GPU) running Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard). He said that the connection was in the middle of the pack; he could tell that there was more latency than on the hard line, however the game was still very playable (knife kills included), a shining endorsement given the fact that Call of Duty is a first person shooter, and given the fact that I wasn’t using a dedicated mobile router to connect him to the web.

As far as raw latency goes, 1000 pings to mddhosting.com (the host of this site, based out of Denver in a well-connected data center) yielded the following details:

Minimum: 20.158 ms
Mean: 35.795 ms (many oings were in the 26-30ms range)
Max: 159.438 ms (only a couple of pings went this high)
Standard Deviation (Jitter): 14.855 ms (without outliers, this would’ve been a few ms lower)
Packet loss: 0% (that’s right, zero)

In comparison, the typical Qwest DSL connection around here runs between 24 and 46 ms to the same location, with a few milliseconds of jitter. Comcast bottoms out at around 10 ms, but averages 15-20 (jitter is 5-10 ms). Those are wireline connections. This is wireless service…based off of a cell tower. Pretty darned impressive, though in all fairness I started pinging shortly after 1:30 am…not exactly peak hours for traffic. Ping tests were done on my MacBook, which appears to perform better with the Rocket than either my IdeaPad U330 on Windows 7 or my friend’s nine-year-old ThinkPad T23 running Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal).

Next up, photos…

P.S. Comment with what paces you’d like me to put this device through. I don’t have enough data left on my plan to watch a full Netflix movie on it (in addition to other testing), but most everything short of that is doable.

Verizon WIreless – A Quick Test

Ian Littman — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 23:37:41 +0000

So up until now I’ve tested three of the four providers who have 3G service in Fredericksburg, TX: AT&T, Sprint and CricKet, listed in order of connection speed, descending. I was able to borrow a Verizon aircard from work (Novatel USB727) and check Verizon’s speed at my house. Here are the results:

Traceroute to Google:

traceroute to google.com (74.125.159.104), 64 hops max, 52 byte packets
1 64.sub-66-174-185.myvzw.com (66.174.185.64) 82.040 ms 71.681 ms 140.969 ms
2 127.sub-66-174-184.myvzw.com (66.174.184.127) 85.990 ms 88.710 ms 93.889 ms
3 146.sub-66-174-44.myvzw.com (66.174.44.146) 94.923 ms 99.735 ms 92.011 ms
4 235.sub-66-174-45.myvzw.com (66.174.45.235) 120.975 ms 88.777 ms 86.127 ms
5 194.sub-66-174-45.myvzw.com (66.174.45.194) 86.937 ms 99.731 ms 92.958 ms
6 98.sub-66-174-44.myvzw.com (66.174.44.98) 89.816 ms 92.702 ms 91.968 ms
7 6.sub-69-83-96.myvzw.com (69.83.96.6) 88.964 ms 90.749 ms 101.982 ms
8 3.sub-69-83-96.myvzw.com (69.83.96.3) 91.973 ms 89.745 ms 92.877 ms
9 253.sub-69-83-97.myvzw.com (69.83.97.253) 86.946 ms 87.701 ms 86.078 ms
10 gigabitethernet3-0-0.gw1.dfw7.alter.net (65.208.8.17) 93.040 ms 86.646 ms 86.916 ms
11 0.ge-2-1-0.xl3.dfw7.alter.net (152.63.103.6) 99.833 ms 102.809 ms 89.928 ms
12 0.ge-6-0-0.br2.dfw13.alter.net (152.63.96.181) 89.939 ms
0.ge-4-0-0.br2.dfw13.alter.net (152.63.96.45) 91.661 ms
0.ge-6-0-0.br2.dfw13.alter.net (152.63.96.181) 89.622 ms
13 te-5-1-0.edge2.dallas3.level3.net (4.68.111.121) 99.987 ms 116.649 ms
te-5-2-0.edge2.dallas3.level3.net (4.68.111.173) 90.885 ms
14 ae-83-80.ebr3.dallas1.level3.net (4.69.145.180) 92.662 ms
ae-73-70.ebr3.dallas1.level3.net (4.69.145.116) 92.622 ms
ae-63-60.ebr3.dallas1.level3.net (4.69.145.52) 97.740 ms
15 ae-7.ebr3.atlanta2.level3.net (4.69.134.22) 115.793 ms 137.608 ms 130.824 ms
16 ae-11-51.car1.atlanta1.level3.net (4.68.103.2) 120.070 ms 117.856 ms 116.900 ms
17 google-inc.car1.atlanta1.level3.net (4.78.209.194) 133.861 ms 118.900 ms 117.002 ms
18 209.85.254.241 (209.85.254.241) 122.982 ms 116.700 ms 119.880 ms
19 209.85.254.2 (209.85.254.2) 113.964 ms 120.700 ms
209.85.254.6 (209.85.254.6) 137.883 ms
20 yi-in-f104.1e100.net (74.125.159.104) 109.804 ms 129.913 ms 131.328 ms

Traceroute to SoftLayer (specifically, the server that hosts this website):

traceroute to echo.mddhosting.com (74.86.48.34), 64 hops max, 52 byte packets
1 64.sub-66-174-185.myvzw.com (66.174.185.64) 73.485 ms 72.917 ms 73.973 ms
2 127.sub-66-174-184.myvzw.com (66.174.184.127) 91.918 ms 94.745 ms 184.212 ms
3 146.sub-66-174-44.myvzw.com (66.174.44.146) 100.537 ms 99.876 ms 95.165 ms
4 235.sub-66-174-45.myvzw.com (66.174.45.235) 94.993 ms 100.098 ms 98.174 ms
5 194.sub-66-174-45.myvzw.com (66.174.45.194) 98.010 ms 99.438 ms 93.713 ms
6 98.sub-66-174-44.myvzw.com (66.174.44.98) 94.994 ms 89.077 ms 85.875 ms
7 6.sub-69-83-96.myvzw.com (69.83.96.6) 100.961 ms 105.189 ms 88.124 ms
8 3.sub-69-83-96.myvzw.com (69.83.96.3) 87.943 ms 96.379 ms 97.863 ms
9 253.sub-69-83-97.myvzw.com (69.83.97.253) 98.888 ms 68.155 ms 87.944 ms
10 gigabitethernet3-0-0.gw1.dfw7.alter.net (65.208.8.17) 86.948 ms 69.442 ms 96.147 ms
11 0.ge-2-1-0.xl3.dfw7.alter.net (152.63.103.6) 112.539 ms 89.027 ms 85.911 ms
12 0.so-6-0-0.gw3.dfw13.alter.net (152.63.100.73) 85.015 ms 91.726 ms 86.006 ms
13 internapgige1-gw.customer.alter.net (65.208.15.230) 113.416 ms 96.205 ms 98.848 ms
14 border3.tge3-1-bbnet1.ext1.dal.pnap.net (216.52.191.22) 125.890 ms 95.198 ms 74.901 ms
15 te2-1.cer03.dal01.dallas-datacenter.com (216.52.189.30) 93.058 ms 94.118 ms 95.968 ms
16 po3.dar02.dal01.dallas-datacenter.com (66.228.118.211) 99.913 ms 100.785 ms 107.881 ms
17 po2.fcr02.dal01.dallas-datacenter.com (66.228.118.182) 111.010 ms 92.603 ms 121.966 ms
18 echo.supportedns.com (74.86.48.34) 97.877 ms 96.688 ms 153.805 ms

So pings are a bit lower, on average, than either AT&T or Sprint. They’re also rather predictable, unlike those of CricKet. Then again, I have full EvDO signal sitting at the dining room table with the USB727′s antenna extended. For what it’s worth, this traceroute is pretty close, after the MyVZW hops, to what I see on the family’s brand-spanking-new DSL connection, though that can be expected since both services are from the same company.

Here’s a speedtest…

Well gosh, at least at my location Verizon is nearly as fast as AT&T on the downstream, respectable on the upstream and a good bit more enjoyable to use than AT&T. Heck, the EvDO connection soundly beats the new Verizon DSL, though the DSL connection doesn’t cost $60 per month, nor does it have a ridiculously low data transfer cap.

That said, I’m not the only one on the tower…

Still respectable, just not quite as nice.

Now for a ping test…

Right in line with what I’ve seen on Sprint EvDO, except with a little less latency.

The bottom line: Verizon knows how to run a solid mobile broadband network. So does Sprint. Whether one serves you better than the other depends on who has the big pipes to the towers in your area, and who has the towers in your area period.

Well, and there’s the question of whether you want a 10GB cap for $60 or unlimited service for $70, both via Millenicom of course…unless you really, really want to sign a contract in exchange for a free EvDO modem.

Which provider would I choose at this point, if I had to pick up mobile broadband again? Tough decision; I own an AT&T aircard and don’t want to sign a contract, so the other options have an added expensve for me. With that in mind, I might end up going with AT&T for a month or two, but Sprint if I needed a home replacement connection. If I didn’t need to use the connection as my only internet and didn’t have an AT&T card already, I’d likely choose Verizon, with Sprint as a very close second.

At this point though, for someone new to mobile broadband, there’s one company I wouldn’t recommend anyone to go with, at least for my area: AT&T.

Force 3G on a Sierra Wireless aircard on a Mac…here’s how

Ian Littman — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 04:18:02 +0000

So I bought an AT&T data plan earlier today. SIM-only, no contract. Pretty cool, since their less-than-a-month-old 3G network around here is still pretty speedy. I didn’t need an aircard as I purchased a Sierra Wireless USBConnect 881 back during the days of “unlimited” GoPhone data for $20. The card lay dormant after “unlimited” became 100MB (big difference) but today it meant the difference between signing a contract (aka not getting service) and not signing one.

One problem arose when I got home: my aircard kept switching to EDGE during the middle of a data session. Not a good thing for a $60 + taxes and fees data plan. So I needed to force 3G on the card. The problem there was that only the Windows Sierra and AT&T clients allow forced 3G. So (not knowing that settings are stored on the modem and thus once I set 3G-only on my Windows computer it would be 3G-only on my Mac) I scrounged around and found this page. I followed those instructions and was able to make sure my aircard was 3G-only.

If you don’t want to read through a (relatively short) page on how to kick your aircard into high gear, you’re in luck. Here’s what you’d do on a Mac to force-3G a Sierra aircard. Note that this procedure was performed on OS X 10.6.1 and with the Apple “native” driver installed (a tiny download from here). This is also with the latest modem firmware, which I had to use the Sierra driver (vs. the native one) to upgrade to.

Go to Terminal (Applications > Utilities)
Type in screen /dev/tty.wwanCMD 115200 and hit enter.
Type in AT!band? and hit enter.
If you see the number 02, you’re already locked into 3G-only mode. Otherwise, type in AT!band=02 and hit enter to set the mode. If you wanted to go 2G-only, the code would be 04 instead of 02. AUtoselect is 00.

Hope this helps! Now I’m cooking along with 2-3 bars of signal (-87 dBm right now) and pulling down these speeds:

Though connection quality is quite a bit more variable than Sprint’s (slower, particularly on uploads) connection at my place…

In comparison, SPrint usually pulls down 1.3 Mbps down, 300-500 kbps up and gets a B on connection quality.