http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r20908767 en Wed, 11 Nov 2009 02:17:50 EDT Wed, 11 Nov 2009 02:17:50 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,21176325 CMoore2004 : I can tell you I had one of Centennial's aircards and wasn't impressed the least bit, even in their native service area. Then, they screwed me out of all kinds of money for returning it, even within the 2 week trial period, and billed me for two seperate plans on the same card. Then, we canceled all of our phones because of them screwing us, and they screwed us again, pointing to the part in the contract where we have to give them 30 days written notice to cancel service.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,21176325 Fri, 26 Sep 2008 23:23:02 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,21154919 anon : webcruiser - you are right on the 2.7Mbs...well below the 5GB caps

Centennial owns/operates their own network in Michigan, Indiana and Louisiana so if they deploy and offer the speeds higher than AT&T's 3.6Mbps then the answer is yes that you could get them assuming you are in their area of operation. If you are in a roaming area (non-centennial towers/network) then you are limited to the capacity of the roaming partners and even down to specific towers..Kind of like having a 3G iPhone, if you are in a 2G area you'll only get 2G.
Webcams are streamers so unless it is taking still pictures every few minutes, or you are activating it remotely for a few minutes then disabling the camera it will use a lot of uplink data. One thing you should look at for this type of application is what the operators uplink speeds are - uplink speeds are always significantly slower than downlink.. like if you are getting 3.6Mb download - you'll be lucky to get 200kbps uplink - thats just they way wireless networks are designed because most users are downloading not uploading.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,21154919 Tue, 23 Sep 2008 12:01:44 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,21121344 webcruiser2 : Hi, guys..

In response to the Centennial unlimited data plan for $40 per month. I talked to my local Centennial dealer about this 5G cap thing and they said they have never heard of it and it is news to them? So, wonder where this info is coming from. I plan to call their 800 number to see if I can research this further. I will post what I find out about that.

Another point of interest.. for my area.. up north MI, east side, not Upper Peninsula. I am only getting 70kb download and 40kb upload on the Sierra 881U through centennial wireless. THat is only 1.5 times what I am getting on dialup?

I did try the Altell UT150 USB aircard on 15 day trial and I did get as high as 768kb downloads but at the moment can't remember the upload speeds. But, that was about 10x the speed of the centennial card.

Also, I am curious if you know, the Altell card totes a 3.1 MB max download and the Centennial card says theirs is capable of 7.2 MB download.. does this mean in time once they get their updating done that Centennial wireless will be way above Altell or ATT with their cards at 3.6 MB's? I mean don't they just buy time off the big guys towers and resell?? Centennial doesn't actually own their own towers do they?

And I do have an ATT Sierra 881 PC air card at 3.6 MBs that I was never told they have a 5G cap but I don't if have ever hit that in a month's time either.. but know I have done at least 277,000K.. is that about 2.7 MBs?

So, am curious should I wait till maybe next spring to see what the fallout is before I decide on going with either an Alltel or Centennial data card or if I were to run my ATT card 24/7..would I ever hit 5G's??? I dont do music downloads or videos but I do run internet cameras over the web now and then to monitor my property.. do these use alot of data even if they are sitting idle?

Thanks
webcruiser2]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,21121344 Tue, 16 Sep 2008 19:26:59 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,21120551 anon : One other thing - if you read any operators fine print contract, you'll find a cap of some kind for Data plans , they just don't advertise it (AT&T's "Unlimited" data plan is actually capped at 5GB as well.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,21120551 Tue, 16 Sep 2008 17:05:38 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,21120522 anon : I sell the Ericsson W25 for a living, just happended to hit your site - You should have no issues with VPN when connected to the internet through the W25 - it allows for VPN pass-through. The latest firmware released late August 2008 actually allows you to create a VPN tunnel to a Cisco Pix/VPN Concentrator right from the W25 so you wouldn't need extra VPN's running on the devices behind it if you set that up. Centennial will be upgrading their network soon to 3G so you should see a huge improvement very soon, check their site for more details. If the network is there - the W25 is capable of 7.2Mbps dowlink and 384kbps uplink (HSDPA) and it is backwards compatible to Edge/GPRS. Those speeds will be available soon in the U.S.A as the operators upgrade their wireless networks..just takes time/money. Edge speeds don't affect the VPN..except the perceived slowness that comes from having experienced higher speeds. The 5GB thing..There are statistics from all around the world - most broadband subscribers users use 3GB on average, maybe check your utilization to see if this would really be a problem. The WiFi on the W25 typically goes about 200-300 feet but based on the topology you describe it might not meet your needs. What you could do is connect the 1st W25 to the Centennial Network, and then use a 2nd Linksys Wifi router connected to one of the W25's ethernet connections (running a cable closer to your desired location) Not ideal but could work. I'd put my email in here but don't want spam - go to Ericsson's website and click on the asq link to submit a question - it will get to me within 2 days.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,21120522 Tue, 16 Sep 2008 17:02:21 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,21102241 webcruiser2 : Hi, Btech..

Wondering how you made on your quest and hope you might have some insight to help me out? I too am in a remote area in MI, no DSL, no cable, no wifi other than what I want to create myself and am relying on aircard for internet access.

Have lots of topographical with trees, hills and rolling terrain. I have checked out both altell aircard (UM150)which is EVDO and Centennial (Sierra 881U)(GMS/HSPDA) and like the idea of the MI unlimited data plan for $40/per month versus $60 with altell but didn't know Centennial had a cap of 5G???? How have you gotten past that??? Changed card providers or plans?

I am wanting to create wi-fi and need to send signal about 600 ft, so already bought Wi-EZ 510 dual band wireless repeater and am now looking into Cradlepoint MBR1000 or Kyocera K2 router but not sure if they are compatible with the Centennial card and band?

Had experimented with a Meraki gateway/repeater but couldn't get to work so thinking now of open mesh system unless I just give on all this and decide to go back to Wildblue satellite setup and can get 1.5 megs for $60 a month I think??? Have you checked into that or heard of it?

Just unsure how to repeat and/or enhance signal to get it out far enough but yet still be secure without having two SSID? Don't know if I can use two wireless routers or repeater or another booster..any thoughts?? :)

Thanks
webcruiser2]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,21102241 Sat, 13 Sep 2008 00:05:20 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20924199 btech : well. No replies eh? Fair Enough. Might someone at least tell me, I am going a different route, I'm going to use an AirCard with Unlimited Access.

How will EDGE speeds affect my VPN + VNC connections?

Thanks again for the help!]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20924199 Sat, 09 Aug 2008 10:14:24 EDT http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20908767 btech : Hey Guys.

I'm planning on moving my business into a remote area in Lakeview, MI. Zip Code 48850. No Broadband of any kind in the area. I do however get great reception with Centennial Wireless. They offer an "Unlimited" Data Plan for $45/Month.

They also have a few different AirCards, but I wanted something that would allow me to share the access throughout the home.

Enter the Ericsson W25. »www.fixedwirelessterminal.com/er···dex.html

$99 for activation + $45/month for Unlimited Access.

Seems like a great deal to me. It is EDGE however.

Im curious if anyone has any experience with either products (the Ericsson W25, or Centennials "Unlimited" Data plan) and what type of speed and reliability I should expect.

I plan on connecting to my office via a VPN connection, and I have VNC Servers running on all the PC's so that I can connect remotely.

Will any of this be an issue? How about gaming? What sort of Latency can I expect.

Any Info is appreciated.

THANKS!

**EDIT** The plan is capped. 5 GB. The service adviser was mistaken. That really soils my enjoyment. How will this affect what im trying to do? 5 GB up/down just doesn't seem like enough bandwidth. ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20908767 Wed, 06 Aug 2008 14:32:25 EDT