I tested it this Summer.  There's a lot to like about the product depending
on how you want to use it.  The WiFi router is very good - I had no problems
connecting to it at all.  The range seems quite good for any boating use.

The MBR1000 accepts an "aircard" or a USB-to-mobile-phone connector to
create the connection to the cellular network to provide the internet
connection.  Once that internet connection is made, it acts as a WiFi router
to allow multiple computers to connect to the single internet connection
(the holy grail of internet connections on boats and the most frequent
question that people ask me about).

It will work really well with an aircard.  There are other products that do
that too though.  The really unique thing is that you should be able to
connect your mobile phone to it when on the boat to provide the internet
connection too.  In all fairness, it worked.  Unfortunately, it only works
with a small set of phones.  Cradlepoint publishes a list of phones that it
works with but it isn't easy to find.  You can get it here:
http://www.cradlepoint.com/techsupport/mbr1000support.php

I tried it with a variety of other phones - some very close to ones already
on the list.  None of the non-listed phones worked at all.  It seems that
they specifically look for a type of phone instead of just trying some
standard ways of connecting or allowing you to configure it.

One very nice thing about the device is that you can download new firmware
as it becomes available.  That would allow for other phones as they add them
to their list.

If it supported more phones, I'd get one immediately.

More information and issues about connecting your laptop to the internet
using cellular technology is available in article 11 of our 16 part series
(17 parts starting next week!).  "Connecting to a laptop" is available here:
http://www.activecaptain.com/GM/MobilePhones/Tethering.php

---=
Jeffrey Siegel
M/V aCappella
DeFever 53PH
W1ACA/WDB4350
Castine, Maine

www.activecaptain.com
Content, Communications, Community

..

On Nov 29, 2008, at 1:41 PM, Jim Barrentine wrote:

Yep, I have one on my boat for about the past 6 months.  The upgrades
come on a regular basis and open it up to more and more Cell Cards,
Phones, etc.  Like Jeff said you can attach your cell to it if it's on
the approved list, but there is another fun thing you can do.  You can
attach multiple internet sources to it and give them priorities.  An
example is that you can connect a lan based internet source to it and
if it goes down your cell card can take over.  There is also the
ability to pair internet sources together to get more bandwidth.
FYI, it's also resold by Kyocera as the KR2.

John Ford
KK44 Feisty Lady
Annapolis, MD

Jim Barrentine jbarrentine@ipa.net writes:

Just a quick note: if you want to muck around with your networking settings,
you can set a laptop to share an EVDO connection out via either ethernet or
WiFi. This will give you many of the benefits of a Cradlepoint type solution
at no additional cost. However, it's not particularly easy to set up (I'm in
the network software business and it took me several days to get it running
correctly).

By the way, last summer I ran an EVDO card shared to all the other computers
on my boat using this technique. Once I got it running it was flawless. The
only real problem is that due to not one but two shortsighted decisions on
the part of Microsoft and Nobeltec, you cannot run a shared internet
connection on the same network as a Nobeltec black-box radar. I know it seems
like a weird conflict, but it exists and it is not possible to resolve. In my
case, I got another ethernet card and ran a separate network for the radar.

Scott Welch
FirstClass Product Manager
www.firstclass.com

"Things turn out best for people who make the best of the way things turn
out." - John Wooden

"Ron Rogers" rcrogers6@kennett.net writes:

All reasonable. But the flip side is that a mass-market general-purpose PC
has lots of things going for it... starting with the 24" portrait-style
display.

Here's what I've done: my primary system consists of a clone PC (Windows XP)
running Nobeltec, with a Nobeltec black-box radar, Nobeltec solid-state
heading sensor, and a Furuno 600 depth sounder connected via NMEA. My
experience so far with this setup has been excellent.

My backup consists of a Garmin GPS, a Simrad radar, and an Interphase
sonar/sounder. These are completely stand-alone and are just fine if and when
the primary system fails. So far, I've only needed to use this once, when the
Nobeltec GPS went away to never-never land (a reboot solved the problem).

Finally, I have a laptop that I use for my EVDO routing. I also run a $39
puck GPS and a backup copy of Nobeltec on that machine, so I have backup maps
if I need them.

The autopilot is a Comnav 1001, fed via NMEA from Nobeltec and driving a 24
volt reversing hydraulic pumpset. It's powered by the 24 volt house bank.

There are two obvious points of failure with this system: the autopilot and
the steering ram. I carry a rebuild for the latter, and this summer I will be
installing a second Comnav autopilot and pumpset. This will not be networked,
but will be completely stand-alone. It will be powered from the 24 volt start
bank.

By the way, all of the power for the navigation instruments and lights goes
through an two-way selector, allowing me to draw power either from the 12
volt house bank or from the 12 volt genset start bank. The only exceptions to
this are the autopilot and SSB, which require 24 volts.

Scott Welch
FirstClass Product Manager
www.firstclass.com

"Things turn out best for people who make the best of the way things turn
out." - John Wooden

"Richard Tomkinson" capnrich@wavecable.com writes:

Good point. In my case the autopilot uses a solid-state driver, and I am
duplicating that box in the backup autopilot.

Scott Welch
FirstClass Product Manager
www.firstclass.com

"Things turn out best for people who make the best of the way things turn
out." - John Wooden