At 2:49 PM -0800 2/18/2010, wren wrote:
Tiger on my Pismo.
I am moving to an uber rural location soon and one major candidates for broadband access is: datajack. Datajack needs to confirm their coverage map covers our location - but they suggest it will work. Problem: their web site shows that their equip will work with any intel Mac. I have no intel Macs. Checking their download page, they mention Leopard and Snow Leopard. Calling their customer service, one of their people said that he personally hooked up the Datajack usb modem to his friends non-intel Mac and it worked fine. When I asked which OS, I was told, "I don't know. Just buy the latest OS and you'll be fine." Do any of you have any thoughts on whether I could get my Pismo running Tiger to hook up to DataJack services?
http://www.datajack.com/home
+ Nice device - an iCon
Option 452 USB Modem -- a USB stick that does both 2.5G (EDGE)
and 3G (HSPA). And it even functions as a memory stick, using
MicroSD cards.
+ Looks like DataJack uses T-Mobile service, a hybrid network
with pretty good availability.
- The USB device itself is NOT included in the $40/mo. It's
an additional $99.99 purchase!
- As one of the other folx in this thread mentions, USB devices
require drivers. I see no driver on the site for Tiger. I
cannot even download the Leopard driver to inspect it - they won't
give it to you unless you have a valid serial number from the device.
I found *one* post on broadbandreports.com that says their older
driver works on both Tiger and Leopard, but that could be in error -
the user only actually tested it on a MacBook (x86) running
Leopard.
- DataJack does NOT have a large allocation of public IP
addresses available. So... they run a NAT based network,
assigning client computers private IP addresses (192.168.x.x or
10.x.x.x). That's basically like what you'd see if you used a
home/office router, a single public IP and all the private IPs you
want. The problem with DataJack doing this at the ISP level is
that all their customers share a single public IP. And you DO
NOT have control over any port mapping (forwarding) -- so you cannot
run any inbound services. This breaks public file sharing,
identd, irc dcc, torrent seeding, many 'net based games, etc.
- Their "support" seems to be just an email form, no
real information on the site.
- Not finding much good being said about them, on sites like
broadbandreports.com. Posts there show people getting 150Kb to
1.5 Mbps -- not the full 3G speeds of 7 Mbps that the site touts.
Seeing a few reports of driver issues; people having to downgrade
etc.
- The company seems to be spamming on Twitter, identical
recommendations to use their service from multiple accounts, disguised
as customer recommendations.
- Saw several current comments alluding to legal problems
involving their wholesale agreement with T-Mobile. Donno if true
or not.
Bottom line: Try DataJack only with extreme caution, if
they offer a full money-back guarantee, and a positive commitment to
that driver running on Tiger.
HTH,
- Dan.
--
- Psychoceramic Emeritus; South Jersey, USA, Earth.
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