Re: [tlug] mobile internet access

["Michael(tm) Smith" <smith@example.com>]

Lex Miller <lex.miller@example.com>, 2007-09-13 16:27 +0900:

> I have a nice (albeit slightly aging) Dell Latitude X1 currently
> running Ubuntu Feisty. I'd like to be able to have internet access
> when away from home, and I know that there are a few such cards
> available via Docomo, KDDI, Willcom in Japan. For example the Willcom
> range is:
> http://www.willcom-inc.com/en/lineup/data/index.html

It's possible to use Willcom's AIR-EDGE PC-card modems under
Linux. At least I was doing that a couple of years ago when I had
a Thinkpad and an AIR-EDGE card. I think it pretty much just
worked off-the-shelf with the kernel and modules from the default
Debian laptop install I did on it. So I think there is existing
Linux support for those (developed by third parties, I think not
from Willcom).

I've never tried with the Docomo or KDDI cards and don't know
whether there's Linux support for them.

Another option to consider is e-mobile -

  http://emobile.jp/products/

They have both HSDPA (3.6Mbps max) PC-card and USB modems, and I
think you can also use their EM-ONE PDA (running Windows Mobile)
as a wireless modem over Bluetooth. The have a flat-rate unlimited-
use data plan for around 6000 yen a month. As far as I know,
neither Docomo or KDDI have flat-rate plans for their data cards.
Willcom does, but even their fastest currently available modems
are much slower than e-mobile's HSDPA rate, and will cost you more
money for a flat rate than the 6000 yen/month from e-mobile.

The main limitation with e-mobile is that there current coverage
area is not nearly as big as the others; if you're in the Kanto
area, it's basically Tokyo and some limited parts of surrounding
areas: out to parts of the Yokohama and other nearby areas in
Kanagawa-ken (e.g., I can get coverage at the Keio SFC campus
where I work, near Fujisawa), but not Saitama or most of Chiba.

I know there is a similar coverage pattern in Kansai, but not sure
about the details (nor about what other cities/areas outside of
Kanto and Kansai currently have coverage).

> Question: Do any Linux laptop users successfully use any of these cards?

If running Linux under a virtual machine on a MacBook qualifies me
as a Linux laptop user, then I'm using one successfully: an
e-mobile USB modem. I works great, though the speeds I see from it
are typically closer to 1.5-2.0Mbps than they are to the 3.6Mbps
max that it's supposedly capable of (that said, when I had a
Willcom AIR-EDGE card, I think it was supposed to be 128Kbps max,
but seemed to operate most of the time around 64Kbps or less).

The only problem I've run into with e-mobile (other than the
limitations of the coverage area) is that the modem automatically
disconnects exactly 6 hours after it being connected. (I don't
remember seeing any mention of that in the terms of service when I
bought it and subscribed to the service, but I guess it's some way
to try to limit/prevent certain kinds of uses/abuses of it.
Regardless, it's annoying and I've yet to find any to configure it
to not drop connections at 6 hours.)

  --Mike

-- 
Michael(tm) Smith
http://people.w3.org/mike/
http://sideshowbarker.net/

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