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Sierra Wireless PC card not Mac-compatible; what wireless PC card is?


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Sierra Wireless PC card not Mac-compatible; what wireless PC card is?
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malcolm
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Canada
 
2005-06-28, 17:53

Hi there,
Following up on someone's advice, it seems the best solution for me might be a card for my powerbook (running Mac OSX, Panther) that will allow me to connect to the internet wirelessly.
I already have wireless built into my powerbook... yet it seems I need something like a Sierra Wireless PC card, like the 'AirCard 555'... at least that's what the Bell Mobility guy said.
Problem is, this particular card isn't supported for Mac OS.
So...
Can someone recommend another card (that fits into the pcmcia slot), like the AirCard 555, that will allow me to wirelessly connect to the internet, etc.

Any advice is appreciated.
Thanks,
Malcolm
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rasmits
rams it
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Seattle
 
2005-06-28, 18:11

If you're connecting to any 802.11b/g base station, you can use the wireless you've got built into your PowerBook.
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malcolm
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Canada
 
2005-06-29, 08:36

Thanks Rasmits, but I just don't understand something. I know I've got wireless built into my powerbook, but I thought I had to be in a coffee shop or someplace like this, in order to use it.

I'm going to be on an island, a couple of miles from the closest transmitter tower. I know I can get a good cell phone connection from where I'll be, but it never occurred to me that my Airport card would pick up anything. Am I wrong about this? Will my built-in Airport card pick up signals as effectively as a cell phone?

Maybe I need to find out what company is transmitting from this tower, and ask if it's an '802.11b/g' station? If it is, then from what you're saying, I should be able to get the signal without having to add any other cards. Is that right?
(I guess I'd have to pay to join this network first).
I'd appreciate it if you, or anyone, can make this clear to someone (me) who's admittedly very muddled on the subject!
Malcolm
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pv2b
Member
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
 
2005-06-29, 09:17

Oh, you mean cellular phone stuff!

There are at least three relevant classes of wireless technologies to cover here:
  • 802.11b/g (or Airport)
  • Cellular
  • Bluetooth

802.11b/g (or Airport) will allow you to connect to wireless base stations in your immediate environment. This might be a home Airport station, a corporate wireless network, a wireless "hotspot", or some random home user's unprotected wireless network.

The thing about Airport is that you need to be close to a hotspot to use it, and they can be hard to find depending on where you are. The advantage of it, is that it's usually cheaper and faster than cellular. Often, these hotspots will be free of charge for usage, other times you'll have to pay a fee to use them. (Usually you pay for a chunk of time, X hours or days.)

Cellular on the other hand is what your mobile phone provider is offering. I don't know what specific kind of mobile data your provider is providing (UTMS, GPRS, EDGE or some other kind of technology I'm not aware of). These technologies are generally slower than wireless hotspots, and are usually somewhere between a 56k modem and slow residential broadband in speed, but there are obviously cases where hotspots may be slower.

This tends to be a lot more expensive than hotspots too. Most providers will charge you per megabyte downloaded, but I hear one provider in the US is providing a flat rate plan for a rather high monthly amount. The advantage of these technologies, is that the coverage area is much larger. As long as your mobile provider has high speed data coverage in your area, you'll be able to get a connection.

To connect to these types of networks, you need either a compatible cellular high speed data PC Card, or connect your computer to a high speed data capable cellular phone.

A connection to a high speed data cellular phone can be made either using a USB data cable, or via bluetooth if the phone is bluetooth capable.

Bluetooth is a short-range wireless connection mainly used to connect cell phones and PDAs and computers and wireless headsets and such stuff. Chances are good that your computer is already outfitted with bluetooth if it's a powerbook, but your cellphone may not be capable of this. Check the specificiations on your cell phone to be sure that it supports the relevant high speed data system you want to use and bluetooth. Or that there's a USB cable available to connect it to your powerbook.

Now, typically, cellular phones are always possible to connect to Macs as long as data cables or bluetooth is available, since the interface they present to a Macintosh is the same as that of a standard modem on a standard serial port. The details of getting a connection can sometimes be quite tricky, but if you're lucky, a fellow mac user will already have figured out how to connect your particular cell phone to a Mac.

Personally, I'd probably go with a cell phone solution. It's probably cheaper if your cell phone already supports the high speed data system you want to use, and it'll probably be possible to get it work with your Mac.

Now, if you are intent on using a data card, they have their advantages too, they should be easier to set up if they are actually Mac compatible, and they are more convenient than connecting cell phones to your mac... I know that some data cards, however, WILL work on a Macintosh. Over here in Sweden, the prevalent high speed data systems are GPRS and UTMS, and cards that supports Macs with these systems are available.

Personally, I use cellular high speed data very rarely. When I do, I use an external USB bluetooth module to connect to my cell phone (a Siemens S55) to my iBook G3, and I use GPRS, which gives me speeds slightly faster than a 56k modem, for which I'm charged per data transferred. To get the S55 to work with the iBook was not that difficult as soon as I found a set of "init scripts" written by another Mac user to connect to Siemens cell phones.

Anyway, I hope this helps. If you want more specific advice on cards and phones, you're going to have to tell us where you live, which kind of high speed data system you're planning to use, whether your Mac is bluetooth capable, and which cell phone you have.
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