 Sydney Boat Show 2008 was the ideal place to trial the new Netcomm N3G002W to
distribute internet to computers on the stand.
While other devices offering to share Next G / 3G internet
have been on the market for years, the N3G002W retailing
at about $230 represents a serious price breakthrough
for providing this type of solution. The scenario is
simple, but only recently possible. "How
do we network and provide
internet to a number of notebooks or computers for
a temporary office or work space?"
The N3G002W allows you to share your Telstra Next G wireless broadband device
as 802.11G Wifi hotspot. The computers and notebooks
then wifi to the N3G002W and then out to the Internet.
Test:
Set up proved easy. I use the Sierra AC875 PCMCIA card
on the Telstra Next G network. Its normally
shoved in the side of my Toshiba U205
notebook. Instead, you take the card and insert it into
the slot of the N3. I then connected the notebook to
the N3 via the supplied ethernet cable. DCHP supplied
the IP and I was able to connect to the web interface
at the ip address specified in the easy to read manual.
The Sierra card had already been recognised and after
folllowing the wizard process, I set up the SSID name
and security for the 802 hot spot, speficied that I
was on the Telstra Next G. After a device reboot, connection
to the net was established as displayed on the easy to
read stats page. The two blue lights on the AC875 also
verified that that we were online.
Pulling the plug on the ethernet, WIFI connection was
then easy established and set up complete. We could now
roam the stand with the notebooks and show off the Cumberland
Charter Yachts bareboats web site, videos, etc. It worked
well, and also enabled to give the guy in the next stand
access to the net via our hotspot!
The next test will be providing a portable wireless Internet
hot spot while out on the water, probably at Nara inlet,
Whitsundays. In that scenario, we will have people on
different boats come back through the N3 to get to the
net on my Next G Internet connection, further empowered
with a high gain antenna.. Should be easy, and a great
way to perhaps make a few extra
bucks
supplying
internet to fellow cruising yachties and travellers!
There are a number of other functions availble from the device, and connection
is possible using other 3G, Next G internet connection
devices from Tesltra, Optus and Vodafone. Telstra's
superior coverage and speed make it the obvious choice
to combine with Netcomm N3G002W, if you are going remote.
 All
this technology is for ChannelWhitsunday.com,
which broadcasts the Whitsundays to the world
via the Internet.
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