Mobile broadband with Apple airport extreme

[Republik]

I about to take the plung and purchase a mobile USB broadband, with the promise of a faster connection speed and more reliable connection.

My Virgin Media connection is outputting at around 512k which is painful at times.

Are the USB mobile broadband connections 3G and are the directly compatible with An Airport Extreme base station, ie, can I just plug it straight into the USB socket on the back of it?

[Mag1calTrev0r]

I would find it highly unlikely! Sorry, I don't know of anything that would work like that other than sharing the Internet connection on a PC

[Charmless man]

To my knowledge...

Mobile Broadband will always try to connect via 3G if theres a signal. Not sure what you are trying to connect it through though?

[Republik]

Sorry, should've made it clear. The Airport Extreme is a wireless router. I'm trying to split the signal from the mobile brodband USB to an Imac, laptop, PS3 and Nintendo Wii. Just curious to know how I can achieve it.

[cjs]

So you want to share the 3G Broadband connection. I doubt you can just plug the stick into the Airport Extreme, would be interested to know.

Can you set the iMac up using the 3G stick then share the iMacs connection via the router?

The 3G speed will be pretty slow if you are sharing it between multi-users. Is you Virgin connection Cable or ADSL?

Edited by cjs on Thursday 4th February 09:58

[road_rager]

I have an airport extreme, and sadly the USB port will not support what you are trying to do

[Republik]

cjs said:

Can you set the iMac up using the 3G stick then share the iMacs connection via the router?

Would this mean having the iMac switched on at all times?

cjs said:

The 3G speed will be pretty slow if you are sharing it between multi-users. Is you Virgin connection Cable or ADSL?

Its ADSL and we have trouble with our phone line which means constant drops in connection and very slow speeds. I'd be interested to see how it compared speed wise to my current connection.

[Republik]

road_rager said:

I have an airport extreme, and sadly the USB port will not support what you are trying to do

I thought this might be the case. Is there a way to do it?

[Republik]

Learning on the job here. A 3G router will do the trick I'm guessing?

[itsnotarace]

Republik said:

road_rager said:

I have an airport extreme, and sadly the USB port will not support what you are trying to do

I thought this might be the case. Is there a way to do it?

Seeing as the Airport Extreme does not have a built in ADSL modem, I don't know whether you have ADSL or Cable via Virginmedia

One of these should do the trick if it's ADSL

http://www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk/Shop/ShopDetail.as...

Otherwise if it's cable get one without an integrated ADSL modem and save some money

However, read the terms and conditions for your preferred 3G because it will likely have a very restrictive fair use policy in the amount of downloads you can use. If I were you I would be exhausting all other avenues of getting a faster speed through your home broadband first before considering the 3G mobile option. Check on http://www.samknows.com/broadband/search.php to see if your local exchange has been unbundled, and if not then try a new faceplate and any other hacks on here: http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/socket.htm

Edited by itsnotarace on Thursday 4th February 10:26

[Republik]

Thanks, just ordered a faceplate for £8. It's worth a try.

[Mag1calTrev0r]

This might be an option for you. Just announced:

http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=22319

[bholleran]

It can be done using a Draytek 2820n router. Done it here and it works fine. Although it is an expensive router.

With that router you shold also be able to setup load balancing should you choose to also keep you adsl connection.

[Republik]

I've been fiddling with the master socket. Fitted a new adsl faceplate and removed the ring wire connection and I'm flabbergasted with the results. I reckon its tripled, maybe quadrupled in speed. Thanks for the help chaps.

Edited by Republik on Tuesday 9th February 20:44