How to Install AirCard onto a Mac

To install a Sprint S620 card into a Macintosh laptop.

The laptop must have the PCI slot. The PowerBooks have the needed PCI slot. The most common PowerBook you will see with the right slot for direct (no adapter needed) connection is a G3 or G4 15" or larger. (Sprint and Novatel will tell you that you need a G4, but the G3 can run OSX and also has the correct slot) The 12" PowerBooks do not have them and iBooks do not have the slot either. The new MacBook Pro has an ExpressCard slot. The solution to getting these to work would be a USB adapter (doing research on these now). NOTE: There is some material that says the cards will not work with the USB connector and others who say that they do. The trick is finding the adapter for the Mac that has the OSX drivers.

First, install the PC and use the lock code, etc on a Windows laptop as usual. If you get an error message when it is trying to "Update Profile", simply click out of it and the connection manager then goes to "Disconnected". Try connecting. This usually works.

If you do not have a laptop laying around with Windows on it, ask another trucker if they have one and they would not mind helping out another trucker. Usually they will say yes. You might even get another sale of an aircard out of it. (Seriously. I sold 3 this way.)

Shut down the Windows laptop and remove the PC card.

Go to the Mac. It must be running OSX (most of them do now). In the top left corner you will see a little apple icon. Click on it and choose "About this Mac" from the menu. This will tell you the operating system and version. (If you want to check out the other things available on that Mac, you can choose "more info". This opens the System Profiler and allows you to access all the information on components, etc. found on that Mac.

The easiest way to do the install is to be sure they have OSX 10.4.4 or greater running on their computer. If they do, you can skip this next portion. (Current version is 10.4.7)

If they do not have OSX 10.4.4, then click the icon beneath the OSX version that says "Software Updates". This will pull up a window with a list of things and little checkmarks next to whatever items they can update. Unclick everything except the OSX version. Leave that box checked.

Click through to continue updating. Make sure the computer is plugged into power. If the customer is not on Wifi, plug in an ethernet cable and run it to the router for DSL if you have it. Otherwise, they need to somehow have access to the internet.

When the download finishes (it can take a while, depending on the connection speed) the dialog box will ask you if you want to shut down or restart. Choose restart. Unplug the ethernet cable if you had it plugged in.

When the computer is loaded up again:

Slide the Merlin card into the PCI slot. On the top right side of the very top bar you will see several icons which could include a thing that looks like a fan (airport card), a megaphone (sound), battery, time, bluetooth and a little magnifying glass.

When the card is recognized (it recognizes it in a flash) another icon will appear that looks like the antenna symbol on the regular Sprint connection manager. Put your cursor over that and click. A menu will pop down with several choices. Choose "connect". When you are connected, the two up/down half arrows will appear to the right of the antenna symbol. You are good to go.

Open up Safari or Internet Explorer or any web browser. You should be flying on the internet. These cards are by far faster on Macs!

You can disconnect the same way you connected. Or, you can also just click, hold and drag the antenna icon into the garbage can.

Macs make these things so simple. Everything works well together and you do not get conflicts like the ones you get with Windows.

Apparently this also works with the Cingular card, but I have not installed that yet, so I don't know if there are extra steps.

Resources:
Apple Downloads - http://www.apple.com/downloads
Sprint's Directions - http://www4.sprint.com/pcsbusiness/downloads/MacOS_QuickStart.pdf


Questions? Just ask as they come up.

More USB adapters

Sewell Direct also offers another version of the USB adapter for aircards. "This adapter lets you turn any USB port into an available PCMCIA slot... The adapter is specifically made for wireless data cards, meaning you can access the internet through your data card on a machine that does not carry a PCMCIA slot. The device will run on laptops or desktop PCs (no Macintosh support available)." Cost is $139 for one card. Website http://sewelldirect.com/U-111-USB-to-PCMCIA-Adapter-16-Bit.asp

2GB Micro SD Card Announced

"SanDisk has got you covered with its new 2GB microSD card. First to market with a two gig flavor of this type of card, SanDisk has given VZW a 60-day exclusive for selling it in the US, while the rest of the world should be able pick it up at any number of locations. Available immediately, this card -- with its 1,000 song capacity -- will set you back an even $100, and probably less if you can find one of the OEM versions that SanDisk also announced." 2GB of storage also could be used to download a movie and watch it on your cell phone or PDA!

Link to Check Speeds of AirCards

DJ sent this out in an email. Very great info!

"Below is a site link that will allow you to do and upload/download speed test for the air cards.

Keep in mind that the speed of either aircard is also dependant on the
individual laptop.

http://www.internetfrog.com/mypc/speedtest/"

PS - I tested this on two Mac computers and it works for Macs as well. It displays and baselines both upload and download speeds.

Elan USB Connectors for AirCards & Other Options

Adrianna Amaral, DJ Carter, Mike Kinman and I have been searching for a work around for the new PC slots. These are slimmer and called ExpressCard. All of the new Dell computers seem to have these. Assorted other models within a manufacturer's range also seem to have them. The new MacBook Pro also uses Express Cards. I have taken customers to Circuit City to check the PC slots. I found a mix within the same brand. Sadly, you can't discover this most of the time on the Specs of the box or sheets. It just isn't listed. The only way to tell for sure is to pop out the dummy card. If it looks like it has a step in it, then it's the new slot. If it is pretty much rectangular, then you are good to go with our AirCards.

If you haven't come across this problem, you probably don't sell very many AirCards. For those stores busy with AirCard sales, this has been an irritating cause for lost sales or returned AirCards.

At one point I had found a USB connector that created a PCMCIA slot for an AirCard. I ordered it for a customer and it cost about $50 with $10 shipping. Sadly, all the bookmarks at the store were "redone" and now that information is lost, unless I can sleuth it out again.

Until then, Elan makes two such USB connectors. The U111 (works with both the Sierra Cingular card and the Sprint Merlin we sell as well as older models). You can click this link to buy it for $130 (until I can source a less expensive alternative). http://www.teampctechnology.com/product_detail.php?id=511

The touted U132 doesn't seem to be for sale anywhere yet, although all the releases state it is already out. The estimate for the cost on the U132 is $150-200, although I am not clear on what the difference is. As near as I can tell, it is more of a style difference. The lines seem a little more sleek on the U132. On the site above, however, the company uses the photo for the new adapter, not the previous one.

Elans site for sourcing where to buy their products is here http://www.elandigitalsystems.com/buyourproducts.php


STOMPBOX - A geek with too much time, or a lot of volition created his own solution to this problem AND his creation let's you create a wireless hotspot with an EVDO connection. Conceivably, this would also work with the Sierra Card. Looks easy enough to make (ahem), a little awkward in design for in a truck, but interest enough to mention. Dubbed the StompBox, you should check it out at http://mobilitytoday.com/news.php?n=004735&p=evdo_stomp_box

CDMA EVDO USB Modem - Compact and cool. Has a SIM slot, but why is it there for a CDMA piece of equipment? No one is sure. This is still in developement, but looks very SWEET. Still to be released by Falcom as the SAMBA 3G.

A cheaper Junxion Box: Kyocera KR1 Portable Router. This gets you the same PCMCIA slot and then distributes your EVDO signal like wifi. At $299, it saves $300+ over the Junxion Box. The Kyocera EVDO router has four 10/100 ports and one slot for an EVDO PC card. It supports up to 2.4 Mbps download, which pretty much as fast as you can go right now.

Users can use the 802.11b/g connection or plug their computers directly into the ethernet ports. All the standard router features are there, firewall, DHCP, NAT and access control.

Juxion Box and PC to PCMCIA

The Junxion Box is a spendy little item. Looks pretty cool, but of course, bulky. The manufacturers website gives you all sorts of geeky goobly gook, but not really a clear picture of what this gadget does. That is fairly sad, since they would probably sell more and be able to bring down their price a bit. Basically, Junction Box connects to a laptop or PC via either ethernet or wifi. It looks similar to the box modems in days of yore, yet a little more stylistic for today's consumer. You slip your AirCard into the slot, and you get your cellular high speed internet where ever you are in range of this beauty.

The manufacturer says: "At Junxion we're excited about the future of wireless data services. We've also decided it’s high time for more organizations and people to begin enjoying the benefits of the relatively high-speed networks already available through wireless carriers. Which is why we’ve introduced the Junxion Box™, a device with patent-pending Junxion Platform™ firmware that creates new opportunities for tapping into the cellular Internet today...and with upgradeability to ensure a long useful life as the evolution of wireless network technologies continues to accelerate."

Price? For ethernet only $599 and $699 for ethernet and wifi. It is interesting to note that with this price tag, they only show cartoony renditions of the Junxion Box on their website. Who knows what it REALLY will look like.

Website: http://www.junxion.com/index.html

Here is the tried and true (and cheap) solution for those odd customers who ask if they can use their AirCard in a PC. It's simple. It's easy. It's the SYBA PCMCIA PCI to Cardbus Add-on Card Model SD-PCI-PCM! Whoo Hoo! The same card is made by many manufacturers. This one is one of the highest rated by consumers. This card fits into any PCI card slot on your PC and converts that slot into a PCMCIA.

Price? $19.99 from New Egg

Website: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16815124021




Lastly, and something that should be super exciting to all of us, Novatel is working with Sprint to offer a USB EVDO.

This is what they say about it: "This EVDO USB adapter made its debut at CTIA last week with open arms. It is primarily targeted to owners of desktops or smaller laptops that lack PCMCIA slots, but still want some EVDO love. For example all of the MacBook Pros and six different Dell laptop models lack PCMCIA slots.

It operates at USB 2.0 speeds, includes Windows and Max OS X drivers and can even attach to the USB port directly or with a USB cable. Novatel will be shipping this device with Sprint service later this year."

Price? One can only guess.

Website: http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/wireless/novatel-usb-evdo-adapter-166223.php

Greetings All

Welcome! I thought that I would toss together a blog where we could all share information. This came to me with the ExpressCard slot to PCMCIA adapter situation. As you find stuff that's relevant or interesting, or helpful, toss up a quick post.

I will add more as I find it.