Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Smallest 3G Router on market that works with Verizon, October 24, 2009
This stylish product is made by LevelOne, has by far the smallest footprint of all routers I have seen, and appears to work with the widest range of 3G modems.
The 3G broadband router turns your 3G wireless broadband into a WiFi connection. Why would you want to do that?
a) to let several computers share one 3G wireless broadband connection simultaneously
b) to use the internet at a place in the house where the cell phone signal is not so great, i.e. place the router where the signal is strong and let it send "the internet" on to your laptop in the basement
The router has an amazing number of advanced settings and features to lock down and filter traffic, so security should not be a problem if you want to set your home network up in any imaginable configuration. It almost works out of the box, just follow the instructions in the small quick start guide provided: attach antenna, insert PCMCIA card, connect the supplied ethernet cable to your PC, connect power. Then start browser and go to 192.168.0.1 , enter password, move to advanced, select 3G under WAN (yes, under WAN) and it is ready. The only thing to know is that for the Verizon PC5750 PCMCIA EVDO card the following settings apply:
Dial-Number: #777
Username: xxxxxxxxxxx@verizonwireless.com (where you put your cell number)
password: vzw
The PC card has to have been activated, which means it has to have been used before. If you don't know your cell number, insert the PC5750 into the computer and connect, the number will appear in the bottom of the Verizon Access Manager software.
By default the wireless network is open, so should be secured. The router antenna output power can be adjusted if you don't need to cover a large area.
I called Technical Support before purchasing and they were prompt and knowledgable.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Gets my router award of the year, November 19, 2009
I wanted to tell you about the Level One WBR-3800 - if you need a WiFi router, this is the one to get. It is a regular router, to begin with - WiFi, one WAN port to connect to your DSL or cable modem, one LAN port so you can hook up your laptop and manage it, otherwise a normal 802.11b/g wireless router. I would have liked it to be 802.11b/g/N, but then again, your internet connection, if you're lucky, runs at maybe 10 megabits per second, and 802.11b is 11 Mbps already, so necessary it is not. But now the fun starts.
This little router is able to act as both a wireless bridge and a wireless Access Point at the same time. This is unusual. What it means is that you can set up your network with one range of IP addresses, use a secondary router to extend your wireless network footprint, and have that router set up in bridge mode, effectively acting as a repeater on the Level One. It can actually handle multiple bridged routers, something I have not tried, but if you get ambitious, or if you want to use this thing to network your schoolhouse, you can. But we're not done.
The WBR-3800 can use a cellular modem as its internet provider, as well! That can be a GPRS modem (or phone!), an EDGE modem, a 3G modem, a 3.5G modem, or one of those EV-DO contraptions Sprint and Verizon provide. I found it can't just handle the modems and cellphones it has in its compatibility list, two phones that are not it did not have a problem with, either (but one card and one new phone I just got did not work). You either use a PCMCIA data card (they're available all over, I just bought two for $24) or a modem or cellphone that can connect via a USB cable. If you are clever, you use a phone that charges off the USB port, so you won't have to worry about your battery or a separate charger - Motorola's phones do, for instance, Nokia's generally do not.
Now, you can set up the cellular data call parameters (normally available at your mobile phone company's website), and use the router over a cellular connection. But we're not done.
The WBR-3800 is able to use that cellular connection not only as a primary, but it can be set up as a fallback, instead. So you can have your normal fast cable modem connection, say, and if that fails, and you have set up the modem for 3G as well, it will, if programmed properly, automatically switch over to your wireless broadband connection. Expect to take time getting all that to work - I am a wide area network engineer with over 25 years in the business, and it took me the better part of a night to get it all working properly. There isn't anything wrong with the documentation, this type of functionality is simply very involved, and somewhat arcane.
How cool is that? For $131.73, including shipping? Seriously, this kind of gear used to cost thousands, I am not overstating, this is fully redundant network gear. It uses a 5V DC power supply - you can get 5V DC out of a PC, if necessary. And if you want to free yourself of the tethers, your cable internet or your DSL, this thing is a gas, especially if you live in a 3G area. On top of that, you can just pick the whole thing up, take it to your office, your vacation home in the Bahamas, your uncle's house in Hong Kong, and use it there. The cool of cool. Although your uncle might not let you leave with it when you go home again...
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