Rodfather Mobile

I just put in an order for a Novatel U727 USB EVDO Rev.A modem along with a CradlePoint CTR350 EVDO Router from evdoinfo’s 3gstore.

With the Novatel U727, I’m subscribing to 2 years of Sprint Broadband for $59.99/mo. It’ll come with a free 1GB microSD card.

I checked the option to have it preactivated for use with the router. I could activate myself with XP, but hey, if it works out of the box, then that’s one less step I have to do.

I’m basically going with the people at evdoinfo.com so I don’t have to deal with Sprint. They have a chock full of information on their sites which has helped me tremendously in deciding my future WWAN solution. I hope their level of support is just as great as the support they give in their forums.

I guess you can call it an impulse buy. Just look at it though.

The router is about the size of a deck of cards. It’s so tiny.

Someone in the evdo forums hooked it up to 4 AA batteries with an adapter and it ran for 3.5 hours. I’m sure it’ll last and lot, lot longer with my Tekkeon MP3400 battery. Anyway, the point is, hot damn, I’ll be able to have a portable on-the-go WiFi network soon.

I’m not sure if I will use the router all the time, but I’m sure it’ll come in handy for sharing a connection when needed. Otherwise, I imagine plugging the Novatel U727 directly into my UMPC or laptop’s USB port. Or not if I don’t want to have it sticking out the side. That’s the beauty and it’ll all fit easily in my bag. One thing is for sure, if I want to download music with my iPhone using the iTunes WiFi Music Store or Sansa Connect with Yahoo Unlimited, I will, from practically anywhere.  Or how about some multiplayer action with the PSP or Nintendo DS?  Both have WiFi builtin so it should be possible.

So now the question is, what happens if I get a device with internal Sprint EVDO? Will I do an ESN switch and render the Novatel USB modem and router useless? I don’t know. All I know, for the meantime, this setup will give a lot of flexibility. Not only will I be able to use the Sprint EVDO connection on multiple computers with USB, but with any device that supports WiFi, all within a compact package.