What feature do you want on CradlePoint Router?

tz1 · Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 4:26 pm Post subject:

Some parameters need to be able to be changed WITHOUT SAVING AND REBOOTING.

For example, the router is near my desk so normally I want to save power so I set the Advanced Wireless Tx power to "Low". But if I need to go to a nearby conference room, I need to change it to "High". But it won't take unless I save it and reboot.

Some other wireless parameters (channel/autochannel, etc.) should be dynamically configurable without changing the default configuration.

relic · Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 5:59 pm Post subject:

Put the 'disable wireless' function back...

Michael · Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 7:14 pm Post subject:

tz1 · Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 7:30 am Post subject:

Two things I'd like to repeat mainly because after using it with my n810, they stand out.

1. An antenna connector. I up the power to reach father, but the signal is going up as much as out, and my 9dbi would probably let me reach even farther (horizontally) at low power than I currently do at high.

2. Network storage. I've got host mode going on my n810 (and I even got an IP address from my USB EVDO modem right on the tablet using ppp!, but it is still unstable). The main thing I use host mode for is storage, but the n810 has limited power. Instead of finding a battery USB drive enclosure, I could attach it to the CradlePoint and access the share over WiFi if it had this capability. My USB modem already has a flash drive built in, but I'm thinking more in the line of 100 Gigabyte range portable USB 2.0 drives. FTP would be nice, but the filemanager on the internet tablet supports Windows (SMB/Samba) shares over WiFi.

Jim_in_VA · Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 9:54 am Post subject:

What I'd like to see is that all the variables under "Modem Diagnostics" of the configuration interface Actually Be Implemented. Its there...USE IT.
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tz1 · Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 9:11 am Post subject:

I submitted this as a bug, but apparently they can't resolve it easily.

They need to have a way to disable the bounce pages for a disconnected modem (or even the login, but I just shut off security).

The problem happens when I start firefox or other browser, and it tries to restore a number of tabs. Every tab gets its original URL DESTROYED, being replaced with the CradlePoint bounce page - either to login, or some error.

And the HTTP mechanism they are using tells my browser that the CradlePoint bounce page is the "real" page it should go to instead of opening a new page or window.

So I can't use any of the security, I can't bookmark any of the configuration pages I need to access frequently, and I have to try something to make sure the modem isn't loose before I reopen my browser.

When everything works, it works well, but instead of simply failing with a timeout or a standard HTTP can't load or auth request or something, it destroys the URL by replacing it with its own.

JoeCHecht · EVDO Junkie Joined: 05 Jan 2008 Posts: 326

tz1 · Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 7:15 am Post subject:

3gstore may have a few items, but mobile mounts are common, and their 7dbi wlan is on sale:

http://www.hyperlinktech.com/web/mobile_antennas.php#mounts
http://www.hyperlinktech.com/web/24ghz_802.11_rubber_duck_antenna_9dbi_rsp.php

kalen43 · EVDO Heavy User Joined: 30 Apr 2007 Posts: 131

Well don't see it to vote on but for the future I would love to see wimax compatibility.

(Yes, I know wimax is not really available yet....for the future)

khelben · EVDO Newbie Joined: 15 Mar 2008 Posts: 10

At the risk of being flamed for suggesting a feature not on the poll, how about NAS support for USB Mass Storage?

Alex · Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2008 8:50 am Post subject:

tz1 · Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2008 3:04 pm Post subject:

One more - fix the pages so that my browser's ordinary mechanisms will remember the ID or other information.

This is one of those things they try to do better but instead it is stupid. First, they could but don't use ordinary HTTP (it should be HTTPS anyway) Authorization which every browser has a "save name and password". That is what nearly every D-Link router uses. And it is much simpler than any javascript.

I have a config login page which has something which is not a form or field. I have browser extensions which can remember forms and fill them in. Instead I get javascript scrabble. Then I don't get the original page I wanted, I get the status page.

Also they should DISABLE security out of reset. What is the password? Let me guess. If the router comes up as CT-xyz, the password is 010xyz. Perhaps 011, 012, if they've made a few more of them. At least it makes it easy to remember if not to save in my browser.

Being too clever just makes the software less reliable and less secure. And they are being way too clever.

The other thing they could come up with is an opensource (remember I usually use Linux) external setup utility that would bypass the javascript nonsense so I could type the password, get all the config setting in one XML or text file I could easily edit, and click SET.

There are some settings (e.g. security, wifi power) I might like to change often. But I don't because the config pages are painful (even on a fast machine it has to download dozens of scripts or whatever - my counter sometimes says I need to do over 150 HTTP transactions FOR A SINGLE CONFIG PAGE, and that is just to render it).

So I have to login - and there is no way of automating this (guess how long my password is when it is a pain to type?). Then I have to wait until the dozens of little whatevers come up on the status page. Then I can go to the section I want and wait for another dozen scripts to be downloaded and run. Then I can go to the entry on the sidebar for what I originally wanted and wait for its scripts to run. If the login page would bring me to the page I originally asked for, I could bookmark it and probably wouldn't mind nearly as much, but they won't let me.

JoeCHecht · EVDO Junkie Joined: 05 Jan 2008 Posts: 326

tz1 · Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 6:46 am Post subject:

Let me clarify at this point - there are two things for me that are annoying, and the first is a showstopper.

1. Allow me to disable bounce pages (including login) or do the standard HTTP correct thing with an error code and "Page Not Available". The "Page Not Available" might even be their bounce page, but with an HTTP header indicating it is an error page and not to overwrite history, cache, etc. Cheap, simple firewalls and caching proxies do this. They can write thousands of lines of complex javascript but can't just do "307 Temporary Redirect" to the bounce page, "404 Not Found", "502 Bad Gateway" which would be correct, or "503 Service Unavailable".

2. Let me have a bookmark where I can go directly to an Admin page like for the wireless power (if it is in my pocket, I don't need full power, and would appreciate the extra battery life). This would require them to do some kind of standard HTTP authentication, or even a standard form that would remember the specific page I was asking for (they can do the javascript scrabble games for passwords but can't remember which URL originally bounced me to the login? Again, simple, cheap firewalls and proxies have no trouble with this).

If I were a programmer or whoever decided to do things this way at Cradlepoint, I would be embarrassed. HTTP is simple compared to javascript, and has been around longer, but they apparently have no knowledge of plain, standard, HTTP which would usually only take two days to learn at most. They can't do the simple stuff correctly, but try to amaze me with the complex layering javascript extravaganza. Oh yes, they have built in chat which I will never use (the router usually has a range less than where my voice would carry, but I suppose there are uses). Nor can they use security as an excuse - they aren't using HTTPS, nor are the reset settings secure, and complexity is the antithesis of security. Getting simple things wrong isn't a good sign.

JoeCHecht · EVDO Junkie Joined: 05 Jan 2008 Posts: 326