Mac EVDO

Michael · Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2005 7:19 pm Post subject:

We will be testing that tonight and reporting it. Initially, it looks like it doesn't matter, since the VZAccess for Mac installs its own drivers and does not rely on the Apple Drivers.
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Michael · Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2005 12:30 pm Post subject:

FYI, you do have to revert your pLists in order to use VZAccess for Mac for KPC650.

For anyone that has previously modified the 5220 plist files to get them to recognize the KPC650, you need to revert the 2 values (idProduct, idVendor) and then issue the 2 sudo commands and reboot your computer, that will get it, so the VZAccess for Mac for KPC650 will work just fine. You need to reverse the changes in this document:

PowerBook Mac OS X Directions To Use Kyocera KPC650

So in the 2 files, change:

idProduct back to 274
idVendor back to 3901

and then run:

praetorian · EVDO Newbie Joined: 03 Sep 2005 Posts: 1

15" G4 Powerbook
512 MB RAM
Tiger 10.4.2
Novatel v620

In a phrase, it works, thanks to this site. Forgive the following narrative, but I am a writer and everything comes out in story form.

My wife and I are full-time RV'ers. We travel the country in our truck and 33' fifth wheel toy hauler (for our motorcycles). Both of us require access to our email and the Internet daily. We maintain several websites, as part of our journeys, and have struggled finding wireless hotspots for our laptops.

We considered satellite dish access, but the costs for the equipment are prohibitive and the coverage somewhat unreliable. Along the way, we decided to upgrade our cell phones and switch carriers. We walked into a Verizon store and were confronted with the possibility of a PCMCIA card which would grant us nearly universal coverage in our travels. My wife uses a PC and I use a Mac. While the sales rep seemed very knowledgeable on the products, he faltered somewhat in discussing Mac compatibility. He finally put us off by saying there was a newer card available which worked with both machines, but he would have to order it and it was more expensive. He also said he heard Verizon wouldn't officially support Macs until 2006.

I decided to purchase the card they had in stock as opposed to waiting and spending more money. I just knew that, with the flexibility of Mac OS X underlying structure, someone, somewhere had figured out a way to make practically anything work on it.

I was right.

I discovered this site in my Googling on the wife's PC. The downloadable installer did not work for my particular set-up. The Terminal hacks, however, took me roughly 10 minutes and worked instantly.

I now happily tap this message to you from the back porch of my trailer, watching the sun come up over the mountains. We are moving to the shore of a nearby lake on Monday and I have already tested the coverage in that area. Perfect.

Paying a pittance per month for completely portable Internet access, and broadband access at that, is all that owning a laptop should be.

Now, the hacks I would like to see forthcoming would enable some type of voice over IP capability and faxing. Does anyone have any pointers?

mikev · Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2005 7:34 am Post subject:

yahtzee · EVDO Fledgling Joined: 06 Sep 2005 Posts: 13

Clark · EVDO Newbie Joined: 15 Sep 2005 Posts: 1

I've been asked to relate my experiences getting wireless access on an Apple Powerbook. Penance for a prior bad act you see.

Anyway, I recently moved aboard my boat and though I don't miss the television at all I can't believe how much I missed the internet. My first puddle of frustration started with SBC. I intended to use a regular phone and DSL dock side. SBC, after 3 attempts, couldn't connect my phone line to where I could get a dial tone, though they said they made these connections all the time. I called and told them to forget it. I'll go wireless which since I'm on a boat it makes a little more sense anyway.

I had cell service with Verizon so it made sense to chat with them about getting a datacard for my Powerbook. The first Verizon shop that I stopped at told me it wasn't possible with an Apple. Though I'm not a computer wonk this really didn't seem right.

My next stop was T-mobile. They convinced me that with the correct phone, Bluetooth enabled, I could connect to the internet. I dropped Verizon and signed up with T-mobile. I bought a really really cool phone, a Motorola Razr. It worked great as a phone and fit in my pocket well but it didn't connect to my Powerbook. T-mobile said it was an Apple problem. Apple said said it was Motorola problem. Motorola said T-mobile was smoking crack.

At this point I've given up. There is a Verizon shop inside of a Circuit City nearby. I went there and asked their salesperson if they had datacards. Yes, they had datacards. I walked across the store and bought a new notebook. I brought it back to the Verizon shop asked them to load the datacard in. This apparently doesn't happen everyday. They asked me why and I related the above story. One of the salespeople informed me that they now have a datacard that works with Apple. I asked them to order this new datacard, Kyocera 650. I returned back to T-mobilie, dropped their service and returned that really really cool phone. However, at this point I'm starting to question whether this new datacard will work either. I jumped onto the internet at the local library and did a Yahoo search. I found this forum. It eased my concerns about using the 650 so I ordered the card through Booster-antenna.com. They've been here before. The Card showed up the next day, which is today. Loading the software and using this card is so simple. It's almost painful considering I spent about 2 months, 2 Verizon shops, 1 T-mobile shop, 3 SBC connection calls, 3 trips to the Apple store Genius Bar. The net results are; I have internet access through my Apple, a $220 bill from SBC, a new notebook (I'll put my navigation software on it.), the 2nd Verizon shop is still trying to figure out how to get their hands on the Kyocera 650 and I'm digging life on a boat.

Some of you are going to read this and say "What a knucklehead" and you'ld be right. You have give me points for persistance though.

Be good or be good at it,
Clark

jonnybgood · EVDO Newbie Joined: 18 Sep 2005 Posts: 1

hello,

I have the new powerbook (15inch) with the pci card slot and the Kpc650 card. My mac and card work very well together. I am not in a Broadband area so my connection is not super fast but fast enough. I get a signal streath of around -90dBm which is good but have just ordered the boster antenna to up my signal wherever possiblde. I love the portability I get with my kpc650 card. I had very little trouble setting it up. (only the activation of the card was a problem but verizon tec support walked me through it. They had to set it up on their end.

bye for now

jonnybgood

Michael · Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2005 12:23 pm Post subject:

One of the bloggers at The Unofficial Apple Weblog has been drooling over EVDO for sometime. We sent him a KPC650 card and 7 days of service to test and asked him to write about his experiences, you can read about it at:

TUAW.COM: Testing EVDO

TUAW.COM: EVDO Day 2: The Morning Commute Test

TUAW.COM: EVDO Day 3 in the City

http://www.tuaw.com/2005/10/10/the-end-of-the-week-of-evdo/
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zarlengo · EVDO Newbie Joined: 04 Oct 2005 Posts: 2

I just received a Verizon Wireless package witha KPC650 aircard. I am running a PowerBook G4 with OS 10.4.2.

I finally got the VZAccess Manager Downloaded from the Verizon site. vzw.smithmicro.com/download

The software is installed, but the card does not seem to be getting any power from the Mac in the PC slot. Likewise the software is unable to locate the card.

Anyone with a successful experience. Verizon support is having me check to see of the card is bad. I have my doubts about this.

Comments, suggestions, solutions welcomed.

Michael · Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2005 8:24 pm Post subject:

We have 100's of satisfied Mac customers using the KPC650 with their PowerBooks (so yes it does work).

Unfortunately, I have seen Verizon Tech Support quickly say "The Card Is Bad", as the first thing to try (when it comes to Mac Support). This isn't always the case AND doesn't always solve the problem. At first we, starting immediately sending out replacement cards (because VZW Tech Support said they were bad). But after spending some time on the phone with customers, we have been able to fix/troubleshoot/ or isolate the problem.

If you got the card from us, look on your confirming email when you placed your order for our phone number and give us a call and we can help you out.
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zarlengo · EVDO Newbie Joined: 04 Oct 2005 Posts: 2

KPC650 for PowerBook G4 10.4.2

I just received the aircard. With the help of Verizon Wireless support specialist I finally got the access manager download and installed.

At this point there are no lights on the aircard. Access Manager doesn't find the aircard. And of course I was told the card might be bad!!!!

Any thoughts?
Idea

jesx · Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2005 5:52 am Post subject:

Been using the Kyocera KPC 650 for 6 weeks now. Works pretty well but I still miss cable. got it from boosterantenea.com/evdoinfo.com and the customer service was fantastic. I am not getting great broadband speeds out in Westbury Long Island and am only on NationalAccess in Upstate NY but at least I have wifi with all my back and forth travelling. In Kingston, my cable/airport was going faster than T1 during the off peak hours.

Kyocera KPC 650
powerbook 15" os 10.3.9

thanks evdoinfo dudes
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Jessica

Michael · Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2005 11:07 pm Post subject:

If you want to read the final blog entry on "a week with EVDO" from the Unofficial Apple WebLog, you can at:

http://www.tuaw.com/2005/10/10/the-end-of-the-week-of-evdo/
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uncleared · Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2005 8:29 am Post subject: VZW on OSX memory leak

I do not know if i am the only person with this problem. I purchased the Kyocera 650 card from a local retailer and google searches promped me to find this place (and get very excited about the kyocera wireless evdo router) but though the card works great, the VZW manager has a serious memory leak on my computer.

I have tried reinstalling, but according to the activity monitor on my 1.67 15" powerbook, the program will stray from taking 15mb when i first connect to more than 300mb after 8-13 hours. currently i am using the unit without the verizon manager, which maintains the connection great, but i have no level indicator and for some reason the signal is faster when i connect through the VZ manager.

Anyone else encounter this memory leak? Any known fixes, i havent found anything yet, but maybe i havent searched hard enough yet.

Thanks for any help

headcase · Posted: Sat Nov 05, 2005 11:05 am Post subject:

I can't say whether not I'm experiencing a memory leak with VZAccess Manager on my PowerBook, as I stopped needing it altogether (not to mention it's a very buggy application).

In other words, now that Verizon has created the OS X driver for the 650 card, all I do now is initiate a session via the OS X modem status icon in the menu bar -- no need to start the VZAccess Manager application.

The only drawback to this approach is that I can't tell what kind of signal strength I'm getting. However, because VZAccess Manager doesn't show you signal strength on the OS X menu bar (where it should!), you have to keep flipping back and forth between whatever you're working on and VZA mgr. to see what the current signal strength is. And I found that a pain altogether.

And because the 650 blinks fast when in EVDO mode, and blinks slowly when in 1xRTT mode, I always know the most important thing without needing the VZAccess Mgr. application running -- which network I'm on.

For those who haven't placed the OS X modem status icon (looks like a phone) on their menu bar, launch Internet Connect in your Applications folder, and check mark the "show modem status in menu bar" box. From this icon on the menu bar, its very easy to start and stop a session.

Hope this helps.