PCI to PCMCIA Adapter - Use EVDO on your desktop

justen · EVDO Newbie Joined: 26 Jun 2006 Posts: 1

Has anyone tried this?

http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/602-7764546-4834264?asin=B00006B7A5

It looks like more of an adapter than a converter, if that makes sense. Which would seem better to me?

justen

5Bars · EVDO User Joined: 14 Jun 2006 Posts: 29

SteveBrown · EVDO Newbie Joined: 04 Aug 2006 Posts: 2

To the above success stories I add my frustrating failure story.

I purchased a RICOH RL5C475A PCMCIA to PCI Converter Card from BuyExtras.com. I intalled it into an empty PCI slot in my new Dell B110 desktop computer running Windows XP Home Edition, and I installed the drivers for the card from the included mini-CD. The Card showed up in Device Manager as a PCMCIA adapter and Windows reports it working properly.

Next I installed the Sprint PCS Connection Manager software, and when prompted to do so, inserted my Novatel Merlin S620 connection card, which works fine in my laptop pc, into the empty slot on the Ricoh adapter card. Windows reported that the new hardware was successfully installed. However, PCS Connection Manager could not detect the S620 card.

I un-installed the S620 card and the PCS Connection Manager software, and tried installing my Sierra AirCard 550, which also works fine in my laptop pc, following the same procedure, installing PCS Connection Manager first, then the AirCard. Again, Windows reported the new hardware successfully installed, and it shows up in Device Manager, but still PCS Connection Manager cannot find the AirCard.

In both cases, there were no apparent hardware (COM port or IRQ) conflicts. Connection Manager simply could not communicate with the connection card.

I am at the point where I say to hell with it. The purpose was to have a backup connection to the internet, in case my phone line or ISP fails. That is important because I do a lot of online trading. If the landline connection to the internet fails, I will just have to boot the laptop computer with the AirCard installed and use that.

I post this to find out if anyone else had similar problems and found a solution. It would be nice if all this hardware and software truly were compatible. It would also be nice if a manufacturer produced a PCI wireless connection card for desktop computers. It seems to me that would be a lucrative niche market. It would have an antenna jack and a handy antenna you could put on top of your computer's tower case or mount up on the wall. Where are all the tech entrepeneurs? Someone could make millions of bucks marketing a product like that.

SteveBrown · EVDO Newbie Joined: 04 Aug 2006 Posts: 2

Here's a quick-and-dirty solution if you can't get a PCMCIA connection card to work on a desktop computer. Buy a used laptop on eBay with Windows 2000 installed, install the connection card in it, network it to your desktop computer, then set up an internet connnection via the network on your desktop computer. The beauty of that is, you can put the laptop in a place where it gets good reception.

phxphun1 · EVDO User Joined: 02 Sep 2005 Posts: 70

Discovery164 · Posted: Fri Aug 18, 2006 3:22 pm Post subject:

I threw this into my Dell and had no problems with either a PC5740 or the S620. Note that I didn't install any drivers from a disk.

description: Startech 1 Port CardBus/PCMCIA to PCI Adapter Card - 1 x CardBus

I hope it helps all of us using desktops get connected.

As another note, Sprint was very helpful in assisting me in configuring Outlook Express access my mail. Make sure you are 'dialing up' to your card but if they suggest using Secure Password Authentication found in your Properties:Servers tab, don't do it. Also, as has been noted in other posts, POP3: using 'pop.sprintpcs.com' and SMTP: using 'smtp.sprintpcs.com' is the setup.

fedwards · EVDO Newbie Joined: 19 Aug 2006 Posts: 1

The two cards worked well with a server 2003 install on a old Dell DIM 4300 system. i used a RICOH RL5C475II chip pcmcia to pci adapter.

Will be trying it out on the same system with XP shortly.

ericw · EVDO Newbie Joined: 06 Jan 2006 Posts: 5

I have a Dell desktop in which I installed a Quatech PCI card to use a Kyocera 650 card. It has worked from time to time, but after some random time period, the Verizon manager says that the card has lost power and needs to be re-started. Then it loses the connection and restarts. Sometimes I get 20-30 of those messages piled up.

No one seems to understand what's going on. Any ideas?

I've tried the Elan USB port, but it didn't install and I'm waiting for a replacement from Synchrotech. It's been a major hassle.

By the way, has anyone else tried the Elan Usb connector? So far, it seems pretty flakey.

hopwood · EVDO Newbie Joined: 03 Jul 2006 Posts: 6

I got mine from PC connection it seems to work fine. They also have them in the radio shack catalog

frissell · EVDO Fledgling Joined: 23 Jun 2005 Posts: 22

Just for an update. I've used the following setup (as I reported a while ago) since Dec 2004 with Verizon and Sprint. Works flawlwsly. Genuine speeds in the 800 to 900 kbs range. I'm right next to the Holland Tunnel and the Hudson River on the Jersey side. Good signal. I tend to use a connectoid rather than the software save when updateing PRLs.:

Quote:
- PCI card that you used (link to buy also, or URL for more info)

PCI 1-channel CardBus host controller card

http://www.syba.com/product/43/03/01/index.html

Bought on eBay for $20

Quote:
- did it work, or did it not work

Worked with no problem. I'm also sharing the connection over a wired network without too much trouble.

Quote:
- what PC make & model, OS, etc.

HP Pavilion 9680C running W2K

sms21 · EVDO Newbie Joined: 21 Sep 2006 Posts: 1

PCD-RP-101CS is recommended for wired and wireless modem PC cards such as Verizon / Sierra AirCard, Novatel Merlin, Cingular EDGE, Kyocera Passport, Sprint, T-Mobile, AT&T, AirPrime, ACS, Fiberlink, SK-Earthlink, Qualcomm, and other wireless PC card modems using CDMA, WCDMA, EDGE, GPRS, GSM, UMTS, HSDPA, EV-DO (EVDO) technology, wired and wireless ethernet Network/LAN cards (IEEE802.11b, Bluetooth), I/O cards, and other types of PCMCIA cards such as CardBus.

rockingmtranch · Posted: Thu Sep 21, 2006 3:33 pm Post subject: Verizon 5740

Have had the card about 6 months in a desktop with XP home using a Ricoh RL5c475 bought at Fry's for $35. Installed fine. Works good (50 to 150 kpbs). I have two pc's and share the connection through a Linksys switch. The pc after the switch has better speeds for whatever reason. The tricky part the past month has been getting it to work in Ubuntu. Both computers dual boot. With xp running and Ubuntu running on the network pc, the stream runs over 200kbps all the time but still around 50 on the xp. Now in Linux, the card (took me a month mind you to get it to work) runs at best 20k but mostly around 0. No patch has been installed as yet since I just got it going yesterday and am trying just to do updates when its willing. I don't really know a lot about Linux and if it weren't for Automatix I still wouldn't have my Nvidia card working I'm sure.

BillG49 · EVDO User Joined: 20 Sep 2006 Posts: 27

rockingmtranch · Posted: Fri Sep 22, 2006 2:55 pm Post subject: Networking

Tell ya the truth Bill, I tried a router once and couldn't get it to work. This little 10/100 workgroup switch hasn't ever let me down. The XP on the other hand does. I have to disable the network then re-enable it in network settings and that gets it jumpstarted somehow. It's all manually configured also.

BillG49 · EVDO User Joined: 20 Sep 2006 Posts: 27

Well, my plan is for my notebook to function in the place of a KR1 router, and I won't need to share its files with other computers on the network. It will pretty much just be used as a host for the S620 card.

I'm looking for an option to the shared T1 at my office, which is actually slower (1.2 Mbps) than the EVDO speeds I'm seeing (1.5+ Mbps down). When Rev A rolls out here in Dallas, I expect the upload speeds to improve significantly, but that's not a big issue for us. No DSL or cable or WISP is available, so our choice has been dialup or shared T1, which is more expensive than Sprint.

So I'm thinking that maybe I should cable the notebook into the WAN port on the Netgear router with its built-in firewall? Or do I need to just pick up a switch? If I do that, what should I do about security?