OK: Fujitsu Lifebook N3610, Verizon, KPC650 - and metal RV!

Jimincalifornia · EVDO User Joined: 25 Sep 2005 Posts: 72

The laptop is within a couple months old, has a Pentium M 1.8ghz CPU. According to WinXP device manager the PCMCIA chipset is a "Texas Instruments PCIxx21/x515 Cardbus Controller" (exact string).

Install was perfectly clean except I dumped Venturi instantly when it wouldn't work with Google Desktop Search. The normal Venturi uninstall seemed to work fine but just in case I used the removal tool executable somebody has up.

I also tried it inside the motorhome that's almost done with severe customization. It's an oddball - a truck conversion built on a commercial frame, 2" welded mild steel square tube frame skinned with riveted aluminum walls and one-piece aluminum roof. With no external antenna at all I was getting a 4-bar (RSI -71dbm) connection.

Color me REAL happy with the Kyocera 650 card.

Now this was in an industrial area of Sacramento City (California) inside Verizon's EVDO area...so it was probably practically underneath a cell tower as that's a prime sort of location.

But: what made it truly amazing was that this was with the rig INSIDE THE RV REPAIR SHOP'S GARAGE! Swear to God Smile

. A "building within a building" test. He had the bay doors open each end but the rig was halfway between, with at least 20 feet to each bay door and I was in the middle of my 36' rig. The bay doors are big enough to pass two RVs at a time.

It took calls to three local Verizon retail outlets to find the Kyocera KPC650 card. The first one I went to only had the "no antenna jack" junker and I avoided that - but they had the parts for a KPC650 antenna adapter ($10) and the window-mount antenna with the two suction cups ($20). I grabbed those as I assumed I'd need to pick up the signal outside of my metal RV. This latest test says "maybe not", at least in prime areas. Very impressive. I realize the $30 antenna may not be enough and I'll get a Wilson Trucker or something if I need to later. But at least I have the Kyocera-specific adapter.

Anyways. With some searching, the Verizon outlets have KPC650s still in stock. Not many though.

Jimincalifornia · EVDO User Joined: 25 Sep 2005 Posts: 72

Update: I just realized something important...right now the "house wiring" on the RV is in debug mode and we've got the main battery disconnected...no juice at all.

Once "live" the metal frame will form part of the ground, possibly acting like a giant Faraday Cage and hosing the signal some. So the killer results I just got may not be valid for actual use. I'll try it again Monday with the battery charger going full blast (120amps at 12v!).

For more info on my very funky RV, see also:

http://evdoforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=608

toddtroutman · EVDO User Joined: 01 Jun 2005 Posts: 28

Enjoyed the descriptions of the RV and thank you for fighting for CCW!