Who are they kidding? This is more expensive, less ethernet ports, slower wireless, and a hard to read built-in LCD? Seriously, Apple's Airport Extreme is actually starting to look more competative. Never thought I'd say that about their router. But now that third parties have upped the bar on the price, this will make it easier to justify buying an Apple Airport Extreme. 4 ethernet ports and 802.11n never looked so cheap.

Why would anyone want to connect to the internet through the 3G network instead of just DSL or cable?

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nytesky wrote:
Why would anyone want to connect to the internet through the 3G network instead of just DSL or cable?

In a hotel, car, bus, tradeshow, etc. You can create an adhoc WiFi network anywhere you don't have free access already, but you have access to a 3G network. Or, if you only want to pay for your 3G account and not have to pay for DSL, Cable, or a fiber account.

The folks at Cradlepoint Tech. have other nice alternatives. Does the Airport Extreme do 3G on it's own, without being tethered to a 3G phone?

I don't really know why this would be a great deal above what cradlepoint has... but I suppose it does have wired and wireless. The cradlepoint battery powered router is pretty amazing, and it's half of the price.

As for why, I travel a lot for business with my wife, while I use my sprint thumb antennae directly on my Air a lot, it would be cool to just go into a hotel room and stick it on the desk. While it seems trivial, if I want to get business done, it's pretty annoying to have to guess what "wireless internet available" really means. Sometimes you can't send emails, sometimes it's only available in the lobby, sometimes it's slower than dialup, and sometimes it's $20 per person per day! So while $60 a month is a lot for my "secondary" internet, it does guarantee me internet almost everywhere I go... we've even looked up weather conditions while driving down the road!

Another good use is a friend of mine who lives in a somewhat rural area. He has cable provided for him by his association, but it means that cable internet would be pretty hard to do... and he's outside of the "DSL zone", so he has a 3G card hooked up to a router similar to this for his ebay business and he gets about as good of speed as a good DSL connection would have!

This has nothing to do with airport and DSL/cable modem smartass. Don?t be dumb