modem

In a recent article, Mac tech site Cult of Mac has said that Apple appears to no longer be supporting USB modems and other analog forms of communication in OS X. Apparently in Lion if you plug in an Apple USB modem, the system will give you an error claiming the hardware is unsupported, and that you cannot use the modem with your computer. While this may be the case with Apple's modem, others seem to be working just fine.

Apple may be eager to phase out modems in favor of more modern options, but so far support for … Read more

First introduced at CES 2011 and made available just a little more than a week ago, T-Mobile's Rocket 3.0 Laptop Stick USB 4G modem faced huge expectations as the company said that it would offer twice the download speed of other 4G devices, up to 42Mbps.

In our testing in the San Francisco Bay Area, the device didn't deliver.

Throughout the city of San Francisco, including in specific locations designated by T-Mobile as offering the new speed, the modem's connection capped at about 13Mbps. Now, this is by no means slow, in fact it's one of the fastest speeds we've seen from a 4G device, and it is capable of downloading a full 1080p movie (about 10GB of data) in about or under 2 hours. Still, it's quite far from 42Mbps.… Read more

This is an update of a deal I wrote about last year.

I'm a longtime fan of the Verizon MiFi 2200, a pocket-size 3G modem that doubles as a Wi-Fi hot spot. Just one problem: it costs $269 and locks you into a two-year contract with Verizon. Service starts at $35 per month (for a mere 3GB of data).

You can accomplish much of the same thing with the CradlePoint PHS300, currently on sale at UnlockedCellPhoneKings via Amazon for $49.99 shipped. The only difference is, it's BYO cell phone or wireless card.

In other words, you have … Read more

LAS VEGAS--I reviewed the Clear 4G+ Mobile Series S USB modem right before the holidays, and people have been asking me how it performs outside of the San Francisco Bay Area (CNET's home base). CES 2011 seemed like the perfect opportunity to find out.

Las Vegas during CES is congested, both in terms of traffic and cellular signals. There are hundreds of thousands of people here in the city, each with at least one Internet-connected handheld device. These devices connect to the Net via 3G, 4G, or GPRS (or Edge) signal. If you want to know how a cell … Read more

Verizon Wireless did its best to steal the mobile show at its CES press conference yesterday. Not only did we get the long-rumored Xoom Honeycomb tablet, but the carrier also unveiled the first selection of handsets to go with its new LTE 4G network.

Admittedly, we're focused on the new handsets, like the Motorola Droid Bionic, the Samsung 4G LTE, the HTC Thunderbolt, and the LG Revolution, but Verizon had a couple of other tricks up its sleeve. In addition to Samsung's new Mobile Hotspot, which Bonnie Cha already mentioned, Big Red also unveiled another hot spot and … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Two years ago, Netgear announced its first dual-band Wireless-N router with built-in DSL modem, the RangeMax Dual Band Wireless-N Router + DSL Modem DGND3300, offering DSL consumers a high-end alternative to modem/wireless router combo solutions offered by service providers, which tend to be slow and lacking.

Now, here at CES 2011, the company is kicking this solution up a notch, by announcing today the N600 Wireless  Dual-Band Gigabit ADSL Modem DGND3700 Router, which it calls "the ultimate home gateway."

The new DGND3700 differentiates itself from the old DGND330 via a long list of new features. Apart from the fact that it also has a built-in DSL modem, supports concurrent dual-band (2.4GHz and 5GHz), and other usual networking and security features, it also offers:

Two USB ports to support external storage. These ports are compatible with Netgear's ReadyShare network storage functionality.

Gigabit Ethernet and DLNA compliance that allows for network digital media streaming to any DLNA-compliant TV, game console, or media player within the network.

Live parental controls that enable comprehensive Web filtering functionality.

Guest networking, which allows for giving separate Internet access to guests while keeping them from accessing local resources, such as file or printers.

A broadband usage meter that automatically tracks broadband usage notifies if a set level is reached.… Read more

I recently reviewed Verizon's VL600 4G USB modem and found it a painful conundrum that the modem is superspeedy and yet Verizon's data plans are superlimited (and expensive). That problem is solved with Clear's 4G+ Mobile Series S USB modem.

This modem is very similar to the VL600 in that it offers extremely fast Internet access using cellular signals.

However, it has a few advantages. First of all, it's more compact, has a swiveling USB head (which would fit in any USB port, even hard-to-reach ones), and comes with a port for an external antenna. It … Read more

We often complain about how our connection to the Internet is not fast enough. And for the most part, it's never really fast enough, especially in this era of YouTube and hi-def online movie streaming.

After using Verizon's 4G VL600 USB modem, however, I've learned that fast speeds can, in fact, be too fast. Here's why:… Read more

One of my all-time favorite products is also one of the most underrated and overlooked. It's the Virgin Mobile Broadband2Go Ovation MC760, a 3G broadband modem for laptops. It originally sold for $149.99, but now you can get one for just $78.54 shipped (plus sales tax in some states).

What separates the MC760 from other "aircard" modems? The biggie: it requires no two-year contract (no contract at all, in fact) and no monthly minimum. You pay for airtime as you need it.

That's a huge plus over modems from the likes of Sprint and … Read more