Iyaz Show suggestion: I was wondering for those of us stuck with SLOW DSL (6 MB s down) b...

[G+_Jeffrey Michael]

Iyaz . . . Show suggestion:  I was wondering for those of us stuck with SLOW DSL (6 MB/s down) but who happen to have fast unlimited LTE plan (15-22MB/s down), could we replace our DSL connection with our 4G LTE phone?  It seems the hard part is getting the fast 4G phone connection encapsulated in a routable ethernet cable is half the battle.  I have a few lines of grandfathered unlimited 4G LTE that they could only pry away from my cold-dead hands . . .anyway, it seems like dedicating one of these 4G LTE lines to help my home network would be worth it.  Between paying for regular phone with DSL, plus several cell phones, my home network in rural mountainous area would be improved if we could make the 4G LTE connection routable, and after having FIOS at a prior geographical area it's to limp along at 6 MB/s.  I believe I had this working one day tinkering around using "Virtual router" with this setup:  4G Phone hooked via USB (PdaNet or something) to Windows7 machine, from Windows 7 machine PdaNet network goes out to router via "Virtual Router" ethernet cord, from there Time capsule router seemed to serve up this fast connection to my other stuff connected to this router.  This Time capsule was connected downstream from the DSL router.  For this experiment, I unplugged the Time Capsule from the DSL router to simplify the experiment.  I was able to access network files and resources and when I did internet-reliant activities streaming videos, etc., and doing speed tests it seems like things worked great speeds were showing 20 MB/s +.  Turning on hotspot on my phone works fine, but I would like to dedicate a phone/4G setup to an always on part of my home network, and being able to access network resources is important for my family to watch their movies, etc.  I had to fiddle with quite a few things, not sure if I could repeat this, but probably could.  But I would prefer it if you'd get user your resources on this and see if you guys could come up with a good recipe for this.  I know there are techniques combos of things like Cradlepoint routers and Pantech 420 or other cards.  I'm interested in anything that shows great ways to do this.  That's enough for a show but I got another question, could I combine internet source points, not at the same point in the network, but simply could I retain the DSL for low priority large downloads or uploads such as performing backup operations scheduled for middle of the night, etc., while using the fast internet source-point for things like streaming video, etc.?  Anyway, great show, appreciate the research you do and present for us.  I've done a couple projects, starting back inspired by Leo and co. in the Tech Tv days, and love this project-based show that you guys do.  I'm so glad you guys do this for us who need some tried and true recipes.  

Thanks for the Great Episodes

Jeff

[G+_Steve C]

So you want to pickup LTE and put it out on Ethernet?  I've done that with wi-fi by picking up Tengointernet and putting it out on the Ethernet port to a Linksys wireless router so I can still use wi-fi.   It's easy on a laptop using Internet Connecting Sharing. It should be just as easy if you have an LTE USB dongle or laptop with LTE built in. Just configure the USB dongle to pickup your LTE then share it over the Ethernet port.

The big question though is how are you able to get 4G in the mountains?

[G+_Jeffrey Michael]

I'll look into tengointernet, sounds cool.  In my fly by night experiment I think I was using ICS (Internet Connection Sharing) on a Win7 desktop connected straight to the Time Capsule.  The benefit of this was no extra cost since I had paid PdaNet and free or trial version of Virtual Router.  I have a macbook Pro w/Retina laptop (no win laptops), so no built-in LTE or ICS via laptop, but as stated have Win7 desktop a few feet from Time Capsule, so Win7 and ICS solutions are possible.  I have a bit of time to figure this out.  I'm waiting on getting the wife the Note III, then doing this some way some how.  What I am looking for is this:  dedicated unlim data 4G LTE phone with 4G out via USB>>USB dongle OR USB Dongle-4G router-combo OR Win7-PdaNet-ICS-NewPdaNetWork-VirtualRouter (however gets 4G piping wired-ethernet out)>>to Time Capsule . . . to route where I may.  I am very interested in USB dongles and/or router combinations that work for people to get their 4G LTE wired-ethernet routable.  I think I heard a Pantech UML290 was working with some Cradlepoint small business home routers like MBR95 or MBR1200 or something.  Hopefully others can chime in with 4G USB Dongles and/or 4G routers that have worked for home use.  I want to avoid wi-fi links in this solution unless I were Russell Tammany (that winery episode bouncing wifi all around was amazing, but way past my router/wifi config skills).  I've watched it three times and still understand only 25% of it.  Ha ha, I'm just a regular dude.    I'm paying about $300 a month for reg phone, DSL, and 4 cell phones (3 smart and one not).  I'm fine with paying all that so long as I can get some of that 4G LTE goodness piping through at least part of my network.  Between my wife and I and our three kids a few two Laptops, two PS3s, an iPad, Nexus7, two KindleFireHDs, an ATV3, a Roku, and a Win7 machine, well it's a miracle anything has worked on 6MB/s DSL.  Often just turning on a 4G hotspot alleviates much of the problems, but I'm looking for a more permanent solution. So I'm trying to evaluate the best ways to do this.  I appreciate your help Steve C, seems with a bit of tinkering we can get there with a little help from our friends . . .  looking into tengointernet in the morning . . .

[G+_Jeffrey Michael]

Oh, forgot to mention, I think the nearby ski resort helped us quite a bit in getting some pretty darn good 4G in the mountains . . .  it is a somewhat recent development, last spring saw just 3g, then mid-spring I started seeing 4G, and it has been solid and fast 4G since.    

[G+_Steve C]

I'm not suggesting you use Tengointernet unless you can't get anything else, the speed is only 1mb and it's capped at 1Gb I think.  I only mentioned it because that's what I was using to do the sharing since it's all I could get at my house for a long time.  Thousands of RV and mobile home parks around the country have Tengo or Boingo and so do lots of McDonalds, Starbucks and even supermarkets so it can be picked up just about anywhere.  I was using a roof antenna to get a good signal then feeding it down to a little PC with a USB wi-fi adapter that was used just for the internet server. The Ethernet port on the PC was connected to a 24 port hub and also a Linksys WRT110 wireless router to give me wi-fi access all through the house.  That setup worked fine for several years until I was able to get DSL.  I would still recommend it except for the slow speed and if you are just using email and browsing the web it works fine. You can even watch Netflix some except it will only play in SD due to the slow speed. 

[G+_Jeffrey Michael]

OK, got it Steve C, sounds like good stop-gap to keep in mind for low-bandwidth things.