Tor Amundsen whips up a Wi-Fi to 3G box: While you can purchase commercial systems like the Junxion Box to create a Wi-Fi network that's uplinked to a 2.5G or 3G cellular network using a PC Card from a cellular provider, this is the first do-it-yourself project I've seen to achieve those results. He used a Soekris box, a well-known and well-liked generic embedded OS appliance box, and installed NYC Wireless's embedded Linux. There's some work with a drill press and lots of kernel fiddling, but it's a neat idea, and a replicable project.
It also shows how the genie is out of the bottle for using cell data as backhaul whether the cell operators like it or not. The flip side? Many operators are monitoring usage and cut off those engaged in what they think are purposes contrary to their contract. [link via Engadget]
Yes, you are right... You can easily build your own Junxion with $179 Soekris net4521 http://www.soekris.com/net4521.htm and your favorite linux router. Soekris even sells a nice metal box for their board for additional $30. I know a number of guys who have already built their own custom Junxion boxes. Check out these pictures at http://images.fbrtech.com/view_phot
o.php?set_albumName=EVDOrouter&id=s
oekris
Another option is to wait for Kyocera's KR1 EV-DO celluar router which will be on the market soon for $190. It uses a PC card radio like Junxion and has WiFi, but it also 4 ethernet ports and USB. This is a really slick cellular router PC Magazine wrote a really nice review on the Kyocera KR1 - see http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,175
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