Jirka Jirout

I wonder what experience people here have with USB modems for 3G networks. We are using AnyData/EV-DO modem for CDMA network and Huawei E220 for UMTS/HSDPA/GPRS and while the devices are more or less fine, I must say their OS X drivers are not exactly great.

The biggest two issues we are experiencing is timing out when the Mac is supposed to go to sleep mode (resulting in the Mac getting killed by PSU after then one-minute timeout) and occasional wake-ups.

It would also appear, that the drivers only recognize the devices when they are plugged into the same port they were plugged in for the first time or during the driver installation.

The modem cannot properly handle a border crossing and switching to another mobile network. It keeps the ppp connection up forever (or until it fails for other reason) even if the original mobile network is no longer available.

If a device is not present for some reason, the internet connect does not fail quietly (as it does with a regular modem or a Bluetooth phone), but displays a pop-up dialog window. We know a workaround for this, but it sucks anyway.

So far it appears the only really good solution is a wireless router from Linksys + PCMCIA card (or Asus 500 router for CDMA), but it is not exactly the cheapest solution.

Any experience or ideas are welcome.