PC Magazine reviews the Kyocera KR-1 router. The $200-$300 WiFi box uses a cellular EV-DO card from Sprint for the backbone.

The Kyocera KR1—a full-featured 802.11g wireless router made by D-Link—includes a four-port switch and incorporates a slot in the back for your cell carrier’s EV-DO PC card. Or, if you prefer, you can use a data-capable cell phone as a cellular modem by connecting it to a USB port on the device. The feature is unique but works with very few phones (you’ll find a list of them on the Kyocera Web site).

Setup is very easy. Stick an activated EV-DO card into the back of the router and plug the KR1 into an outlet. If you need to activate your card, you can easily do so using your laptop and the provided software from your mobile phone carrier (the process requires no Internet connection).

Once the working card is in the router, turn on your laptop, browse for a wireless network called KR1, and connect.

Similar mobile wireless routers include the similar model available through D-Link, and the WavBoard CM3 ($379.00), designed to be used in a moving vehicle.

The Linksys Router for Mobile Broadband (WRT54G3G-NA), the Entree Box, the StompBox, Junxion Box, Omniway, Possio PX40 Wireless Router and NETGEAR’s box with a Flarion backbone are not potted plants. They can network voice and data around your home. Cellular backbones today, WiMAX tomorrow.

Verizon Wireless does not allow the use of these boxes on its cellular system. Sprint is more lenient. The Junxion Box allows HSDPA cards on Cingular’s 3G system.

WiMax: Do It Now Look. What’s wrong with specifying an ALL WiMax city-cloud, right now. Specify hotspots that can be upgraded with 802.16-2005 backhaul. Let coffee shops (or homes) put up their own hotspots. Inexpensive WiFi hotspots with built-in (or plugged in) WiMax backhaul are coming in 2006-2007. A $75 WiMax client will be able to supply the backhaul. Simple. Cheap. Licensed and unlicensed WiMax clients, using Mini PCI, PC Cards and USB dongles, should be available shortly. Wavesat’s 5.8 GHz Mini PCI WiMax card (below) could fit in a Soekris box. With cheap $20/mo Mobile WiMax backbone riding on the “city cloud”, it should be a snap. The infrastructure would be faster and cheaper. That translates into lower costs. And free hotspots. It might not be mobile, but 5.8 GHz WiMax would be cheaper and faster. Enterprises will demand wireless VoIP (via QOS-enabled WiMax). WiMax was designed for low cost metropolitan access. Why not use it. A $200, self-install box could deliver both broadband and voice for $40-$50 a month. That’s a competitive business proposition. A $300, triple play settop (with DVD) might add twenty channels of DVB-H. With location-based advertising, it might even be “free”.

Related DailyWireless articles include; WiFi Routers for Cars, USB Client with Antenna Connector, Routers Unwired: Burning Down The House, IPWireless Mobile Gateway, Solar Powered Media, Linksys WiFi/Cellular Access Point, and Seattle Transit WiFied.

Posted by Sam Churchill on Wednesday, May 31st, 2006 at 1:01 am.