Mobile Wi-fi Hotspot

junxion box

Our buddy Mike Outmesguine over at the wireless weblog has just posted his Popular Science article on building a backpack based wireless access point.  The backpack is solar powered and uses a JunxionBox to bridge a wireless access point to the EVDO network. The JunxionBox is a commercial solution that parallels the StompBox we covered earlier. This isn’t Mike’s first outing with the box; Feel free to check out his other adventure.

19 thoughts on “Mobile Wi-fi Hotspot

  1. wow, someone should make one of these and go to the airport, since the wait for the security nazis to search you always makes me want to check my email.

    i think someone should really consider bringing this to an airport

    hehehehehehe…..

  2. ryan, have you tried using your laptop at the airport? A lot of large airports nowadays (the ones you have to wait in long lines at) have wireless already. I was at Dayton and Pittsburgh airports yesterday, and both had free wireless access.

  3. The difference between this and the Stompbox is that the Stompbox has a Honda Element attached to it, which just adds to the coolness factor because it serves as a navigational system and; it’s attached to a Honda Element.

  4. The stompbox fits in my Element, sure. :) but it’s based on the exact same Soekris 4521 as the commercial JunXion router. The difference is that you’ve got full access to the platform and can run a number of things directly within the router (it’s Linux, so why not?) and it’s far cheaper to build yourself.

    I’ve thrown it into a backpack before; it works just fine! I prefer to put a 8db gain antenna on the EVDO side, though, for better coverage.

  5. way too pricey for my taste. plus you run a huge risk of breaking those solar panels by accident. Also the article failed to mention that monthly service is $79.99 from verizon and works only in major cities. “you can find me in the hills around Southern California. I

  6. If you have Verizon (or any) EVDO, this is just one more use for your card. The Stompbox, the Junxion Box, or a laptop can all use the card. This project just makes that $80 monthly fee more usable! (My target is 100% utilization.) As for which is better, the Stompbox or the Jbox, I’d say they both have their places. The Stompbox is extremely flexible but requires more setup with the pure Linux platform, while the Jbox is very easy to configure and set up out of the box at a higher price for the convenience. Pick your poison.

  7. russ,

    if you want to go the cheap route, you can make something similar with an old laptop and your gprs cell phone. slower, true, but a fun hack nonetheless and connectivity is connectivity. (i’m a frugal penny pincher, myself)

    i wrote a howto for this a little while ago, you can check it out here:
    (hackaday overview) http://www.hackaday.com/entry/1234000393022518/
    (the howto) http://www.virtuoffice.com/node/view/192

    Anyone else using evdo? Pretty awesome?

  8. Gee, way to remind of us of two articles we’ve ALREADY read…
    And yeah, what about the camera hack? And then the “big suprise” that was supposed to be on that one monday? Did I miss something too?

  9. why not using asus wl500g instead?? it’s MUCH CHEAPER! it’s linux inside! it has usb port to plug in usb cables connect to cdma/gprs phones. that’s it and you’re ready to go.

    or, use a mobile gprs/cdma with built-in wifi. like xda o2 or nokia 9210 or other palm/pocketpc/symbian devices. then develop a software to turn this device into hotspot. that way much ‘Cool’er than buying a ready-to-use, yet expensive device like that.

  10. why not using asus wl500g instead?? it’s MUCH CHEAPER! it’s linux inside! it has usb port to plug in usb cables connect to cdma/gprs phones. that’s it and you’re ready to go.

    or, use a mobile gprs/cdma with built-in wifi. like xda o2 or nokia 9210 or other palm/pocketpc/symbian devices. then develop a software to turn this device into hotspot. that way much ‘Cool’er than buying a ready-to-use, yet expensive device like that.

  11. Cool. I can just see where this is going.. beyond wardriving, there’s going to be war-stalking with strangers following you arround using a wi-fi PDA. then with the vehicle version, there will be war-tailgating with drivers following you around a city while they’re surfing the net in their cars.

  12. i have a hotspot in my area but it requires a username and password.and after registering you need to buy a code to recharge .can someone help me to break into it or a way to make me browse for free without bye anything.its a wireless network.
    my email address is speedermax@yahoo.com

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