DSC_0093A couple of months ago I bought a Sierra Wireless AirCard 597E ExpressCard along with Sprint service so that I could have wireless access for my Mac while I am on the road. So far I have been really happy with it apart from the intermittent disconnects that I am sure are normal for most wireless data services like this.

Last week I also bought a Cradlepoint CTR 500 which is a super tiny Wifi and wired ethernet router that lets you plug in either an ExpressCard or a USB modem for your wireless data service and route that through the built in Wifi AP. There are literally a *ton* of cool features that I didn’t really expect. For instance, the AirCard 597E has assisted GPS built in and the CTR 500 lets you map the NMEA data to an IP port on the router (I am assuming this is using gpsd) so that you can still use that feature without having the card plugged in. I assumed the ethernet port was set up to be a wired port on the LAN side of the network so that you can connect a switch to it, but I found out that you can also change a config in the web admin console to map the ethernet as a WAN side interface. This means it can double as a portable travel router if you find yourself in one of those medieval hotels that only has an ethernet port for internet access and you want to enjoy the freedom of Wifi while you watch the stupid Youtube videos sent to you by your favorite spammer friend.

Other nice features are the built in NAT firewall, WPA2 support, a connector for an external antenna, and the list really goes on and on. Did I mention that the mobile broadband devices can do failover if the connection from one goes down? Really good stuff for $150 US and if you travel a lot I highly recommend it. This model does not have battery power although other models do. I have a homemade battery pack for this that is working perfectly and I will post a how to on that sometime when I get a chance.