The Draytek 2820n

After being a bit disatisfied with the facilities offered by my Netgear DG834G I was looking to find a broadband modem/router that did more.

I wanted multiple WiFi networks so that one would access the Internet only and the other would have access to devices and compluters wired to the router directly, ideally I wanted the ability to use 3G as a backup if the ADSL failed and I wanted the ability to directly connect a USB printer so we could print from a laptop without turning a desktop machine on.

The Draytek 2820n was a fairly good fit and while around £150 for a new one seemed a bit steep as against a £30 - £50 Netgear I thought I would give it a go as the alternative was a pile of seperate boxes.

There was a bit of a learning curve with it, not helped by the support documentation and firmware being out of step with VLAN creation. The multiple WiFi networks was easy to set up. A "legacy" WEP network for things that don't support WPA, the rest on multiple WPA networks with access to internal resources (PC, NAS) as needed created through VLANS on a tick box basis.

Very good.

There was a bit of paper wasted before I got the printer on USB working well (following the instructions for Windows, it "just works" with the IP address for Mac OSX).

All in all very pleased.

There have been a few connection drops but this may be the "training period" with the BT ADSL. I also sometimes got them with the Netgear.

If I could change the Draytek what would I add ?

1) More USB ports so I could have a small USB key for some Internet accessible storage as well as the printer.

2) More USB ports so I could have a USB broadband modem on it as well.

3) More Ethernet ports, 8 would be good, as I've used all 4 and would like to avoid a small extra hub.

All in all, the Draytek 2820n is a worthy upgrade from the Netgear.

Shared Google Calendars on iPhone/iPod Touch

From

http://support.google.com/mobile/bin/answer.py?hl=en-GB&topic=14252&answer=139206

but here to be accessible and in case it goes away.

"Google Sync allows you to choose up to 25 Calendars with the Calendar app on your Apple device.

To select which calendars to sync to your Apple device, follow the steps below:

1.Open the Safari browser on your device and go to http://m.google.com/sync.
2.Sign in with your account and select your device from the list of devices that you've set up for Google Sync."

Amazingly it "just works".

I remember with other devices a curious "private URL" was used. Perhaps this works from the MAC address of the iOS device.

Very clever !

The Orange San Francisco and WiFi - Netgear DG834G v4

There is clearly a common issue with "devices" and WiFi.

As I have a mixed bag of WiFi devices some of which only support WEP I have a WEP WiFi network on a Netgear DG834G with v4 hardware.

Although initially the Orange San Francisco had been fine with the Netgear more recently it hadn't been getting an IP address via DHCP, hanging during the connection process as a result.

I updated from the DG834G version 4 Firmware V5.01.01 to the most recent from the Netgear websiste (with some trepidation as I thought a hell of settings would follow) to DG834Gv4 firmware version 5.01.16 and so far all seems well with the Orange San Francisco and DHCP. No settings to re-enter either, bonus !

I will see if it seems fixed and perhaps set the iPod touch back to DHCP.

E-Mail on phones

My needs are modest, I want the functionality phones come with to work.

Settings for e-mail providers can be difficult to find.

Yahoo mail ( yahoo.co.uk ) settings for IMAP as working on the mail client on my Sony Ericsson k530 are as follows:-

Incoming

imap.mail.yahoo.com
Port: 143
Security: None

Outgoing

Outgoing Server - smtp.mail.yahoo.com
Outgoing Port - 465 (requires SSL/TLS)
Username: full email address (for example, bill@yahoo.com or bill@rocketmail.com)
Password: the password you login to Yahoo with.

Info via much web searching.

It worked for me, your milage may vary !

How to pair a Sony Bluetooth Headset HBH-DS200 with a Bluetooth accessory

Adapted from information on the Sony website:-

Make sure the headset is fully charged and within 1 m (3 ft) of the phone.

Make sure the headset is turned off.

Press and hold the headset On/Off button for at least five seconds, until you hear a long beep after the first signal. The headset is now in pairing mode.

On the phone scan for a new device, when the question "Add device?" appears on your phone press "yes".

If you need to enter a passcode, the headset passcode is 0000.

It works OK with the Orange San Francisco which was what it was bought for.

It also works fine with the iPhone 3GS which has taken over from the Orange San Francisco for some duties.

To unpair (from http://www.mrandmrsloh.com/?p=542 )

"Inside manual: (To reset headset or To unpair headset with a phone)

1. Press and hold down the on/off key until the display shows the flashing
pairing icon.

2. Simultaneously press and hold down the on/off key and the action key until
the headset turns off.

For step 1, you have to turn off your device off first. Once you have turned off the device, then only you can press and hold down the on/off key (about 3-5 seconds) before the display shows a flashing pairing icon (like a recycle logo).

For step 2, press and hold down the on/off key (the button with the play sign) and you press the on/off at the same time to turn it off."

TP-Link TL-MR3220 and ZTE MF627 follow up

I see that 90% plus of the readers of this blog are interested in the TP-Link TL-MR3220 and the ZTE MF627 so I'll follow up on the original piece.

There are still a few issues with the TL-MR3220 and the ZTE MF627.

1) I spent the weekend in a location with poor mobile coverage. It seems that if the SIM can't register with a network then the router doesn't recognise the modem. It took a bit of SIM swapping to find that.

2) With good signal it can work for hours but I've not got to the bottom of occasional disconnections. I think these are mobile network initiated so that when there is no data flow the network closes down the connection to the dongle and this confuses the router. This is only a theory and I've also been using phone SIMs (as against SIMS intended for dongles) up until now.

I've got a proper "3" dongle SIM coming and I'll give this a go with the TL-MR3220 and the ZTE MF627 combination.

From a bit of Googleing I'm increasingly of the opinion that the TL-MR3220 plays better with the Hauwei E160 than the ZTE dongles and at some stage getting one of those might be the answer.

The TP-Link TL-MR3220 and the ZTE MF627

I've had an unlocked ZTE MF627 around for a couple of years, ever since the "3" offer of a "dongle for free" (plus £4.95 p&p) was around. I unlocked it at the time (google ZTE MF627 unlock for free and I'm sure you will find out how) but I've not made much use of it.

I had a bit of a hankering for an unlocked "mifi" type device but £60 was a bit much to spend for something that was very much a "holiday use" item.

While looking for something else I came across the TP-Link TL-MR3220. This is one of the modern routers which can take a WAN connection (say cable broadband) and back it up with a 3G dongle connection.

There is no operator lock on the device (although there could be on the dongle) and any APN can be entered. Finally it was about £25 from Amazon. How could I resist.

I got it out, connected it to a PC via a cable (it does 4 cable ethernet ports as well as WiFi) and started the set up process.

Sadly, it wouldn't recognise my dongle even after a firmware update. It was starting to look like a return to Amazon and a snotty review was required as the ZTE MF627 was supposed to be a supported device.

In desperation I borrowed a different dongle (a T-Mobile USB stick 120 which is also known as a ZTE MF626) and it was recognised.

I e-mailed the support address [ support.uk@tp-link.com ] but heard nothing back. I then found a UK telephone number(0)845 147 0017 and gave it a ring.

To my great surprise an extremely helpful person answered the phone and after listening to the problem e-mailed a set of instructions.

The problem seemed to be that the ZTE MF627 3G modem was in an autorun mode (so it can start the manager software) not a modem mode when plugged in.

The following sequence of instructions fixed this for me.

Step 1: Plug the 3G modem directly to your computer. Run the manager software (in my case "Globe Visibility Connection Manager") and from control panel find out what COM port the ZTE modem was on.

Step 2: (On Windows XP) click Start->go to All programs->Accessories->Communications->Hyper Terminal->choose the corresponding COM port for the 3G modem

Set the HyperTerminal connection parameters to:

Bits per Second: 115200

Data bits: 8

Parity: None

Stop bits: 1

Flow Control: None

Then, once connected, type the following command (this was "blind" as there was no echo) AT+ZCDRUN=8 then press "enter".

The modem responded

Close autorun state result(0:FAIL 1:SUCCESS):1

and I closed Hyper Terminal.

When I then connected the 3G modem to the router and restarted the router, the modem was recognised (as a MF626 which I think was a result of unlocking).

Using the "3" sim from my phone in the dongle works fine now in the TL-MR3220 and the connection can be shared around a few devices.

The ping (latency) is high (perhaps 200ms) and the data rate is perhaps 200kb/s download and less up but as a way of using WiFi and ethernet devices when away from home it's not bad for the money.

I'll try other SIMS as required but it all looks promising now.

Fantastic technical support TP-Link. It will now be a glowing review at Amazon !