Pepwave Surf SOHO 3G/4G Router Now Available

Pepwave/Peplink’s Balance and Max series of routers have become enormously popular with enterprise users and networking gurus thanks to their unrivaled feature set, but their price puts them out of reach for some users, and not everyone needs all of the advanced features these routers offer. Enter the Surf SOHO, Pepwave’s new 3G/4G WiFi router aimed at the home and small office market. The Surf SOHO offers a number of the most-used features offered by Pepwave’s higher-end enterprise routers, including 3G/4G USB modem support, failover, WiFi as WAN, QoS optimization, bandwidth monitoring, and advanced VPN functionality (“PepVPN”), but its affordable price tag (MSRP $129.99) and easy-to-use interface make it perfect for home and office users looking for a quality networking solution without breaking the bank.

Read our full hands-on review of the Pepwave Surf SOHO

Verizon Wireless announces new 4G LTE markets

Verizon Wireless has just announced 4G LTE availability in some new markets across the country. Customers in Corbin/Madisonville KY, Adrian/Mount Pleasant MI and Marietta OH can now enjoy the latest wireless network. This takes Verizon’s 4G LTE market coverage to 496 markets spread across the U.S. covering over 90% of the country! Verizon is nearing their goal of covering their entire 3G network with 4G LTE by the end of 2013 and delivering consistently fast data speeds. Most users on the network can expect to receive 5-12Mbps download and 2-5Mbps upload, while many users still report speeds far exceeding the average speeds.

 Wilson Sleek 4G-V for weak 4G LTE service

New 3Gstore Tip Sheet to Enable Family-Friendly Settings On Your Peplink/Pepwave Router

3Gstore's latest tip sheet shows users of the Peplink Balance and Pepwave Surf SOHO routers how to enable the free Norton ConnectSafe security tool so that users on their network cannot access unsafe websites. These settings filter and block pornography, phishing attempts, potential malware, scams, and other unsafe URLs. Once your router is properly configured, any computer or device that is connected to your router will never be able to access these types of sites - they'll simply see an error message instead. This is a huge help to parents who want to give their kids internet access but don't want to worry about their kids seeing something they shouldn't be seeing, getting roped into a scam or phishing scheme, or infecting their computer with malware!

This tip sheet (and many, many more!) is available now for all 3Gstore customers who have purchased a Peplink Balance or Pepwave Surf SOHO router. To download it, log into our support portal at 3Gstore.com/support or send an email to support@3Gstore.com with the subject of "send me the family-friendly tip sheet!" and include your 3Gstore invoice number!

Cradlepoint Firmware 4.3.0 for CBR400/CBR450/MBR95/MBR1200B/MBR1400/IBR600/IBR650 Fixes Bugs & Adds Features

CradlePoint has released Firmware Version 4.3.0 for the CBR400, CBR450, MBR95, MBR1200B, MBR1400 (left), IBR600, and IBR650 routers. This latest firmware release doesn't add support for new modems or add any new features, but it does add some new features as well as fix a variety of bugs that some users were experiencing.

Added features and usability/UI changes:

• The Portsmith USB and Expresscard analog modem adapters are now supported.
  
• Feature Licensing has been added (MBR1400v2/IBR600/IBR650) to enable features that require a specific license from CradlePoint.
• NEMO (network mobility) support has been added (MBR1400v2/IBR600/IBR650).
• 802.1x Ethernet securtiy has been added (MBR1400v2/IBR600/IBR650), allowing configuration of an authentication server that will accept authentication requests from Ethernet-connected devices.
• VPN tunnels now allow a secondary remote gateway in a single tunnel. 
• The IBR600 now supports up to 64 WiFi users (previously 32).
• IE 10 compatibility view support added.
• Subnet selection option added to the IP Passthrough Setup Wizard (MBR1400v2/IBR600/IBR650/CBR400/CBR450).
  
• Dynamic Modem Mode now displays the actual modes a modem supports. 
• Added additional modem diagnostics: home carrier, registered carrier, roaming status.
• Added connection mode selection for Sierra Wireless 330U modem.
  

Bugs/defects fixed:

• Improve WiFi reliability with iOS devices and other devices that use a BroadCom chip for it's wireless client.
  
• Fixed the incorrect status display some LTE modem users were seeing.
• The web admin/UI can now be viewed in Internet Explorer 10 in compatibility mode.
  
• The Manual Firmware Upgrade tool has been fixed.
  
• Fixed the issue where remote admin was failing with multiple WANs.
• Fixed an issue with WAN Failure Check (active ping) where the WAN connection was coming back up with a different IP address that the router as not recognizing.

NOTE: A defect was found in 4.2.0 and fixed in 4.2.1 that affects future upgrades. Using the Manual Firmware Upload for future firmware uploads will appear to work but default configuration settings for new features will not be set correctly. This issue does not exist with Automatic (Internet) updates or updates using Wipipe Central. Please upgrade to 4.2.1 before upgrading to a later version if you wish to use Manual Firmware Upload.

3Gstore's tech team will be testing this latest firmware release extensively in the coming days. Share your experience or follow ours in the EVDO Forums: Cradlepoint Firmware 4.3.0 Success/Failure

Related Links

• Discuss on the EVDO Forums: Cradlepoint Firmware 4.3.0 Success/Failure
  
• Cradlepoint Firmware 4.3.0 Release Notes (PDF)
• Order Cradlepoint routers at 3Gstore
  

PayPal offers free mobile payment processing to compete with Square

In an effort to compete with mobile payment processor Square, PayPal is waiving its fees for anyone who switches from their existing point-of-sale service provider over to Paypal's "PayPal Here" mobile payment processing service or any other PayPal processing service. In a blog post, PayPal president David Marcus said: "We will offer free credit, debit card, check, and of course PayPal processing for the remainder of the year to any qualifying U.S business turning in their dusty old cash register in exchange for a modern solution like PayPal Here (iPad, card reader, iPad stand, cash drawer, and printer) - ShopKeep, Vend, ERPLY, NCR Silver, and more partners to be announced soon."

PayPal Here competes with the popular Square payment processor; merchants sign up for service and attach a mobile credit card reader to theirphone or tablet. The standard per-transaction fee for PayPal Here is 2.7%, but through the rest of 2013 merchants signing up for PayPal's services will not have to pay that fee.

Samsung announces 5G wireless with 1Gbps transfer rates

BlackBerry Plans To Launch BBM Across Multiple Platforms This Summer

BlackBerry announced today that BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) will be available for both iPhone / iPad / Andriod devices this summer.  So, if you still have business associates, family or friends that still have a BlackBerry and use that for instant messaging, your Andriod or iPhone will be able to communicate with BlackBerry devices natively.

In the first version of multi-platform BBM, iOS and Android users are expected to be able to experience the following BBM features:

• The immediacy of BBM chats
• Multi-person chats
• Voice note sharing
• BlackBerry Groups, where BBM users are able to set up groups of up to 30 people and share calendar, photos, files and more

BBM Quick Facts:

• More than 60 million monthly active users
• More than 51 million daily active users who are connecting with friends or colleagues an average of one and a half hours every day.
• BBM users send and receive more than 10 billion messages each day, nearly twice as many messages per user per day as compared to other mobile messaging apps
• Almost half of BBM messages are read within 20 seconds of being received; indicating how truly engaged BBM customers are