Hotbox, a cell-powered WiFi hotspot

Ben Ellison

Ben Ellison

Panbo editor, publisher & chief bottlewasher from 4/2005 until 8/2018, and now pleased to have Ben Stein as a very able publisher, webmaster, and editing colleague. Please don't regard him as an "expert"; he's getting quite old and thinks that "fadiddling fumble-putz" is a more accurate description.

13 Responses

  1. IGreen says:

    Unfortunately the Marine electronics industry is rife with pirates. Add the word “Marine” somewhere in the description and you can multiply the cost by 10. There really is no reason why Marine electronics cost as much as they do.

  2. RJ says:

    I have been keeping an eye on these guys
    http://www.omniwav.com/
    802.11B/G + EVDO

  3. Terry says:

    Well, that IS a nice yellow box 🙂

  4. Russ says:

    EVDO is nice, I have an EVDO modem now. But don’t be fooled by the coverage. As soon as you leave the major metro areas, it’s back to 1XRTT at about 50Kb. Do you wnat to do all your sailing in a big city?
    And of course as soon as you leave the US, it’s history because most of the world is using GSM, not CDMA.

  5. Eliboat says:

    RE: Junxion…I was going to say that I know I, or anyone else with a basic sense of technology and some motivation could build an evdo hotspot for sub $500. $4500 is insulting.

  6. andrew smith says:

    here is how to make one yourself
    http://stompboxnetworks.com/

  7. Jim Hebert Jim Hebert says:

    Compare this with the $250 Kyocera KR-1 router:
    http://www.kyocera-wireless.com/kr1-router/

  8. Randy says:

    While I agree somewhat with some of you, what we have failed to notice is that all of this equipment is bundled up into one solution. I’m sure I could build a box, get a marine amplifier and a voip phone and put it in a nice case like this one. Do I have time to do that? No. If this price wasn’t so high i may be inclined to get one for myself. Great Idea though!

  9. igreen says:

    I dunno. I have an inflated opinion of the value of my time. 1/2 hour to visit a wireless provider to get the cell card. Another 1/2 hour to visit the local Fry’s electronics to pick-up the magical marine high gain antenna, VOIP phone, and Pelikan case. 5 minutes to order the WiFi/Cell basestation online. I’ll be generous, $1000 worth of parts and 2 hours of my time? $1750/hr? My point being…the solution provided is a collection of parts that any half way tech savvy individual could pill together. But…juding from the photo of the yacht on their web page, it seems they are targeting a market segment that is capable of printing their own money. I guess this product touched a nerve with most of us who are tired of being gouged by manufacrurers everytime they use the word “marine” in their product description.

  10. Samuel says:

    Am I to assume that this Hotbox has an amplifier built into the case? It’s hard to tell from the picture. If all this product simply is a hotspot/cellular router, then I fully agree $4500 is WAY to pricey. However, if it’s 1 stop shop for your wireless internet requirements (router, amp, VoIP and protective/portable case)I suppose $4500 is not too bad, considering I just opened West Marine’s sales mailer to find a $4400 KVH Satellite TV system. I guess price depends on what you value.
    BTW – I looked into the Junxion box, no external antenna ports, so connecting to an amp is not possible.

  11. Bill Kearney says:

    Actually, with something like a dual-slot soekris system it’s pretty easy to set one up.

  12. Tech.Dirt says:

    EDVO is way to slow to provide good wireless coverage.. This thing is a piece of junk, try to have more than one person connect to it and it’s worse than a slow dial up connection.. Save your money, the hotbox is a headache.

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