Bye bye TeleWell TW-EAV510, Welcome tp-link TD-W9970 & F-Secure Sense

I'll have to say that these things like WiFis and DSLs and stuffs are sometimes way complicated. Of course, it's partly up to you, as to how complicated things need to be, but still.

Our VDSL modem fried a few weeks ago, when my husband accidentally spilled a wine glass on top of it (don't ask). We bought a used (maybe, or maybe not) TeleWell TW-EAV510 as it happened to be readily available, and tried to cofigure it into our use. It did not exactly go very well.

After both I and my network architect husband had tried fiddling with the device for hours on three separate occasions, with and without some (outdated) instructions (we did google it), I threw my hands in the air with a frustrated: "How do normal people ever get their WiFi's working, when two IT pros can't do it?"

My husband answered, very rationally: "Well, normal people don't have a static IP. Their modems work with default settings they fetch from the ISP provider." Yeah. So, possibly - just possibly - that darn TeleWell might've worked if we weren't nerds with a static IP. Own fault. Still we should've been able to configure the damned thing.

So, we gave up and when we got our F-Secure Sense, we also got the cheapest DSL modem in the local nerdy store (verkkokauppa.com), a tp-link TD-W9970. It took us all of 5 minutes to configure it. Five. Minutes. Eat that, TeleWell!

TeleWell is a Finnish company and that kind of adds to the disappointment. Usually you can pretty well rely on Finnish technology, especially when it comes to interneting, but this TeleWell device deserves a code red warning blinker on it.

Trying to configure this device is sheer waste of time! *blink blink*

Once our modem was up and running, it was time to configure the F-Secure Sense. My husband had already once started it, but note: have your modem and Internet connection running and Sense hooked up to it (if using LAN cable) before even strating the configuration wizard. How many times is that an issue, I don't know, but we needed to reset the Sense after the config wizard hung since we didn't have the Internet connection when husband first was going through the wizard.

Configuring the Sense (once it was reset and we coud just start all over again) was straightforward and easy. It, too, was completed in no time at all. My only disappointment was that only one device at a time can be used to manage the Sense. So since it's connected to my husband's iPhone, I'm not able to manage it from mine. Probably it doesn't matter really, but I am a little curious about the device and would like to follow the stats etc. at least in the beginning.

So, now we are protected by the Sense. I have noticed slight glitches in my matrix after hooking it up. My Skype for Business was giving some server connection messages in the morning (then again, it could've been an issue with the customer's Skype server; they said they had some issues today). Also, my Chrome freezes occasionally for half a minute or so. Can have something to do with the Sense trackings or maybe not. Hard to tell.

My Lumia and Internet Sharing

Some time ago I finally noticed that my Lumia could indeed be used as a wifi hotspot. I vaguely recall trying it out successfully with my laptop, but didn't really have the need for it after that. Except for with my iPad in the bus, and that didn't work. I thought the problem was somehow related to iPad being unable to use the network via Lumia or something.

This Monday I realised that the problem was something deeper than that. I needed, truly needed, to use my Lumia 800 as Internet connection for my work laptop. And it didn't work. I got a connection, but could not open any web pages or connect to Exchange. I tried to use our office VPN connection, but it would not connect either. As my last resort, I tried our home VPN. And that actually worked! And started tunneling requests so I could access web sites and my email, too.

Turns out for some reason Lumia did not provide any DNS service to my laptop, or iPad either, and that was the reason for nonworking networking. Our home VPN is confugerd with an IP address on my laptop as well as iPad, that's why it functions when using my Lumia for Internet connection.

Whether the problem is caused by Lumia or my mobile provider (or the combination of those two), I don't know. But at least I do know how to work around the problem. An IP address configured VPN connection does the trick.

Wi-Fi and When There Is None

Talk about first world problems. As a Finn, I am quite used to having a fast wireless internet connection not only at home, but at hotels, coffee shops and other public spots for a quite affordable fee or completely for free (not usually at home, of course). And when there is no otherwise provided internet connection, I can always connect to the internet via mobile data services (by the way - I completely missed the important Lumia update late June, bringing the Wi-Fi hotspot to the phone!).

But what about when the Internet connection is not a given? Like when the connection at home is not working? Or when the hotel does not provide Wi-Fi while you're tarveling? When you cannot even use the data connection of the phone because it would be such a big cost when you're traveling abroad? [By the way, I sincerely believe that mobile data connections at least within the EU shuold be made affordable!]

The feeling of helplessness is pathetic. It's not like I would need to be posting my every move in Facebook or anything, but I constantly run into little things I'm customed to, that I cannot use when the mobile data is turned off. Like opening the maps app on my phone to check where exactly I am and where my hotel is. Paper map, info maps, duh! My flight details? I cannot open the pdf attachment from my (pre-loaded) email. Or check the details from my OneNote app since that too wants to sync from the Internet. What if I forgot to print these out, just because I'm so used to having the Internet action.

Or like when sitting in a seminar, I take a photo of the presentation on my cell phone. And then on my laptop I open Windows Explorer and navigate to the Skydrive folder. But, uups! My photo is not there! The mobile data is turned off so no pics get uploaded, and most probably the Wi-Fi is not even working as so easily happens in seminars where tens or hundreds of people try to connect at the same time. And I cannot help that either for my part by using mobile data connection.

In the evening I would like to surf the Internet, read the news a bit, post an entry in my blog etc. while idling alone in my hotel room. But whereas in Finland most hotels have free Wi-Fi, it generally is not so in most other countries, to my experience. If it is reasonably priced, I may consider buying some Internet time for myself (if it even is available that way), but even I am not that huge of an addict that I couldn't go for a couple days - even weeks, even deliberately when on vacation - without an Internet connection.

You don't even notice it when the connection just is availbale. Our lives intertwine, the things we use and do intertwine with Internet services in so many ways! Add free global Internet connection to basic human rights! ;)