[COLUG] Cingular aircard operation problem

[charles morrison]

My son and I have Cingular Sierra 875 aircards. He uses Windows and I 
use Kubuntu. The problem we have is that the aircards seem to disconnect 
during a session.

The Cingular network can get as high as 1.5 Mbit rate when it works. 
When it doesn't, you get slower than dialup. This is in a 3G network 
area, Columbus. This has been a problem for me and my son.

My son has found that if he drops to a command prompt and issues a 
continuous ping (under Windows), the connection is maintained and he 
gets very good speed. This indicates to us that the Cingular network 
disconnects us in a very short period of inactivity. We would both like 
some ideas on how to maintain the Cingular connection, he, using windows 
and I, using Kubuntu, which will not keep the network busy with pings, 
but keep the connection alive so the card is usable.

Thanks,

Charlie Morrison
614-851-1100