Category Archives: Technology

chromebook and att wifi – part 2

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Two years ago, I set up my mother with an AT&T 4G wifi hotspot. Overall, she is happy with it. The hardware is starting to get less than optimal. It doesn’t keep a charge as long. I think a wire needs replacing. It shut down randomly twice. Since it is two years old, I decided to buy a new one for her and keep the old one for me to play with.

The price came down. Without a contact, the ATT Velocity hotspot is now $60. (two years ago it was $150). And this time, I could buy it from BestBuy rather than AT&T. A far easier buying experience. No shipping so sent right to me.

Setting up an account

Since I bought the hotspot from BestBuy rather than AT&T, I had to set up my own account online. Hardly difficult. The steps:

  1. Go to http://att.com/activateprepaiddata
  2. Enter the SIM number – this is listed as the ICCID on the bottom of the box
  3. Enter IMEI number – this is on a sticker inside the phone (easy to see before putting in the battery). It’s also on the bottom of the box.
  4. The zip code of the user – I used my mother’s
  5. Enter user’s email. I used my mother’s
  6. Pick a plan. I chose the same plan I had before. $25/month for 2GB
  7. Sign up for autopay
  8. Choose a password
  9. Then I went to manage account to set up a name. I repeatedly got “We seem to be experiencing system issues. Please try again later.” on saving. It was true though. I waited 5 minutes and then it saved.

Trying out the hotspot

The battery/case comes separated so I put that together. The device tells you the charge, connection strength and whether you have any new messages. Unlike last time, I didn’t have any messages right away. I had the flashing green light and six messages once I signed up for automatic payment.

New since last time – the device appears to tell you how much bandwidth was used up. This is an illusion. Once I started using data, it directed me to the web for this.

It still shows the number of connected devices.

I connected to the wifi using the default password from a Chromebook and went to http://attwifimanager. I logged in with attadmin (the default) and changed:

  • Network name (it prompted me that I would be disconnected so I reconnected) – I made sure to use a different password
  • The wifi password (it prompted me that I would be disconnected so I reconnected – should have done this with the network name to save a reconnect)
  • Set max number of devices to 2
  • On advanced settings, changed admin login

There was an option to hide the password on the device. I chose this because my mother wanted a password that has other meaning.

Connecting from the Chromebook

Connecting to the new wifi name is easy. Note that the network name is case sensitive
  1. Click the connection from the wifi list
  2. Type password

This didn’t work on the first shot. I tried from my iPad and also no connectivity. So I rebooted the hotspot and it worked.

To remember the connection 

  1. Click the wifi icon and click “Connected to X”
  2. Click network name
  3. Click “Prefer this network”
  4. Ensure “Automatically connect to this network is checked”
  5. Click “close”

 

How fast is the connection?

I ran a speedtest both to see how fast the connection was and to use a chunk of bandwidth to see how reporting worked. The answer was:

  • ping 36 ms
  • download 13 Mbps
  • upload 9 Mbps

Problems

Every once in a while, I have to push the power button on the wifi device for the ChromeBook to connect. I haven’t seen a pattern on this, but it only happens on trying to connect.

Support

Most problems can be dealt with online at att.com/my prepaid, but they do have a phone number: 800-901-9878

printm3d – my first 3D print

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I tried to buy a Tiko on kickstarter. I liked that it was lamp shaped and small. Aka apartment friendly. After the Kickstarter was cancelled, I bought a M3D micro printer. It’s an eight inch cube so still apartment friendly.

Set up was easy. You download the software from the website. It runs on Windows, Linux and Mac.  Once you download, it says it is beta software, but it works. My only complaint is they don’t sign it will. I chad to do “control open” on my Mac because it said the software was from an unidentified developer.

You have to plug the #D printer into your computer. I’m using the printer box as a little table and sitting on the floor so I can do this near the window and near a power outlet. This setup is decent unless I want to code while I’m printing :).

The printer verifies you removed the gantry clips and guides you through inserting the “ink.” This took me three tries. The first time no plastic came out. I think I didn’t shove it in hard enough. The second time, some white plastic came out then the color I inserted did. However, it came out in a bubble. The third try worked.

The manual shows a hook for loading the plastic externally. This hook doesn’t come in the box so you have to either print it or buy it online. It takes 4-5 hours to print it yourself. I’ll get around to that.

The manual also implies sample models are available in “recent models”. This didn’t happen for me so I had to download from the internet. I like that you can easily change the size and quality of your model. And that it tells you the print length before you start. I also like that it tells you the percentage complete down to the hundredth of a percent. Feels like progress!

Now to try to make something of my own! My second 3D print.

What is a DDOS? Explaining it to your grandmother

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After Friday’s internet attack, I had to explain what a DDOS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack was to my mother. She’s not so good with computers which is why her computer is a Chromebook. Here’s what I came up with:

Imagine I ring your doorbell and then run around the corner. You answer the door, but nobody is there. I do this every hour for six hours. Annoying right? Now imagine I recruit 100 people to do the same thing. Now your doorbell is ringing every 30 seconds. Eek! That’s a DDOS.

What do you think? Good analogy?