Installation of the C100 is rather simple. If you want HSDPA 3.5G access, you are going to need to obtain a SIM card that supports it and that will involve contacting your phone company and asking them about it including plans and rates.
Once you have the SIM, it is a simple task of inserting the SIM card into the reverse side of the C100 and that is simple to do as everything is matched up with the angle of one side of the SIM being different to the other three sides. I hope that made sense!
Once the SIM is inserted, you need to work out if you are using the ExpressCard plug or USB. Since we tested using USB, we will cover that part. Simply slide the C100 into the included USB adapter till it goes all the way in. There is no actual click type sound for confirmation but you will know once it has been fully inserted (Ed. Note – no time for sex jokes here!). Now grab the included USB cables and plug the mini USB cable into the bottom of the USB adapter and the other two into your computer into two separate USB ports, but do not piggy back them as they each need separate ports for best performance. Easy so far, huh?
Your best bet will be visiting the BandRich website and downloading the latest versions. There is support for Windows 2000 (SP4), XP (SP2) and Vista (32-bit and 64-bit) along with support for MAC OSX tiger 10.4.x or above – there is no driver or software support for Linux at this stage. Now go ahead and install the software which will install drivers, the Connection Manager and also setup the HSDPA data connection as a new modem connection on your PC after the first time you hit connect in the program.
There was no need for us to change any settings to get connected. Using a Chung Hwa Telecom SIM enabled for 3.5G, the software automatically detected the network. Once we hit connect, it created a new system dial-up connection called “CHT” under Network Connections using COM4 and we were connected to the outside world at 7.2Mbps, all in a matter of seconds – it will always connect at “7.2Mbps” but it doesn’t mean it will necessarily do that speed (as you could be hooked onto a slower GPRS, EDGE or 3G network), it is just the maximum the C100 supports.
Once that initial dial-up connection has been created through the BandLuxe Connection Manager, you don’t even need to use the Connection Manager if you don’t want to – you can connect and disconnect it like a normal 56k modem connection. This method connects in only one second and happily transmits data with ease straight away with no delays. Your phone provider may ask you to enter a username and password and even a dial-in number or APN, but with Chung Hwa that is not the case and that info was automatically pulled from the SIM card itself into the profiles area – if you are required to do this, you can venture into the settings area and manually configure your network settings in the profiles area.
That is installation covered – you may want to reboot to ensure things run smoothly but our installation did not even require a reboot when installing on the 32-bit versions of XP and Vista.
