POE for My Clear Home Modem (first Instructable So Bear With Me)

Intro: POE for My Clear Home Modem (first Instructable So Bear With Me)

Wife decided to give clear a try since our dsl was dog slow and cable was wickedly high (in cost)... 

We received the modems (usb and house), the house one is easy as pie to set up, the down side is finding that sweet spot for reception.

Guys i ran all over the house with the laptop and that house modem, couldn't get ANYTHING above 2 bars.

hmmmmm

So, with it set in the window of the bedroom up against the glass, we get an average of 3 to 5 bars depending on the weather (i kid you not), this is where it goes when i hear complaints about hulu under buffering.

STEP 1: Parts

The Idea is (was) "babe, i'm going to run over to fry's and pick up some stuff" (i can hear her logging into the joint account to watch the spending as i leave.)

The parts that are needed is.....
1) a Pelican box big enough for the modem itself (it was pretty cheap)
2) a gooooooood amount of Cat5 cable (i stopped at 50ft)
3) a female and male power socket that matches both the modem and the wall wart
4) a Telco baseboard jack for network drops
5) Soldering iron, solder, flux, and solder wick if your messy

STEP 2: Construction

Construction:

     Construction was pretty straight forward for wiring i used this as the primary inspiration for the design: www.nycwireless.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/poe3.gif

All i had to do basically was build the same thing from this webpage:

www.nycwireless.net/projects/poe-power-over-ethernet/

Then pack the modem up in a pelican case and head outside.

STEP 3: Results

Building the POE adapter was pretty cool i would say its great for an amateur to make and if you ever need to run power and ethernet to a remote location through one cable its perfect for it.

While running around in the backyard i found out while in the case the reception was pretty much the same as indoors. But if i removed the modem the case (get this) and threw it up in a tree the reception was 4 to 5 constantly, mostly 5 the whole time unless the wind blew.

So for about $40 in parts i did manage to make a cheap portable housing for my modem that i can take camping, or as a mobile weatherproof wifi drop.

Hell i might even hook it up to an old DirecTv dish or a cantenna via the SMT mini co-ax inside and camp.

:)


*anyone notes any errors let me know

Update 5-20-10: havent used it since i did this back in January, i did manage to find the sweet spot in my house after using this to run around inside the house to find it. so i does have some advantages.

Comments

[nil0lab]

Very cool. Thanks. ClearSpot or ClearSpot Voyager?

[Blackross]

It doesn't really matter, as long as you can fit into the box and run one cat-5 cable out of it should be fine... Any weatherproof will work.

[nil0lab]

Oop- I think now that I look at the pictures again it's a Clearwire home router rather than one of the mobile/portable ones. The ClearSpot and Clearspot Voyager don't have ethernet, doh, so PoE is entirely irrelevant to them!

[Blackross]

You can still use a smaller pelican case for the little USB dongles I have both the portable and home.... USB case is good for outdoors, camping, or out on a construction site.

[njedmonds]

What kind of modem can you use? Does it have to be a cable modem or can it work with a DSL moden as well?

[treekids]

the point is to get it where the radio signal can hit it well- not really a factor with DSL!

[civicturbo]

I did something similar but mounted it on a 10 ft. pole secured to my roof. slowly turned around and around to try to max the signal.