Junxion Box JB-110b reviewed

Verizon may not dig it, but the Junxion Box router is out there sharing cellular signals as we speak.  But how's it actually work when put to the test?  Well, according to PC Mag's review, the little lime green box will get the job done, but it's pretty bare bones as far as features go, and it's got a hefty price tag to boot ($699).  On the plus side, they found the device very easy to set up and found its 200-milliwatt radio to provide great coverage.  It's also compatible with most cellular modems.  On the downside, it's missing a lot of things you'd expect to find in a router — especially for this price — stuff like an SPI firewall, Wireless WPA support, and MAC access control lists.  We'll let you decide if Junxion gets extra points for their choice of color.

[kermit @ Dec 19th 2005 2:14AM]

Extra points for color. I like it. Stick it to the man! Yeah!

[Eric @ Dec 19th 2005 2:14AM]

...MAC access control lists is redundant. That would be saying "...media access control access control lists."

[jnasato @ Dec 19th 2005 2:14AM]

Ooh, points fer color and design... g.

[EVDO Guy @ Dec 19th 2005 2:14AM]

Junxion is the current leader of EVDO Routers. We have reports of many people have success with the Junxion. We have also personally built many StompBoxes for less. It will be interesting when the Kyocera KR1 (est $200) and D-Link DI-725 become available.

[n8 @ Dec 19th 2005 2:14AM]

They should send a couple of these to help the flood victims. A couple of these backpack wifi routers would really help a lot down there.

[EVDO Guy @ Dec 19th 2005 2:14AM]

Great idea to help down in the U.S. Gulf area. I wonder if data service is available in the hardest hit areas? According to this post, cellular service and dialing 911 is a priority and data services are not a priority:

http://www.evdoforums.com/about741.html

[Gleb Serbin @ Dec 19th 2005 2:14AM]

they gain points for the design but lose points on the color. the main room where i keep my network hardware and such is painted purple ao it would look like a clown house if i started putting lime green stuff all over the place.

under any other circumstances, its a great color that doesnt get lost in all the blue/purple and grey of the mass of lynksis stuff i have set up all over my house.

[oliver @ Dec 19th 2005 2:14AM]

This box is exceptionally easy to use for a novice - I got going in no time flat, and have quite simple network skills. Higher level functions are accessible as well for those with the proper skill set. Overall the construction seems bomb-proof (can I say that these days?). I suspect that some refinements to correct the complaints of PC mag can be accomplished via a firmware upgrade. Overall I think it's a winner, especially compared to some of the cheaply made alternatives that have a similar (or higher) price.

Oliver

O

[Tim @ Dec 19th 2005 2:14AM]

After purchasing various devices, we standardized on the Junxion Box because we needed something commercial-grade (not consumer). We use the model without 802.11 which is $500. I've been using a beta of Junxion's new firmware that is supposed to come out in a few weeks.
It's funny, because the PC Mag reviewer probably hadn't seen the beta (or only wanted to write about what's commercial...). Anyway, it includes some features I've been itching to see like a little DDNS client and a DMZ host so I can get my pesky VPN finally working. For WiFi users there's WPA and MAC lists. Also has a fail-over feature that allows the Junxion Box to flip-flop between a DSL line or the cellular link to the web (haven't tried but could be a life saver for some businesses). Let's see what Junxion and others have up their sleeve next.

[Brad Knowles @ Dec 19th 2005 2:14AM]

I'm confused. Why not just use a Soekris net4521 (see http://www.soekris.com/net4521.htm), plug in your favourite EV-DO (or whatever) card, plug in your favourite high-power/high-sensitivity WiFi card (my favourites are from Senao), then install one of the standard OpenBSD, NetBSD, FreeBSD, or Linux distributions with all the standard firewall and other features you could want?

Oh, and the Soekris would be a hell of a lot cheaper, too -- the pricelist (http://www.soekris.com/how_to_buy.htm) shows them as being $203 with case (power supply extra, for $9-16), and shipping in the continental US is free for orders over $130.

[Daniel @ Dec 19th 2005 2:14AM]

Am I the only person that thinks the design looks remarkably like the PS3?