Ben
29th March 2008, 03:38 PM
Firmware version 2.10.17 brings SMS functionality to the Vodafone Linksys WRT54G3G, along with a couple of other improvements.
The SMS functionality is interesting but unfortunately not entirely useful IRL. You can connect/reconnect the 3G connection, send a WOL signal out to other devices on the network to wake them up, and reboot the router - I think that pretty much sums it up. Oh yes, you can also request the status of the router.
The problem is with the authentication. You can limit the ability to certain phone numbers, but numbers are way too easy to spoof on SMS. So, there's also another option whereby the commands are encrypted... but that means entering the encrypted strings into your text messages - not to mention the fact that you've got to have a PC handy to encrypt the commands in the first place.
Why not just have a password that can be set and then sent in along with the command by SMS? Duh.
Other features include a new ability to constantly check that the 3G connection is working. The router can now reset the datacard if necessary automatically if it detects a problem.
The SMS functionality is interesting but unfortunately not entirely useful IRL. You can connect/reconnect the 3G connection, send a WOL signal out to other devices on the network to wake them up, and reboot the router - I think that pretty much sums it up. Oh yes, you can also request the status of the router.
The problem is with the authentication. You can limit the ability to certain phone numbers, but numbers are way too easy to spoof on SMS. So, there's also another option whereby the commands are encrypted... but that means entering the encrypted strings into your text messages - not to mention the fact that you've got to have a PC handy to encrypt the commands in the first place.
Why not just have a password that can be set and then sent in along with the command by SMS? Duh.
Other features include a new ability to constantly check that the 3G connection is working. The router can now reset the datacard if necessary automatically if it detects a problem.