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Wireless Data Plans Reviewed
prostoalex writes "The New York Times Technology section runs a review of available wireless data plans that provide a PCMCIA card for wireless Internet connections. Cingular BroadbandConnect seems to have won the comparison as far as quality, but the service is only available in 16 major metropolitan areas. Sprint Mobile Broadband has wider coverage for $80 a month. Verizon Wireless sells BroadbandAccess for $80 a month or $60 if you decide to commit to a 2-year contract, and this one has the widest coverage of 181 metropolitan areas."
Verizon and Sprint use EV-DO cards. EV-DO is pretty widely deployed and growing fast. Make sure you get an EV-DO Revision A compatibile card. DOrA has even faster downlink and much faster uplink capabilities, as well as low-latency support so stuff like VoIP works better. EV-DO will fall back to normal 1x data... which is pretty fast. I get 100-200kbps just about everywhere on my cheapo 1x phone on Verizon. There are EV-DO networks in some Asian countries like Korea. And in my experience Verizon is the best wireless provider here in the USA.
I have a cheapo Verizon phone and find the normal 1xRTT to be pretty good for web browsing. SSH is a bit high latency but not bad. And it just costs airtime minutes. I wouldn't want to dist-upgrade debian with the link, but it's pretty good for what I need. Several folks in the office have the EV-DO cards and they work great in most cities.
If you are on a GSM network you also might find out that your phone does EDGE for free. Most phones -- even the cheap ones -- have data features. Find out and you might have a fun solution for an occasional need for wireless connectivity.
PS. Linux connectivity for the LG VX3200 was a snap... but I can't get it to work in Windows... does anyone have this working? I got a cheapo cable that comes up as a serial device...
-- Erich
Slashdot reader since 1997
I've had Verizon's service for about a year and am pretty happy with it. They could do A LOT better though.
... blah) and use the phone as a modem. Works pretty well, though I wish there was a card for it. Of course the verizon morons at the store don't really know what they are selling, so they also had me buy the stupid USB wire to the phone (that doesn't even charge the battery!) that doesn't because, according to them, you can't share the data connection over bluetooth (but you can!).
I orginally had a Novatel V620 PCMCIA card connection to my powerbook, but when I got my Mac Book Pro, it became instantly useless. As of a few months ago, there are no ExpressCard/32 adaptors available for any of the service providers.
The solution I went with was to get a bluetooth cell phone (and voice service
So ya, overall i'm happy with it because it works. I'm surprised that i usually have a latency of under 500ms. I can play World of Warcraft from pretty much anywhere =)
My rep seemed to know a bit about it, but I was definitely more a tech-head than he was. Anyway, here in Phoenix, I get about 45-50KB/s on downstream transfers. Latency is notably less so than EDGE on Cingular (my prior data service.) According to the article, it's against the terms of service to stream/download/upload music, movies, or games, and it's also a violation to use VoiP services, such as Skype. That said, I have the Skype client running on my PDA phone and have successfully used it to make phone calls. I also stream Sirius over EVDO all the time, with no problem. I've even used it paired to my laptop via a readily available hack and web conferenced with family from the tops of mountains and such, so it clearly appears that whatever their actual terms of service are, they don't actually block ports or such to utilize such services. It's positively addicting to have broadband like performance everywhere you go. The only part that sucks is leaving down, when you drop to regular 1xRTT speeds, which is marginally better than EDGE.
A bunch of people are doing this here in Canada now that Bell offers 1X-EvDO (2.4 mbps), and that Skype works for smartphones. Works great with Treos and PPCs.
I also stream Sirius over EVDO all the time, with no problem.
.... cheaper to get get a sirius receiver than to stream it (at least around here).
All the unlimited plans I've ever seen are soft-capped at 1OO MB, 250MB, or half a gig. Streaming music for any length of time is going to chew through it pretty quick.
I know more than a few people who've had data bills in the thousands. The carriers seem to be pretty reasonable about waiving them for first-timer "OMG I had no idea" types, but I know several people with large monthly data bills.
For high users its far far far far far far
it clearly appears that whatever their actual terms of service are, they don't actually block ports or such to utilize such services.
Yet.
The article focuses on pc-cards but doesnt mention bluetooth tethering to a cellphone. Using your cellphone as a wireless modem over bluetooth has some advantages over pc-cards. One big advantage of tethering is that you share one account and one bill with fewer fees. Since you probably already carry your cellphone around (with its built in bluetooth hardware), there is a weight/bulk advantage with tethering because you dont need the extra pccard and antennae. Another secret is that the cellphone operates on its own battery so the laptop battery life is effectively extended. These benefits really stand out when you are using a pocket sized computer like the sony 750p; tethering is the difference between an internet computer in your pocket and a computer in a suitcase.
What's wrong with T-mobile's EDGE service?
1. Get a T-mobile phone with bluetooth and EDGE
2. Get a laptop with bluetooth.
3. Enjoy unlimited wireless internet access with (the good) ~120 kbps real-world throughput and (the bad) ~800-1200 ms roundtrip latency, for $19.99 a month.
I know that EV-DO has better latency, but I didn't think that Cingular's HSDSPA or whatever alphabet soup it is was that much better. T-mobile's EDGE service is acceptable over an NX connection, and works while in the car up to about 60 mph.
For an addition $10.00, you can get the "T-mobile Total Internet" package, which gives you unlimited T-Mobile hotspots, which are all over the place, and significantly faster than any of the 2.5G-3G data services.
*shrug*---- I've been tempted by Verizon's EV-DO service, but at 4x the cost, with availability of the high-speed component in metropolitan areas only (my northshort Chicago suburb, near O'Hare airport, at the world's largest industrial park, is NOT served by EV-DO) just doesn't seem worth it.
Much of the world still lives on dialup. I can get used to using 2x dialup (with 2x the latency, har har) while on the road; and the price cannot be beat (I average 30-50 megs of usage per month, and I get the added side benefit of browsing on either my phone or laptop whenever I want).
Go T-Mobile. I highly recommend it.
WhiteWolf666 an exBush supporter. All you new-school,compassionate,save the children Republicans can rot in hell