Testing a new EV-DO card and service
In Macs on the Go! (the book), I mentioned a paid wireless broadband service called EV-DO (Evolution-Data Only — or Evolution-Data Optimized). I was sooooo excited by the potential convenience of having EV-DO service that I bought an EV-DO PC card and Verizon’s EV-DO service.
Here’s my experience so far.
Where I bought it: I purchased both the Verizon service and the EV-DO PC card through www.evdoinfo.com. Actually, I bought it at their sister site, www.booster-antenna.com, but there are lots of links on the evdoinfo.com site that you can click when you’re ready to buy. I got it here because these guys are Mac-savvy and they provide free, expert support for customers. If you don’t get your EV-DO PC card or service through them, you can purchase a separate tech-support package. The evdoinfo advantage is that they know Macs, unlike most of the people you’ll find working in Verizon stores.
Installing and activating: My Kyocera Passport KPC650 EV-DO card ($169.99) arrived in a couple of days, already set up and pre-activated (a service you can request, preventing you from having to use a PC to do the setup).
I installed the software (VZAccess Manager, shown below) that’s on the bundled CD. That took about 30 seconds.
I inserted the card, clicked the “Connect WWAN” button in the VZAccess Manager window, and it worked — mainly because the card and the service had been pre-activated
for me.
I installed the software (VZAccess Manager, shown below) that’s on the bundled CD. That took about 30 seconds.
I inserted the card, clicked the “Connect WWAN” button in the VZAccess Manager window, and it worked — mainly because the card and the service had been pre-activated
for me.
Connection options: The EV-DO card and service provides three different possible connections, depending on where you are at the moment and what’s available in that area.
(1) Quick 2 Net (14.4kbps): When you’re not in a Verizon service area that provides BroadbandAccess or NationalAccess, you’ll usually have the option to connect using Verizon’s slowest option, Quick 2 Net. At 14.4kbps, it’s much slower than any connection I usually have to use. But if I’m in a remote location with no other options, a slow connection might be better than no connection. This extremely slow connection will be billed to me at $.25 per minute! That’s $15 per hour. I’ll have to be pretty desperate to use this connection, but at least I have that option.
(2) NationalAccess: Verizon’s NationalAccess service is advertised as a broadband connection. However, the connection speed that telecom’s and I consider fast enough to qualify as a broadband connection is purty dang different. Verizon claims that a NationalAccess connection is typically 60 to 80kbps, with bursts up to 144kbps. My NationalAccess connection’s speed test measured 131kbps, so the Verizon claims seem to accurate enough. But personally, I consider broadband connections to be 500kbps and above. If there’s not enough bandwidth to video chat, it’s not broadband (in my opinion). But, hey – it’s almost ten times faster than Quick 2 Net, and it’s included in my monthly fee of almost $60.00, so I’ll try to not complain too much. If you don’t have an existing Verizon account, the monthly cost is almost $80 per month. To get the $60/month fee, you must have an existing Verizon service, and you must commit to a 2 year contract.
(3) BroadbandAccess: This is the fastest Verizon connection and the main reason to subscribe to Verizon’s EV-DO service. BroadbandAccess is currently only available in “most” major cities. I haven’t been able to test this connection yet, because it’s not available in my area. Verizon claims speeds of 400 – 700kbps with speed bursts up to 2mbps (megabits per second). Other testers report that a more realistic estimate would be speeds of 100 – 200kbps with bursts up to 800kbps.
Negatives:
(1) Verizon’s BroadbandAccess service is not provided in enough areas yet to be a complete Road Warrior solution. However, depending on your location, and where you need to use this service, it might be available and the answer to your Road Warrior prayers.
(2) $.25/minute charge for the slooow 14.4kbps connection (Quick 2 Net) adds up to $15/hour. Geez.
(3) Usage limitations: The small print on my contract says: NationalAccess/BroadbandAccess services cannot be used (1) for uploading, downloading or streaming of movies, music or games, (2) with server devices or with host computer applications, including, but not limited to, Web camera posts or broadcasts, automatic data feeds, Voice over IP (VoIP), automated machine-to-machine connections, or peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing, or (3) as a substitute or backup for private lines or dedicated data connections.
Most of these limitations don’t really bother me. But item #1 — streaming movies and music? Give me a break. Hmm, I suppose there are a lot of people out there would overload the network with streaming data, so maybe it’s a necessary thing.
(4) Early termination fee: If I decide to cancel the service early, I’ll be billed an early termination fee. For my two-year contract, the early termination fee is $175.00. Pretty expensive, but not as expensive as paying $60/month if there’s more than 3 months left on the contract.
Conclusion: Here in Santa Fe, New Mexico, I have to settle for the NationalAccess connection for now. But I didn’t jump into EV-DO for connecting here at home. I wanted an easy and convenient connection for when I travel to other cities, without having to search for a Wi-Fi hotspot. So, for now (and barring any unforseen surprises) I’m satisfied with the service. I can get connected almost anywhere I go, and the potential is there to have a great (OK, almost great) connection (if I’m in the right city).
More Verizon EV-DO reports will be posted later, when I’m on the go again and can test the BroadbandAccess service.
Anon,
Jt
The Jt EV-DO Report
Monday, March 27, 2006
