Sprint & Verizon wide area internet - pilots best friend?

[Wankel7]

Well, a few of my friends have this so I jumped on teh bandwagon

Basicly, it is a service offered by Sprint and Verison that is a wide area internet system. So, if you are in the Sprint PCS network you can get anywhere from 40kbs-130kbs download speed.

However, if you are in the EVDO network you can get speeds of 400kbs - 700kbs. Sprint seems to have started their EVDO rollout at airports. Which is great for those who spend lots of time in the airport.

Seems like the unlimited data plan is 80 bucks a month if you don't have a voice plan with sprint. However , Sprint offers some great discounts. And now the card for your laptop costs about 100 bucks with an instant rebate.

Here is a link to Sprints deal
http://www.sprint.com/business/products/products/wirelessHighSpeedData.jsp

And this is Verizons
http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/mobileoptions/broadband/serviceoverview.jsp

I should be using it by Monday so... I will get back to the thread on how it works.

Seems like Verizon has the better high speed network. However, I was able to get a 25 percent discount with sprint..money talks

 

[cherokee]

Well, what did you find out? Trying to see whether Verizon or Sprint is better. Can you use the Vision plan by Sprint by using it as a modem so wherever you have a cell signal you can get on the internet or do you have to be in one of the special areas like airports? I want to use the cell phone as a modem to connect my laptop to the internet. Anyone doing this? I'd love to hear how well it works. Thanks.

 

[Wankel7]

As far as teethering your mobile to your laptop? Yeah, it can be done but I don't know the details on that. I would say go over to www.howardforums.com and do some searching. Some of those guys know their stuff. And that new Sprint A900 lets you use the bluetooth to teether.

However, I know if you teether with your cell phone you can't use it to make calls at the same time.

Since I made this post Cingular is rolling out their wide area internet. They call it HSPDA and it really fast...faster than verizon and sprint. I think their technology lets you teether and talk. Not sure on that.

I have been using the Sprint EVDO since 9/25 and I don't see how I lived without it! It has been great getting high speed internet in the airports, on the cargo ramp in lax, and other places. Heck, I am in the suburbs of milwaukee getting it I normally see 40-70kbs downloads. Even with so many hotels having wireless I still use my Sprint card because the hotel wireless normally sucks or is censored. And that interfers

The only downsides are the upload speed is slow (10-14kbs up) and there are latency issues. So, voip might not be stellar.

As far as Sprint pricing it is 80 a month with no voice plan. 60 a month with a voice plan. However, you can do some major hemming and hawing and with out voice you can get it for 60 a month. And the way Sprint throws around discounts so easy...might get you even lower on the monthly charge.

One great place to read up on this stuff is www.evdoforums.com

Wankel