Verizon Wireless Broadband

A few days ago, I promised a more complete review of mobile wireless broadband, and here it is.
At the risk of sounding like a shameless corporate tool, let me say that this service from VerizonWireless is pretty good-- its kind of like having WiFi everywhere.
First a little background. I run my operation primarily out of two separate undisclosed locations in the Valley of the Sun. One, let's call it Casa Jaloti, has a reliable cable internet connection, and is located in a hilly area that is notoriously poor for cellular phone reception. The second, lets call it Pueblo Jaloti, has an internet connection that is somewhat problematic. I don't have much control over the infrastructure there, I couldn't get my laptop hooked to the internet there, and I couldn't have access to my servers at Casa Jaloti.
Rather by accident (cheesy radio commercial) I stumbled upon VerizonWireless Wireless Broadband service using EVDO technology. The service is available in about 30 metropolitan areas right now, with more planned by the end of the year, and in much of the country that doesn't have the faster EVDO, you can get a slower but still slightly better than dialup 1xRTT signal. As an aside I don't really understand these geek acronyms, I'm just parroting them.
Anyway I signed up for the service. I received the 5220 PC Card (fits in the PC Card slot of laptops--see pictures below), and an installation CD. I paid 100 bucks for the card, and the service is 80 bucks a month with a one-year contract. I know, that's a lot of monthly jack. But stay with me. Note also that Verizon gives a 15 day get out of jail card return policy.
I installed the software and card, no sweat. At Casa Jaloti I only get a RTT (what Verizon calls National Access) signal, and even then with difficulty. Sometimes I only can log on when (I swear to God) I put my hand on the antenna. (I'm ordering a third party external antenna to see if this makes a difference). However, I do get a signal there and its comparable to dialup. This is what I expected--cell signals are sometimes problematic out there. For me, internet access at Casa Jaloti is not an issue; this at least gives me a reasonable backup.
Next I tried it at Pueblo Jaloti. I get a better signal there-usually EVDO (Broadband Access, in Verizon-speak), sometimes it slips down to RTT. I get speeds anywhere from 30 kbps download on National Access up to 300 Kbps on Broadband Access, according to dslreports.com, which is a good site for testing your connection. The speed would fluctuate wildly, even though I was in the same place. I got the impression this has to do with how many other customers are using the tower I'm connected to, but maybe that's just my simplistic view of things. I haven't tested ping latency, and I know at least for some things the geeks say this is more important.
I also tried it driving around in the car. Wow-795 Kbps while in the Wendy's parking lot. I seemed to get a much better and faster connection out there in the open. I felt like blogging while driving but somehow I thought it might be unsafe. Just a hunch.
Thursday I was at a rarely used third undisclosed location-lets call it Cueva Jaloti, because it might as well be a cave, deep in a building, right next to the underground parking garage. I can't even get a signal on my T-mobile cell phone there. Ever. I frankly didn't expect any signal-but there it was--RTT mostly, sometimes even EVDO. I got speeds up to 300Kbps at times.
Thus, with this I can get an internet connection anywhere in my area, and often a pretty good fast one. It was fine for most of the web/email/IM stuff that I do. You can even set up a VPN with it. I haven't done that, but I intend to, so I can access the Casa Jaloti servers from afar.
So, that's my story. Is it for everyone? No. The signal can be inconsistent, especially in a building. When its good, its very good--although its not like being an a LAN--300-500 Kbps is good, but a good cable/DSL/T1 hookup is of course better--I won't deny that for a minute. When its bad, its like the old days of dialup-but I always have been able to get some connection, so far, at least. If you're in one place all the time and can get broadband, you don't need this. But if you are even a little mobile and want a more reliable connection in more places, then check out broadband wireless from VerizonWireless.
FULL DISCLOSURE--yes, these are sponsored links--I might get a little something for the effort if you click them and sign up with Verizon. For the record, I'm paying full price for the service, and what I wrote is my honest opinion.