Wireless Broadband Data Question

[seattleike]

I am ordering a new T61P. Does anyone have recomendation if I should order the built in wireless broadband or wait until after I get the unit and get a anexternal card that slides in. Which is the best Verizon, Sprint or Cingular. I use TMobile for my phone but I understand there data card is slow. Any info is greatly appreciated.

Links to review sites would be great as well.

[SHoTTa35]

well sprint has the largest broadband coverage area (most of it roaming) Verizon is second and then AT&T is third. However, AT&T does have the fastest in most places and with HSPDA coming soon you can theoretically see speeds of up to 7.8Mbps. Right now where AT&T has broadband coverage you can get up to 1.4Mbps which is DSL speeds.

Notice i said broadband speeds and i didn't mention T-Mobile. T-Mobile only has an EDGE network (144Kbps). AT&T's on the other hand goes up to 250Kbps. If you get the WWAN for AT&T it can use both the 3G and the EDGE network, whichever is available. For Sprint and Verizon, their 1xRTT networks (maybe a lil slower than EDGE) are also a backup if their 3G networks aren't available also.

What you should do is check to see which has the fast speeds where you need it and if you're willing to pay the $80/month it would cost to run it (or if you're lucky enough to get your company to pay it) If they are equal then i'd get the AT&T one just because (once again if you're lucky) you can use it in Europe and pay some crazy data fees! Verizon has a pretty good network tho so think about it long and hard.

[GomJabbar]

I use at&t myself. However, to date at&t has limited 3G coverage. Many, if not most areas do not have 3G coverage. I notice you are from the Seattle area. I do believe this is good area for at&t. Look at the 3G coverage map and list of cities covered with 3G before choosing at&t. If you plan to travel a lot, you may be disappointed in not being able to get 3G coverage in many areas. at&t does have widespread EDGE coverage, but EDGE is somewhat slow.

Cities Supporting AT&T 3G/Mobile Broadband
EDIT: I just noticed you can click on a city in the above list and see 3G coverage for that city. This is a new feature of this list.

AT&T Coverage Viewer
Note that you have to zoom in to city level or closer and check the 3G box before you can see 3G coverage (in blue).

Here you can find out more about at&t data coverage.
http://forums.wireless.att.com/cng/boar ... id=pccards

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Verizon has fast 3G service, but they are known for terminating users that use over 5 GB of data service in a month. Then you are stuck with a card that you cannot use. Additionally, I believe with Verizon you are stuck with using their VZAccess manager. I do not like this software. It will not allow you to lock in to a 3G or 2G signal.

Sprint also has fast 3G service and a wide coverage area. Sprint does not have a usage limit AFAIK.

Here you can find out more about Verizon and Sprint.
http://www.evdoforums.com/

Howard forums is good for finding out about all the carriers.
http://www.howardforums.com/

[seattleike]

Do you recomend I order a new machine with broadband built in or just use an external card?

Will Access Connections still work?

[GomJabbar]

Do you recomend I order a new machine with broadband built in or just use an external card?

Will Access Connections still work?

Personally, I recommend using an external card. It is an easy upgrade if you decide to change carriers or if new faster technology comes out. If the card was to fail, an external card is much easier to replace than an internal one. If you change laptops, you can move the external card to the new laptop (not so easy with an internal card). You can also swap an external card between laptops or share your card with another family member if you so desire. Finally, at least some external cards have an external antenna jack. This can be useful if you use your connection in a fringe area.

Access Connections works fine with the Sierra Wireless drivers that come with the Sierra Wireless 3G Watcher program. I am not sure about other drivers. However, you shouldn't need to use Access Connections with WWAN cards (you can still use it for your other connections). You don't really gain any functionality anyway. Currently I have Access Connections installed and I use it for my WiFi and ethernet connections. I never set it up for my WWAN connection (although I have tried this in the past successfully).

[LIVE4SPD]

Let me just speak to a couple things, One it's pretty hard to run up 5GB of data usage. Unless your are streaming video or running Kazaa, Liwewire file shareing etc, I'd be surprised if you even get close.

2. We have 3 Verizon cards and 1 recently cancelled ATT, all my employees said the ATT card didn't work with a squat in most places.

So while I would agree that the ATT card in theory is probably faster, they just don't have the good coverage yet. I would consider Verizon or Sprint personally.

[jcvjcvjcvjcv]

I would use the built-in option rather then the PC-card or expresscard. I hate the bulking-out antenna's.

Don't know how it's in the US, but I am from the Netherlands, and you can get a free card when you get a HSDPA subscription. I think I am gonna call them and say I want 200 euros off and only need the SIM card

[GomJabbar]

Let me just speak to a couple things, One it's pretty hard to run up 5GB of data usage. Unless your are streaming video or running Kazaa, Liwewire file shareing etc, I'd be surprised if you even get close.

2. We have 3 Verizon cards and 1 recently cancelled ATT, all my employees said the ATT card didn't work with a squat in most places.

So while I would agree that the ATT card in theory is probably faster, they just don't have the good coverage yet. I would consider Verizon or Sprint personally.

Your first point: "...it's pretty hard to run up 5GB of data usage", I would disagree with. Many spend time on YouTube these days. Internet radio is popular with some. I use Live365 internet radio myself. I have seen my use go over 5 GB some months. There must be something to it since the following thread is 21 pages long! VERIZON TERMINATED MY SERVICE

IMO, your second point is valid. at&t EDGE coverage is broad, but often unreliable (reliability with EDGE really depends upon your location and time of day). at&t 3G coverage is somewhat limited. Both Verizon and Sprint both offer more widespread 3G coverage than at&t.

EDIT: I just noticed something weird with the link I posted above from EVDOforums.com. If you start from page 1 and click on any other page or Next in the link I provided above, nothing happens. It just stays on page 1. I discovered if you use the following format, you can see the other pages: http://www.evdoforums.com/thread2366-300.html . You need to strip out the bolded portion of the link: http://www.evdoforums.com/about2366-0-asc-300.html

[SHoTTa35]

yeah, i would definitely say 5GB is nothing to go over especially if you are a road warrior. Most places i go i use wifi and that's the reason i don't have that card but even on EDGE people have pushed 1GB in a month. 3G only sucks it up even faster so 5GB would be nothing for some people to do.

For me just browsing HoFo and Neowin and these forums might not go over that much but sometimes sending large emails can push it up there.