Mobile Broadband and Your Laptop Computer
With the new mobile broadband technology, now laptops can go everywhere with you. The Internet cafes and the hotels with high-speed Internet in one specific area of the hotel will become obsolete. Most all of the cellular phone service providers are now offering mobile broadband high-speed Internet. As long as you are in their coverage area you will have a good strong connection to the Internet. If you are out of their coverage area, you will still receive a signal, but the carrier is old more widely available and slow.
Enter 3G-EvDo services to find out whether 3G-EvDO is really like in use in the outside world, testers received a data card with 3G technologies in 6 different large cities in different parts of the country. Each tester was instructed in how to test the data card. So each tester did a variety of tasks from ping tests to playing Internet radio. Each tester was also instructed to perform these tasks in various locations. The testers complied by testing and home, in a hotel conference room, outdoors, and traveling in an automobile. They were all instructed to test the data card at the very edge of the coverage area.
One of the first noticeable aspects was the varying of the speeds of the Internet. The speeds did average from 300 to 500 KB per second, but in some cases the speed went as high as 2.6 MB per second. Many times the web page would load in a second, but there were times it would take as long as three minutes to load. They found sometimes they could move closer to an exterior wall and get a very good connection, which is not feasible in some situations.
As long as the signal was good, the testers reported positive experiences. With bad signals and poor reception, interference issues arose. When tested in a moving automobile, there was no problem with the service unless they were not in the coverage area.
Through out all the tests of 3G-EvDo the bottom line was the service basically works, sometimes it works unevenly, but it performed as the service provider said it would. The final decision is EvDO’s performance it combines access to the Internet to the high-speed Internet connection. After several days of using only EvDO, the testers found they couldn’t live with out it.
After the test of EvDo, the testers took on the Sierra Wireless’s AirCard 860 with the High Speed Download Packet Assess and found it to be faster than the EvDO. When browsing the web the computer was quick to respond. The improvements were even more noticeable in areas where the signal was weaker for the EvDo.
The problems, which were evident was in the design the antenna, which extends 3.4 inches from the AirCard. A normal antenna would probably be preferable. The antenna is flimsy and may be easily broken. The testers decided the High Speed Download Packet Access is the winner of all the current 3G technology.
