Fast forward to mid 2004, and enter Verizon Wireless’s new broadband wireless service. Based on a true 3G technology, EvDO, Verizon rolled out what is considered the fastest wireless cellular based data service in the U.S. in five major cities. Verizon touts this service with a 400Kbps minimum average data speed, with peaks reaching 700-800Kbps or higher depending on network conditions and wireless signal. Verizon recently launched the service in several additional major cities on its network. According to Verizon, most major US cities will be online with EvDO by the end of 2005.

3G has long been promised, but none of the major cellular carriers were willing to spend the millions of dollars necessary to upgrade their systems to provide the service, especially after the dot.com crash of a couple years ago. They cited minimal demand and the high investment costs that will have minimal returns. A lot has changed since then. With WiFi Hot Spots springing up at just about every corner, and the demand for wireless internet access clearly increasing, the cellular companies took notice and decided to take the plunge. Sprint PCS is rumored to be testing its own EvDO system in a few markets in anticipation of a national launch.

I decided to give the new Verizon service a try recently to see if the card lives up the hype, and delivers on the broadband promise. I was skeptical at first, but I was actually pleasantly surprised that the service lived up to its promise. Residing in the Ft. Lauderdale/Miami, Florida area itself is real luxury. But to have such a high-speed wireless data service available just about anywhere I needed it was certainly a bonus. Since coffee drinking is not my forte, it’s nice to know that I can plunk down my Thinkpad at somewhere other than Starbucks (most Starbucks offer T-Mobile WiFi Wireless Hot Spots) and still get a wireless broadband connection anywhere in the Ft. Lauderdale-Miami-West Palm Beach area.

Installation of the Audiovox card ($49 with a two year service Agreement) went off without a hitch, and I was up and running within minutes of downloading the latest software and drivers. It took only one click, and surfing the net at broadband speeds was at my fingertips. Believe it or not, I tested my speed again and again at the various online download testing sites, and none of them reported a download speed under 600Kbps, and speeds reached well over 800Kbps in some areas. Pretty impressive! Latency was not an issue surprisingly enough.

While I didn’t officially test upload speeds, Verizon touts this service to be used with VPN’s and claims upload speeds are fast as well. Verizon also provides data speed enhancing software, but I never installed or activated them for testing to get a true picture of raw data download speeds. Imagine how much faster it would seem using it would be.
 

In addition trying the service in the Ft. Lauderdale, FL area, I had a two week trip that took us to Las Vegas, NV to report on CES (Consumer Electronic Show) 2005, and I was able to pass up the $12.95 daily charge that the Monte Carlo Hotel and Resort charged for in room broadband service, in favor of the Verizon EvDO service that was active there as well. I even went as far as sharing my connection with my roommate via wireless 802.11g as I set my Thinkpad to share the internet connection. Neither one of us could tell we were using a wireless cellular data service to surf the net the whole time. In the six days while in Las Vegas, we saved the entire monthly fee that Verizon Wireless charges for unlimited data which is $79.95 per month.