Cellular Broadband Anyone?

JoLLyRoGer

Diamond Member
Aug 24, 2000
4,153
4
81
Sick and damn tired of my dial-up. Can't justify the $$ of satellite FWIW. No one provides wireless.

Is anyone doing broadband on the cellular network?
 

SandInMyShoes

Senior member
Apr 19, 2002
887
2
81
Cingular, Verizon. Cingular has good coverage with their EDGE service, but it often isn't much faster than dialup, and at $80/mo for unlimited usage, satellite starts seeming cheap.

Verizon supposedly has EV-DO service in 32 cities, which is a bit faster than Cingular's EDGE service, but I'm not sure how the pricing compares.

I signed up with Starband several months ago--spent $400 on used equipment (it can be had for $300, through Starband, supposedly), and $80 to get an installer out to point the dish and run the cable. I set the pole ahead of time. At $50 a month for unmetered downloads (I average 700-800MB per 24 hours with no hassles yet), I'm much happier than I would be with Direcway. Oh, daytime surfing is a lot faster, too, since they haven't oversubcribed as much yet, and they don't have outsourced support--yet. I've been very happy with the service of every agent I've dealt with, which I can't say about any other ISP I've had to use support with :)
 

FoBoT

No Lifer
Apr 30, 2001
63,084
15
81
fobot.com
i tested the verizon (EV-DO) offering here in KC on my laptop. coverage is pretty good. download speed varies when you are in a moving car, so i recommend using it while stationary. i think it is ready for prime time

i use sprint CDMA service on my laptop also, it is slow but works

my local ISP is putting up antennas and offer LOS wireless (kinda like mutant-preWi-Max), i stopped in his shop this morning and setup a site survey to ensure i have a solid signal and get the quote for $$ on installation (varies with where they can place the antenna to get good signal)