Opinions on Broadband through Cellular Network Providers

[jdobratz]

My parents live out of the reach of ordinary broadband options (cable/dsl). Ive looked into satellite internet service and the cost of that solution just seems way too high for the limited service that you get. I was looking into possibly getting them one of those PCMCIA cards that you can hook up to a laptop and get internet service through a cellular network for them as a possible option. When I lived at home, I had a cingular phone and always got nearly a full signal, so that part shouldn't be too much of an issue. I was looking to maybe get some opinions on this option, I am sure many people have had experiences with this technology. Thanks in advance.

 

[jlazzaro]

I've used Verizon in the past...never had any issues. Web surfing was quick, downloads were acceptable at around 100KB/s, never disconnected or lost signal. It doesnt sound like your parents have much of an option besides satellite.

Initial costs of satellite are high, and the service probobly wouldnt come close to that of the Aircard. Latency is a killer. This is from my experience with HughesNet.

Do you parents have a single or multiple laptops? There are EVDO routers avaliable if they wish to share the connection with more than one computer. $150 range

 

[kevnich2]

I have evdo and the speed is great. It's actually faster than most satellite connections I have seen. If you have sprint in your area, check them out as their service is very cheap.

 

[jdobratz]

They just have 1 computer, I was planning on getting one of those PCI cards that allows you to slide in a PCMCIA card and use it on a normal PC (something like http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16815158028).

 

[jlazzaro]

they have drive bay pcmcia readers too...little easier than having to put it in a PCI slot. just a thought.

newegg

 

[frostedflakes]

I have been using EVDO broadband for the last few weeks and have been very pleased. We are actually in the same situation -- our house is a few miles outside of town, so cable/DSL are not available.

What I actually do is use my phone as a modem tethered to my laptop. My provider (Alltel) only charges $25/mo. if you connect like this. The only downside is that you cannot talk and use the net at the same time (you can receive calls while in data mode, but if you take the call you'll be disconnected). Also makes networking a bit more of a pain in the butt, you can't just buy a router and plug a card into it. They also offer a $60/mo. plan which uses the PCMCIA card. The main advantage of this would be the ability to talk on your cell and browse the net, as well as higher mobility (which doesn't sound like an issue for your parents).

Speed is as advertised, typically between 500-700kbps, although I have seen 1Mb+ on a few occasions. BUT, latency is very high, 300-500ms to US servers. Because of this, it may not seem much faster than dialup in some ways. For example, it takes just as much or maybe slightly more time than dialup for it to query and start loading a webpage. However, once it's started the images load up much faster. Fine for streaming and downloading. Useless for gaming and VoIP. I am using EVDO REV-0. EVDO REV-A, which has been deployed in and around some of the larger cities I believe, offers faster speeds and lower latency (250ms typical I believe, as opposed to 400ms for REV-0). Still not very good, but I guess even REV-0 is better than satellite.

You may also look into line-of-sight wireless. This was also available in our area, but tall trees around our house disrupted line-of-sight to the tower. Also it would've required installing a dish. The nice thing about the EVDO was we went to the Alltel office, had them activate it, bought the data cable, went home and connected to the net. Very painless installation.

 

[imported_digitalelegance]

My parents were in the same situation as your's, outside of cable or DSL coverage, but within coverage of Verizon's EVDO service. They've had it for about 2 years, and are generally happy with it, but if you go with Verizon, make sure you check the coverage maps for BroadbandAccess (Verizon's name for EVDO), not NationalAccess (1xRTT). 1xRTT isn't much faster than dial-up.

I'd also check out the KR1 from Kyocera. The PC card plugs into the router, and the hosts can connect via wi-fi or wired ethernet.
http://www.kyocera-wireless.com/kr1-router/

 

[kevnich2]

Do they do alot of downloading on verizon, has verizon contacted them? I've heard stories about verizon contacting users of evdo broadband if they use it "too much". Even though their charging the highest rates available for the use.

 

[frostedflakes]

Yes I've heard the same, although it is advertised as unlimited I think after about 5GB/month they start to get upset. I am anxious to see if Alltel says anything about my usage, so far I've got ~5GB down and looks like I'll end up at about 7.5GB by the end of the billing period. It is advertised as unlimited, and I looked through the ToS quickly and could not find any to suggest otherwise, but who knows.

But then again, most of this is from P2P, downloading animes and other random crap. If you parents just surf the web, check email, watch the occasion low def video, they should not have any problem staying off Verizon's radar.

 

[imported_Dekard]

1xrtt would be my preference instead of dialup or satellite. Obviously, ev-do would be best but don't be afraid of the 1x service. In actual use surfing or email its really not bad. Get one of those ev-do routers and you'll be happy. If you want the ultimate in performance use a squid proxy server like clarkconnect to create a multi gigabyte transparent cache that will reduce the amount of traffic on the cellular modem.

Latency is high, more than 150-250 ms... Fine for surfing and email but limiting if you are gaming...

Also, if they will use more than 2 - 5 gigabytes of data in a month this is probably the wrong option for them... The cellular companies can't afford to offer unmetered data on a cellular connection so they'll cut you off once you hit a magic number of megabytes downloaded. Verizon doesn't publish that number, I don't know if CIngular does.

I've been a gprs, 1x and ev-do user for about 5 years... Its a great product if you can live with the limitations... In fact, I'm in vacation in Florida typing this on ev-do from my mother in law's dial up connected house.

 

[jdobratz]

They are not heavy users, I dont think the transfer limitations will be an issue. This sounds like it will work out well for them, if they are willing to pay the monthly fee.