I decided that WiFi and connecting my Treo to my notebook just wasn’t cutting it anymore. I did some research and ended up going with Verizon’s Audiovox PC 5220 PC Card. It is capable of both Broadband and National Access. There is no Broadband Access in Michigan, so I am limited to National Access.
National: average speeds of 60-80 kbps and bursts up to 144 kbps.
Broadband: typical download speeds of 300-500 kbps, capable of reaching speeds up to 2.0 Mbps
The card was $199.99 with $149.99 instant rebate so I paid $49. I called Verizon and they waived the $15 one time activation fee. I pay $79 a month for unlimited use.
The card itself sticks out of my machine about 1 - 1.5 inches…and has a plastic (cheap feeling) antenna. They don’t include any sort of case with the card so you need to be real careful with it when your not using it.
Now, I was having issues with my connection (prior to purchasing the card), there is some bug in my system and I am just going to do a full restore, so I am not 100% sure if this is the service or my notebook. Essentially I keep dropping my connection…ftp (while using WiFi) and internet (while using Treo). I did not loose my connection with the card but my connection was not exactly stable either. Please see the screenshot below:
As you can see, although I hit 169 kbps it fluctuated greatly, like a rollercoaster. Again, this could be the bug I was talking about, I am not 100% sure. I need to restore this weekend and run another test.
They ship the card with 2 programs. The first is their own National/Broadband Access program which allows you to pick a connection, connect, view stats, use IM clients, E-mail, Web, etc, however you can use all these programs outside of the software, just using the software to establish the connection. They also include Venturi which is like NetZero’s web accelerator. Essentially it gives you lower image quality on web pages for faster loading times. It works however most pages now have Java/Flash and Venturi has no effect on these two so depending on the sites you visit, you may not see a difference.
I ran a test on broadband reports and was happy with the results.
67 down, 232 up.
I will re-run the tests when I restore my system to see if it’s unusual, but it is within what they claim it should be.
So far I am happy, I knew the speeds going into it and it has delivered as promised (even with the shaky connection).
Erik
