Verizon Wireless (Aircard and BroadbandAccess)?

Sorry to tell you, but no way edge is faster (or even close to as fast) as broadband...... Edge has a max speed of 384, and BroadbandAccess has a max speed of 2,500 (usually only 500 to 600 though, but still faster than edge)

Hello.

I am not sure if this is the proper place to ask about Verizon Wireless that uses Aircard and BroadbandAccess. I notice it is available in my city and is considered a "slow" broadband.

The only catch Aircard (Verizon Wireless PC 5220 PC card) requires a laptop/notebook. Is there a way to use it for desktop machines? Also, how are the pings? Can I play games (e.g., 3D FPS, RTS, etc.) with it? I assume the pings are less than satellite Internet services. I know speed isn't great, but it has to beat 3 KB/sec (180-200ms pings) on my dial-up modem connections.

Thank you in advance. :)

This was designed for the constant traveler or RV'er that needs to do his banking and emal for short times online with a notebook or pocket pc. It is not economical for home use if you are on line any length of time.

Cingular has "EDGE", which is faster. For desktop use, you might be able to use the cardbus card in an adapter.

popped up in google.

Or you could get one of the phones that uses a USB cable to the computer.

No bigge, with the subject being specifically BroadbandAccess, thought I'd make sure the numbers were given for broadband.. Most people still think that 1X speeds (NationalAccess) are all they have.

I picked up on the "slow" part of the original post, and thought he might be in a national access city, which is slower than EDGE, which is widely available. I see Verizon has moved beyond the oringal two cities, but the cost is still $80 verses $20 for EDGE.

JIWire's review: "Surprisingly, BroadbandAccess is currently priced the same as NationalAccess. So one way to look at it is as a 1xRTT plan with bursts of

1xEV-DO speeds when you travel to the right places. Although 1xRTT doesn't reach the peak speeds of the competing EDGE service, its typical speeds (50-70 Kbps) are in a sweet spot between the typical speeds of GPRS (30-40 Kbps) and EDGE (100-130 Kbps), and nearly twice what you'll get with a 56K modem."

Broadband is (and has been) available in many cities for months now, Including the city I am currently in (Las Vegas), and the one I was in before it started getting cold and I came here (Spokane), where my sister lives (Baltimore), where my Dad lives (Tampa), and many places I go to for work. As a matter of fact, I am using it on my wireless network right now.

That is the work location, however I came to Vegas for the CES (Consumer Electronics Show), and am sort of vactioning (okay, came a few weeks ago for CES and am procrastinating cuz I don't wanna go back to the cold and snow, now I'm doing the "I wanna stay here a for the superbowl".. next week the pro bowl...After that, don't know, got any beleivable ideas? good thing I am a partner and won't fire myself :)

Rathdrum is at the extreme NE corner of spokane (5 miles outside the city limits, just over the state line), so we are close enuf to be in their area. Fraid SF is in another region, and have no clue what they do.. But I have heard that a public WiFi hotspot covering the whole city is in the works, don't know any details, Spokane is getting WiMax, we will be in that area also, and just hear stories about other cities that are planning things as good or better to compete.

snipped-for-privacy@XReXXVeriz.usenet.us.com wrote: A friend is set up with a

Almost all UPS stores have em now (or will very soon), also many kinkos... (handy if traveling, both are usually by hotels/convention places etc, or even by the court buildings)

Edge was only available in a couple of cities, and magically popped into availability in a lot of places all at once. Maybe the BroadBandAccess will do the same. When I looked last, it was only in DC and San Diego, but it is in more cities now, although no where near me... or you I suspect.

Edge is now tantalizingly close to me. I can't quite tell if it is actually avaialble at my house, but is in the general vicinity, and performing very well through the SF metro area.

is my Zip code.

Edge is available on Cardbus and several telephones that can be tethered via USB, serial, or BlueTooth for PC use. Unlimited data is a $20 add-on to an existing Cellular voice account.

Some people in the SF area have given up DSL in favor of EDGE, trading a loss in speed at home for the portability.

I thought you were at work in Idaho. Does the Spokane location cover you in Rathdrum? How far does it reach? I don't see Spokane on the list, although the list has 30 cities, instead of the two that it had when I was shopping. Still not in the SF area, according to the list, and there's no Verizon voice near me.

Two years ago, 802.11b seemed like the only reasonable game, and I couldn't get myself to go for any subscription, because they all seem to have their own little circle of friends, and not enough roaming. I usually find something free, but it seems like when I'm captive, like a hotel or airport, I have to pay-as-I-go.

Then a tethered GPRS sounded workable, except it was a lot of money, and so slow, I'd only use it if I couldn't find any WiFi. I didn't buy one.

Then cingular scarfed AT&T, and it looked like EDGE would be available in my area, but I am so fringe that I don't think it would work at home, and I don't travel enough to pay that subscription all the time. It is only $20 on top of a cingular voice contract, but you can only do voice or data, not both at once, so it really isn't an add on if you need to talk to a customer and use the internet. Reminds me of when I worked out of the house and had a shared voice/data line. One of my customers paid to install a data line because I wouldn't do it.

SF proper is pretty well covered with grassroots WiFi already. But that's not where I am, exactly. A friend is set up with a USB-802.11b dongle in a coffee can, and can shoot to the neighborhood UPS store with good speed. I'm not sure why UPS has a hotspot, but it's good enough that he dropped his landline and DSL.