Comparing 3G Networks

bsk_cw writes "Brian Nadel got hold of cellular network cards from AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon, and tried them out with a Lenovo ThinkPad X300 notebook. He watched videos on commuter trains, worked with e-mail at cafes, listened to Internet radio at the airport, and downloaded large files while in a moving car. AT&T came out on top in his tests in the New York area (summary here). Some of the reader comments report different conclusions, so a YMMV is in order."

5GiB, $60

[corsec67]

It seems like the high end is $60-$80 with a 5GiB cap. ATT and Sprint have lower end plans with a insane limit of 4-5MiB, Verizon 50MiB.

The lower end plans seem so limited as to be useless. How much Google maps usage can you fit into 4MiB before it is $1-8 per extra MiB?

IF you have ATT DSL you use there hot spots free..

[Joe The Dragon]

and that cost a lot less.

Re:5GiB, $60

[Colonel Korn]

Is there much prospect of the price of wireless broadband becoming affordable? It's very irritating to have ubuquitous technology that practically nobody can afford (or is willing to spend that kind of money) to use.

You can get unlimited data and text and 500 minutes of voice for $30/month on Sprint if you get the plan that's been floating around a lot of Hot Deals forums across the net for the last year. You can get it, for instance, with the HTC Mogul, which acts as a wireless router (with modding) to allow however many laptops you have nearby to access the net. In my area speeds are around 800 kbps because we don't have great coverage here. The Mogul also has GPS (works great with Google Maps for live satellite views of your location) and gives you your choice of iPhone style 2 finger zooming in Opera (with modding) or (my preference) single tap zooming.

In summary, there are cheap, good plans out there, but they're quasi-secret.

Re:5GiB, $60

[corsec67]

AT&T is indeed sold in GiB/MiB:"1,024 kilobytes (KB) = 1 megabyte (MB)" from http://www.wireless.att.com/businesscenter/popup/dataconnect-comp-table.jsp#laptopconnect [att.com]

Sprint: yes, from http://nextelonline.nextel.com/en/legal/legal_terms_privacy_popup.shtml [nextel.com]

Verizon: yes, from http://b2b.vzw.com/broadband/bba_terms.html [vzw.com]

So, yes, they are all sold in binary units, and the SI prefixes are incorrectly used here.

Re:What's the lag?

[MyDixieWrecked]

I've got an AT&T Tilt (HTC Tytan II) with HSDPA/3G/EDGE/GSM/etc and depending on where I am and what network, I get wildly different results. These is by using the bluetooth internet sharing with my MacbookPro in OSX or using USB internet sharing with my Ubuntu Linux Vaio:

Location / ping to google.com / max download speed
At my dad's house in NJ / ~400-800ms / ~65K/sec
NJTransit Train in NJ / ~80-90ms / ~110/sec
NJX Airport / ~40-50ms / ~120K/sec
In Brooklyn / ~70-80ms / ~120K/sec
In Manhattan / ~40-50ms / ~120K/sec

ATT 3G...how much did they pay for that article?

[knutsdood]

As an IT manager for a consulting business, 80% of my workforce is on the road 80% of the year. Broadband cards are absolutely critical to our success. We field test all over the nation and offer all three options. Our people have decided on 2 Verizon cards, 6 dozen Sprint cards and nobody has opted for the ATT card.

Our consultants are regularly in NYC, Philly, Houston, Chicago, LA, San Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver and Dallas.

If it helps anybody, Sprint is weak in New Jersey and parts of the Dallas area. Verizon picks up New Jersey nicely and this is where both of our Verizon cards are primarily deployed. Verizon and ATT are both not superior in Dallas so perhaps something else makes them all less than perfect.

One last thing...as soon as iPhone 2.0 comes out, and sells like hotcakes, the ATT network is going to be overburdened...you watch.

Re:5GiB, $60

[jelle]

There is a Google maps application that I know will run on SymbianOS that Nokia uses (s60 phones)... And on phones like the N80i, it even locates where you are with about 2 miles accuracy. It's a separate google app, doesn't need a browser.