Verizon No-Contract, Month-to-Month EVDO data service

[boatdoc]

I don't think it is a problem if you are already a Verizon Customer. However like me I could use their Internet without making a contract for 2 years. That would be good if I knew I was going to be in a place where Verizon was the stronger service.

Exactly what I was thinking and where we stay in the winter our freinds have NO problems with the Verizon aircard. This means I don't have to go bum her laptop to check messages and do a little surfing, you know, keep up with this forum!!!

 

[sjrellis]

I use a Verizon aircard while on the road. I signed up in July and signed a 2 year contract. Didn't really want to, but I got the aircard free and free activation, so I guess it all comes out even in the end. Where we are in Illinois, I do not get broadband, but am on "national access". It is not as slow as dial up, but not as fast at dsl. I'm at home in Texas right now and it is faaaaaast!

BTW, I am on the internet a LOT and did not even come close to going over the 5g. I don't dl a lot (because of speed), either.

 

[Ireland92834]

Verizon

From a press release this morning:

What is the speed of this service and what is the coverage? Is the coverage the same as the cell phone?

Thanks

 

[AlexSian]

What is the speed of this service and what is the coverage? Is the coverage the same as the cell phone?

all service of this type comes in two speeds: slower stuff in rural areas where there is no population base to justify their higher speed networks.

slow stuff is 60 ~ 140 kbps (about 3 to 5x typical dialup speed of 30kbps)

fast stuff is 600 ~ 1200 kbps with many seeing over 2000 kbps

coverage is based on cellular networks but, not everywhere there is voice will there be data, and vice versa applies too.

most RV customers are finding greatest coverage success with verizon.

 

[Ray LeTourneau]

What is the speed of this service and what is the coverage? Is the coverage the same as the cell phone?

Thanks

We are in Corpus Christi right now and our downloads are at 1000 kbps and uploads at 333 kbps. We have seen faster speeds at times. It seems a lot depends on atmospheric conditions. Is this possible Alex?

 

[AlexSian]

It seems a lot depends on atmospheric conditions. Is this possible Alex?

for the most part, weather does not affect EVDO like it might satellite.
of course, wet trees will affect signal more than dry ones.

 

[Ray LeTourneau]

for the most part, weather does not affect EVDO like it might satellite.
of course, wet trees will affect signal more than dry ones.

THe reason I thought that was this. We can be connected with a good signal and then all of a sudden we are running slow as dirt or at a standstill. What would cause that? The server of the website we're at? I've watched the speed of downloading movie files and it can vary from 20-25 kbps to 90-100 kbps. during the same download. What might cause that?

 

[boatdoc]

I sure hope weather doesn't mess with EVDO. I'm about to cancel this darn Wildblue and go with Verizon Broadband!!

 

[AlexSian]

THe reason I thought that was this. We can be connected with a good signal and then all of a sudden we are running slow as dirt or at a standstill. What would cause that? The server of the website we're at? I've watched the speed of downloading movie files and it can vary from 20-25 kbps to 90-100 kbps. during the same download. What might cause that?

load on the server you are downloading from is one cause - as is load at the cell tower... probably more likely to be the tower.

don't forget to watch your signal when judging speeds: http://www.EVDOinfo.com/RSSI

 

[Ray LeTourneau]

Thanks for the link. Where we are right now I get -86dBm. Sometimes it's in the -90 to -95 range. I'm thinking I may need to look into an outside antenna and maybe a booster. Thanks again.

 

[AlexSian]

Thanks for the link. Where we are right now I get -86dBm. Sometimes it's in the -90 to -95 range. I'm thinking I may need to look into an outside antenna and maybe a booster. Thanks again

its important to correlate speed AND signal.

most customers are able to get "all a tower has to give" by the time they have signal around -80 or better...

but many folks find that signal as bad as -90 results in speeds that are only about 5 to 10% worse than when they drove close to tower and got -80 signal...

what i'm saying is, improving signal only works to improve speeds up to a certain point, and then beyond that all you are doing is improving signal dB but not necessarily download speed.

totally agree with the use of a high gain antenna... every RVer needs one. few people can get away with the tiny built-in antennas on these modems nowadays.