EVDO Success

AustinPSD · EVDO Newbie Joined: 29 Jul 2008 Posts: 5

We are "full time" RV'ers, residing most of the time in Central Texas / Austin, as well as traveling to various locations in the Southwest / Western U.S. often.

I depend upon Internet access for business purposes, and investigated many (its relative) options for connectivity to support my mobile lifestyle.

Having examined satellite-based service, 802.11 wireless, and WiMax, I opted for the EVDO approach. I found the EVDO forum an excellent resource, along with DSL Reports forum.

My gear includes a CradlePoint CTR-350, Wilson Trucker hi-gain Omni (all from the 3Gstore), a non-contract Frankling CDU-680, and non-contract service from a provider who uses Sprint as their carrier.

In general, the service performs well. On the basis of periodic Speedtest measurement, it sustains an average download speed well into 1.4Mb/sec, on par with what I was seeing with broadband cable access.

Aside from recent DNS problems vis. Sprint's servers, EVDO has proven a reliable means of access, at a cost / performance point that is reasonable for both business and personal use.

I am a technologist with a deep background in network and communications systems, so the research, procurement, configuration and installation were simple, and for the most part I am capable of self-service and resolution of most issues that arise.

Regarding these topics for the non-technical person, I'm not sure how much, or how easy these tasks would be for that audience. From that perspective, these issues are non-trivial and require a support platform that I think the EVDO forum, 3GStore, and related technical folk would have to provide in order for a non-technical user to succeed.

I can see a clear path to better performance, reliability, and perhaps lower cost as EVDO and the related infrastructure mature. With time and increased usage (vis. subscribers), there should be significant acceleration in the overall service level delivered by EVDO hardware, carriers and service providers.