Bit Tamer
join:2002-02-14
Rolling Meadows, IL
| reply to dcEVDOuser
Re: Trying soon
dcEVDOuser,
I found your post to be very interesting.
Do you have a pointer to that other user's report that EV-DO works in the Metro? Do you recall if s/he was actually travelling in a train car, or stationary on a platform?
It would be really amazing technology if EV-DO works in the Metro underground. I would have expected way too much structural and EMI interference in that environment. |
dcEVDOuser
@sub-166-180-39.myvzw
|  reply to evilbat7
I've used Verizon's EVDO in Washington virtually 24/7 since 12/03. It's been generally good and measure routinely see (using various bandwidth sites) download at 350 kbps with occasional peaks of 500kbps. I've seen upload speeds of 80 kbps with high-bandwidth users in P2P file sharing.
However, as happy as I am with it, it is not without problems:
1) The PC5220 card was not compatible with my Compaq 1200z laptop nor a PC adapter I purchased for a Compaq tower. It was compatible only with a Stealth SFF machine I had coincidentally acquired.
2) I experience frustrating, sporadic signal loss that can last for minutes. The problem has not been identified and disappears for weeks at a time. Verizon's first hunch was a faulty PC5220 card. I rotated the SFF machine 30 degrees and it seemed to cure it for a week or so. Might be my location, the PC5220 card or who knows?
3) Inactivity puts the software/PC5220/link into a 'dormant' mode (probably to conserve bandwidth for other users). It takes a fair amount of time to get it active again. I don't have the metrics on this, but someone else at work who also got the service reports that it is unpredictable and bothersome. I would guess that a ping on a 'dormant' link would not look as good as one on an active link.
Even with the problems, I wouldn't (can't) part with it for the relative speed, mobility and privacy it affords me. Also, reports from another user that it works in the Metro underground just fine. |
