I've posted in the past few months about our somewhat poor and unreliable experiences with PC card-based Express Network Service (1xRTT) from Verizon (see details at http://www.wirelessnotes.org/verizon-and-express-network-drops) One of the primary problems which we reported to Verizon and which they have generally failed to address was/is that during a given 1XRTT session, such as FTP or POP Mail retrieval, the session will suddenly drop for no apparent reason, forcing an *entire* FTP transfer to be abandoned (and re-started) or a POP session to be dropped (and forcing us to re-do them). Telnet/SSH sessions require a new log in, which is especially difficult in a mobile environment. (In many cases, especially under Windows 98 and ME, once a drop occurs, the laptop needs to be rebooted for IP traffic via the Aircard to work again; restarting the "Watcher" software will not work. ) These drops occur in areas of good Verizon coverage, and as far as we can tell, are not the result of poor/weak coverage since our CDMA cellphones show strong coverage and hand off perfectly in the same areas. We reported these issues to Verizon, pointing out that the Express Network service does not from our (somewhat extensive experiences with the service) come anwhere close to "enterprise grade" or anything approaching reliability, and that it is increasingly hard to justify paying the (then $99) $79 for it when the (more reliable, less extensive and slower) CDPD offering is $39 per month (also unlimited). We have also been very clear and emphasized that regardless of the incovenience which the drops cause us and presumeably other Verizon data customers, the need to re-send the data "lost" due to the 1XRTT sessions drops takes up unecessary time (both ours and theirs) and wastes bandwidth (theirs). (As an empirical observation, as I am typing this in Outlook, I have an FTP transfer running under Verizon's 1XRTT network, and in approx 90 megs it has dropped 4 times, reset the connection 4 times, and "hung" once [more on this later]) The only response we got from Verizon is that "it may be a coverage issue" and "you might be right that CDPD is a better business product", and the drops just kept on occuring and nothing seems to be getting better. Indeed, on a recent trip from Providence to Washington DC, the 1XRTT session dropped 4 times from Providence to New London (which is only about 40 miles), 2 of those in the generally well-covered Providence area. More recently, we've been noticing something even more pernicious: The "Watcher" panel (or whatever software is used to monitor the 1XRTT connection) does NOT show "Connection Lost" or whatever and then "Ready" (ie, it is ready to reconnect), but *appears* as if it is all fine and that the connection is open and running. However, in actuality, it seems that the connection "hangs", that is, it appears open but no data can be passed from the laptop to the outside world (or even within the Verizon 166.142/3.xxx.xxx domain). The effect is the same, eg, a given FTP, POP, Telnet, SSH, or other TCP/IP connection is basically lost and needs to be re-established, but it is a LOT harder to see extactly *where* the problem occurs, since unless you are monitoring the connection as you drive (not the best idea! :) ) it is very difficult if not impossible to note the locations of drops and report them to Verizon (not that it seems to make much of a difference anyhow). We're pretty much convinced that Verizon is aware of these problems (how could they not be with us calling them all the time? ) and they either don't want to fix them (less likely) or the nature of the 1XRTT system and/or Verizon's implentation therof won't allow for an easy "fix" (if one exists at all). After posting on this a few months ago, we tried out a similar service with Sprint, and in areas where Sprint has good coverage (a good deal fewer than Verizon), we've had none of these problems (eg, no drops, hangs, etc.). We can't, however, do general side by side testing since in many areas Sprint's cellular coverage is poor to begin with so the 1XRTT will not function (no coverage = no 1XRTT). However, as Sprint's coverage areas expand, they become increasingly attractive since their data service does not seem to suffer from the drops/hangs which Verizon's does, and when their network is built out to more suitable levels (by 2099 or so? :) ), assuming the quality of their 1XRTT service is maintained (and Verizon doesn't fix theirs). At such a time, Sprint will have a preferable service, since the drops/hangs increasingly make the Verizon service useless and are so annoying that I oftentimes just let a session stay dropped/hung and I just continue from a landline (DSL or whatever) rather than re-establish an 1XRTT session each time the thing drops/hangs. (BTW, just as I finished writing this letter the connection hung and my FTP transfer and SSH session were thus hung as well, yet the Watcher is still showing the connection as being open. Note that the laptop was not mobile, and has been in exactly the same place, with VERY good 5-bar coverage since I started this post. Thus, in about 30 minutes, in a stationary position, Verizon's Express Network dropped a few times and hung once, causing my FTP transfer as well as shell login to fail each time, and forcing me to yet again try to re-upload the files I am trying to send :( I'd be better off with CDPD -- even speed-wise -- as with all the Verizon 1XRTT drops and hangs, the *overall* time is better with CDPD than 1XRTT! ;( ) (This post and SID list are also available at http://www.wirelessnotes.org) Regards, Doug d2@interpage.net Interpage(TM) Network Services Inc. / http://www.interpage.net +1 (510) 315-2750