Recently, "Steve" wrote in message news:st95bvgis9i4duh3uqvo28t3de7qstslaq@4ax.com... > I was looking at air cards today.. > > Sprint service was 119 per month with data speeds of 100 to 130 It's Sprint; need I say more? :) (Coverage is lame in non-corridor, non-Metro areas; only works on Sprint's network; then there's customer service if (or rather, when :) )your bill is wrong. > Verizon was 79 per month same speeds as sprint Actually, in my/our company's (collective) experiences, better. We get very decent throughput (somewhat faster than Sprint on average, but Sprint holds our all-time speed record of almost 144 Kbps; I think it was 138 or so; we've never gotten more than 125 or so with Verizon, which is still decent). Overall, Verizon is faster on average, and has a much more populated and well penetrated coverage area (ie, Verizon is by far the best carrier in markets where it operates [on average, again], and almost always better than Sprint, and you will more likely get a good data connection from wherever you are in Verizon's area as compared to Sprint's, which is more "iffy"). But Verizon does have its problems -- although it is a mobile service, the 1XRTT/Express Network Product, especially in the New York Metro (00022) market, drops regularly, and requires a re-establishment of a connection. (See http://www.wirelessnotes.org/verizon-and-express-network-drops) Thus, if you drive along NY-440 on Staten Island, and you pass under Arden Blvd (near the Fresh Kills landfill), the connection will either drop (you need to re-establish) or it will hang (it would always drop, now, the connection stays on but it is dead and no data will pass until you disconnect and re-establish). The same is true if you drive on I-84 from the NY/00022 system to the CT/00119 system -- the connection will reset and you need to re-start any connections, file downloads, mail programs, etc. There are many more like these, and Verizon has never been able to fix these despite about 1 year's notice since we first observed this and reported it to them; they don't seem to think it is a big deal. It's pretty annoying to start a data transfer, drive the NY/CT line, only to find that the connection dropped and you have to re-start the whole thing all over again! (These drops/hangs occur in generally good coverage areas; CDMA service doesn't drop there, just the 1XRTT/Verizon Express Network Data service.) We've never noticed this with Sprint, other than the usual drops you get due to poor coverage; Sprint does not evidence these drops when coverage is good and you traverse one given "market" to another (to the extent that "markets" or "service areas" are still relevant with Sprint). So if you are not going to be moving too much, go with Verizon; if you need to have it stay on/connected and you drive major corridors where Sprint has good coverage (and if you find drops/hangs between some major Northeast markets to be a problem; more so than the Byzantine and frustrating 'customer service' offered by Sprint), then skip Verizon and go with Sprint. > Nextel was 54 for unlimited speeds of 56K They were so pathetic at supporting it that we gave up; from what I have seen of it it works well (eg, as well as Nextel does, even better in some ways, which isn't saying too much :). You will never get 56K, more like 45 at best from our few experiences, and it varies *widely* based on time of day and I would assume network usage. > Using our cable i was told by nextel data dept best is 14.4 on the I95 > plus 10 per month even if you have the fill internet package.. > > Anyone have feed back on the right way to go There is also CDPD service (Aircard 300/350, Novatel Merlin, Spyder something or other, and a few others support it) which you can get from Verizon (in the BAMS and GTE matkets) which is $39.95 per month for an unlimited use, always-on connection, with a STATIC IP which does not require that you re-establish a connection every 24 hours. It's slow (supposedly ~19 kpbs but don't expect more than 10 or so) but it is much more reliable than 1XRTT and is used by many public safety agencies. (AT&T also offers this, but they are foolishly, IMO, dropping it next year in favor of some EDGE or whatever product which is so overpriced I dunno who'd use it compared to what Nextel, Sprint, and Verizon offer.) CDPD is not available in a good part of Verizon's footprint, so check their coverage maps for *CDPD*. (Don't confuse CDPD with 1XRTT/Express Network). Also, just b/c you are in Verizon territory does NOT mean you have 1XRTT available; a good deal of ex-Alltel markets (like 00096 just west of the Philly market in Harrisburg and central PA) are close to being fully "Verizon-ified" but they do not as of last week support 1XRTT. Hope this helps! (This post and SID list are also available at http://www.wirelessnotes.org) Regards, Doug d3@interpage.net Interpage(TM) Network Services Inc. / http://www.interpage.net