USB EVDO Modem

Michael · Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2005 2:40 pm Post subject: USB EVDO Modem

We have had a few products mentioned up here on EVDOforums.com and EVDOinfo.com related to USB EVDO modems. One product is in Australia (Falcom), one is in San Diego (Franklin). It seems that we are all hoping that something will happen - and it seems all we are doing is waiting....

So, I want to start a new thread that that is covering the most important thing, consumer demand. After we get some activity/posts on this thread, I will let Verizon & Sprint and even some of the EVDO manufacturers know of the demand.

So, if you are interested in an USB EVDO Modem and you would consider purchasing, please post to this thread and include:

- Type of device (Laptop, Desktop, other?

- What OS (Mac / Win / Linux / Windows CE)?

- quantity you would want

- what price would you pay for a USB EVDO modem device? (price range OK)

- If a USB EVDO modem were available, would you rather get it vs. a data card?

So, if you are interested, PLEASE add your comments. This thread is more than just a "feel the pulse", there are some very important decision makers watching the results. If you have participated in the previous EVDO USB thread, please add your comments to this one as well.

So, post your comments here.
_________________
EVDO :: EVDO News :: EVDO Antennas :: Buy Verizon :: Buy Sprint :: EVDO Amplifier

educationk12 · EVDO User Joined: 17 Jun 2005 Posts: 43

Yeh, it seems like the wait is as long as the i730 and I would have bought the i730, but it still is not worth owning. I won't get into that here...its disappointments, but I hope the USB doesn't disappoint.

1 & 2. Ultimately, the smaller the better, however I want FULL speed connection like a kyocera pc card or at least a 5220 card.

In other words, I don't want something that is going to be less the speed than the PC cards. I don't expect more and I hope it isn't less.

3. & 4 I don't care about the price as long as it works. I imagine it will be downgradable to USB 1 and I am wondering what kind of speed limits USB 1 would have on this device. There are a TON of people with the OQO that want this usb device and the OQO has a USB 1.1 instead of 2.0. Sad but true.

5. I plan to use this on an OQO, laptop and desktop. ALL XP. If apple comes out with a small handtop then yeh that would be nice. Or if they come out with a more powerful dual-link powerbook then I could upgrade to that...but right now I'm bored with apple. A bit bored with XP, but the OQO is making up for that...despite it's processor limitations, it has a lot of possibilities that other computers do not have...so I really want a evdo signal for it.

6. I want to do Skype so I don't want reconnection issues, so make the software like 1xRT/EVDO where it reconnects automatically and doesn't give you pop up signs....make it like a cell phone where it just gets the signal back when it is back. I don't want to be kicked off and have to spend a minute signing back in. Please, I did that with EDGE for a year....makes you not want to use it

7. I would buy 1 and I know many of my friends are waiting for it too. I have a data card and I will replace it with the usb IF the speed is the same and there are no reconnectivity issues.

8. Please make it where I can plug in an antenna boaster so if I am out on a boat or something then I can plug in a boaster. No boaster would not be a deal breaker, but it would prevent people from using boaster antennas, which simply means people who need a boast will go with a pc card.

9. Don't do us like the i730. Wait forever and then it sucks.

Michael · Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2005 6:48 pm Post subject:

A USB EVDO Modem would work the same way an EVDO PC Data Card, the only difference is one hooks up via a PCMCIA slot and one a USB port.

Very handy for computers that don't have a PC slot, such as thin and light laptops, iBook or PowerBook 12 inch.

Wait, here is a new market that I haven't even heard anyone mention, Desktop computers. NOW that is a huge market.

Anyways, keep your posts coming, they are being read.
_________________
EVDO :: EVDO News :: EVDO Antennas :: Buy Verizon :: Buy Sprint :: EVDO Amplifier

Splinter · EVDO Newbie Joined: 10 May 2005 Posts: 4

Michael, I would definitely be interested in a usb EVDO modem. My wife has an iBook and would like to connect directly instead of piggy backing on my connection. I would prefer that the cost and performance be similar to or better than that of the pc 5220 card. Actually, I think we would also be interested in a 'stomp box' if one were available at a reasonable price as an alternative to having two accounts (and fees). We travel a lot by motorhome and would want to have amplifier/antenna connections to use in marginal areas.

dagemsmaker · EVDO Heavy User Joined: 17 Jun 2005 Posts: 100

Educationk12 understands usb vs pcmcia cards...what he's referring to is the fact that so many of us were severely disappointed with evDO via bluetooth when we found out that the software stack in bluetooth cut the evdo speed by 50-70% to the tethered device.

I'll have more comments (pretty hot under the collar ones) in my next post or two...

dagemsmaker · EVDO Heavy User Joined: 17 Jun 2005 Posts: 100

...and so what educationk12 means is, he doesn't want to see the usb modems cut the evdo speed in half or more like bluetooth tethering does...

...can anyone be confident that it won't? how do we know that a usb modem will pipe in evdo just as fast as a pcmcia card?

Nobody in America, apparently, has had a chance to even use one yet...

Sad

dagemsmaker · EVDO Heavy User Joined: 17 Jun 2005 Posts: 100

...I'm a sales/marketing/entrepreneur kinda guy. Have been all of my life, 20+ years. Have no idea what it means to work for a wage/salary, as I've been 100% straight commission and/or bottom-line profit/loss driven since the day I walked out of college in 1985...

...and so I wish somebody would

PLEASE TELL ME WHAT THE #$%& IS WRONG WITH VERIZON/SPRINT etc

that they can't figure out, from their *own* profit motive driven perspective, that there is a

HUGE

market getting increasingly

PISSED OFF

waiting for these devices?! And as another writer above rightly noted, and as I have noted for almost a full year now, what kind of

IDIOTS

didn't roll evdo out with usb modems from the VERY BEGINNING?! I was increduously asking this question of highest tier Verizon techs back in January driving them absolutely nuts because THEY were driving ME absolutely nuts with their idiocy (too many ways to count).

I was speaking to Mr. Kim of Franklin Wireless and he seems just as amused and mystified. He told me that Franklin has sold

OVER 10 MILLION OF THESE USB EVDO MODEMS

around the world now!

10,000,000+!

WTF!

And WE have to get on a freakin' forum and "convince" these monolithic idiotic "carriers" that "more than a few people" in the USA would buy these devices???!!!

Hey, DUMBA$$E$ over at Verizon and Sprint, I've got some news for you IDIOTS, guess what?!

I've been following Cingular/AT&T's progression towards UTMS for over a year now, and "word on the street" is that it's going to be ON in Chicago by about December.

Guess what I'm gonna do at that time?! I'm gonna switch my Nextel/Sprint voice account and my TWO (2) Verizon data accounts over to Cingular so fast it's gonna make your head spin...

...because I already did that to Sprint back in January 2005 in a heartbeat the very day that Verizon had a better-faster wireless data plan than Sprint...

...I paid the $175 early cancellation penalty then and I'll pay it again AT BOTH COMPANIES and let your competitor Cingular get the monthly residuals and you get my DUST...

...and I'm gonna make the switch to UTMS even IF they *don't* have a usb UMTS modem, because UTMS is so much faster than evdo that even bluetooth cutting it in half, it will still be equal to if not substantially faster than evdo on a pcmcia card full strength connection...

...law of the jungle, boys and girls...

...get your a$$es in GEAR, or EAT DUST...

Smile

PS How much would I pay for either a usb evdo modem or usb umts modem? I wrote previously $500...but strike that...the waiting has made me angrier and more willing to pay up higher...put that sucker up on eBay and I'll go $2000, $3000 or more....serious as a heart attack. And guess what? I'd LOSE that auction, no doubt in my mind...

dagemsmaker · EVDO Heavy User Joined: 17 Jun 2005 Posts: 100

So, if you are interested in an USB EVDO Modem and you would consider purchasing, please post to this thread and include:

- Type of device (Laptop, Desktop, other?

>>>would use on Sony U750P, Dell Inspiron 700m, oQo (that I'll buy as soon as usb modems come to America), and also replace my in-home cable Internet connection via RCN to my desktop HP if the usb evdo modem provided a fast enough and stable enough connection

- What OS (Mac / Win / Linux / Windows CE)?

>>>XP

- quantity you would want

>>>one for each device so up to 4

- what price would you pay for a USB EVDO modem device? (price range OK)

>>>see end of previous RANT immediately above...

- If a USB EVDO modem were available, would you rather get it vs. a data card?

>>>Who the #$%^ wants to use PCMCIA cards? who on EARTH would want to use them on *any* device that has a usb port?!!!

Michael · Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2005 10:51 am Post subject:

I agree that if a USB EVDO modem were available today, many people would opt for them vs. PC Data Cards.

Of course, they would have to be just as fast as EVDO PCMCIA Data cards.

Drivers would be needed to work out of the box for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.

An antenna port, would need to be included, hopefully using one of the connectors that is already used on one of the existing PC Cards (Sierra PC5220, Sierra Aircard 580, Novatel V620, Kyocera KPC650) or some othe connector that currently has cables available.

Pricing should be comparable to what Data cards are.

Not sure if USB 1.0 would have the bandwidth to handle EVDO, so USB 2.0 may be required.

The more I think of it, desktops, could be a huge market, since they do not have a PC Slot.

Oh yeah, needs to actually be available in US.

Here is a cool option to consider, make the USB device a flash drive and have all the drivers for all the OS's included on the flash drive. That way you can walk up to ANY computer with any operating system (win, mac, linux), and be on EVDO within a minute... Now that would be cool. Not a requirement though.
_________________
EVDO :: EVDO News :: EVDO Antennas :: Buy Verizon :: Buy Sprint :: EVDO Amplifier

dagemsmaker · EVDO Heavy User Joined: 17 Jun 2005 Posts: 100

...it's pretty d*** sad when we've got to be jealous of Australians.

But check out the August 22nd edition of

http://www.jkontherun.com

and his article on the usb evdo modem from MiniMax in Australia.

Their website is http://www.maxon.com.au

Does anyone know whether the Minimax would work on the Verizon BroadBandAccess network? I've got emails into Maxon right now, to both their sales and their support departments.

But it's the middle of the night in Australia so I don't know when I'll hear back from them...

Michael · Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2005 12:27 pm Post subject:

Search here on EVDOforums.com, lots of people had lots of discussions with them. They do not have a product that works in Australia ONLY, in the US their product WILL NOT WORK.
_________________
EVDO :: EVDO News :: EVDO Antennas :: Buy Verizon :: Buy Sprint :: EVDO Amplifier

strider · EVDO Newbie Joined: 17 Sep 2005 Posts: 1

I just found this thread today. I've just discovered that I have to have EDVO access for business. However, I've got a a 12" powerbook without a PCMCIA slot.

As for cost, my thinking is that it would cost me about $500-600 net to upgrade to a 15" powerbook.

I would also get other benefits by getting the new powerbook such as faster speed, new warranty, bigger hard drive. However, I really like the form factor of the 12" powerbook and it is only 6 months old.

All that said, I think $150-200 is fair. Any more than that and I really have to consider moving to the 15"

RoundSparrow · EVDO User Joined: 12 Aug 2005 Posts: 56

The REAL advantage to a USB EVDO to me is:

1. You can use USB cables as a loss-free form of "antenna cable" by putting the EVDO device where you want. This is the best way to do an antenna, as you don't have signal loss from antenna cables, cable connectors, etc. With USB power boosters, you can go as far as 30 feet. You can also use powered USB hubs to get that far or even further.
2. Putting a PCMCIA card in your laptop adds heat to the laptop itself (my Thinkpad X40 gets very warm from the Kyocera card on the right side palm rest). Laptops in general seem to not generate as much heat providing USB power as they do with PCMCIA power... plus the heat from the modem chipset/radio itself is no longer "inside" your laptop.
3. You aren't putting a 1.9Ghz microwave signal on your lap right near your sexual organs Smile

Microwave signals aren't exactly something you want near dividing human cells.

Alas, no good devices yet. I wish there were more options. Why do we need 8 different PCMCIA cards?!

Michael · Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2005 11:11 am Post subject:

Good points, some I didn't even think of.

I believe that if there was a choice between PCMCIA or USB, many would select USB.
_________________
EVDO :: EVDO News :: EVDO Antennas :: Buy Verizon :: Buy Sprint :: EVDO Amplifier

boater805 · Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2005 5:41 pm Post subject: Re: Count me in if it is soon