EVDO coverage in Allen, TX

usnelcid · EVDO Newbie Joined: 13 Mar 2006 Posts: 2 Location: varies

I just got a sprint s620 card, and have evdo coverage in Allen, TX even though its still listed as forthcoming on their coverage maps. I'll try out Fairview and Mckinney next. I'm at the Starbucks at 75/mcdermott.

dslreports.com speed test result on 2006-03-13 16:41:29 EST:
398 / 75
Your download speed : 398 kbps or 49.8 KB/sec.
That is 40.5% worse than an average user on spcsdns.net

Your upload speed : 75 kbps or 9.4 KB/sec.
That is 19.3% worse than an average user on spcsdns.net

xenophon · EVDO Addict Joined: 30 Aug 2005 Posts: 2001

Sprint's maps were last updated in early Jan and it appears that any area marked for 'future' coverage is already turned on. All of the areas for Florida marked for 'future' have been validated as actually turned on. The coverage is also sometimes 5-10 miles beyond the border of the maps.

BTW, I talked to a Sprint 'solutions engineer' a few weeks ago and asked him why the Sprint EVDO maps are marked so conservatively. He said they mark the borders based on the likelihood of getting the advertised 400-700Kbps performance, not if there is an EVDO signal, which there may be well beyond the maps. Verizon OTOH labels the maps on chances of getting an EVDO signal but you may or may not get 400-700Kbps.

usnelcid · EVDO Newbie Joined: 13 Mar 2006 Posts: 2 Location: varies

Sadly, Fairview is not currently covered, even though it was in the future developements area of the maps at the sprint store. The connection manager indicates 0 bars, and gives some strange error messages when I try to connect anyway.