EVDO live in Seattle, post your EV-DO locations

Michael

I have received confirmed reports of Seattle going live with EVDO today on Verizon Wireless. So, if you live (or travel) to Seattle and have confirmed EVDO coverage, please post

- location (approx, cross road, zip, etc).
- number of bars (or signal strength percentage)
- DSLReports.com confirmed speeds
- EVDO PC Card being used.

I'll bet that the speed tests will be very very good for broadbandaccess (since there are not many users - yet)

Thanks, and welcome Seattle!
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ralphs

In Burien, WA (near SeaTac Airport, zip 98148), 2-3 bars, 440K down, 96K up. I travel all over the Greater Seattle area so updates will be forthcoming. If anyone wants me to check an area, I'll see what I can do.

[quote="Michael"]I have received confirmed reports of Seattle going live with EVDO today on Verizon Wireless. So, if you live (or travel) to Seattle and have confirmed EVDO coverage, please post your location, number of bars (or signal strength percentage), DSLReports.com confirmed speeds, and PC Card being used.

I'll bet that the speed tests will be very very good for broadbandaccess.

Thanks, and welcome Seattle![/quote]

Michael · Posted: Thu May 12, 2005 8:52 am Post subject:

Thanks Ralph!

Keep the reports / locations coming. I am sure many people in Seattle will appreciate all your reports.

BTW, which EVDO card do you have?
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ralphs · Posted: Thu May 12, 2005 8:55 am Post subject:

PC5220

M4LFUNCT10N · Posted: Sun May 15, 2005 11:53 pm Post subject:

They are still in the testing stages in Bellingham. I bought my phone on the 8th, and by the middle of last week I saw the EV light up at random, but it only stays lit for a few seconds. According to the local Verizon store, the are just finishing up the tests and it should be turned on any day.

ralphs · Posted: Mon May 16, 2005 1:34 am Post subject:

There is Verizon EVDO along the Tacoma waterfront along Ruston Way. I also saw soradic blips along I-5 near Northgate and got the same around 91st and Aurora Ave. I was able to get a pretty solid signal along I-5 near Everett. I am going to do some extended testing and try to overlay the data on a map. If they are in the process of activating their towers, it would explain the intermittent EVDO I spotted.

ralphs

OK. Here goes with some more information:

First, I received one of those ARC booster antennas and when possible tried tests both with and without it. Almost always I was able to gain 1 bar using the antenna and sometimes 2 (especially when the signal was barely connected (does anyone know how to acquire the actual EVDO signal strength?); for some folks this would be very useful accessory and for some areas I've been in, quite essential.

This data is for the Greater Seattle area and down into Pierce County (Tacoma, etc.) as well as parts of Snohomish County (Everett). The speeds were obtained through http://sea.speakeasy.net (piped through http://www.dslreports.com) and are posted as DOWNload/UPload. The signal strength is NOT including the "antenna bar".

I'm not able to understand Verizon's deployment strategy. They have no coverage in the Seattle core area nor in their telco coverage area on the Eastside (Bellevue, Redmond, Woodinville, etc.). However, I have received strong signals in Pierce County (Spanaway and Puyallup come to mind--more as I get out to those areas again). Tacoma seems to have quite good overall coverage even extending into the smaller communities.

I have generally been quite happy with 1xRTT and now the available EVDO coverage through Verizon. I can set up a connection just about anywhere and stay connected bouncing back and forth between 1xRTT and EVDO. The 1xRTT connections are robust enough to sustain an audio stream (http://www.komonews.com/news/radio_streaming.asp) through most of my drive.

ralphs

Someone once said a little knowledge is a dangerous thing:

Fire up your EVDO card and open the MCM app (v. 2.5). Click on the "HELP" button. DOUBLE RIGHTCLICK the icon and a window opens. Enter ##DEBUG. Marvel at all that is around you, Grasshopper.

Remember: if you break something, you own all the pieces!!!

RSSI = "Received Signal Strength Indicator". The LOWER the number the better the signal.

relworg · EVDO Newbie Joined: 02 Jun 2005 Posts: 4

brillig

relworg · EVDO Newbie Joined: 02 Jun 2005 Posts: 4

He slipped up at first and said all of Washington, then he said something a little more stringent...not exactly sure on the exact wording but I understood major metro areas.

Other than the freezing problems I am seeing with it when it switches to/from EVDO and 1X, I love this thing. I think the freezing is when the signal just gets through to where it thinks it is on EV, but the signal is not strong enough to make a connection, but the phone has some problem reverting back. I never have issues going from 1X to EV, always the way back. I have a PDA phone number for Verizon I am supposed to call.

I use my XV6600 strictly for PDA use. I used it for a week but then realized that I wanted to be able to use it on the Internet while I am still on the phone (I do network administration). So I have my old phone still. The XV6600 was a little large for my liking when used as a phone, I had problems with Voice Command (not uncommon), and the headset didn't ring...or something similar (It was 2 months ago).

I don't have a bluetooth headset, so I was unable to verify if it had problems with that as others have. I do use bluetooth to connect to my laptop and that works beautifully. When it was 90 here a week ago I sat at the park and enjoyed 400kb/s access from a beach chair, bluetooth to my laptop (No wires!)

1X I usually get 100-130 down, 80-120 up. I find it completely fine for browsing most websites, most of the limitations are with the Pocket Internet Explorer annoyances. I've tried a couple other browsers, but have not been impressed yet. EV is definately much nicer for browsing websites, but I sit at Safeco Field (1X coverage) during boring games and constantly check my fantasy baseball stats without much lagtime.

I get emails all the time and am able to administrate my servers with the terminal server client (Very nice!). Battery life is decent, although I don't use it as a phone. I usually don't have to charge it throughout the day, unless I am in a week cell coverage area, or I don't catch that it has frozen because of the EV -> 1X switch problem. I have two batteries in case I need them.

I havn't tried too hard with Java or Flash. There are browsers out their (non PIE) that supposedly have them, and possibly you can get the addons with PIE. The problem is finding out what you think should be free isn't!

1X internet works everywhere I've been in western wa, and most places in Eastern WA (Even up Hwy 97 to the Canadian border, as long as there is a tower).

As a one-person network admin shop, it gives me the flexibility I need to be able to be anywhere and respond to a customer's problems with it, or with it and a laptop.

Sorry I don't have much info on where EVDO will be, but as Tacoma has it, Seattle and possibly Everett can't be far behind. If it is true that the tower is in Seatac right now (And reaching Tacoma at full strength), then once the other two major cities get it, you should have it.

ralphs · Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2005 10:24 am Post subject:

There's still no sign of any new deployment. 1xRTT is still "everywhere" with EVDO still spotty. The ARC "booster antenna" helps hold that EVDO signal a bit longer, but it would be nice to have a wider coverage area.

I'm still amazed they aren't covering Bellevue, Redmond, etc. and to a greater degree downtown Seattle.

Verizon has the best cellular coverage of any carrier I've dealt with in this area over the past 10 years or so. Hopefully they can match that with the EVDO coverage.

Dubhead

Hey folks,

I have been following this thread closely waiting to hear from anyone in Issaquah or elsewhere(I live in North Bend) about the possibility of coverage in these areas. My wife and I are finally about to abandon Cingular from years of total disgust with their service and coverage. I would like to dump Comcast for my broadband if the Verizon EVDO signal is going to reach my home near Rattlesnake Lake. That would be the ultimate for me I believe. Has Verizon published coverage maps for Seattle yet, or is it still rolling out coverage? I had read somewhere that there was really no need to install any equipment on the towers for this signal to transmit, and that it was really backend stuff that needed upgrading for EVDO. Cingular on the other hand needs to go to every tower to put new equipment in place for their 3G service(EDGE) which by most accounts isn't that great. We are both interested in getting either the IMate PDA2K or Samsung i730, pondering the XV-6600 but would love Wifi.
Anybody had experience with Sprint's EV-DO yet? They are gearing up for the Revision A release of EVDO by late 2006 according to rumor Rolling Eyes

Cheers!

Dubhead

relworg · EVDO Newbie Joined: 02 Jun 2005 Posts: 4

I have not seen any difference, yet...nothing in Seattle when I head to M's games.

They must be doing something in the last day, though, because I lost EVDO in Tacoma yesterday (it would sometimes appear, but then switch right back). I will be in Tacoma again later today, so we'll see if it's back. My signal has also been a little random on the 1X side in places where I usually have full strength.

Michael · Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2005 9:19 am Post subject:

In my home town a 3 weeks ago, it did exactly that. I was in 1xRTT land, and then 3 weeks ago, I started getting EVDO and then it would switch to 1xRTT, this happened for 2-3 days, and then boom, EVDO was on full time.

The area I am in, is not in the official Verizon EVDO areas, but will be when Phase 4 EVDO rollout is announced (around June 22, 2005).
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