Sprint EVDO Just Gave Me A Very Merry Christmas!

mwil · EVDO Newbie Joined: 24 Dec 2006 Posts: 7

I live in the the Boonies and have never had any options for broadband except satelite. I have been using Wildblue Propack satelite service and Wildblue has been very expensive and disapointing to me. Wildblue varies, but sometimes it is worse than dialup!

I just found out last week that Sprint upgraded their towers running down a nearby highway last month. Very Happy

The nearest Sprint tower is about 4.5 miles from my house. I was really disapointed when I called Sprint and they said I was at least 1.5-2.0 miles outside their coverage area. Their online maps also confirmed I was outside coverage, but after reading these forums, I figured I would get a EVDO card and take it in my laptop up on my roof & try it out and if it worked I could drop a few more $$$ and try to get it working in my house.

Well I just got the card today. I installed it and sitting right here in my living room which is behind a couple of walls and has no windows, I am pulling a consistent signal between 95-105db. I didn't think a 105db signal would work that well, but speakeasy shows I am consistently pulling at least 500kbps download and anywhere from 30-120kbps upload spead.

My last test was:

Download Speed: 965 kbps (120.6 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 50 kbps (6.3 KB/sec transfer rate)

Web browsing seems very responsive and I have yet to have the signal fail. I have the cheap Pantech PX-500 card.

If it keeps working like this I may even delay buying a repeater. I have been looking at several signal enhancing solutions, including those where I would hook an external antenna to my Pantech card, but I am leary of doing that, because I used to have an external Wilson trucker antenna I would plug into the back of my cell phone. It worked absolutly great at 1st, but after a few weeks of plugging and unplugging my phone from the antenna, the connector on the back of my phone wore out and I could not hold the signal unless I held pressure on the connector with my hand while I was talking. Eventually it got so bad, even that stopped working. So if I do anything signal wise, it will probably be a repeater type of setup so there is no physical connection to the device.

One thing I am concerned about is it has been raining all day. I don't know what effect the weather is having on my signal, but I am hoping it is hurting the signal and not helping it, otherwise I might loose the signal when the weather clears?

Have a Merry Christmas!

wankel7 · Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 11:57 pm Post subject:

Welcome to the Internets:)

Glad it is working in your neck of the woods. Almost feels like you are part of some sort of exclusive club Wink

How the signal stays strong for you out there!

James

Semi75 · EVDO Junkie Joined: 25 Feb 2006 Posts: 230

I am not familar with the Pantech card's adapter but I would check with the guys here on how sturdy the port is for connecting and unconnecting. I have a s620 and unplug and plug in the adapter daily when using it in the basement with no problems at all. I have used the connection numerous times since March. I did have a lot of problems with the Sierra 580 adapter wanting to come apart so I can understand where you are coming from.

If you want to save a lot of money just call up these guys at booster antenna or the vendor of your choice on how sturdy the connection is for the Pantech before spending the cash on a good repeater system.