Esme does a smack down on Verizon Wireless’s very fast data service announced this morning. She makes some of the points I made earlier, but I still think getting 300-500 kilobits per second on the go is much better than getting puny 40kbps on my GPRS modem.
Let’s talk about the charges for use of the Verizon data service. I hear it is $80 a month. Think about that — $960 for a year. What could you buy for $960? Roundtrip airfare to Europe, two pairs of really nice designer shoes (maybe three if you buy them on sale), a Dior handbag, two Nokia phones, lots of dinners in fabulous restaurants, fancy health club subscription so you can finally lose weight. One thing for sure is that low-income families cannot afford their “ubiquitous high speed” Internet service.
>>lots of dinners in fabulous restaurants
Huh?
The last time I was at Peter Lugar’s in NYC, our party of six had a tab of ~$1200. tic.
re: EV-DO, formally known as HDR. Basically this is circa 1999 technology, the reverse link sucks (same as current 1xRTT), and the downlink is marginal. Nevertheless this is just a taste of the future.
The Nextel Flarion trial has a better experience (ie higher data rates), and they are really testing the marketing acceptance. For example, you can/could get 3 pccard modems each with unlimited service for ~$120/mo.
That my friend is a cable/dsl killer.
The current $80/mo fee is just to keep the riff-raff at bay while they bootstrap the rollout, this service will $50/mo in 12-18mos, if not sooner.
Arrgh! Come on Om! You *get it*, so why are you agreeing with this person?
I don’t mind if you grouse a bit that $80 is too expensive or that the marketing was a bit over the top (carriers shuld learn by now), but you linked to some moron who called EV-DO “this incredibly slow network.” WTF is this person smoking? Most of the country is *still* on dial-up thanks – getting up to 500kbps over the air? It’s a godsend to most people. And she can’t make a call from the beach, so the whole infrastructure sucks? Big Reality Check. The U.S. is a huge country, Spain is smaller than Texas. Yeah, it was nice to have coverage everywhere when I lived there, but at the price of European mandated technology that missed CDMA all together.
No, that post was completely lopsided to show the perceived strengths of WiFi over cellular data, but it’s so amazingly wrongheaded it hurts.
Your original post had it right. EV-DO “will showcase for many users what always on broadband is all about” which is both exciting and something the WiFi folk can only dream of. When I can maintain an IM connection or stream audio while crossing the Bay Bridge like I can with cellular data, then it’ll compare. Until then it’s just crap. And that’s just the technology. From a business perspective it doesn’t come close. Cellular networks generate billions of dollars of busines a day and the carriers are experts at making wireless infrastructure work. Some hackers with $50 Compusa WiFi routers aren’t going to compete and even when ISPs ban together (think Cometa) they *still* can’t make it a real service.
Dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb. And the first person who mentions WiMax gets shot. 😉
You had it right the first time, Om, don’t let this person persuade you.
-Russ
Russ,
What you said. I do thing that Wi-Fi cherry picks specific geographic locations (cafes, etc.) and just feels right. A natural extension of the experience.
-Douglass Turner
What Charlie said, although I’ve only spent more than $100 on a meal a handful of times in my life. The 300 to 500 Kbps downstream speed, if it can be maintained as subscribers come online, is not bad. But it’s a 50K max upload speed in the current incarnation.
1. The price is geared toward cubicle zombies who need constant connectivity in an urban environment.
2. I think Flash OFDM has much greater promise.
3. I think the upstream is closer to 100+kbps.
4. I agree with the poster above who argues you can’t really compare this with Wi-Fi connectivity.
5. Beats the crap out of technologies like AT&T’s EDGE, which also charges $80 a month but can barely break 100kbps…..
What a f*cking stupid post – yeah, gee, we can only get 300k download speeds anywhere in NYC. Boy, that will suck. Clearly doesn’t get the point from a business perspective – that $80/month is nothing to a business. Yeah, it ain’t Flarion, but it’s a good sign of the things to come. First wireless company to introduce Flarion tech: I’m there….
if you have time to argue about how expensive $80 a month is for virtually ubiqts web connectivity, then, you probably shouldnt buy it… 🙂
17 new cities are posted online at evdo-coverage.com
thanks!
gentlemen … mild disagreement she has with all of us. that’s all! its okay for one of the broadband people to not like what verizon has to offer. i for one, have total plans to buy the service. i don’t need the manolos or the gucci handbags, I have my manpurse!
I have been using EVDO for over six month and it is incredible. I have used it at client site when they could not provide me with an Ethernet cable to connect to their network a countless number of times. Have been consistently getting gigabit downloads in San Diego and DC. Now in NY/NJ, LA, And even Boston. Once on a weekend road-trip from San Diego to LA we had connectivity virtually all the way. My wife bought the Kid-bopz 6 songs from iTunes and played them that my five year old had been clamoring about.
She also bought some jewelry online so I guess EVDO was a mixed blessing.
On more than one occasion we have used EVDO connection to connect to maps.yahoo to find out restaurants, find directions or find places of interest.
Of course after I got the service we don’t go to expensive restaurants to eat 🙂
Pankaj,
gigabit????
gentlemen… if speed is the true consideration when compared with value for your money, stay tuned.. i am posting a how to guide book that shows how to get 2,900 kbps out of evdo. i will be for sale but a few complementary copies will be offered to media players… 😉 Om, you’re on my list. thanks.. robert kim
Due to high Demand, i am adding VOIP, Outlook Support, evdo sharing over wifi, and vm to email conversion on my sites: let me know what you think
http://www.wireless-internet-broadband-service.com and [url]http://www.evdo-coverage.com[/url]
Verizon is up to 60+ cities now with EVDO, more info at:
http://www.evdoinfo.com/EVDO/Info/EVDO_Coverage_Map_-_Verizon_2005011127/