If you are looking for a EVDO card for Powerbook, I will recommend, Sierra Wireless Aircard 580, which after some hacking gives you better performance than any other PC card. However, it doesn’t work as well with Windows Laptops. It was giving me about 350 kbps on Mac and 115 kbps on a PC laptop. Novatel’s Merlin v620, however is a solid and brisk performer on Windows Machines, with average speed of about 270 kbps. It got 115-120 kbps on a Mac. The comparisons were carried out using Powerbook 15 (Tiger) and Averatec 1000. I sat in the same location for the two laptops, and repeated this experiment in four different spots in San Francisco. I look forward to your feedback from other cities. Kyocera 650 is known to work well with a Mac. Folks over at EVDOinfo.com have more details. These recommendations are only for Verizon’s EVDO service only.
I use an EV-DO (verizon wireless) on my windows xp laptop in NY and Dallas, I get close to 1 Mbps with the Sierra card…I think your laptop is probably messing things up.
Did you run your tests more than once? We have found the KPC650 to be the best performer out of the 5 EVDO cards that are currently available. The KPC650 is the only card that Verizon supports on Macs, although, at http://www.EVDOinfo.com, you will find directions to get ALL cards working with PowerBooks for Verizon or Sprint.
EVDO Guy,
actually i spent three weekends trying this out… pretty much the same result. I have not used KPC 650, but I am told it has pretty good performance.
Java2king…. i think the top speeds are more dependent on the city one is in. San Francisco is not as EVDO robust as say NYC.
I have used a Vdata card from Tata Indicom and R-Connect card in India which is a Reliance InfoComm product.
I get similar speed as you have mentioned in your post. And can be used in over 115 cities in India.
Sivaraman, I didn’t know that India had such extensive EVDO coverage – how exciting! I’d love to see coverage like that in East Africa. Or, Portland, Oregon USA for that matter! =)
Portland has great EVDO Coverage, see map at:
http://www.evdoinfo.com/Verizon_BroadbandAccess_Maps/EVDO_Coverage/Portland_EVDO_-_Verizon_BroadbandAccess_20050628416/
FYI, I tried EVDO and found that it has poor latency (ping times in the range of 400ms) and CAN operate poorly with VPN client software.
Latency can be an issue, depending on what you are trying to do. Many VPN clients run just fine with EVDO. I just ran a latency test, on BroadbandAccess (EVDO), and I got 195ms – 230ms. If you are in NationalAccess, you will see ping times in the 400ms range, plus you will see 50K – 100K download speeds, vs 400K – 700K when in EVDO areas.
You can get a free EVDO Novatel 620 card or a Sierra Wireless 580 card and unlimited data for $59.99 at http://www.flypcs.com
Hi All
If anyone knows where I can download drivers for a Sierra Wireless Aircard 555 to work on the Mac OS 10.4.2 please do let me know.
I had found a german company once but since have misplaced their name and url and have been searching high and low with absolutely no luck.
Cheers
We offer the same free Sprint Cards, and we don’t pretent to be someone that we are not. Hey Admin, can I get the flypcs post IP Address? That wasn’t my post.
EVDO is still not available in India. I use a Tata Indicom Vdata card . It is basically a Sierra Wireless Air Card 555. The R Connect service from Reliance Infocomm also used the Air Card 555. This is only a CDMA 1x card and does not support EVDO . EVDO is not yet available in India and will be available only when 3G data service is allowed. To receive EVDO we need a Sierra Wireless 580 card.Both Tata Indicom and Reliance have a pan india coverage and is available across the country in more than 3000 cities and towns where the network is present.
Good for India… is EVDO of any use elsewhere?
wat download speeds do u get in the tata v card and rconnect card frm reliance.. im planning to buy one.. so please suggest..
Latency can be an issue, depending on what you are trying to do. Many VPN clients run just fine with EVDO. I just ran a latency test, on BroadbandAccess (EVDO), and I got 195ms – 230ms. If you are in NationalAccess, you will see ping times in the 400ms range, plus you will see 50K – 100K download speeds, vs 400K – 700K when in EVDO areas.
can we use broadband with siera AirCard 555
I’m looking at 2 diffrent EVDO cards but am not sure of the best one, I have Alltel wireless service and am looking at the Kyocera KPC650 and the UT STARCOM PC5740, any ideas which is the best?
Hey Sivaramakrishnan/Sankar,
I am looking forward to getting a data card in India and would like to know if Reliance / Tata Indiacom wireless connections on CDMA 1x are stable enough for VOIP. They seem to be promising speeds upto around 150 kbps, but the “upto” kinda gives me the creeps.
It would be great if I could get some info from you guys on this, based on your experience.
Cheers,
Arun
I use Aircard 555 and Tata Indicom as service provider in India, with CDMA 1x on Windows PC. It is very good (it provides coverage practically everywhere in India – I tried it at rural as well as urban places) and provides thru’put at 115Kbps, consistently. It is very good. Although I am not sure it works on Powerbook (Sierra promises it does!).
The price is approximately $140 for the card (expensive than on the site but I think service providers update the firmware) and monthly charges of $16 -$20 depending on the service provider with limitation on data usage (1GB or less, etc.).
I do not know much about Reliance coverage, but have reports that describe it to be equally well-covered with consistent 100Kbps coverage.
I am looking forward
I am planning to by vdata card from Tata Indicom. I would like to know if it supports VoIP? I would appreciate some one guide me right on this. Thanks
Shankar,
I recently burned myself on the Reliance data card, dont buy it. get the vdata card instead. i timed the reliance card on dslreports several times, and, on average, got around 20kbps. max was 40kbps. this only refers to the download speed, and reliance conveniently notes in the small print that the “upto” 144kbps promised also includes the upload speed, which i found to be averaging around 60kbps, but frankly, for an average user like me, upload speed hardly matters.
Hey I too have a Tata Indicom V data card. I am based in Mahim Mumbai and I get around 16-18 kbps dload speeds.
Connection is very stable wherever you go in India – I have been to Nagpur, Abad, Rajkot, Balaghat ( in MP ), Jaipur. Is there anyway – hack or some added software to increase the dload speeds
Hi…I am planning to get a Palm Treo700P (Unlocked version) from the USA. Palm site mentions the device as “CDMA EvDO”. Will this work in India with any of the service providers viz : Idea, Airtel or Hutch ?
Alternatively, will the Palm Treo650 with CDMA EDGE, GPRS, GSM work in India?
Being a Palm addict, I need to upgrade urgently. Pls help.
HI
I am considering buying a Tata Vcard in Bombay, but I will be shifting to Pune (near the NDA) in a few weeks. Will this card work there?
Hey guys, i’m in Nigeria at the moment, one of our telcos has just launched an EVDO service, i was wondering if anyone knows what the process is for getting say a kpc650 working on the local net- might i need something like quick link mobile to configure?
http://www.smithmicro.com – wireless oem – quick link etc
Any help or pointers would be appreciated
Thanks
Hi friends
I am planning to by data card but I have to decide of which company data card is fine.
I like to have internet consistant.
please suggest me whether I should buy reliance data card or airtel data card or tata indicom data card.
thanks
sujeevan singh
new delhi
INDIA
I love you all!!!
Hey Guys,
I’ve a qurry bout choice of Data access Cards,
Do providers like Tata infocom (V card), Reliance infocom (data access card) and Airtel (data card) Give us a choice of card?
Guys ,
Can anyone suggest which is the best wireless data card available in India and whats the absolute download speed.. Never to trust the suppliers !!!!
Is it Reliance , Tata or anyother .. Pls suggest
Thanks
can any one helpe me to make sharing of reliance unlimited broad band login. I just want login id and password (to make sharing of my unlimited account to you and yours to me.)
i had found that we can login through broad net.plz… do comments to my email rizvan008@yahoo.com .If you have any idea better than me we can share it.
thanks .
Hi
I am in India right now and going to purchase a vdata card from relience. i will move New zealand soon, friends pl suggest me, this card will work over there or not.
thanks…
Guys ,
Can anyone suggest which is the best wireless data card available in India and whats the absolute download speed.. Never to trust the suppliers !!!. Pls mail me the details to my email Id as early as possible. So i can suggest a good one for my PC. Then i want to know that the PCI to PCMCIA cards are available and i can use this data card in that device consistantly. Pls advice me pls as early as possible. I am ready to bye the product in a week.
Is it Reliance , Tata or anyother .. Pls suggest
Thanks
John
I have a reliance R-Connect card. The speed is low enough that I cannot use it effetively either for Skype or for connecting to my head office through VPN. An acquaintance who bought the same card after me also has the same problem. I am thinking of signing up with another service – Tata or Airtel, but I don’t see anyone saying they are any better. And the service – the dealer is great and helps me out a lot, but the service from the company – I don’t know if anybody else’s service is any better, but what I have is unacceptable to me.
I have rconnect card. Its just about okay for browsing. Waiting for Wimax service which has been promised for Feb 2007. Will buy a Samsung m8000 Wimax phone/modem for the purpose.
I am planning on going to India with my Sprint CDMA Merlin S620 data card. Do you know if any one in India will give me the service using my card? It is going to be a temporary service. Does any one know other better alternatives to get the service?
Thanks
Hi
are there any data cards in India that support mac os x, or are there any drivers available to hack the cards here for mac. The websites & call centers aren’t helpful at all.
Guys,
Reliance Data card is best in India as of now, Reliance have widest network across country. Browsing speed is excellent upto 156 Kbps, comes with Netbooster software. Touch points are available across the country every where for support.
Airtel Based on GPRS technology, Max speed upto 24 Kbps. Only GPRS enabled towers can provide the service. Very limited coverage in cities even.
Terribly slow, takes lot of to open a page. Not at all suitable for frequent net browsers.
TATA Coverage is an issue, lot more areas yet to be covered. Support touch points are very less in nos.
Go for Reliance data card
Need some help. I have recently taken a v datacard from Tata Indicom. However whenever I turn on the connection, my laptop starts receiving data even when I am not surfing. I have turned off automatic updates for all software I use, including Windows XP, but it doesnt seem to work. I have recently formatted my OS partition and installed AVG antivirus, windows defender and ad aware SE personal. I have run AVG (recently updated) but no virus was detected. Can somebody help me? My connection shows I have used around 10 MB in 30 mins without even surfing a single site!!
Has anyone tried running their laptop through a cell phone?
I think it would be cheaper because you only need one phone number for voice and computer, instead of separate phone num for each.
I would like to know how fast the data rates are.
Hi folks,
I recently bought a SONY VAIO with WWAN capability. It comes with Sprint service so it works fine in US. I am looking to use the card in India so wondering whether this requires me to unlock the card from Sprint service or how to go about doing this?
Thanks.
Tata Indicom Aircard 555 drivers for winxp
I stay in india, in the city of mumbai. I will like to have this internet connection for my airtel prepaid card,tell me whats the procedure.
hello
try with BSNL connection EVDO card, it gives a better speed for browsing or surfing than reliance and airtel.
reliance data card is the best data card,because it”s coverage is vary large
You can find information on BSNL EVDO in india. BSNL provides AC8700 modem. You can find information on programming it, tutorials on making it work in Linux, BSNL faqs and more in this site
http://www.bsnlevdo.com/
BSNL EVDO & 1X data cards are the best available in India now.EVDO cards average browsing speed is 1.4 Mbps and 1X card 144 Kbps, widest coverage both rural & urban area, with cheapest cost approximately Rs.3500/- unlimited download facility.
I found more information regarding BSNL EVDO in http://www.bsnlevdoclub.com than in bsnlevdo.com
And I dont know why the contents from bsnlevdoclub.com has been stolen by bsnlevdo.com
Any way I got the EVDO last week with the help of people from bsnlevdoclub.com and the performance here in Maharastra is quite good since there is no EVDO network coverage properly. The speeds are not bad.
http://bsnl-data-card.blogspot.com
What is Bsnl EVDO? This page describes everything about this cool 3G technology: BSNL EVDO Coverage, News, Tips, Benchmarks, Product Info, Downloads, Vendors, Forums, Antenna Info, EDVO
sir,i have mac book pro having macintosh lepord software.i want use India BSNL AC8700 Software in my m,ac i dont have a driver for tat .plz tell me how to setup driver for mac for this evdo
I am using Powerbook mac and trying to connect EVDO USB 700 800M data card with it. I am unable to do it. Please guide, how to do it…