A first look: Verizon Wireless BroadbandAccess PC5750

By Mark W. Kaelin March 13, 2007, 5:22 AM PDT

Image
1
of 13

Wireless BroadbandAccess

Continuing TechRepublic’s look at the latest crop of wireless broadband PCMCIA cards for laptops, we take a first look at the offering from Verizon Wireless. The Qualcomm 3G card connects users to the Verizon Nation Broadband network using cell phone technology, but it can also connect using the standard 802.11 wireless protocol, depending on which is more advantageous.

Just like the other wireless broadband cards we’ved looked at, the Verizon version comes in a DVD-like case — an easy form factor for shippling.

Inside the case we find the card itself, a small instruction booklet, and a CD-ROM with the connection software.

The card itself is made by Pantech and includes a Qualcomm chipset. It is very similar to the Sprint card we looked at earlier.

The Verizon software installed very smoothly. If you follow along in the booklet and/or instructions on screen, installation should be a snap.

Personally, I had a little trouble, but it was with the network not the software installation. The Verizon folks were very helpful. Apparently, an identification number on my account was not entered correctly.

But once that small glitch was fixed everything ran fine.

As you can see, the Verizon card can be very fast. These are the results from the first speed test.

Running another test on DSL Reports to a different server gave a result for upload speeds I found suspicious.

Running another test to the West coast was also very impressive, especially the upload speeds. I can’t buy it.

So I try again and get similar results.

I run a speed test one more time, only this time I use the Java version of the DSL Reports test. Again, the test returns similar results.

Those are some high numbers for upload speeds, but the high number was consistent so it must be true.

Using the internal Verizon Connection Software I was able to get a graphical representation of activity while watching a YouTube video. The results are definitely broadband speeds.

Like the other two broadband cards, the Verizon delivers broadband anywhere the service reaches at a reasonable price.

Verizon has pretty good coverage in the Louisville, KY, area.

By Mark W. Kaelin

Mark W. Kaelin has been writing and editing stories about the information technology industry, gadgets, finance, accounting, and tech-life for more than 25 years. Most recently, he has been a regular contributor to BreakingModern.com, aNewDomain.net,

Account Information

Contact Mark W. Kaelin

Your message has been sent
|
See all of Mark W.'s content

None of these tips from TechRepublic Premium require a paid Google Workspace account, so anyone should be able to make use of them. You do, of course, need to have a Google account. From the guide: HOW TO PASTE WITHOUT FORMATTING I use this tip all the time. When you copy and paste text into ...

Google’s Chrome web browser held a 64.92% command of the global browser market share in April 2023. That means more users are working with Chrome in significantly more use cases: mobile, desktop and even business. Because of that, users of all types must employ Chrome with a measure of caution and intelligence. After all, most ...

A safe and healthy work environment provides the foundation for all employees to be at their most productive. Not only does it promote productivity in the workforce, but it also helps prevent accidents, lawsuits and, in extreme cases, serious injury and loss of life. A clear and robust ergonomic policy, like this one from TechRepublic ...