Here at CTIA, Sierra Wireless and Cingular Wireless have announced that they will be releasing the AirCard 875. The AirCard 875 is a 3G LaptopConnect card and also the first HSDPA 3.6 Mbps network card in America. The new AirCard will allow Cingular customers to have a mobile broadband connection in over 100 countries. The card will be retailing for $99.99 (after rebate) when Cingular customers sign up for a two-year unlimited DataConnect contract ($59.00). Not too bad of a deal if you’re always on the go.
Sierra Wireless also announced the embedded module. This USB modem supports EV-DO Rev A and comes with a dock that can can be used to plug the modem into your desktop if all your USB plugs have been filled.
Where is a list of the country’s supported?
“yes, the plan is $59.99 in the US, but I wonder what it costs internationally?
hi..ive been trouble trying to find a wireless usb connection aircard that is available for use in Qatar. can anybody help me with this..and please provide information..im really stuggling on how it works. please email me at cubbies_7899@sbcglobal.net
Truth be told, there’s nothing extraordinary about Sierra Wireless’ latest EV-DO USB modem. It plays nice with Rev. A networks, includes a microSD slot, and comes with TRU-Install to simplify the setup procedure. Granted, it is “the only product in its class to include a connector for an external antenna (saywha?),” and it is remarkably small, so it’s still worth a look if you’re currently doing without. As expected, you’ll reach downlink speeds of up to 3.1Mbps and upload speeds of up to 1.8Mbps, and the built-in GPS antenna is a nice bonus, too. Unfortunately, we’ve no idea how costly this one will be, but be on the lookout for a Q2 launch.
The Sierra Wireless Compass 597 will be available this April for $49.99 after a $50 rebate and a two year contract with Sprint.
The Sprint EX720 ExpressCard should available pretty soon for as low as $179.99 with a two-year subscriber agreement. If you’re willing to sign up for a two-year contract you should be able to get unlimited usage for $59.95 a month. If you’re not running that rich, then $39.99 a month gets you a 40MB cap, while that same unlimited data contract with a one-year subscriber agreement is a not-inconsiderable $79.99 per month.
Set-up is about as simple as any plug and play device, maybe simpler. The graphic set-up program is quick, easy, and simple to follow. We were able to connect to a U720 and a U595 in well under 2 minutes. We used both a Dell and an HP laptop, and both recognized and configured to the router with either card easily. Machines with Vista take a minute to find the wireless network settings, but once connected set-up is smooth as well.
I found the Cradlepoint router to be very feature rich small office or home
router. It has 2 USB ports and 1 PCMCIA Express slot for EVDO cards, it also
has an Ethernet WAN port and 4 LAN ports. It has N wireless as well.
I found that the router did a good job failing over from the Ethernet WAN
connection to the EVDO connection. However it did not switch back to the
Ethernet connection after it came back up. I had to unplug the EVDO card to
get it to switch back to the Ethernet WAN connection.
When making your decision for mobile connectivity, the AirCard 595 could be a great choice. When you need to do work out of the office there is no substitute for mobile broadband, though the added expense of a broadband card and a plan is something to consider given that most users will probably already have a mobile phone and possibly a data plan with that as well. If you can get over the hurdle of another monthly expense (or you can have an employer take care of it) and you have a notebook with a PC Card slot, this could be a great way to go. At this point you may want to consider a USB card though, as this will be able to work with any device, regardless of the size of the expansion slot.