Announcements & Software Alan Hartung on 01 Apr 2007 05:11 am
Verizon’s EVDO Network via a Treo 700p
After my recent purchase of a Treo 700p on Verizon’s network, I was anxious to see how well the broadband internet shaped up against my broadband at home. The results are in.
I won’t be using my Treo to connect to the internet from home or in the office, but the speed is pretty darn good. I’m impressed. With this service, I do not have to look for a coffee shop or restaurant with wi-fi, I can just pick a place and hack away on my laptop. The good kind of hacking away, of course 
To test it out, I went to abc.com and watched an episode of Grey’s Anatomy. Just for kicks, I put it in the “big” mode as it requires a little more bandwidth. I watched the entire episode without a hitch.
I have not given it a thorough test with upload speeds, but an initial test confirmed the disappointing time compared with the pep of the download. Uploading the exact same file from my home broadband to the exact same server was 10 times slower on Verizon’s EVDO.
Uploading is a minor issue for many users, but it does mean heavy-duty uploading should be put off until a better connection can be reached. And the slow upload time means guys like me could never seriously consider using it as my primary internet connection. I will test it with Skype and Gizmo Project and see if internet telephony is adequate on EVDO.
That being said, for the time when maybe I’m killing time waiting for traffic to die down or find myself out of town, I would not hesitate to use my Treo as a modem. It’s worth the unlimited data package to have the convenience.
By the way, I’m on a MacBook Pro, so yes, it’s Mac friendly!