Rev.A is not something you here much round these parts. Its all HSDPA and UMTS over here don’t you know.
Rev.A is an extension to the EV-DO data protocol used by some cellular carriers in the U.S. Sprint and Verizon are probably the biggest carriers using it and it offers improved upload data rates of 300-400kbps. That’s pretty nice if you want to do live mobile podcasting or even videocasting.
Kevin (jkOnTheRun) has been commenting on the news that Rev.A is now available and he points out that you can buy a USB modem with a 2 year data plan. It piqued my interest in comparing data plans with what’s available over here again.
It looks like one can get the modem on a 2 year contract with unlimited data for $59 per month. So that’s 450-800kbps average download and 300-400kbps upload. Not bad. (Theoretical download speed go up to 3.6mbps.) It appears to be a nice and simple no-strings contract.
Over here, in Europe there are some real tricks going on. In Germany you can take an unlimited data (5GB fair limit) for only 30 Euros and get the modem for free. But its only for use in your home zone area. If you want to use it outside the home area you have to pay over 100 Euros per month for just 1GB. That’s on top of the 30 Euros. WHAT!
Alternatively, you can get the PCMCIA cards for around 55 Euro per month. Or, hold on, there’s another option for a business customer but there are strings and wait a minute, the price is only valid until, er then there’s a VOIP clause and. This is just crap. And don’t think the Three’s X-series service is any better. Its another nightmare for PC owners.
I’m trying to research pricing, data rates and devices and I’m just giving up every time I look. The whole thing is an absolute mess so I’ll just continue using my phone as a modem at 350kbps. At 42 Euro per month for a fair flat (5GB) data plan it seems the simplest thing to do. I might even upgrade my phone to a Nokia N73 to get the HSDPA support. Oh, but wait a minute, it says here that from the 1st of Feb 2007, they might charge an extra 10 Euro per month for UMTS broadband (3.6mbps) data rates. It looks like they will remove the 1.8mbps option from HSDPA. But if my phone only supports 1.8mbps does that mean it will drop down to 350kbps? Oh hell. This is exactly what I was talking about the other day. 3G seems to be a better option than WiFi for me but it would be so nice if someone was able to offer me a Flybook V33i or Fujitsu P1610 through a 50 Euro per month data contract. Please. My wife wants one too.
Steve
