Sierra Wireless AirCard 580 (Sprint PCS)

In Brief

The simple fact is, once you've tried an EV-DO cell data card, you won't want to go back to anything less. Being able to get online anytime, anywhere, at high speeds, is just plain addictive, in the worst way. You find yourself counting the days and weeks until service is turned on in the towns you frequent, and comparing notes with similarly-equipped friends on the fastest times you've gotten -- which can be screaming, well over 1Mbps, speedier than many DSL connections.

Even ordinary EV-DO connections are fast, typically 400-700Mbps. We reviewed the Sierra AirCard 580 with Sprint PCS's new 1xEV-DO network, which just debuted in July. As a new service, the high-speed network is still limited in coverage, but Sprint is rolling out new markets even more aggressively than Verizon Wireless, which has had EV-DO for a year now. It plans to complete its high-speed network early next year, covering more than 60 metro areas with 150 million people. That should put it on a par with Verizon, although Verizon may have moved on to an even faster version of EV-DO by then.

Performance-wise, there's not much to separate the AirCard 580 from other EV-DO cards. Sprint PCS also offers a Merlin S620 card, which has similar performance and features. Both cards are free from Sprint with a two-year service contract until October 8. The real decision is in which provider to go with, Sprint or Verizon. (Or to forego EV-DO entirely and wait for Cingular's similarly high-speed HSDPA network, which will be backwards compatible with EDGE.)

Sprint has a unique $40/40MB monthly plan with a $90 cap that should work well for those who travel only a few months of the year. By contrast, Verizon has a $60/month unlimited plan for voice subscribers. Regular unlimited plans for both companies are $80 per month. So first choose the best service plan/coverage for your needs, then get the best deal on a card. With a one- or two-year contract, most cards should be free or low-cost.

In Depth

Our EV-DO testing was largely conducted in airports, since both Sprint and Verizon are placing heavy emphasis on covering them first as they add new markets. We traveled the country, stopping in Tampa, Denver, Las Vegas, San Francisco, and Oakland, connecting with the AirCard at every stop. In some parts of these cities we got online at 1xRTT data rates -- about 90-110Kbps -- instead of EV-DO (service falls back to 1xRTT when you are out of EV-DO range). Even 1xRTT is faster than regular dialup, if not broadband.

Connection with the AirCard and Sprint PCS Connection Manager software is a breeze. After setting things up, you simply press the Go button, and you're online. You can even have the software automatically dial for you when ready, and resume after sleep. The regular window is a small floater that shows signal strength and availability, along with your connection status.

Opening the "drawer" displays key information about how much data you've sent and received during the connection. We managed to rack up more than 35MB of traffic after just a couple hours, thanks to a couple automatic Windows software updates that arrived during that time. If you are on an limited data plan like the $40/40MB option, be sure to turn off automatic background software updates, and monitor your activity closely.

But the mere fact that those large 10+ MB updates downloaded quickly and transparently in the background, just as if we were connected to our home DSL line, was extremely impressive. Basically the whole experience is just truly broadband. Signal strength did not fade in and out, as it often does at Wi-Fi hotspots, and connections were reliable. We even got in our car and drove home from the airport without dropping the connection.

And while cell signals often degrade inside buildings, we still managed 400-500Kbps inside our wood-frame house. Your mileage will vary, of course. Besides broad coverage, another advantage that cell data has over Wi-Fi is security. All cell data networks use digital encryption, and are inherently safer than Wi-Fi, since no traffic is ever routed over a local LAN. You will still need to use your company VPN to log onto email servers and the like, but that's no problem. We just wish the software had an option to automatically open another application (like your VPN software) after connecting. Most other cell data apps we've looked at recently have this feature.

Also on our wish list are SMS and voice call support. Verizon Wireless supports SMS in its EV-DO network, although not voice as yet. Of course, you can always send email instead of SMS, but SMS is handy. For phone calls, you can use VoIP programs like Vonage or Skype instead of regular cell service. Neither company supports roaming onto other providers yet, either in the US or internationally.

The bottom line is that high-speed cell data is here to stay, and the new Sprint PCS EV-DO network is one of what will be three main service options: Sprint PCS or Verizon EV-DO, and Cingular HSDPA. With an innvative pricing plan from Sprint that could slash 25-50 percent off the normal $80 monthly tag, plus a free card with your service contract, the AirCard 580 is a top choice. Just be sure to check the coverage maps before signing up.