You probably will get much higher speeds using a USB tether. The bottleneck of connecting an EVDO modem to your computer is bluetooth. My co-worker has a Spring EVDO phone, and he regular gets 900k

I’m at the end of my ambassadorhood, and overall it wasn’t too bad. I loved being able to just go hog wild with buying stuff. I’d never in a million years touch their music store if it weren’t free though. And whats up with the licenses for the paid downloads? $3.99 and I only get it for 90 days?

Using it as a modem is great though. This is what i’ve been waiting for since the day i heard the word Bluetooth. Its not the fastest, but i can click connect on my macbook and be online, without ever touching the phone :) thats how it should be…

As for the number of clicks to upload to flickr, its not too bad, considering its all the same button. I give it the click of death till i see the “uploading picture” message, and shut the phone, heh.

Hey Merlin. I did the same demo in a Verizon store here in NC last year with a Moto phone and a Powerbook w/ bluetooth. I was getting anywhere from 900kbps - 1.5Mbps speeds through Bluetooth and the phone connecting wirelessly. I was amazed, but alas it was to rich for my taste…..

For the record, this all works with the Samsung A-900, as well.

As for the area code — I live in the Kansas City area (where Print is headquartered), so I’ll be happy to fill you in on our oh-so-weird (really, how much weirder is one string of three numbers than the next?) areas codes. Yours is probably one of the following:

Kansas City, Kansas: 913 (I suspect this is what yours is, since Sprint is actually in Overland Park, Kansas, a KC suburb) Kansas City, Missouri: 816 Northeast Kansas: 785

All of which are very suspicious, indeed. I can totally see why you’d think I was a tele-marketer or a republican if I called you with my 785 number. :)

Be aware that Sprint can detect that the phone is being used as a modem, and those with the MM-A920 should either read up on the Modem NAI here or sign up with Sprint for a Phone-As-Modem account before dialing up via their laptop. If you don’t, the per-KB fee is exorbitant.

Strange coincidence - I was just trying this with my 15” PB-G4 and a new Verizon EVDO Moto RAZR V3m last night. It never really worked because it seems that I need to sign up for a $60/month service (on top of the $55/month I already pay) to use get unlimited broadband access through the phone (I already pay for VCast). Does anyone know what Sprint charges for unlimited broadband access?

This is cool and all but +$60 for this sort of service seems a bit steep to me.

Verizon has the same “use phone number ‘#777’ and use the correct Modem Script” way to get online, and I use it periodically with a USB cable and my Motorola T730. This doesn’t require any special broadband plan; it just uses minutes from my calling plan.

The slowness, I’m pretty sure, is because it’s actually dialing up to a network and not actually utilizing the EVDO connection. It’s definitely fast for dial-up - no 56k modem bottleneck - but it’s not actually a high-speed connection.

Unlimited EVDO access on your phone costs $15 per month with Sprint. There are various techniques that allow you to use your phone as a modem with this plan. Officially, unlimited “Phone-as-modem” costs $40 per month (and includes unlimited access from the handset as well). This allows both USB and Bluetooth connections. You may receive phone events but cannot talk on the phone while using the data connection.

Brad is incorrect, #777 does give you an EVDO connection. Speed is probably attributable to the bandwidth of Bluetooth. Tethering with USB is (significantly) faster, comparable to using a data card. Different phone’s have different Bluetooth capabilities, some are more hindered than others.

As far as other sprint evdo phones… The LG LX-550 “Fusic” for instance, supports stereo bluetooth headsets, perhaps it can do data faster (I haven’t seen this tested). The Treo 700P’s blutooth may be faster as well.

Super useful, Matt — any links you could provide to support/enhance this great info would be appreciated. Many thanks.

I’ve been using my V3M with Verizon’s EV-DO network for a few weeks - it’s awesome.

$60 per month seems steep, but if you’re using it for generating revenue (billable hours) you can pay that off pretty damn quick. Not to mention it’s tax deductible. I thought I’d use it once or twice a week - I’ve ended up using it at least once a day.

You need a phone, and the V3M has worked well for me. You can use bluetooth, but USB is a lot faster. You can buy an overpriced cable from Verizon, but I had several of the correct size from USB flash card readers. You plug it in and iSync should work fine. You create a dial up account to dial #777 and enter username yournumber@vzw3g.com (like 2223334444@vzw3g.com) and password “vzw” and modem script to Verizon compatible. It should then dial up. If it doesn’t connect, call Verizon and request that “teathering” or “usb data tethering” be added to your account. They might not know what you’re talking about at first, but just tell them it should be $60/month, ask their supervisor, and eventually they’ll get it.

Speeds are great on EV. 1x connections (outside the EV network) are useable for brief web browsing or an email check. Overall, I love it.

I just figured this out too for my Mac + A-920 - when I did the speed test report for it I got 278/108 and 250ms ping times.

details at http://vielmetti.typepad.com/vacuum/2006/07/sprint_ambassad.html

I’ll try the USB cable next.

Ed, ambassador to RustBeltia

I was astounded at your comment on 100kb/s; I only wish I could have that speed - it would be two to three times what I get now (running at 56kb/s). Currently I’m supposedly getting 26,000 bps.

Not everyone has full-on ISDN to their house… is this another way that Rural America is being forgotten? It only took an act of Congress to electrify the rural areas; perhaps (shudder) another act of Congress is required?

“Broadband EVERYWHERE is a national priority, akin to the priority placed on combating global terrorism.” —Tom Peters

Um… I should have reworked that quote (to fit the context it was given in….)

“Broadband EVERYWHERE [should be] a national priority, akin to the priority placed on combating global terrorism.” —Tom Peters

I’m using my new a920 with my dell/XP laptop okay. Just a little bit slower than my DSL. Close enough for me. I live in Corvallis, Oregon which has the EVDO network coverage.

I am thoroughly confused about this service though. I signed up for a “Unlimited Data Plan for Phone As Modem”. I was told that if you have this plan you can’t use the power vision plan too, it is an either-or situation.

So now I see that in order to send a picture I get prompted to turn on power vision. I don’t because I see trouble if it switched me over.

I followed this guide a few days after I got my ambassador phone back in March and it’s been running great as an EVDO modem ever since… except recently Sprint shut-off my EVDO phone capabilities (presumably from using too much bandwidth? or maybe those 6 months are almost over).

Treo 700p uses bluetooth v1.2, so probably isn’t much faster than most other phones. Do any bluetooth products other than new Macs support the Bluetooth v2.0 standard? It supposedly supports transfers up to 3mbps.