Looking at Cingular's Laptop Connect plan and Verizon's EVDO. Which one is better?

Can't help you with your question but just wanted to inquire about this too. When you say hi-speed, what speeds are you talking about? More then 128kbps?

Is it a PCMCIA card? Wi-fi card? Or GSM card?

Everything i hear is that EVDO is better. I'm using Sprints EVDO and get about 500kbs/second in most areas. I hear that EDGE is limited to less than 200kbs currently.

Both EVDO providers and EDGE providers are slated to roll out newer higher speed services in the near future. I think Verizon and Sprint already have some major metro areas at 2mbs/second and Cingular and T-Mobile are not far behind those speeds (did I read even faster?) in a few select markets.

The best place to ask may be over at www.howardforums.com

-N

All depends on where you're going to use it. Sprint's EVDO is currently the broadband network to beat for coverage. Cingular's UMTS is the network to beat for speed but has very limited coverage. If UMTS covers most of the places you'll be, that's what I'd do. Failing that, go Sprint EVDO. They have coverage over most metro areas. EDGE is not comparable. It's much slower and much higher latency. EDGE is basically GPRS with reasonable speeds.

Unfortunally VZW & SPCS don't have the same coverage foot print of EVDO. You're best bet is to look at the respective maps (VZW & Cingular) to see if they service the area(s) you frequent the most.

I would add the question, How are you going to use it? Verizon's terms of service has rigid restrictions on how you can use their service (e.g., no streaming or intensive downloading), and has already unliterally terminated the accounts of users who violated these terms. The other wireless providers--at this point--do not impose such limitations.

I am pretty happy with the coverage of my Verizon EVDO card. One thing I am able to do is split the difference. Work got me the card and allows me to expense my mobile. So my mobile is with Sprint, so if I don't have Verizon coverage, I go with Sprint with a tethered phone.

Just something to consider, you may not have to make as much of a compromise...

AJ

I have the Cingular card and as mentioned elsewhere, if you are in an area that offers the 3G service, which is many of the major cities, it is great - >1mbit downloads, ~200k uploads and really reliable.

If you aren't in a 3G area, you have Edge, which still gets like ~150k or so, which beats dialup. I imagine it won't be long for them to spread the 3G service.

Plus, you can use the card in Europe and elsewhere internationally, which you can't do with Sprint.

Spring does seem to have the most US coverage right now.

As others have written, the most important factor right now is who has coverage in areas where you'll be looking to use the card/service.

Cingular's high-speed service (which is currently being deployed) is still confined to just a few markets. From a spec standpoint, it's supposedly a little faster than the current EVDO offerings from Sprint and Verizon.

I have Verizon EVDO, and I love it. Good coverage where I live and in the cities I frequent for work.

*The whole "spec" argument is one to be wary of. While the Cingular high-speed service (in 3G areas) is supposedly faster than Verizon's EVDO, when I've run speed tests on my card at home vs. my brother (Cingular 3G) and Dad (Cingular 3G) the results have come out dead even on average. Remember that while a new standard may feature a very high u/d rate in its specs, the provider has the ability to "throttle" bandwidth.

I have found sprint better and faster from almost all the places I have tried it compared to the cingular offer. I haven't tried the verizon offering, but at EVDO speeds and their coverage it should be good.

I have settled for now on a 6700 from sprint and the EVDO plan. Works nice and fast, can sling at 500kps, and tether as well.

I have Sprint EVDO plan. $40 a month unlimited use (corporate rates). I dropped my Tmobile I had since it was MobileStar since not needed now.
Love the service and coverage for me.

Now if other countries will just get their networks up..

After having tried Cingular's EDGE and Verizon's EVDO our company went for Sprint's EVDO. The decision had something to do with the fact that they were a client of ours and spent some 10M w/us. But the bulk of it had to do with the fact that just recently Sprint surpassed Verizon's EVDO coverage. Also Sprint offered us a much better deal than Verizon, which included heavily discounted Merlin S620 cards.

From a user's prospective, Sprint is way faster than Verizon, especially in low coverage areas. Where Verizon's speed would crawl, for the same signal strenth Sprint would easily mantain a much higher speed. From an end user support prospective, I love Sprint's connection software. Clear, clean and so damn straight forward.

I don't like Sprint when it comes to private consumer products. Their practices and contracts are similar to a dictatorship. But, as much as I hate to say it... get Sprint! And this is coming from a hardcore GSM fanatic who changes phones every 6 months.