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EVDO vs. Wi-Fi and Conclusions

Whether EVDO is better than 802.11 depends on your needs. If your business provides data to others on the Internet and how fast it is uploaded matters, test results show that 802.11 will almost always make you happier than EVDO. However, the Achilles heel of public 802.11 systems is the difficulty of purchasing one-time access. Service providers would much rather you sign up for a service that generates monthly recurring fees.

One more 802.11 story: While in the Detroit Metro Airport, I tried to pay the $7.95 one-time-fee for a single-use of the 802.11 network. However, since I had previously logged in to the network there and paid for a one-time use, I was unable to use it a second time. When I tried to authenticate with the account I previously created, the system said "Roaming Denied" and dumped me out. I emailed support and they told me, "It is easy to get one-time access!" Shades of T-Mobile all over again. It's easy for everyone to gain access ... just not me.

If upload speed is important, and you're frequently in areas with Wi-Fi hotspots (for example you travel by air weekly), and you're working for a large company that doesn't care about expenses, you can probably justify the $30/month fee to access the "monthly-fee-802.11-cartel." However, unless all three conditions hold, 802.11 access can be hit or miss. ( If you can get to a Barnes & Noble, you can use AT&T's excellent 802.11 service.)

However, EVDO is better than 802.11 when you're in the bus on your way to the rental cars, or at your in-laws' house, or sitting in an airplane on the runway, waiting in Indianapolis for 5 hours, hoping for a landing slot in Chicago. EVDO probably performs about the same as 802.11 if you're in Chicago O'Hare International Airport a lot and all you need is fast downloading. If the terminal is empty when you're there, rock on!

Internet access away from the office is getting better, and EVDO service is responsible for a lot of the improvement. However, access away from the office is not just about download or upload speeds. It is also about companies being willing to make Internet access convenient enough to fit into the many constraints of travel and about users being able to gain Internet access without dealing with giant bureaucracies.

No one wants to feel like a chicken trampled over by an elephant, but it still happens. For example, you can still get terminated as a Verizon Wireless "bandwidth criminal" if you use more than 5 GB of bandwidth in a month (using EVDO for videoconferencing). But, the "Secret Trap Doors of Destruction" are fewer in number than in 2004.

EVDO is waking up the "Bell heads," who run our cell service bureaucracies, to the existence of the Internet. The cellular technology trail for accessing the Internet, which I walked in 2004, is gradually widening as more users find their way. Today, the "cowpath" is almost ready to be paved. I could almost call it a sidewalk. When I'm in my local Verizon Wireless Store, asking questions, a crowd of people gathers around when they see my laptop connecting to the Internet through my phone. Today people ask for cards. In 2004, people didn't notice the laptop surfing the Internet through a phone.

Historically, telephone people have seen Internet access as "wasting half of a perfectly good circuit." Today, when you walk out of the store with your Treo 700p and EVDO access, you are only two steps away from Internet access. But you need to learn the "gotcha" extra service subscriptions you need from Sprint, or Cingular, or Verizon Wireless. And then you have to set up your software on the computer and phone to connect to the network.

At the very least, the wireless companies are no longer telling you not to access the Internet. And now, with this series and Google at the ready, you can become your own technical support and make it happen.

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