Speed Test Data

Table 1 summarizes the speed data for Bluetooth EVDO (Option 1), showing the average upload and download speeds and the number of data points in each location. I ran tests against Speakeasy's Chicago, Seattle, and Atlanta servers from three airports, one rental car bus, two houses, and one restaurant. I chose these three server locations to balance the throughput readings since the locations spanned the United States.

The benchmarks were run a total of 29 times yielding an average download speed of around 38 KB/sec and average upload speed of about 13 KB/sec. As I recall, in 2004 I was happy to get a download speed of 15 KB/sec with my tethered Sprint phone—so, downloading at 40 KB/sec isn't bad, but, it isn't high-speed Internet either.

Table 1: Summary Data Speeds Across Locations

To investigate if access speed can be increased, I went back to EVDOinfo.com and EVDOforums.com. Since many posts there claimed that the bandwidth capacity of the Bluetooth radio limits the access speeds to the EVDO network, I decided to experiment with USB to see if it could offer faster access than Bluetooth.

In the above sites I also found references to Mobile Stream's USB Modem, which allows a USB cable to be used for the laptop-to-phone connection and EVDO network access for Treo 700p, 680, 650, and 600 phones. For information on setting up your laptop and Treo 700p for use with the USB Modem, refer to their User Guide (PDF link).

Note: Mobile Stream also offers Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X-compatible versions of USB Modem.

Once I had USB EVDO access (Option 2) working, I ran side-by-side access speed comparisons of Bluetooth EVDO (Option 1), USB EVDO (Option 2), and, if possible, 802.11 access (Option 3) to gauge my "cost" in not using "Air Coffee."

Table 2 compares the 802.11, Bluetooth EVDO, and USB EVDO access options by showing their average upload and download speeds and the number of data points taken.

Table 2: Average Speed Comparison of 802.11, Bluetooth EVDO, and USB EVDO

The test results in the Table 2 show not surprisingly that 802.11 access (Option 3) is the fastest of the three. The data also shows that 802.11 access is lot faster in residences than in public (no big surprise there, either).

The data are by no means definitive. But the results may still be of interest and provide insight to people in small business that are exploring options for Internet access away from the office. Because of the small sample sizes, averages will change with additional data.

Tags: 3G, EVDO, How To, Verizon,

Related Articles: