Review by mark42 
UPDATED: 165 days ago
member for 2.5 years, 231 visits, last login: 2 days ago
 USA
 $59 per month (24 month contract)
 about 5 days
 "Consistent 1+ meg downloads, 600K uploads, and works with VPN."
 "$59.99 is a bit pricy for unlimited access service."
 "Good choice for areas that have no cable or DSL. And its Mobile!"
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My options in north New Jersey in a rural area are dial up, ISDN or Sprint Mobile Broadband. After finding out that Sprint had enlarged its coverage area to include my residence last year, I could hardly wait for my 2 yr ISDN contract to expire so I could order the Sprint service.
The day came and I ordered a Pantech PX-500 data card and a Linksys WRT54G3G-ST mobile broadband router from Sprint online store. It came two days later. Installation of software was easy, but getting the card activated was a pain, being transferred between departments because they could not verify my account. After about an hour they got things straightened out and the card was activated.
Speeds were about 300-400kbps down and 200kbsp up because I am located about 5 miles from the cell tower. So I added a Pannel Antenna and Cyfre CA-819 amplifier and now speeds are consistently 1200-1400kbps download and 500-600kbps upload with a -75db signal.
Billing has been correct, and I have not had reason to call support.
The Linksys router does what it is supposed to do, giving all hard wired and wireless devices in the house internet access. Speeds are good and the kids can be watching streaming video while my wife or I are online and there is no slowdown of performance. The Linksys router had some issues that have been resolved with the latest firmware release from Linksys.
The Cyfre CA-819 Amplifier and CellAntenna pannel antenna really tied the whole system together giving a huge boost to speeds and makes the connection very consistent and reliable. Without this additional hardware, speeds would not be what they are and I would not be enjoying the service nearly as much. I do not have line of sight to the tower, its over a high ridge so I can say the amp and antenna are really doing their job.
All in all the system performs very well. No disconnects, no having to reboot routers, and when using VPN, it stays connected. Neither heavy rain or snow storms affect speeds in any noticable way. I am very pleased with the service, and it saves me $10 a month over the cost of ISDN service. I give it a "thumbs up".
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