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Review by stufried 
UPDATED: 45 days ago
member for 6.1 years, 1838 visits, last login: 1 days ago
 Livonia,Wayne,MI
 $60 per month (2 month contract)
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Six months ago I posted that I have ATT not Verizon. It never changed. Now I really do have Verizon. I switched for the MiFi. The service is great, but I hate the 5 gig limit. I considered Millenicom, but I live near the Canadian border and they could not tell me any way to stop accidental roaming or any way to know when it happened. I can buy Canadian service for the months I need it with Verizon which is great.
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 Review by somitho
Posted: 62 days ago
member for 5.2 years, 292 visits, last login: 53 days ago
Richmond,Richmond City,VA
 Business customer
$60 per month (24 month contract)
 about 1 days
 "Great throughput, and stability"
 "5G limit"
 "Worth it if you need mobility and can stay under 5G."
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I recently purchased a new line of service on my account and decided to get the Blackberry Tour for myself which comes with the free HP Mini netbook; and upgrade my other line (was a storm) to an EnV3 for my Fiancé.
The HP Mini takes a bit of getting used to (It has a small keyboard) but its very nice, and comes spec'ed out well compared to other netbooks. I use it on wifi where I can, but the broadband card built in is very stable and gets pretty good speeds.
Overall I would recommend it. The rep at the short pump, va location who set it all up was not as knowledgeable as I would have liked but she was very good in going over things with me that she does know about.
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Review by slckusr
UPDATED: 77 days ago
member for 6.6 years, 1319 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Maumee,Lucas,OH
$29 per month (month by month)
about 1 days
"convienant fast and easy"
"caps"
"works great for me wherever im at. paired with the hpmini they offer"
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works great built into my hp-mini have had service wherever ive gone and been pretty speedy. 250 mb cap for 29.99 is meh, but i have wifi in a lot places. ||| Edit |||
The cap isnt as bad as i thought, combined with WiFi I stay under the 250 mb with normal web surfing,facebook usage and of course DSLR usage.
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Review by GeekBigboy
UPDATED: 109 days ago
member for 2.3 years, 169 visits, last login: 109 days ago
Moreno Valley,Riverside,CA
Contract price not specified.
about 14 days
"almost same speed as dsl"
"can slow down really bad in some areas"
"I have hered vzw has the best aircard plan so far"
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I use this on and off durring the work day Its an excellant back up source.
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 Review by iLive4Apple
Posted: 115 days ago
member for 3.3 years, 1426 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Helena,Shelby,AL
$45 per month (24 month contract)
about 1 days
"Reliable and Quick and way more 3G coverage than any other wireless provider!"
"Expensive and capped at 5 GB along with everyone else"
"Worth the price for tethering and way better than AT&T"
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I just recently signed up for tether for my LG EnV Touch EVDO Rev. A. And I am always getting speeds above 2mb down and 500kb up. I was never able to achieve this with an AT&T aircard. I barely got EDGE most of the time. I recommend Verizon Wireless to anyone who needs national large coverage 3G access.
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Review by BellSouthBS
UPDATED: 122 days ago
member for 7.7 years, 107 visits, last login: 106 days ago
Fort Lauderdale,Broward,FL
$59 per month (month by month)
"Support has VERY good technical expertise"
"low speed, low signal, high cost vs. throughput,"
"high cost does not reflect performance"
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This review is for Verizon Wireless Broadband Service in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
The reviewer is a consultant for RF communications, including Cell and Broadcast.
I purchased a Pantech PC5750 wireless data card on July 19, 2009, from a Verizon store near Plantation Florida. The Pantech PC5750 was installed at the store. Downlink speed was 2330 kbps in the store, and uplink speed was 820 kbps in the store. The signal through the store's microcell caused all four bars on the Verizon software connection manager to turn green.
Returning home, I looked at my online banking account, and found I had been billed a total of $580.00 for the cost of the card plus deposit. No one mentioned the actual cost of the deposit at the store, nor did it appear on any receipt, only my business banking account. The Verizon receipt further stated that my first month's bill would be $135 and change. This amounts to over $715.00 worth of charges to start service with a wireless data card only, for 954-809-198x
At home, the Verizon signal levels fluctuated between a low of -113 dbm to a maximum RF signal strength of -92 dbm in the house. RF signal strength peaked at -85 dbm when the laptop was placed on the roof of a car in the driveway. Typical speed outside the residence was 400 kbps down, and 320 kbps up. Inside the residence, typical speeds on all 3 laptops ranged between 80 to 450 kbps down, and between 18 and 400 kbps up. I noted that uplink speeds sometime exceeded downlink speeds. The connection disconnected and reconnected several times.
The residence is clean of internal and external RF near 1.9575 GHz, one of the downlink frequencies for Verizon devices in my area. The Pantech PC5750 data card transmit envelope was right on frequency at 1.8775 GHz. The modulation envelope showed a good flat plateau with good shape factor, as viewed on my Anritsu spectrum analyzer.
With Google.com as the target from the Fort Lauderdale area, Ping Plotter Pro diagnostic software revealed 15 hops, six of which were internal to the Verizon Network. The average round trip time was 104 milliseconds after settling, and average jitter was 45.33 milliseconds. Very little packet loss was observed.
I further observed data stream fragmentation, which is characteristic of using the same platform and pipe to process data at a cell site. Another cause might be insufficient capacity, since this was observed during peak hours in the early afternoon.
I then fired up a microcell repeater, with an HAAT of 30'. Although the signal levels maxed out, downlink throughput at no time exceeded 1050 kbps (for less than 3 seconds), then returned to a 500 kbps typical throughput, indicating insufficient capacity in the system.
Conclusion valid for the Fort Lauderdale Florida Market: 1. This is an overpriced service that cannot deliver claimed throughput in its stated service areas. 2. Throughput is further degraded during peak hours due to what appears to be packet congestion and cell tower loading. 3. Verizon appears to be waiting and holding off 3G/4G upgrades because of its rollout of LTE (possibly hoping fed up customers will migrate to Verizon's 700 MHz spectrum that it paid billions for).
--- Added after a return call from Verizon Tech -------
A Verizon tech called me at home tonight after I had complained about low signal levels at home, I found out the NEAREST cell site was 1.71 miles away! A second site is located 1.98 miles to the NW. A third site is located 1.74 miles to the SW.
Good engineering practices dictate that urban cell sites cover a radius of about ONE MILE. Although Verizon may show a coverage map that blows the competition away, the signal strength may be greatly diminished, resulting in dropped calls.
For my location, a repeater with a high antenna is a necessity. This adds an additional $300-$400 for this project.
P.S. The Verizon network, in my area, automatically disconnects if it sees other IP's, such as you would find in a VPN Network, or VOIP telephone adaptor.
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Review by jameswade
UPDATED: 136 days ago
member for 7.9 years, 1851 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Marshall,Madison,NC
$60 per month (24 month contract)
"Available in most places in the US"
"High latency, slow, expensive, no recourse to poor service if roaming"
"See if US Cellular EVDO is now available in your area..."
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We are located a little North of Hot Springs, NC. Only choices for Internet access are dialup (except dialup in this area is very limited, it's usually a long distance call, and only runs at about 21k), satellite (POOR service, unreliable, latency makes VOIP and VPN unworkable), and cell phone.
We are using cell phone. Until recently we had to climb up the side of a mountain and plug in a high gain Yagi antenna to make a call or get Internet access (1xRTT - slow) . Barely! This only worked with Verizon or US Cellular. After years of requests Verizon still isn't covering the area, but US Cellular put a site in Hot Springs last year.
Fortunately Verizon roams on US Cellular because Verizon won't put in a site and US Cellular wouldn't sell me a data plan.
So now we can make phone calls and get Internet access in the cabin. Unfortunately the latency is worse than satellite Internet access! It's at about .9 to 1 second! This kills VPN and VOIP.
If you read the Terms Of Service VOIP, streaming audio or video, almost anything but email and light web surfing seems to be forbidden in the TOS.
I can only get about 80kbps up and down, I could actually live with that, but not the latency.
I can't call and complain to US Cellular because I'm with Verizon and Verizon won't cause US Cellular to fix the problem.
There are other problems:
I'm paying for EVDO, but it's not available.
While I'm using Internet access I can't use the phone, nor will it ring. I could do this with a card, but then I would have to pay another $45 for email on my phone.
While traveling I can get EVDO, but it's not all that great either - I can get around 120k, but the latency is still high.
I'm using a tethered Palm Treo 700w. Verizon told me that I could tether the phone until I bought it. Then they told me that I couldn't . I had to buy third party software to make tethering work. The phone crashes and locks up often, forcing reboots and multiple attempts to troubleshoot.
In summary, this works, but just barely, and it's expensive...
2009.03.16
I switched to a wireless data card and installed a yagi high on the roof about a year ago. It sort of worked barely - we just don't get a good signal from Verizon and their roaming partner here (US Cellular) just can't seem to get with EVDO.
For a couple of months we got usable Internet access, but the signal would just go away occasionally. Since Verizon Wireless claims that they don't cover this area they won't do anything about it - but they were glad to sell me service when I signed up!
I'm not really happy with Verizon - they have the local phone service and won't provide DSL. Their telephone service has hum and noise on it so can't really be used for dialup. Their wireless division won't cover the area, charge too much, and have this ridiculous 5 GB per month cap with an even more ridiculous fee if you go over the cap.
Not recommended if you have any other alternatives. (Except satellite, that's even worse!)
Updated 7/2009 In May of 2008 we got one of Verizon's wireless cards and roamed on US Cellular's tower (1X only  ).
I put a high gain Yagi on the roof and hooked it to a cell amplifier then hooked it to the wireless card and got a weak EVDO connection from a Verizon tower. This might work (not well) for a couple of weeks and with no change in weather, sunspots, or any other reason that I could surmise I would lose all signal and have to go back to US Cellular's 1X. I would call Verizon support and be told that I was not in their service area (apparently they've worked out an agreement with US Cellular that they wouldn't compete here!) and there was nothing that they could do. Then magically it would start working again!
A couple of weeks ago I found out that US Cellular got EVDO working here the middle of May 2009. I immediately picked up a card from them and after a lot of miscommunications on their part it started working with EVDO. (Local store said that they had EVDO, but corporate support insisted that they didn't!)
I get a good strong EVDO signal from US Cellular and 1.3 Mbits down and 667 kbits up! Fairly low ping times too, VOIP works great now!
Verizon's solution was to always offer to let me out of my contract, I finally was able to take them up on their offer. Next Verizon loses us as cell phone customers. Then our neighbors... 
Followup comments:  astiyosti
join:2005-11-10
Asheville, NC
 ·Verizon Online DSL
| why every one knows that u cant run an voip over wireless or satellite connection due to the latency before you put down an isp you need to review the product and what it capability's are before you buy.From the location you are at you will have to live with what you can get. | |
| | jameswade
join:2001-12-09
Hot Springs, NC
 ·US Cellular
·Verizon BroadbandA..
·AT&T Southeast
| Re: why Actually, not everyone knows these things. I happen to know that with the high latency of satellite VOIP is difficult, but there are people doing it.
But we're discussing terrestrial wireless here - there's not a physical reason why the latency can't be lower - the cell site is not in space - it's close by.
My experience with Verizon Wireless has been less that stellar and less than I'm even paying for. Before defending them maybe you should try them out yourself.
I wrote a review of my experience with the product, I'm not asking you for your opinions about how I shop for an ISP. | |
| 
Jayp0411
@amlaw.com
| re: notin but trouble started an acct w/ Verizon since March. was not too bad except that its very slow. then comes April, started to get dropped constantly... been calling Tech Support at least once a month. W/ the same bull shit every time. But i thought, its temporary. Until last month, the service just went dead.
Called again, and finally scheduled a tech guy to come check out my line. Only to find out (from their own tech) that at my location, i can only get the worse than slower speed which they never bother to let me know. Anyway, after he "fixed" it, w/ everything supposedly working fine. comes later in the evening, the dsl doesn't work again!!!
Wasted half a day of my time, my pay, and all they can say is perhaps we can schedule another appointment for a tech guy to check out your line. I wonder if these people can only say whats they were told to say. After that, i just canceled the service. If i knew this is how Verizon is in the first place, i would've never bothered with it even if they only charge $5.00 per month.
Not able to provide service they promise is bad enough, having your customer call to complain for no less than 10 times and say that there is nothing they can do and there is nothing anyone else in the company can help you! man, I've got to say, they got some "top class" Customer Rep. working for them. | |
| cwire
join:2007-06-07
Bedford, KY | why is this review on dsl? your review is on verizon wireless cell service, why did you put it in as a dsl review? | |
| ydoucare
join:2003-03-12
Rensselaer, IN
2 edits | ... Where exactly is your logic behind posting this review? You're roaming on US Celluar, what part of Verizon's network are you reviewing? lol | |
| | jameswade
join:2001-12-09
Hot Springs, NC
·US Cellular
·Verizon BroadbandA..
·AT&T Southeast
| Re: ... Pay close attention now...
My complaint is that Verizon did not build a cell site where US Cellular did.
Since US Cellular built the site and Verizon roams on US Cellular Verizon no longer needs to build a site.
Still with me?
The problem is now that Verizon can say that they service this area, and they do - for voice, nobody cares that they are roaming.
The problem is that I paid for data. Verizon finally brought EVDO close to this area, but they won't overlap with US Cellular.
US Cellular only supplies 1xRTT. Not that 1xRTT is that bad, it's just that they have a problem with it - it runs at about 80kb/s, not so bad, the real problem is the latency - it jumps around between .9 and 4 seconds - worse than satellite Internet. Unusable for remote desktop and VPN.
Now who do I complain to about this? Verizon? Not their network. US Cellular? They don't even offer data to their customers last time I checked. I can't complain to them since I don't have service with them.
I do have service with Verizon and they are not making me happy.
That's my complaint and I'm entitled to my own complaints.
Others read these posts and may be trying to deal with a similar problem or may want to make purchase decisions based on other's experiences.
To bad if you don't understand... | |
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 Review by jbryan
UPDATED: 165 days ago
member for 4.9 years, 1515 visits, last login: a few hours ago
White,Fayette,PA
$59 per month (24 month contract)
about 1 days
"Great speed if you have a strong signal"
"Crappy if it switches over to national access"
"Good for traveling in good signal areas"
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I finally got rid of Hughes Satellite. It got so bad and tech support was so bad I just gave up. I have no high speed options where I live so I went with Verizon Wireless. I am in a fringe area, therefore, I float in and out of broadband. I use it 99% of the time at home. I have taken it to a more "city" area and the speed there is really good. I guess it is a little better than satellite, but if you can get local broadband, get it instead unless you are a traveler!
6/9/09 It's been a long wait but I finally got fiber optics about 6 weeks ago. I am in fiber heaven. No more Verizon Wireless, no more Satellite, just good steady speed.
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 Review by MSauk
UPDATED: 168 days ago
member for 7.8 years, 2642 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Sandy,Salt Lake,UT
$30 per month
"Seems to be really fast, great coverage"
"High costs over 5GB limit, low limit"
"If you travel and need it to check email and surf every once in a while it is fine"
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So I usually sign up for this service every time I am about to hit the road so that my family will have internet access. Driving from utah to cali this service worked just about 95% of the way. That is pretty amazing if you ask me.
With super speeds all the way through.
It is a solid service that just needs to up the limit and also kill the absolutely absurd prices for overage! It used to be 25 cents a MEG, now it is 5 cents which is still a lot of money.
Overall solid solid service for those that travel or those that just need it for a week or two every so often. With no cancellation fees and contract it is a great service to have.
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Review by slamar
Posted: 263 days ago
member for 285 days, 12 visits, last login: 263 days ago
Bloomington,Mclean,IL
Contract price not specified. (12 month contract)
about 7 days
"Steady realiable speed"
"I was not informed of the new service"
"Very Happy"
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I had 3M before and I had checked for the higher speed previously and thought that I had asked to be informed when it was available. When I checked on the 7M service last time it was available and within 7 days I had the faster speed. Verizon sent me a new modem and after 15 min. with a very helpful tech guy I was up and running. That has been a month ago and I have not had any problems since then. Verizon also got me to sign up for the combination of phone, direct TV and dsl for a very good overall price. I received phone calls and emails from them checking on their service. I have had Verizon DSL for over 5 years and have been very happy with their service.
Followup comments: bullet087
join:2006-05-17 | Wrong place! Your review is for Verizon Online DSL, you posted your review under Verizon WIRELESS Broadband Access. | |
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5G? not a limit
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as a matter of fact I'm making this post off of it. VZW gets an A+ for their wireless internet cards..
Dude
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