Novatel USB 720

[admin_mvu]

This is the EV-DO RevA USB card for your PC.

Here is a picture of the Sprint version but I'm guessing it'll be the same for the Verizon model.

It will become available in Feb 2007.

[admin_mvu]

Here is a picture of the Verizon version.

It's on their website for sale at $129.99, with $50 rebate.

[admin_mvu]

Overview As an alternative to PC Cards or ExpressCards, the USB720 Modem has been developed to be compatible with all devices supporting a Type A USB port. In addition to this expanded compatibility, the USB720 has the following great features - increased upload and download speeds, VZAccess Manager, a high performance, flip-up antenna, an LED service status indicator, and a small, compact and lightweight design that allows maximum convenience for wireless mobility.


Features

• BroadbandAccess and NationalAccess high-speed wireless data access
• Typical download of speeds of 450-800 kbpsand upload speeds of 300-400 kbps.
• Compatible with all devices supporting the Type A USB interface including desktops, notebooks, tablet PCs and PDAs.
• VZAccess Manager software for easy connection management
• Intuitive user interface
• High performance, flip-up antenna for increased speed and coverage
• 1 color service state LED indicator for service availability and data transfer status
• External Antenna Connector (External antenna sold separately)
• Easy to install and use
• NDIS driver support

System Requirements

• Universal Serial Bus (USB)
• Microsoft® Windows® 2000, XP and Vista and Mac OS X 10.3.9
• 32 MB memory
• 14 MB free hard disk space

Specifications

• Dimensions: 3.52" (H) x 1.49" (W) x 0.69" (D)
• Weight: 1.6 oz

[admin_mvu]

• USB Connector
• LED Service Status Indicator
• Flip-up Antenna Design
• Meets FCC SAR limit. Manufacturer's highest FCC reported SAR 1.345 on body. Actual SAR may vary.

• USB720 Modem
• VZAccess Manager CD
• Quick Reference Guide
• USB Modem extension cable

• BroadbandAccess and NationalAccess Capable
• VZAccess Manager

[krelvinaz]

I got a USB720 this morning.

Currently have it hooked up to my notebook and have been playing with it all day.

Arizona is supposed to have EVDO Rev A in Tucson and Flagstaff now, with Phoenix getting it by March 1st.

Kinda hoped it would already be there but the card software is not indicating Rev A yet.

I've been getting between 2 and 3 bars in the house. Speed tests have been between 390 this morning to now upwards of 1380. I expect that when Rev A turns on, that will increase.

I am also only using 1 USB port with the Y-Cable. Two of my USB ports are messed up and I am having them repaired shortly so that I will once again have all 3. So I might not be seeing all the possible speed from the card yet because of that.

I will be using it in a Sun course this coming week... will be interesting how it works out in the field.

I chose the USB over the AC595 for flexibility. With the cord, you can elevate the modem away from the note book getting it better reception. I can also use the same device in other computers like a desktop.

I can take and post some pictures if someone is interested.

Notebook is a:

HP Tecra A4
1.6 Pentium M (Centrino Moble)
1.5GB RAM
WinXP Professional

My first post here.

[admin_mvu]

Welcome, Kevin, and thanks for such insightful information.

[krelvinaz]

EVDO Rev A is now live in the Phoenix Metro area.

Today from the office, I tried a test. Below are the results.

[admin_mvu]

That is pretty decent speed.

The uplink is also pretty respectful at over 200Kbps. You know it's Rev A since the theoretical maximum uplink throughput for Rev0 is only 153Kbps.

[krelvinaz]

Moved over to a new notebook that has Vista on it....

So far... it is working fine, that was until this morning.

This morning when I tried to get the WWAN Modem to work, the VZAccess program would fault right away and a Vista error message saying

VZAccess has stopped working

that was about it...

I tried reloading it, removing it and the driver and reloading it again. I also tried some tricks for the same type of error with MSIE that I found on the net with regards to Office.. but nothing seemed to make it work again.

After being on the phone with Verizon, have them conferencing me in with Microsoft who then basically said that since Vista came on the notebook from HP I had to contact them... who then said, they don't support third party cards....

I finally reviewed my installation notes and started to uninstall the programs I installed last night while using the WiFi connection.

I had loaded Office 2003 Pro, applied all the patches to it... then I had loaded Cisco VPN client.

So I started by removing Office 2003 Pro as I had seen other notes indicating that it could cause the same error with MSIE. After rebooting, it still didn't work.

So I then removed the Cisco VPN client, rebooted and this time, the error changed... Said the device driver was missing...

So I uninstalled the VZAccess program completely, rebooted and then reloaded it.

Then it started working again.

Nice quick 5 hour fix...

I'm guessing the real culprit was the VPN client. It was not working anyway. tonight I will reload Office and re-apply all the patches again and try the modem when I am done.

Hopefully, it will continue to work as it has been... very nicely.

[admin_mvu]

Wow. That's a lot of trouble you went through just to get the wireless modem working. Couldn't Verizon technical support help? Could it be possible that the network was down maybe?