A wireless broadband mobile card is available from several service providers offering a variety of wireless networking services for personal, home, office and mobile needs. Most of these wireless cards offered by these vendors have basically the same technology used on their products and offering them at reasonable prices.
The question lies is in which broadband card vendor to use. For current users, the determining factor would be on getting the best service from their wireless cards.
The following describes a comparative testing procedure that can be used to check products from various vendors. This is the same simple procedure used by consumer testing labs when trying out new products. What you need is a notebook or a Tablet PC which you can bring is different areas to test a wireless broadband mobile card in a non-rigorous trial.
What to Test
The best way is to test several broadband wireless cards that you can get your hands on. Starting with the most popular ones would be a good choice. It would take a week of constant use to get good data from the test. Another alternative is to test the products in different locations to see how they response. Some of the more popular service providers providing a wireless broadband mobile card include Sprint, Cingular and Verizon. Previous tests made have shown that most if not all of these wireless cards performed well when used in a metropolitan area. The real test occur when they are taken to rural parts 40 miles or more away from urban locations.
What Method to Use for Testing
A non-rigorous testing for the wireless broadband mobile card can include a Flash speed test. The Broadband DSLReports website is a good resource for such tests, including the Flash 8 Plug-in Based Speed Test featured in the website. There are links to other platforms as well, but this particular speed test can do a good job. The test is done by running the Flash speed test on a server located in one area, then running it again on another server at a totally different area. If this is done from East Coast to West Coast then the results would be better.
Previous tests showed that most vendors’ wireless cards performed the same when downloading data. However, some cards like the one from Verizon showed faster speeds when uploading. This would be beneficial for those who perform uploading activities as much as downloading. With very little difference in the performance of the cards, the selection process moves on to software and service.
Testing the Software
Each wireless broadband mobile card provided by a vendor comes with the necessary software that is proprietary to the service provider. This software is needed to establish a connection between the wireless card and the service station.
The testing procedure for the software includes the ease of use when performing the basic functions which include: installing the drivers; configuring the device; access authentication process; and establishing the connection with the provider.
The Type of Service Provided
Most wireless broadband mobile card vendors have their own websites where you can access their services like managing your account, paying bills, and coverage maps that show where services are available. With performance basically at par with each other, these vendors can only excel from one another in terms of the ff: coverage area, reliability and customer service.
The other thing to consider when choosing a wireless broadband card vendor is their readiness to handle new technologies coming in the near future, such as Wi-Max and LTE. They should be ready to compete with these new technologies or adapt them to their own existing services.
By : Kevin Wynn
No comments:
Post a Comment