EVDO Is Computing on the GO

I have a friend who cuts out of the office every Friday afternoon during winter to go skiing. On the three-hour drive to Tahoe, her boyfriend drives and she treats the front seat as an Internet-connected mobile office. How? An EVDO connection to the Internet.

"EVDO" stands for "Evolution-Data Optimized." It's a wireless standard that uses cell phone technology to connect computers and mobile devices like PalmPilots and smart phones to the Internet.

EVDO Modems for Your Computer
You can use a PC card as your EVDO modem, sliding it into the PCMCIA slot on the side of your laptop. The card acts as a modem and antenna. The PC card snaps into your laptop, making a direct connection between your computer and the Internet, working like any other peripheral device. Installation is pretty simple, and the only downside I experienced was that it stuck out of my laptop on the side, so when I pulled the laptop out of my bag or shoved it back in, the EVDO card would occasionally snag.

EVDO Cell Phone as Modem
The other option is to use an EVDO cell phone as a modem to connect it to your computer. Using either a USB cable or a wireless Bluetooth connection, these phones hook into your computer system and do the job of connecting to the Internet.

Certain cell phones are enabled to act as EVDO modems: the Palm Treo 700p, the LG VX9800, the Motorola RAZR V3c, the Motorola E815, the LG VX8100, and the RIM BlackBerry 7130e, to name a few. Other cell phones have built-in Internet and email applications that optimize the EVDO network, but they don't hook up to your computer to act as a modem.

Connection Speeds
The EVDO connection speeds are good; when using an EVDO PC card I felt the connection was slightly slower than my DSL at home, but considering the fact that I was doing 60 miles an hour in the car, I was amazed at the speed and consistency of the Internet downloads. People using the cards have clocked speeds all across the spectrum from 90k to 750k. Like broadband connections at home, the speeds vary.

The real downside on all of this high-speed wireless connectivity is price. The cards and phones are not cheap, and the connection fees can run $60 and up each month for the data plan alone.

Want to learn more about EVDO? Check out these links: 

• Updated list of EVDO geographic coverage
• List of EVDO phones
• List of EVDO data cards