HIGH-SPEED INTERNET ACCESS VIA USB

Sierra Wireless
Two high-speed wireless modems. One from Sprint - the other from AT&T.

• Access to a Wi-Fi network is a great computing tool when you’re home or at the office. But sometimes it’s difficult to find one to connect to when you’re on the move.
  


• The cellular phone industry has come up with a solution. With the proliferation of new, higher speed, wide-area cellular data networks (such as Verizon’s EV-DO) laptops began to sport built-in modems. Even if you decided against paying for the service you were stuck with the modem inside.
  


• Now, we can choose the wide-area, high-speed data provider and the services we prefer. Just plug in a nifty, new high-speed USB modem and get connected nearly anywhere on the planet.
  


• I’ve been testing two very similar modems both made by Sierra Wireless. The AirCard 595U works on Sprint’s U.S. Mobile Broadband (EV-DO) network. The AirCard 875U works on AT&T’s Broadband Connect (UMTS/HSDPA/EDGE) network in the U.S. and participating networks worldwide. The two wireless technologies are nearly identical in operation.