Broadband on the go: the ups and downs of Verizon's EV-DO network
A need for speed — How fast is 3G wireless? That's a tough question to answer, especially if you try to get your answer from one of the wireless providers. With its EV-DO BroadbandAccess, Verizon says users …
Context & Ripple Effects
The review lands five months into Verizon Wireless's faster Rev. A wireless broadband rollout and three months after the carrier's first Novatel ExpressCard made laptop-side hardware available, so the practical question has shifted from launch claims to whether real-world throughput justifies them. Ars Technica's piece is a reality check on that gap between advertised 'BroadbandAccess' speeds and delivered performance.
It also arrives mid-campaign for Verizon's connectivity stack: the company is simultaneously retiring legacy copper, migrating customers like Henry Powderly II to FiOS fiber, and — per CEO Ivan Seidenberg — competing with AT&T on services rather than an iPhone rival after COO Jack Plating's 'iWhatever' dismissal of Apple's handset.
First-order effects
- Mobile professionals weighing ExpressCard modems get an independent read on EV-DO throughput, directly testing the marketing claim Verizon staked its February 2007 network launch on.
- Verizon's pitch for wireless broadband as a complement to wired service now sits alongside its confirmed copper-network cutoffs, which are trapping customers still dependent on old infrastructure.
Second-order effects
- If independent testing keeps showing a spread between advertised and actual 3G speeds, competitors' broadband claims get held to the same measurement standard, shifting competition toward verifiable network quality — exactly where Seidenberg says Verizon wants to fight AT&T.
- Copper-dependent customers facing shutdown have one more migration path to evaluate, strengthening the case for Verizon to steer them toward its own FiOS or wireless alternatives.
Third-order effects
- Carrier fortunes increasingly ride on licensed spectrum and network performance rather than handsets — the strategic logic behind both the EV-DO upgrade and Verizon's public indifference to exclusive handset wars.
- As wireless broadband becomes a plausible substitute for fixed lines, regulators and courts (already weighing Verizon's separate Vonage patent fight) gain a larger stake in how incumbent carriers retire legacy infrastructure.
The trend: US carriers are repositioning from device battles to network-speed and service competition, with independent speed testing becoming the referee of broadband marketing claims.