The trip in this morning was miserable for EVDO connection. I could barely stay online for more than a few minutes at a time. I had at least one kernel panic. Eventually, I dialed into T-Mobile's network over my RAZR, only to be reminded how painfully slow it is. EVDO is totally awesome... when it works.
I had started out, from home, running a continuous ping of Google, so I could later see how the connection fared. Eventually I killed it, it was pointless. The connection sucked everywhere -- mostly, it seemed, because the modem was flipping out for no clear reason.
Later on during my work day, I called Sprint to ask them what was up. The rep asked me to hold for a minute while he checked something, then hung up on me. When I called back, I got put on hold so long that I had to leave work to get to the bus. I tried calling from the walk to the bus, but the Sprint automated support system won't take your call if you don't know your phone number.
I'm supposed to know the number of my outbound-only modem?
Oh, and if you have the number in front of you, but fat-finger a digit, you get hung up on. There's no second chance. You get to call back in and navigate your way back through the menus to number entry.
Now I'm on the bus on the way home. I'm staying online for longer stretches, although I'm still more or less inside greater Philadelphia. I had a kernel panic earlier. It seems these are not entirely unknown:
http://www.evdoforums.com/thread5367.html http://www.evdoforums.com/thread5928.html
Many users, including Randal, suggest the U720 instead of the 595U. Sprint doesn't sell it anymore, so I might end up buying one at full price from ... somewhere. At least that will leave me out of a contract.
Seriously, this is nuts. The EVDO service is so incredibly great that I'm considering using it, even if it means one kernel panic per trip, as long as I can just stay online for most of it... and that makes me feel ridiculous.
I think that tonight I'll have to find out how I can get my hands on a U720 to test.
