Verizon Wireless USB 760 Broadband Modem Review

I guess I must be back into a technology kick. A few months ago I discovered that Verizon Wirelees had several options available for mobile Broadband internet service with no contract. Basically you take a USB modem like the one shown on the right (Verizon Wireless USB 760 Moble Broadband modem) you plug it into your computer and pay for a day, week, or month with out signing a contract. My modem came in on Monday so Tuesday I decided I would try it out. I had been looking at these for several months, but didn't want to spend the money for it. This one happened to be on Ebay for about half the price of a new one so I put a bid in on it and won the auction. Paid for it and wala I have moble broadband internet.

On Tuesday I plugged my modem into the computer and started the process of activating the modem. I decided I would pay the $15 for the Verizon Wireless Day pass. I figured I wouldn't use it more than once in the next little while as I have another project that I am working on that will keep me busy. My use for this will be while I am out railfanning I will have internet access to send email, view the web, and I can also see the ATCS servers that are available. What happens when the the activation process finishes is the modem is assigned a temporary cell phone number. Then I had access to the web where ever Verizon's 3G service is availble. Which is pretty much every where. Bascially it is a constantly connected cellphone connection through Verizons mobile internet service.

I took my laptop and plopped it on the front seat of my car, plugged in the modem, and away I went. I was impressed with how well this worked. The speed of the internet via this modem was very comparable to my DSL connection that I have here at home. I went places out in the country where I didn't think it would be possible for this modem to work (out in the sticks) and I still had an internet connection. The only problem I saw was I lost the connection a few times, but this is typical of cell phones as there seems to be dead zones here and there. All in all I liked Verizon's cell phone service as there were very few dead zones (went to a prepaid cell phone service as I wasn't using mine that much). The 75MB of data allounce that Verizon gave me for the day was more than enough as I think I might have used 6MB all total . If you are looking for a mobile broadband solution for your laptop computer I highly recommend the Verizon Wireless USB 760 modem.