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Verizon Express Network is not 3G
Friday's heading "Wider Fi" mentioned Verizon Wireless's Express Network service, saying it's 3G. However, Verizon's page says "bursting up to 144kbps*", with the small print saying average service is 40-60 kbps, and you may (read: probably will) get even slower speeds than that. This leads me to believe that it's only "2.5G" not 3G. Since Verizon is a CDMA carrier, this is probably a "1xRTT" service, which is roughly comparable to the GSM carriers' 2.5G "GPRS" service. Verizon is not alone among the wireless telcos in offering 2.5G data services. Sprint, Cingular, Voicestream/T-Mobile, and AT&T are all doing the same thing, each with different rollout schedules for different areas of the country. Check local listings. The dirty little secret is that these 2.5G services are just analog landline modem speeds via metropolitan area mobile wireless. The BigTelCos are finally catching up to where Ricochet was several years ago. Yay for them, it's a step in the right direction, but it still isn't a very pleasant way to surf the web wirelessly. Real 3G may help, but it's still years away. The telco execs talk like it's almost here, but they're lying (or fooling themselves), just like they did in 99 when they made it sound like 2.5G would roll out nationwide in 2000.
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