Cingular’s Wireless Connectivity Speeds Finally Catch Up

I have spent quite some time on MyTechOpinion touting wireless Internet connectivity as a valuable real estate technology. The ability to access the MLS, Winforms Online and email from anywhere truly redefines the term “mobile real estate agent”. I just hit one year anniversary of my adding a Cingular wireless connection to my laptop bag. It really has changed the way I do business. While the impact has been good, a recent discovery by a friend has completely changed my opinion of the service.

Up until last week, I have been running on Cingular’s EDGE network. The EDGE network is slow. My download speeds topped out at 150 Kbps. For those unfamiliar with download speeds, imagine a hair above dial-up speeds. This made for a true test of patience and made downloading anything of significant size impossible. While I was well aware that this network was much slower than Sprint and Verizon’s EV-DO networks, Cingular provided better coverage in my area.

The discovery that I mentioned is that of a firmware update and Communication Manager software update that enabled the Sierra Wireless Aircard 860 to access Cingular’s HSDPA, also known as 3G, network. This new network is amazing. I am now up to EV-DO speeds. I am now topping out at 1.5Mbps, which is similar to DSL speeds.

On the HSDPA (3G) network, you’ll browse the web just as if you were in the office or at home. Now that all 3 major cell phone networks can provide DSL-like speeds, add a wireless card to your laptop and see how real estate technology can really catapult your business.