EDGE/GPRS phone modem performance

The goal.. eliminate my POTS landline home phone service and migrate all
phone and Internet to cellular phone so I have access while
traveling/sailing. My ISP is Earthlink (dialup, although I could upgrade to
broadband).



Have a Cingular cell account, can upgrade to an EDGE/GPRS phone on the
cheap. From the Cingular document.



http://alliance.cingularinteractive....ceSettings.pdf



It doesn't appear that performance is all that stellar. CSD data rates are
9.6kbs - 14.4kbps, GSM speeds are only 10 - 30kbs. The Data Connect service
claims a whopping 60kbps using compression.



EarthLink and Cingular have been less than helpful deciphering the
performance or what is required to access more of the full capabilities of
EDGE/GPRS.



Am I missing something? Class 10 EDGE is capable of much more. What has been
your experience using EDGE/GPRS for cellular modems?



Tnx,



Jeff

Email to salmo at teleport.com

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I am using a Sony Ericsson GC83, class 10 PC card. I've received
download speeds of 22+ kbps under ideal conditions. That is when
cellular traffic is low due to time of day or location. Other times,
the download speed gets down to perhaps 5 kbps. The carrier that the
card locks into can make a big difference - whether it's Cingular's,
AT&T's, or T-Mobiles' (they have roaming agreements which incurr no
additional charges for the user). Overall, I am happy with going this
route, but there is definately still room for improvement. When I can
get 20 kbps consistantly, I'll be very happy. I've read that a class
10 device is much better than say a class 4 device, as it opens more
channels to the carrier for improved data speed.

Regarding the above message I sent, I made an error in terminology.
When I stated 22+ kbps (kilobits-per-second), that should have been 22+
KBps (kilobytes-per-second). There are 8 bits in a byte, so you need
to multiply my figures above by 8. In other words, your data rates
with EDGE should be roughly 10 -20 times faster than CSD data rates.
Note however that there is high latency with EDGE, so when you download
a web page with many elements, the faster speed will not be so obvious.
Where EDGE really shines is in file downloads or data streams.