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The arrival of Sprint’s EX720 EV-DO ExpressCard made by Novatel couldn’t have come at a better time. Apple have recently released software drivers to natively support the EX720, meaning Mac owners are now free to revel in the joy of Rev.A mobile broadband.
Yet to receive blessing from the FCC,The “trial device” which arrived courtesy of Sprint yesterday. My initial impression was wow; it’s really small and sturdy. Check out the images and unboxing video below to get a better idea of size in comparison to Sprint’s U720 USB modem.
Activating the EX720 should be a cinch for laptops running Windows, but poses a problem for Mac owners. There’s no way to activate the card other than plugging it into your laptop and letting the Sprint Connection Manager do its magic. Thing is, the Sprint Connection Manager is Windows-only; so how does a Mac owner get around this? Either use a friend’s laptop with a built-in Express Card slot or install Windows using Apple’s Bootcamp. Parallels running under Mac OSX is unable to see the card; so don’t waste your time.
So you’re probably wondering what the reception quality and speed is like? While Phoenix isn’t an EV-DO revision A. market, I was still getting remarkable upstream and downstream throughput. Latency test will not be performed since Phoenix is not a Rev A. market yet. I’ll post results between non-Rev A. vs Rev A. soon.
This following speed tests via dslreports.com were conducted from my home in Scottsdale, AZ:
http://www.gospeedtest.com/index.html
- Test 1: 497 kb/s down / 89 kb/s up
- Test 2: 463 kb/s down / 98 kb/s up
- Test 3: 403 kb/s down / 57 kb/s up
- Average: 454 kb/s down / 81 kb/s up
http://phoenix-speedtest.sprintbbd.net/speedtest.cgi
- Test 1: 483 kb/s down / 60 kb/s up
- Test 2: 873 kb/s down / 109 kb/s up
- Test 3: 1,122 kb/s down / 140 kb/s up
- Average: 826 kb/s down / 103 kb/s up
The Sprint EX720 ExpressCard should available pretty soon for as low as $179.99 with a two-year subscriber agreement. If you’re willing to sign up for a two-year contract you should be able to get unlimited usage for $59.95 a month. If you’re not running that rich, then $39.99 a month gets you a 40MB cap, while that same unlimited data contract with a one-year subscriber agreement is a not-inconsiderable $79.99 per month.
At the time of this review the EX720 is yet to receive FCC approval.
Verdict: Sprint’s EX720 EV-DO Rev.A ExpressCard is a godsend and a must-have for every road warrior. If you own a UMPC or laptop without an ExpressCard slot, as long as you’ve got a USB connector free then Sprint’s U720 USB modem is your only option. The drawback with the U720 is it’s relatively flimsy and cumbersome to use, not to mention the fact that it sticks precariously out of your computer. The EX720 ExpressCard is a much more solid unit and more durable, offering the same performance in a far more convenient form-factor, and definitely receives the SlashGear mark of approval.
Rating:
Enjoy the unboxing video of the Sprint EX720
Quick demo video
What’s next? The EX720 will be my travel companion over the next few weeks, so expect more speed test results and well as follow-up report on the AGPS feature.
Just FYI when they talk about Speed, they mean ‘kb’ Not ‘KB’… big difference! ;)
I am not sure why you state that for those without an express card slot Sprint’s U720 USB modem is your only option. For those with a Type II PC slot (not everyone buys a new notebook every year) there is the Merlin S720, the Pantech Wireless PX500, or the Sierra Wireless Aircard 595.
It also appears teh like the reports for the upoad and download speeds are flipped. Irresponsible blogging!
Thanks for the comment, we have updated the entry.
Yet to receive FCC approval?? Why then can I order one directly from Sprint…TODAY?
Its interesting that this article is a little late. I work for Sprint and we have had the EX 720 for sale for close to a month, I personally have had mine for 3 weeks and have been duly impressed. But why post that it hasn’t received FCC approval when it has had approval since December. I could understand if this post had been made months ago, but since the card had been out and actively sold for almost a month. If you are going to report about something please be accurate in your facts.
Please be patience with us on this FCC thing, my staff and I are tracking down the FCC document. I’ve shot an email off to Sprint - so waiting for a response. As you can see the back of the device clearly states it’s not FCC approved yet.
Thanks, Vincent
I want to thank Xander for sending me the FCC info - and YES the EX720 already got blessing from FCC.
FCC ID: PKRNVWMX720 IC:3229B-MX720
What a nightmare! Went to Sprint store, purchased EX720. Since I own a Mac, I asked them to activate the card for me. “The technician is out today, come back tomorrow.” Returned the next day to find out that Sprint’s technician does not have a laptop with an Express Card slot! Not giving up, I drove to San Francisco and checked out the stores there… not one had the ability to activate the card. Tried Emeryville store… nope. Tried Oakland… nope. Called Sprint support… no stores have laptops with Express Card slots in the entire Bay Area! What a company. All because they don’t want ot pay a third-party developer 10K or so to write a Mac version of their activation software. Incredible ineptitude. One last thing… at every Sprint store I went to I was told that the EX720 doesn’t work with a Mac. And they continued to repeat that line until I produced a printout of the documentation from the Sprint website about using the card with Mac OS X.
I feel your pain robert, it took vincent a copy of Windows and Bootcamp to get it activated.
To help with some of the other comments, Yes, it can work on Mac quite nicely, you just need to get it from a place that knows what they are doing. The folks over at More Mobile Internet will not only sell you the EX720 for $129 instead of $179, but also PRE-activate the card on a PC for you Mac users so you can easily get it set up on a Mac.
Just to second the above entries. Be careful with Sprint and Macs, they have no idea how this stuff works. Spent 4 hours today bouncing around from store to store and on hold only to finally get to someone that told me it needed to be activated on a PC. End of story. And no, we don’t have any laptops with express slots in the stores, maybe try compusa? Real nice customer service.
Should have started with google and found this post - learned my lesson with big customer support : )
I’m very excited about the possibilities though, so I’m sticking with it . . .
If only i can avoid the contract,i would defintely order one already