I’ve had this Blackberry 8703e since late February, so now I have more experience with using it as an EVDO modem.  As I write this, I am sitting in the Marriott hotel in Anaheim California.  Rather than pay for daily Internet access, I decided to use the Blackberry.

Performance is quite good.  I’d say it’s about like using DSL.  Generally I am running double-digit kbps rates, but it peaks well up in the triple-digit range.  During this session, my maximum transmit rate was 53.5kbps.  Receive rates are higher.  I maxed at 413.5kbps during this session.

What’s best about this unit is the sense of freedom it gives me.  I am totally self contained and don’t have to sit among the hordes in the lobby of this fine establishment to use the free Wi-Fi.  At airports, I no longer pay for Internet access.  If my cable modem goes down at home (highly unlikely) I have an alternative.  A week or so ago, they moved me to a new office at work.  Unfortunately, the IT guys and the movers were on different schedules.  I would have been offline and unproductive for an entire day but for my trusty Blackberry.

I have no problem using the office VPN while connected this way, but I do tend to postpone really large downloads (say 50 MB or more) when possible.

All in all, if you are on the fence about EVDO, my recommendation is for you to do it.  Since I already had an unlimited data plan due to my heavy email use, this functionality added only $15 per month to my bill.  If you start from scratch, the hit is around $60 per month where I am.