Novatel XU870 HSDPA ExpressCard previewed

Lucky Sascha Segan over at PC Magazine managed to get his hands on one of those new XU870 HSDPA ExpressCards from Novatel and put it through its paces on the Cingular BroadbandConnect network in New York City. Turns out that sexy combination of ExpressCard/34 and HSDPA will make all your dreams come true, and Sascha seemed plenty impressed with performance. The card bested Novatel's own U730 HSDPA PC Card in 15 out of 16 downloads, averaging between 736Kbps and 1.06Mbps, with three transfers managing to break the 1Mbps mark. Since Cingular caps upload speeds at 128Kbps, both cards were identical there, but the XU870 managed to keep an HSDPA signal in two tests where the U730 and LG CU500 phone had to settle for EDGE coverage. Other little details were nice as well, such as an easy to remove SIM card for swapping with your phone, a nice little fold-up antenna, multi-color LED light signal indicator, and a port for adding an external antenna to boost reception even more. With UMTS, HSDPA and EDGE compatibility, along with operation in the 850, 900, 1800, 1900 and 2100MHz bands, this thing will be plenty functional at home or abroad. All we're lacking is an official release from a certain #1 US carrier.

[Karl @ Aug 2nd 2006 12:10PM]

Great Im sure my one mac book pro user will see this and get all uppedy in about it, and Im sure for one reason or another it wont work with Macs right off....

[Barry @ Aug 2nd 2006 12:17PM]

Awesome! I wonder how they can improve their results without changing network...

[SuperQ @ Aug 2nd 2006 1:35PM]

I don't care how fast the bits/sec are.. I want to know if they've improved the latency. Verizon's EV-DO network is fast enough.. but the latency is still > 250ms on average. Still too slow for interactive sessions. Once they get down below 100ms then I'll consider it.

The worst part is.. I did some traceroutes on an EV-DO card.. the first hop is around 100ms.. but Verizon adds another 100ms just moving the packets to their gateways.

[Morty Salt @ Aug 2nd 2006 2:07PM]

works just fine with macbooks, thank you novatel

[rafael @ Aug 3rd 2006 12:46AM]

so how long till someone makes a expresscard to pcmcia adapter? even if its too fat we need a external USB solution or something.

[Hon @ Aug 16th 2006 3:17AM]

I do not care what all this is about, I am a cingular customer with a Inspiron B130, when will I get hold of this card that is proving so expensive timewise to get?

By the way why is Cingular always running after other providers. I mean Cingular introduced a flip phone much later as compaired to other providers, i.e. Sprint, Verizon, AT$T, When the ca,era phone came about, Cingular got its first one a year later. Now the express card is here, Verizon and Sprint are a head while Cingular "lets wait and see, we do not want to test the waters first" You are loosing customers with that attitute.

[Mary Winfield @ Dec 28th 2006 5:27PM]

I am also testing this new Merlin XU870 and am testing its capability on the Cingular 3G and TMobile EDGE network. TMobile has not formally deployed 3G in the USA (yet), however I'd like to point out that 3G is GPRS/GSM while EV-DO is CDMA based.

More comments from me as I continue my testing.

I purchased my Merlin XU870 and it's Unlocked. I am glad that I did!

Mary

[Brad Carpenter @ Mar 16th 2007 3:48PM]

Hi, Mary! I'm thrilled to hear that *someone* is doing testing on an Express Card for T-Mobile. I'm just a teacher and not technical in any legitimate sense of the word. That said, I am a devoted Mac user who, with his new MacBook Pro, needs a broadband solution for the summer. I will be living where there is a strong T-Mobile signal, and, as a T-Mobile cellular user, I'm hopeful for the company to release an Express Card before July 1. Is there any thing you can say that might confirm or deny that this card will be available by then? Can I use it as is now? Should I buy an unlocked one? I'd appreciate any help you can give me since T-Mobile tech. support has, thus far, been . . . well, "unsupportive." Thank you in advance for any help you can provide. Feel free to e-mail me directly . BCC

[Brian Nurthen @ Nov 15th 2007 4:39AM]

Hi I have been successfully using the Merlin XU870 express card with a vodafone sim card in a MacBook Pro in europe ( after a somewhat difficult start ). However since going to the USA I can no longer use the device as it would seem that Cingular have emplanted some file in the computer that prevents it working. Can anybody help me PLEASE.

[H F Lee @ Jun 5th 2007 5:15PM]

Thanks for your comments!! Looks like you found just what I have been looking for!!
I purchased a Duel-Systems adapter but I doesn't work with my new laptop.

Question: Where did you purchase from??

Thanks,

H F Lee

[yanuszek @ Jun 13th 2007 9:51PM]

can you help me find a driver for this card for Tmobile?

[Mary Winfield @ Nov 15th 2007 5:42PM]

The vendor actually responded to my request for a duplicate set of drivers with the caveat that whoever I purchased the device from should provide the drivers. I replied to Novatel that I purchased an unlocked device from www.NexAiria.com and my device was not locked to any particular service (cingualr AT&T, TMobile, etc.).

Does anyone know when Cingular AT&T is planning to increase its 3G speed from 3.6Mbps to 7.2Mbps? The Novatel XU870 device is capable of 7.2Mbps. None of the cingular AT&T devices have that upward speed capacity as of yet.

Does anybody know about TMobile USA deploying 3G? Currently they only offer EDGE speed for GPRS data card connections.


Mary

[Mary Winfield @ Nov 15th 2007 5:35PM]

I would contact either Novatel (the vendor) if you purchased an unlocked device as I did. Or contact the reseller for a download link.

The drivers are different for Windows XP/Vista compared to Apple's hardware (because of the hardware engineering).

I would contact the firm you purchased your device and Novatel. Novatel would have the latest build of device drivers (and would send out tested device drivers).

Good luck!

Mary

[Mary Winfield @ Dec 28th 2006 6:43PM]

Using the ARC Wireless antenna with this Merlin XU870 device putting Cingular 3G fastest transmission rates to the test.

mbw
nyc

[Brad Carpenter @ Mar 16th 2007 3:49PM]

Mary, I can be reached at bradford dot carpenter at g mail dot com. Hope to hear from you! BCC

[MightyMike @ Sep 24th 2007 3:47PM]

I ordered this card a couple of weeks ago from a uk retailer. Good price!
http://www.portableparts.co.uk/products/Merlin_XU870_3G_HSDPA_36&47;72_Mbps_ExpressCard/10803