Verizon's EV-DO Rev. A network launches Friday?

Sprint may have beaten big ol' Red this time around, but Verizon's not about to let a little friendly rivalry get them down. Rumor has it that the nation's largest CDMA carrier begins rolling out its EV-DO Revision A network this Friday, starting with ten cities (Sacramento and Salt Lake City among them) and a little data card we like to call the Sierra Wireless AirCard 595. Like Sprint's Rev. A launch, Verizon customers lucky enough to get their hands on the requisite equipment should see a substantial improvement in upstream speeds (we're guessing 300-400kbps) with a more incremental boost in the opposite direction. Pricing for the AirCard 595 should start at $150 on a two year agreement, topping out at $270 commitment-free.

[Thanks, htckid]

Update: GigaOM now reports a Verizon official as stating that it already has a handful of markets running EV-DO Revision A as is, and while they intend to launch a Rev. A-capable card in the near future (almost certainly the previously mentioned AirCard 595), it will not be announcing the launch of the network in an official capacity until it takes a significant number of additional markets live. Of course, official announcement or no, customers might be able to take advantage of some turbocharged wireless data in the near term just as soon as that AirCard starts shipping.

[http://www.onlycellphones.info @ Jan 12th 2007 10:59AM]

It will have to came in pink if they want me to give up mi Rzr. :P

[sgt_easton @ Dec 12th 2006 6:07PM]

Any word on if current EVDO phones will be able to take advantage of this?

[Eric Fetcho @ Dec 12th 2006 6:37PM]

They just quietly unveiled EVDO to my hometown sometime last weekend! (Ft. Wayne, IN)

[dilla @ Dec 12th 2006 7:18PM]

hey it would be nice to get the regular EVDO everywhere else first. Now I'll be 2 versions of data behind....

[fopkins @ Dec 12th 2006 7:46PM]

Move out of the sticks then, dilla.

Welcome Rev A!

[Dan @ Dec 12th 2006 7:18PM]

Will this effect regular cell phones with EV-DO already?

Should I bring my new phone back and wait for something better that will come out soon after Friday?

[Matt Mahon @ Dec 12th 2006 7:26PM]

Your current phone will not be ablet ot take advantage of Rev. A benefits. They will continue to work as normal(fingers crossed).

[JCA @ Dec 12th 2006 8:50PM]

I'm nitpicking I know.....but you couldn't mention all 10 cities? Instead you chose to mention two of the most "nobody cares" cities eva!? Nice.

[mike @ Dec 12th 2006 9:43PM]

hopefully this will mean that they will release the xv6800, been waiting forever on that phone...

[Dave Pevsner @ Dec 12th 2006 9:50PM]

verizon wireless? that company that treated their customers like chopped liver? people still use their services?

the Rev A will likely cost 20 to 30 dollars a month more than sprint's EVDO plans that include unlimited release 0 EVDO and rev A if your card supports it, and you just know the VZ's going to throw net neutrality to the wind and block VoIP and certain other goodies that make the interweb great. classic verizon.+


and my sprint reps will all confirm that rev A does wonders for upstream, but only slight downstream increases. i'm not buying another data card until Rev C EVDO is available in 2009, along with the final developer's preview of vista.

[Jack Storm @ Dec 13th 2006 1:16AM]

wooooaaaah and you talk about sprint? the company with the worst customer service ever? people still use their services?

[B1gC72 @ Dec 13th 2006 3:55AM]

wow. i just finally got EV-DO coverage last week where i live (Salisbury, MD) and its still glitchy and doesnt pick up sometimes. and now they're rolling out the next thing already.

[Andrew Blass @ Dec 13th 2006 10:04AM]

Living on the fringe of major cities with EV-DO is terribly frustrating. I live so close to good EV-DO signals in St. Louis and surrounding cities, but the signal at my apartment is only strong enough to tease me. I wonder, might the upgrade expand the existing EV-DO radius?

B1gC72 - The Purdue chickens have EV-DO now, eh? I'm thinking of visiting old friends in Salisbury. Is the EV-DO signal just in Salisbury or can I get it in the surrounding areas too?

[fireball091 @ Jan 5th 2007 11:15AM]

get the verizon wireless pc 650 with external antenna hook up then get a externall antenna i desighned a 1900 mghz antenna witch fitts on a direct tv dish with 30 dbi gain and i can pick up braudband any where in my truck

[fireball091 @ Jan 5th 2007 11:17AM]

get the verizon wireless pc 650 with external antenna hook up then get a externall antenna i desighned a 1900 mghz antenna witch fitts on a direct tv dish with 30 dbi gain and i can pick up braudband any where in my truck

[D. Leib @ Dec 13th 2006 11:27AM]

Does anybody know the actual cities that are EV-DO rev. A is going to be available in first? I know the article said 10 cities, but I couldn't find anywhere it said it would be rolled out first.

[EddieW @ Dec 13th 2006 10:20PM]

Sure, whatever. I just wish they'd stay still for a minute and give me a CF EVDO card (or a CF to PCCard adapter) so that I don't have to tether my XV6700 to my UMPC.

Yeah, yeah, I know. Whine whine . . .

[The Jeremy @ Dec 14th 2006 2:04PM]

Well, this is refreshing news since Sacramento is one of the cities it debuts in. One of my friends has Verizon's existing service, and he's lucky to get 56Kbps "speed" out of it and he lives in the Natomas part of Sac. Its like taking a trip down memory lane circa 1996, but with portability.

And yet these various companies talk about how Edge (from Cingular and T-Mobile) are slow...

[The Jeremy @ Dec 14th 2006 2:17PM]

I'm going to assume there's no USB dongle option for MacBook owners unless importing said device from Germany. Probably [I'm assuming] ExpressCard owning MacBook Pro users are out of luck too.

In other related news...damn you, T-Mobile and Michael Bay! :)

[EVDO Info @ Dec 15th 2006 7:16PM]

Verizon's first Rev A device - the Aircard 595 - is available at http://www.evdoinfo.com already! Check it out here - http://www.evdoinfo.com/The_News/Latest_News/Verizon_AirCard_595_Rev_A_Card_Now_Available_20061214861/

[alex @ Dec 19th 2006 4:46PM]

We got our new Rev-A Sierra 595, and have confirmed that CHICAGO has Verizon Rev-A service!

http://www.evdoforums.com/thread4118.html
http://www.evdoforums.com/thread4192.html

[Techedge1 @ May 7th 2007 11:39AM]

The Blackberry 7130e was listed as support rev A in 2005, so it should work now with Rev A - anybody know for sure ?