We've known for some time that Verizon is
fixated on dominating the global roaming market in the US -- or, at the very least, catching up to AT&T -- and to do that, they're going to need hardware capable of taking advantage of the very best speeds that those wild and majestic foreign lands have to offer. In other words, no EV-DO-only modem is going to cut it, and an
EV-DO modem with a sprinkling of EDGE on the side is a consolation prize that's going to get frequent world travelers irked after a little while. To that end, we just witnessed this brick of a USB modem pass through the FCC bearing Verizon branding, the A3700 from ZTE. Name a frequency or wireless technology, the A3700 probably has it; in addition to EV-DO, it's got GSM / EDGE and HSPA, so your bases are pretty well covered wherever you happen to be (hell, it even has North America-friendly HSPA 850 / 1900 in there, though Verizon wouldn't dream of letting you stray from its own airwaves when you're stateside). Enticing, yes -- but considering that this is one of the ugliest modems we've seen in recent memory, you'd better
really need that roaming capability when it gets around to launching.
posted Mar 7th 2009 8:50AM
Errrg!
Look out all, ZTE are still churning out rubbish devices!
Sure they can do everything under the sun, but dang! Build quality anyone? With a return rate (DOA, ELF) of 35% in Australia for ZTE devices who would trust this plastic garbage!
Sorry - but I tend to rear my head whenever ZTE is mentioned, all they do is create more work for me in return authorities and warrenty jobs.
OK.. It's ugly. So what. It's not clothing. It's not Jewelry. It's not a car.
When I buy a shirt, I don't make buying decisions on it's EDGE ability. Why should I care if a model is ugly?
Zeek has a better perspecitve. If it's crap, then that's the reson not to buy it.
(As Frasier once said, "usually people of your limited physical appeal make up for it with an actual personality" -- I guess this modem follow Lilith's model)
"Why should I care if a model is ugly?"
You do realise this is a apple fan boy site and everything has to look good regardless of how crap and needlessly expensive it is.
Sam, shut up.
No Chris shut up
OK, EVERYBODY JUST SHUT UP!
I can't even imagine what the data charges when you are not in the states..
Or when you ARE in the states.
Over 9000 dollas
0.002 cents per KB? Or was it 0.002 dollars?
haha @nelson +1
EDGE ick! O2 in the uk had to dust off old crap equipment to effectively downgrade their data network just to sell the iPhone.
Americans seem pretty hung up on their mobile suppliers does it really matter ? Its a modem with multiple protocols YAWN
Let me guess prepaid. Here in USA only people that use prepaid are either broke,convicted felons, bankrupt, on welfare, criminals, probation, homeless, etc. But I do notice prepaid is also big in third world countries .
How weak.. Vzw needs a separate device for roaming,,weak!
It does not need a separate device for roaming, its built into the device already.
Even some of its phones have GSM roaming built into them, like the Storm, Omnia, BBs, a Moto phone thats name currently escapes me, etc.
Verizon Still Sucks...
That thing looks absolutely monstrous!
How's performance? The thing isn't made to be a fashion accessory. Few USB devices are.
Excuse me. What was I thinking? Where is the gallery of modems?
Owner's Manual:
https://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/oet/forms/blobs/retrieve.cgi?attachment_id=1061488&native_or_pdf=pdf