Mobile Broadband Vs 1Mb DSL

March 12, 2010 1:06 PM

When they are the same cost what would you chose 3G Mobile broadband or 1Mb DSL... More info below

Background:

My wife needs basic internet access for her new business. Our two olptions are:

Verizon DSL 1Mb (which is all that is available in the area) 39.99 -- $100.00 activation
Ntelos mobile broadband upto 1.5Mb $39.99 5gig limit -- No activation No contract $130.00 hardware cost

Her internet needs are not bandwidth intensive sending email, sending and receiving faxes through eFax, and some lite web surfing I am fairly confident that she will not hit the 5gig limit of Ntelos.

It is my understanding that Ntelos uses the same 3G technology as Sprint and we would have unlimited roaming in Sprints coverage area.

According to the maps and the sales rep the area where her office is has very good 3g coverage. She will only have one computer in her office so network access being tethered to one computer is not a big deal. She will occasionally be mobile and while its not necessary for her to have connectivity on the go it could be a bonus.

My Question(s):
Will her internet experience be equivalent to the DSL if we have good coverage in her building?

Does anyone have any real world experience with using a 3G modem as their primary means of internet access? If so would you recommend it?

posted by jmsta to Technology (6 answers total)

Without question she'll have a faster connection with DSL. If the computer is stationary--always left at work--then I wouldn't hesitate to go that route.

If it's a laptop and she'd like to access the Internet in a coffee shop or at home (you don't say if, for example, she'd be accessing a WiFi network at home) then it makes the mobile broadband a decent option.

I've travelled extensively on business where that's my only connectivity and the experience is highly variable depending on signal strength. Usually fine for email, sometimes annoying slow (like old dial-up) for the Web, sometimes videos play great, sometimes not.

Given those caveats I'd suggest that (a) you definitely make sure you have an option to cancel service within a week if it just sucks and, (b) why not look at Sprint and Verizon directly? Ntelos is simply reselling access to the Sprint network and I think in general you're better off dealing with them rather than a reseller.

You don't say where you are, but another option might be ClearWire (in which Sprint is a parnter) which offers lost cost access via WiMax--not blazing fast but on par/better than what you'll probably get through a 3G card.
posted by donovan at 2:15 PM on March 12, 2010

If you plan on doing any sort of off-site backup (which you should do for a business), then the DSL is a no brainer.
posted by blue_beetle at 2:31 PM on March 12, 2010

Latency issues on 3G alone makes DSL a better choice.
posted by devnull at 12:15 AM on March 13, 2010

Response by poster: Thanks for all the feed back. I think we are going to try the 3g first. We have 30 days to cancel and get a refund. Another issue with the DSL that I neglected to mention is that we are 100' away from the maximum distance from the CO and that's why we can only get 1Mb service. Cable is an option but it is $80.00 per month for the cheapest business class service.
posted by jmsta at 6:41 AM on March 13, 2010

Response by poster: Donovan its my impression that Ntelos is not an MVNO and that in this area they actually provide the network for Sprint. I know when they first came into the area they originally owned the towers my father has one on his property which was originally owned by Ntelos but now Crown castle owns the tower and there are multiple services on that tower.
posted by jmsta at 11:26 AM on March 13, 2010

jmsta . . . you're right, nTelos runs it's own regional wireless network and has a relationship with Sprint for roaming (and wholesale)
posted by donovan at 11:54 AM on March 15, 2010