After a quick mention of the integrated Dell Verizon deal, my network card arrived through IT. It’s far from broadband, but the Sony Ericsson GPRS / WiFi card I received seems to work well enough. I am connecting at about 56Kbps when I have a signal which is certainly respectable for basic email, RSS and a few web pages. It’s not too cool for attachments of any size or a sync of my outlook while on the go though. VPN has largely failed due to signal strength…
Maintaining a signal long enough on this inaugural run on Metro North to even post is quite brutal. Cellular connectivity in Westchester NY is not too stellar on the train route. I have yet to connect to my Exchange server as I cannot stay connected long enough, but I’ve been able to read a bunch of feeds through bloglines and even post a few items.
One thing that is oh so typical about the PC is how the network management works poorly. Aside from continuously annoying network status bubbles (disconnect / connected etc), installing a new device that replicates existing functionality caused all sorts of mayhem with existing wireless options. Not so sure if that is my non-Centrino Dell or whether regardless Windows would be playing as poorly.
I do like that the card automatically reconnects which is certainly a nice (and required) feature. Too bad my VPN times out in between attempts.
My BlackBerry politely connected btw and delivered mail through the whole trip – at least when there was a signal to report. There was no need to check for messages, they simply arrive.
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