Customer Rating:  
Summary: Verizon's "broad"band extremly slow
Comment: I've own a Verizon data card for over a year now and the connection speed is becoming extremely slow. I tested everywhere including in house, on the road, airport etc. The avg download is about 400K and upload 140K. These are significantly slower than what I was promised at the store and the results of my tests when I first bought it (800K/400K).
I called Verizon. The tech support guy was very rude and basically said this speed is normal and "broadband". He also tried to come up with excuses such as you are indoor although he had to agree that my signal strength was good. He also said as long as you could connect, you couldn't argue because there was no promise of the speed on the contract. (So basically even if your speed was 1K, they wouldn't see a problem with it.)
My conclusion, I will never use Verizon again.
Customer Rating:
Summary: UM150 Included with Verizon plan, which is pricey but worth it. Convenient and fast. Comes with domestic tech support, too!
Comment: At first I thought this device looked flimsy, but I have to say after a couple of months it's a lot tougher than it looks. Depending on where your USB port is located, it might be safer with some laptops than others. On mine it's located on the right side, near the ENTER key. Needless to say, I've knocked into it from every possible direction, but the modem just pivots in any direction and doesn't break off. That was certainly well thought out!
The card folds up flat, but when you use it, the USB connector piece folds out at a 90 degree angle and plugs into your port. There is also an antenna (approx two inches) that you can extend from the top for better signal. I bought the optional booster antenna, too, but have never needed it.
There are blue dots on the flat side facing the computer that indicate signal strength. The bottom dot always flashes if the unit is plugged in and working. The piece with the signal indicator slides down to cover the USB connector when not in use, but sliding it up and down also resets the unit like turning it off and on.
I'm very happy with the UM150. It's well constructed and well designed. It makes traveling with my laptop a breeze. I love the freedom of being able to work with my laptop all over the house, out in the yard, in the car while waiting to pick up family members, or when I'm on the road.
The modem comes with a software disc. For some reason my installation wasn't smooth, so I had to call customer service. Verizon wireless has domestic tech support, which I appreciated no end. He helped me reset a few things and it was working in 5 minutes.
One caution - if you ever get a prompt to update the software on this, don't do it! There are several steps you need to go through, including deleting the old software, downloading the new software from an authorized website, etc. Call Verizon's tech support and they will walk you through it all in just a few minutes.
The monthly fee is $59.99 for virtually unlimited access; 5G a month should be plenty for browsing and email. Tack on about another $20/month to your bill just for the taxes and junk fees. My monthly phone bill, with another carrier, suffers from the same type of surcharge inflation. Maybe it's pricey, but I get a lot more use out of this than cable TV!
Highly recommended!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Free*. Performs well.
Comment: I've had this modem for about a month, and it works well. I get good signal strength, and my speed is within Verizon's specs. Some people say that USB modems are slower than the PC cards. It's probably true, but not that much slower. The modem was free with a contract with Verizon. I also picked up a 2GB micro SD card for $10, and use it to transfer files between my systems. The only slight downside is the UM150 is a little on the large side, and sticks out somewhat. It's not a big deal to me. You can pivot and swivel it so it's never in the way. The UM150 also has a signal strength meter. Something the PC cards and most other USB modems don't have.
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