Now that Verizon has announced the roll out of Evolution Data Optimized (EV-DO) Revision A (Rev. A) in Chicago, Boston, Richmond, Salt Lake City, and parts of Florida, what does it all mean? Wasn’t Rev. 0 good enough? For Verizon, no, and thus the reason for the faster revision which now increases uploads by 4 to 6 times the original speeds of the already fast Rev. 0. In short, the network enhancement now allows users to have download speeds with averages of 450 to 800 kilobits per second (kbps) and average uploads of 300 to 400 kpbs. This means a 1 Megabyte (MB) file, such as an Acrobat PDF file or a PowerPoint presentation will download in less than 15 seconds. Uploading the same sized file will go up in 25 seconds. In short, true broadband really is coming to wireless devices.

Verizon Wireless regional president Tami Erwin said, “Our existing wireless broadband network has enabled customers to work remotely and stay entertained in unprecedented ways; now we’re taking wireless to the next level by introducing technology that helps them send data from their mobile devices even faster.”

Verizon has released two hardware devices to take advantage of this new speed with the release of the new compact USB720 wireless modem and the AirCard 595 PC Card from Verizon Wireless (previously reported by SvenOnTech.) Both support the newer Rev. A update as well as the older Rev. 0 and legacy 1xRTT technology. With phones capable of handling the enhanced network, users will also be able to either tether or connect wirelessily to the Internet via Bluetooth (if so supported) and enjoy near DSL speeds on their Mac or PC notebooks. Don’t be fooled, competitors data network such as AT&T’s (once Cingular) EDGE technology will not be able to come close to the sustained speeds of EV-DO Rev. A.

Verizon Wireless is the only nationwide provider of broadband access serving 200 million Americans in 242 major metropolitan areas and 180 major airports from coast to coast.

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