Verizon Wireless PC770 EVDO ExpressCard

The Verizon Wireless PC770 EVDO Rev-A Expresscard ships with a PCMCIA adapter.

The PC770 Expresscard is the first dual purpose card from Verizon Wireless and can work with modern laptops that feature a 34 or 54mm expresscard slot, or with older laptops like the Apple 15 and 17" PowerBooks that have the older PCMCIA slots. By including the adapter, users of the PC770 will be able to get online at 3G/EVDO speeds with their existing/older laptop, and so long as their future laptops have at least an expresscard slot, they can avoid the expense of a replacement modem when they upgrade their laptops.

The PC770's included adapter lets users with older pcmcia slot laptops get online.

The new PC770 expresscard is the first Verizon Wireless card to ship with on-board connection manager software and without software on an included CD. The contents of the PC770 box include only the expresscard, the pcmcia adapter, and user manuals.

The PC770 connection manager software is in built in memory and does not ship with a CD.

Mac users take note: the connection manager installer package showed up when the expresscard was inserted into expresscard slot of a MacBook Pro, but did NOT appear when the card was inserted into the pcmcia slot of an older Powerbook. This means that if you bought this card for exclusive use on a powerbook, you'll need to download the latest software from vzam.net before you can activate or user the PC770. (windows users might have the same problem, but the Dallas testbench does not have an old windows laptop to test with)

The PC770 features an internal cellular antenna and also has an RF jack to allow for high-gain antennas. 3Gstore already has a complete selection of high gain antennas for the PC770, but users should be warned that the adapter cable will only work directly attached to the expresscard and will not work if expresscard is inserted into the pcmcia sled.

The PC770 antenna/rf jack can only be accessed when not in pcmcia sled.

The PC770 signal reception is as good as other mobile broadband devices, bringing in the same level of signal at our Dallas workbench. With a signal that averaged -70 RSSI, the PC770 also proved to be as fast as any other Rev-A device we've tested. Here's an average of several speedtests performed at the time of this review.

Though it is not on the "officially supported" list of devices, our PC770 did work with the Cradlepoint CTR500 and MBR1000 routers that feature an expresscard slot. It is highly likely that a future firmware release by Cradlepoint will add the PC770 to the officially supported list of devices.

The PC770's cellular signal will display on Cradlepoint CTR500.

As mentioned earlier, the PC770 is a great choice for those customers have an older laptop with a pcmcia slot, but want an expresscard they can use with a newer/future laptop purchase.