VZAccess vs. Mac OS X 10.4.7 |
| Friday, 22 September 2006 | |
Verizon VZAccess vs. Mac OS X 10.4.7Apple added support for EVDO Cards in Mac OS X 10.4.7, and it opened up the doors for native support in PowerBooks and MacBook Pros. Verizon has offered Mac Support since August 2005, via VZAccess.Starting with the new Novatel V640 ExpressCard, Mac users have two different ways of connecting. However, it is important to note that you cannot have both installed at the same time. As soon as you install VZAccess Manager, Apple's drivers will no longer work - you have to remove VZAccess and restart in order to see Apple drivers again. (see: VZAccess for Mac OS X and 10.4.7 Do Not Play Well Together) VZAccess Features Not Included in Apple's Drivers There are 3 features that are provided by the VZAccess Manager that are not supported by the Apple drivers. The native Apple drivers do not show the amount of data upload/downloaded, nor do they track fastest speeds. VZAccess Manager has another feature called manual activation, which is useful by if you have a card that has problems activating.   Apple Features Not Included in VZAccess One of the coolest features in the Apple drivers is that you see your signal strength in the menu bar. So, you can see signal no matter what application is running.  The only issue we see with the Apple EVDO Drivers is how they report PRL (Preferred Roaming List). Apple reports a different number vs VZAccess, and until there is a new PRL update, we do not know which one is correct OR if this is an issue or not (see: PRL List with Apple's drivers - EVDOforums) Speed Comparison Between VZAccess and Apple's EVDO Drivers Now that there are 2 ways to connect, the big question is: which one is faster? We have completed our own testing and found Apple's EVDO drivers to be much faster than VZAccess Manager, usually 100Kbps - 250Kbps faster download speeds. We have had many people report that Apple's drivers are a LOT faster than using VZAccess, see Mac OS X 10.4.7 vs. VZAccess, Speed Comparisons Related Articles:
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| Last Updated ( Friday, 22 September 2006 ) |
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