Option GlobeTrotter Express 7.2 gets FCC love

by Chris Ziegler posted Jan 26th 2007 at 11:17AM

If AT&T plans to roll deep with 7.2Mbps HSDPA this year, we reckon they need some equipment on store shelves, so FCC approval of Option's GlobeTrotter Express 7.2 certainly bodes well. Besides tri-band UMTS / HSDPA and quadband GPRS / EDGE, the card features a nifty zero-CD installation feature that copies drivers directly from the card itself. No word on release -- or whether AT&T will even carry it, for that matter -- but we're guessing we can find a few MacBook Pro users out there who are about ready to raid the FCC's offices and swipe this thing today.

Filed under: Peripherals, Others, GSM, GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA, UMTS

Tags: 3g, 7.2, data, expresscard, globetrotter, globetrotter express 7.2, GlobetrotterExpress7.2, hsdpa, modem, option, umts

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neutral

Marshall Golder @ Jul 6th 2007 10:42PM

Option has some bugs to work out with this product.

For example: if you install and re-install this card's software numerous times you will discover various configuration results. It's as if the install protocols are set up like musical chairs.

Sometimes you get a GPRS dial-up added to you network connections, sometimes a GSM dial-up added. The byte mobile is a coin toss depending on which way the wind blows.

The most annoying thing is the newly created wireless connection for the Globetrotter card. It is completely inoperable and conflicts with other ports. BTW, it�s different for each install.

Nothing seems consistent with this product except its inconsistency. MS Wireless Zero Configuration has no affect on this product, either enabled or disabled.

With all these conflicts the performance on this card sadly lags behind the competition. Connection is iffy at best. Even in a Cingular store where the demo notebook shows 5-bars of signal strength, the Globetrotter sluggishly floats from one to two bars with pitiful performance. It even loses connection periodically. We noticed that not one store had a Globetrotter PCI-express card on any of their notebooks. Only the Sierra wireless cards are displayed. Now we know why.

The top-geeks at Cingular's third level support didn't have a clue about this card and all attempts to resolve issues resulted in a pass the buck scenario of never ending AT&T support rabbit trails. At least AT&T has the market cornered on the "Tele-Blender" service. Once you get a person on the phone, you get to speak to everyone from Bangladesh to California and all points in between. The only problem is that no one at AT&T is familiar with this product. Some of them weren�t even aware that the Option card from Belgium existed.

I'm confident all issues will be resolved in time; however, for now it's just another problematic hardware and software match.

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