Cingular's AirCard 875 takes shape

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Sure, the AirCard 860's purely theoretical 1.8Mbps of HSDPA throughput is all well and good, but 3.6Mbps (again, purely theoretical) is even better. Sierra Wireless' re-upped model, the 875, has now been announced for release on Cingular next month at $99.99 on contract after rebates. With quad-band EDGE and tri-band HSDPA on board, if you manage to find a place in the world where you're not covered by some form of data, you've got bigger problems than your lack of 'Net access.
We're a bit miffed that this new AirCard from Sierra isn't coming in an ExpressCard form, especially now that good number of the major laptop manufacturers (Dell, Lenovo and Apple to name a few) are sporting ExpressCard slots in their newer models, but HSDPA is HSDPA and we're glad to see it all the same. The device -- a bump to last year's 860 -- supports 3.6Mbps (theoretical) speeds, which is as fast as anybody is doing it right now, and should provide for more than a few WiFi shaming connections to those with the cash and the infrastructure to enjoy it. Along with tri-band HSDPA and UMTS, the 875 can do quad-band EDGE/GPRS, so road warriors beware: you're about to run out of excuses for lost connectivity -- we'd think this one over if we were you. No word on price or initial availability.







