Cricket’s is a low cost carrier whose new USB Broadband Modem A600 lets you enjoy a lot more features than its predecessor UM100 model. Cricket’s EV-DO network operates on the 850-, 1,700-, and 1,900-MHz bands. As far as its coverage is concerned, it covers many major cities such as Philadelphia, Las Vegas, San Diego, Chicago, etc. The network also covers a few smaller cities like Tucson, Wichita, Kansas, and Arizona. It is quite disappointing to know that Cricket’s EV-DO network does not cover New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, or anywhere in Florida.
The A600 modem comes across as a rounded, black USB stick that weighs around 1.28 ounces and measures a mere 3.36 by 1.43 by 0.51 inches. The modem is a lot bigger than its competitors Sprint and Verizon modems. But be sure that this modem will not actually feel huge to you. The best feature of this modem is the presence of an on-device signal indicator. This indicator displays you the signal strength. The signal strength is displayed through four bars on the body of A600 itself. The modem also houses a microSD memory card slot. A downside is that the file transfer rate via this slot is around one-tenth the speed of a card reader. You do not get any connector on the modem, which means that you can not attach external antennas to the device.
The A600 modem supports Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Mac OS 10.3.9 or later. Cricket ships the modem with all the requisite drivers and software. Once you plug in the device, it shows as a USB drive on your computer accompanied by an installer application. The device is extremely easy to use and is very user friendly. You can connect it in NDIS mode as well as in dial-up mode. This means that this modem can pass of as an Ethernet connection. The software on the modem is capable of supporting text messaging.
The A600 offers average download speeds of 538 kilobits per second (Kbps) and peaks at 787 Kbps. The average upload speeds offered by this modem are of the order of 502 Kbps. Cricket offers a monthly data cap of 5 GB with the device. If you want to get your laptop online at a monthly charge of a mere $40, the Cricket USB Broadband Modem A600 is the ultimate way.
