EVDO Rev. B promises more than 9Mbps down

EVDO Revision A is already old and busted—get ready for EVDO Revision B.

Chipset maker Qualcomm has announced its roadmap to upgrade EVDO chipsets—both with new hardware and software updates to offer backward compatibility in older models. The company claims that during its tests on EVDO Rev. B they saw an average data rate of 9.3Mbps down, via the 5MHz spectrum—a drastic increase over Rev. A's 800kbps download speed.

"The evolution of CDMA2000 networks from EVDO Rev. A to EVDO Rev. B allows network operators to remain leading-edge in their service and performance offerings without the need for any infrastructure hardware changes," said Qualcomm CEO Dr. Sanjay K. Jha in a statement. The key is the lack of significant infrastructure hardware change, which means that uptake in the US should be good.

If Rev. B is truly this good (and it may not be, as I'll get to in a minute), streaming video to mobile phones could potentially become an enjoyable experience. Qualcomm has another usage in mind, too: VoIP. 

9.3Mbps download would be a dream come true to many mobile users—particularly traveling businesspeople who rely on EVDO for the constant net connection—but we know very well that actually achieving that kind of download speed anywhere outside of Fantasy Island is unlikely in the near future. Verizon, which currently supports EVDO Rev. A, says that users should expect performance to be lower than the theoretical maximum, going down as far as 450kbps down—just a hair above the halfway mark of the advertised max (800 kbps) for Rev. A. But even half of the advertised speed for Rev. B, roughly 4.6Mbps, would still be a major upgrade from EVDO Rev. A.

According to the company, the software update for Qualcomm's older EVDO hardware, the CSM6800, will be available by the end of this week. There is no time frame specified for when US carriers might adopt EVDO Rev. B, but given that Qualcomm plans to roll out its new hardware, the MSM7850, later this year, it wouldn't be surprising to see Sprint or Verizon upgrade their handsets and EVDO cards soon thereafter. The question is, will they also update their fees?