Sprint's Compass Broadband Modem Charts Clever Path

Sprint just starting shipping an interesting new USB mobile broadband modem--the Sprint Wireless Compass 597. The modem, which accesses Sprint's cellular data network, is extremely small, has built-in GPS, contains a slot for a micro-SD (Secure Digital) storage card, includes all installation software, automatically activates itself, and works equally well with Mac OS X and Windows XP and Vista.

Sprint is pricing the modem aggressively, too: it's $50 when purchased through their online site with a two-year service commitment. Sprint charges $40 per month for a 40 MB per month limit ($1/MB additional) or $60 per month for unlimited use, which the company told me yesterday is truly unlimited. They only restrict abusive uses, such as operating a server or running peer-to-peer file transfers.

The adapter supports EVDO Rev. A, which is nearly universal across Sprint's EVDO network now, and is advertised as supporting averages rates of 600 Kbps to 1.4 Mbps downstream and 500 to 800 Kbps upstream. The modem also handles 1xRTT, which works closer to dial-up modem speeds, outside of the 16,000 cities (encompassing 246 million people) and 1,500 airports that have EVDO service.

The idea of this USB modem is that it leverages the form factor by including software onboard, ditching a separate CD for installation. Under Windows, with an auto-run feature activated (which is actually a security risk), the software asks to install on insertion. An automatic activation feature bypasses the need to enter modem identification information before it's works on the network. (Activation needs to happen just once, but it's a part of using cell data modems that apparently irritates many non-technical users.)

The slot for a micro-SD card is becoming a more popular option to include with USB cell data modems; Verizon has one model and Sprint has two. 2 GB of micro-SD storage is as cheap as $11 right now. That's one fewer USB device you have to carry, and it's less effort to try to jam two USB devices side by side, too. Sprint believes this is the smallest USB cell modem on the market at the moment.

Integrated GPS is unique to Sprint, which includes it on all but one of its cell data adapters, and plans to include it on all future adapters. Separate GPS software provides access through an interface, but Sprint plans to release within a few weeks developer software that would allow programmers to poll their modems directly and integrate GPS results in their own applications. This could be used for geotagging photographs, tracking one's path, and more sophisticated mapping and location.

Sprint has also recomitted itself to the Mac OS X platform; it's provided software developer by modem makers in the past, but it now offers its own custom version that works identically with all the devices it sells. They're working on a Linux release, too.