EVDO Revision B with 9.3Mbps Download Announced

Qualcomm, the wireless products provider, unveiled the addition of EVDO Revision B technology to its roadmap. The EVDO Rev. B will provide claimed download data rates of up to 9.3Mbps. It is an upgrade of current EVDO Rev. A featuring 8Mbps downlink speed.

According to Arstechnica, the 9.3Mbps download would be a dream come true to many cell phone and notebook computer users 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.”, the article says.

Arstechnica reports that 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.