Technology For Agents

I had a chance to get setup yesterday with Verizon Wireless Wireless Broadband access. It’s quite a neat feature to have a Tablet PC and be able to access the internet from each of my client’s homes. At the brick and mortar store, I met with a sales representative and we quickly identified the PC card for my Toshiba Portege M400 Tablet PC, the PC 5740, and was able to get a $50 discount with free activation. One major issue that concerned me was, “What if I don’t like the network, it’s speeds, or the accessibility?”. Verizon had an answer for me.

Verizon wireless offered me a 15 day trial (which I am still in) to try out their wireless network with no obligations. I did have to pay for the hardware up front, but this will be reimbursed should I return all purchased products due to dissatisfaction. So far, I’ve experienced some frustrations with the Verizon Wireless network which I will go into detail below.

Pros

I am able to pull up contracts from the internet at any location. I am also able to quickly investigate properties that are seen during a tour that my clients find an interest in. Overall, having the accessibility to the internet provides that I can be efficient with both my client’s and my time. Why make a trip back to the office to look up that house around the corner? I simply just need to open up the laptop, and it’s specific details are a click away. I am able to be truly mobile, which I feel will be the way technology will eventually leave it’s mark on the real estate business.

Cons

Connectivity. Speeds. I find that when entering buildings or attempting to access the internet while riding passenger in a vehicle beings a seemingly difficult task. Please bare in mind that all my conclusions are based on the Houston coverage area. Your speeds and connectivity may be better, or worse, than mine. When entering homes I notice that my reception go down to one or no bars, which results in a very sluggish internet speed. I also find that some email sites, such as Gmail, are very hard to get working without any hitches. I must constantly reload the site to maintain a connection; the moment I leave it alone for more than 10 minutes the site will lock up. I have no connectivity issues with a land based internet access such as my office T1, so I must diagnose this to be due to Verizon Wireless’s network.

I find that the issues are causing unwanted frustration, and I may look to see if I get better connectivity issues with a different PC card. There are other types of cards that I could of chose from (also more expensive), but I will follow up on my endeavors to find a truly wireless, reliable internet broadband network.

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