I traveled from New York to DC yesterday to check out Cingular's new HSDPA network (high speed data packet access - in English, mobile broadband).

I'm still analyzing my results, but the big surprise on my trip wasn't from Cingular. Quietly, Sprint has been turning on a massive amount of its own mobile broadband, called EV-DO. I got consistent Sprint high-speed signal almost all the way from New York to DC. And looking at Sprint's coverage maps, they've been awfully busy this fall turning on high-speed everywhere from Frankfort, IN to Norman, OK.

Super-duper luscious laptop broadband connections probably aren't the main driver for Sprint's big buildout. Rather, they're promoting Sprint Power Vision, their excellent set of streaming audio and video content that you can get on their phones. SPV requires EV-DO.

But Sprint's buildout makes them a much better competitor to Verizon in the mobile broadband stakes. Both carriers are charging $59.99/month for unlimited use, and both networks should be about the same speed.

So: if you stumble upon my previous review of Sprint's EV-DO service, ignore it. I'm rewriting.