With ExpressCard slots a staple on most notebooks, it’s no surprise that mobile broadband cards are hitting the market. One such card is Sprint’s Merlin EX720 ExpressCard. It measures 4.4 x 1.3 x 0.2 inches and looks very similar to Verizon’s Wireless KPC680 ExpressCard - only less intrusive. Using the Merlin EX720 on the 21st floor of the reviewer’s New York city office, the reviewer noted that it under-performed almost every other broadband card they have tested. Despite having a full EV-DO Rev. A signal, it downloaded a 25MB file in 10 minutes and 26 seconds, a rate of 321 Kbps. Uploading rate is also abysmal, clocking in at 12:20, which translates to just 273 Kbps of throughput. In Long Beach, Long Island, the Merlin EX720 redeemed itself by downloading the same file at a rate of 1.2 MBps and uploading at 692 Kbps. Testing it on an environment with weak signal strength, the Merlin EX720 wasn’t able to find an EV-DO signal. The snail-paced CDMA 1XRTT signal gave a throughput of 68 Kbps. Overall, despite having good speed in Long Beach, the Sprint Merlin EX720’s $99.99 price tag and underwhelming performance just don’t cut it.