So my new work has a tight firewall with very few outbound ports open. In order to do my consulting work, I need more flexibility. So I got a Sprint USB stick. It's about $30 after rebate, and $60 per month (this might be discounted, I'm not sure).
It's Ev Do Rev A. It's certainly faster than my phone was via tethering, but not quite broadband feel. Mostly due to lag. Pings are around 700-1000ms. It seems to do about 1mbps, or a little more.
It also has built in GPS, and a little place for a microSD card to make it a thumb drive.
Not bad.