Inexcusably slow internet speeds. Help!

Hello, everyone. I recently bought a new laptop, the Dell Inspiron 1720, customized online to fit my needs. I included the Sprint mobile broadband card with this. After I received the laptop, I went ahead and activated the card via calling the appropriate number. Within minutes I was able to connect to the internet. No problem there.

Though I noticed extremely low d/l and u/l speeds - dialup-like. Nowhere near broadband or even DSL for that matter. e.g., I was downloading Adaware 2007 last night and my maximum download speed was 22.4Kbps. Ugh.

Before you ask, I have called Sprint's tech support but their service is just completely ****. I am sorry to say that, but it is. Their "techs" have no idea what they are talking about. Not to mention how many times I was "accidentally" hung up on. Just the primitive response of "delete your cookies and restart".

So here I am, asking any and all for your help. I am just about fed up with this. I should be getting speeds of 300Kbps and upwards. My Sprint icon in the taskbar usually indicates 2 bars - Very Good. I should getting 3, or even 4 bars of signal strength.

Computer specifications:

Windows Vista Premium 32-bit
Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 2.2GHz
2GB DDR2 RAM
Nvidia GeForce 8600m GT
Dell Wireless 5720 Sprint Mobile Broadband (EVDO Rev-A) Minicard

Latest Windows and updated drivers. No detected malware, spyware, viruses, or adware.

Possible causes: Unnecessary conflicting network services running? Closed ports? Someone stealing my bandwidth?

Screenshots:

http://img58.imageshack.us/img58/5716/mobile3ds2.jpg
http://img224.imagesha ck.us/img224/1581/mobile4ex6.jpg