Slashdot Mirror

Address the e-mail to the 10-digit wireless phone number followed by @mobile.att.net. For example, if the phone's number is 206.123.4567, then the e-mail address is: 2061234567@ mobile.att.net.

GSM service in the USA sucks big floppy donkey dick.

I've had friends on AT&T who loved their TDMA service then got forced into GSM and now HATE it. Coverage is only a tiny fraction of what it used to be (see https://www.attws.com/images/maps/ngnn-nat.gif, Cingular, T-Mobile, and Sprint are even worse), even inside major cities. I used to be on Cingular GSM and literally more than 50% of the time I was unable to make calls and I kept getting phamtom voicemail indicators sometimes even six hours after the call was made.

The ONLY service I've been able to actually make a call whenever I wanted has been Verizon's CDMA. Great service, but boring phones.

I have no problem with gadgets on phones, but why oh why can't they put some of that money into making the phones work??? I'd love to get one of those cool little T610s, but I've yet to find a phone that can even come CLOSE to the reception I get on my Audiovox CDM-9500...

I recently signed up with AT&T Wireless for cellular service when I was required to get a phone. AT&T had the lowest priced service plan with the most minutes: 300 nationwide minutes for $29.99, plus free nights and weekends. I ordered the Sony Ericsson t68i phone. I live in Indianapolis, IN, and I've found the service in the metro area to be pretty good. Unfortunately, my job requires me to drive to northern Indiana quite often, and as soon as I live the I-465 belt, I lose service. Service along I-69 and I-65 is so-so, but I've had several dropped calls for no apparent reason along these interstates. If I'm not on the interstate, I have no chance of getting reception. I've read that the t68 is notorious for poor reception. It has an internal antenna, which doesn't help matters. If I walk outside my house, I get two bars of service, but none indoors. Call clarity is excellent, when I have it. It seems that it is an all or nothing ordeal. A coworker of mine is on the same plan with AT&T, but has the Motorola t720. He is able to get reception in areas that my phone won't.

If you have no need to travel outside of the Indy area, I would recommend the AT&T service, just with a different phone model.

the big question is: why the hell do SMSs cost 5-10 cents? for god sakes[snip]

Right, multi-billion dollar networks should be FREE! Lunch too!

Check out the rate charges for Businesses over at ATTWS

...is that the wireless companies have been fighting number portability for years (it's still not required: after being passed into law 1996, the FCC has postponed implementation every year) and yet they claim them as part of their fees: Nextel, AT&T, etc

Yes, I know of at least one carrier that charges per kilobyte. I can't imagine them implementing any kind of data restrictions.

That's not true. Cingular wireless also uses GSM, and so does AT&T now.

I use T-mobile, my girlfriend uses Cingular, and we have great coverage in most all places we've been in the states.

Spectrum.

Telcos have only a limited amount of spectrum for their networks, both 2g and 3g. 3G is an overlay network, on top of the 2G network. So the telco has 2 networks using their allotted spectrum. This is why 3G phones are listed as 850/1900, 800/1800/1900 (trimode) capable.

I love reading about how everyone bitches about coverage, look at a coverage map before you ever buy wireless phone service.

Coverage Maps.

ATT Wirelesss CDPD http://www.attws.com/personal/buy/pop_coverage_map .jhtml?national=pn
ATT Wireless GPRS http://www.attws.com/general/coverage_maps/coverag emaps.jsp
and http://www.attws.com/press/GSMCoverage.jhtml
tmobile/voicestream - http://www.goamerica.net/coverage/tmobile.html
Verizon - http://verizonwireless.com/mobile_ip/coverage.html
Sprint - http://www.sprintyp.com/coveragemap.html
Qwest - http://www.qwestwireless.com/service/coverage.html

Heres a site with some coverage maps http://www.cellular-news.com/coverage/usa.shtml

Spectrum.

Telcos have only a limited amount of spectrum for their networks, both 2g and 3g. 3G is an overlay network, on top of the 2G network. So the telco has 2 networks using their allotted spectrum. This is why 3G phones are listed as 850/1900, 800/1800/1900 (trimode) capable.

I love reading about how everyone bitches about coverage, look at a coverage map before you ever buy wireless phone service.

Coverage Maps.

ATT Wirelesss CDPD http://www.attws.com/personal/buy/pop_coverage_map .jhtml?national=pn
ATT Wireless GPRS http://www.attws.com/general/coverage_maps/coverag emaps.jsp
and http://www.attws.com/press/GSMCoverage.jhtml
tmobile/voicestream - http://www.goamerica.net/coverage/tmobile.html
Verizon - http://verizonwireless.com/mobile_ip/coverage.html
Sprint - http://www.sprintyp.com/coveragemap.html
Qwest - http://www.qwestwireless.com/service/coverage.html

Heres a site with some coverage maps http://www.cellular-news.com/coverage/usa.shtml

Spectrum.

Telcos have only a limited amount of spectrum for their networks, both 2g and 3g. 3G is an overlay network, on top of the 2G network. So the telco has 2 networks using their allotted spectrum. This is why 3G phones are listed as 850/1900, 800/1800/1900 (trimode) capable.

I love reading about how everyone bitches about coverage, look at a coverage map before you ever buy wireless phone service.

Coverage Maps.

ATT Wirelesss CDPD http://www.attws.com/personal/buy/pop_coverage_map .jhtml?national=pn
ATT Wireless GPRS http://www.attws.com/general/coverage_maps/coverag emaps.jsp
and http://www.attws.com/press/GSMCoverage.jhtml
tmobile/voicestream - http://www.goamerica.net/coverage/tmobile.html
Verizon - http://verizonwireless.com/mobile_ip/coverage.html
Sprint - http://www.sprintyp.com/coveragemap.html
Qwest - http://www.qwestwireless.com/service/coverage.html

Heres a site with some coverage maps http://www.cellular-news.com/coverage/usa.shtml

Is this company one of those smaller GSM carriers you mention?

No, the phone itself does not have a MAC address, in fact, it doesn't even have an IP stack. That is all managed upstream in the providers network. In GPRS that is done by devices called SGSNs and GGSNs, though I'm not sure about how EDGE and UMTS will handle it. Although, it does act like an "always on" connection. Interesting article here about how T-Mobile is dealing with the issue (or not).

As for figuring out where you are, providers have always known where you are to some extent based on the which tower you are registered to. They must store this to bill you effectively. The only difference with the new location based services (on the phone via GPS or on the network via triangulation) is how acurate they are and who this information gets shared with. It may be with your local 911, or with a friend.

You might wanna link to the site - it's on the right side. I've got a screenshot of it - I think I'll send this to El Reg...

get an Ericsson T68i phone (coming soon to the USA)

Already here:

AT&T Wireless

Well, up one directory we have mLife. Maybe it's just an evil AT&T plot.

No, I disagree: "M" for mobile will be hot.

Example: mMode

Err. I can't think of more. Someone help me out.

-Russ

See this (look at Israel and HK).

Since the U.S. and European GSM "low-band" (800/900) and "high-band" (1800/1900) standards don't coexist, I suspect they use AMPS/TDMA on the low band and then GSM on the high band, or vice-versa.

You forgot cingular and AT&T Wireless along with Voicestream they are all 1900Mhz GSM and between them cover main areas of population.

view the coverage map

Theres a couple tricks to make proxy's not use its name resolution, use the IP you want. Use IPs, short ips, hex, oct, convert the ip. Havnt had to use this trick in awhile, ymmv.

http://1075594134

Biggest problem with proxies is sites like slashdot with updated content. GFX can be cached, but the html pages are updated every time. Sometimes I find it funny at work, when a site has the wrong time cause its cache. I force a reload that fixes the problem.

At work we have a caching/compression solution, we can speed up text almost to 768K+ on wireless connections. Gfx are compressed, but not as much as text. Just imagine GPRS connection with a good caching/compression solution, DSL type speeds. (shameless plug) You can get it at ATTWS with Pocket PC.

Are you outside the USA ? The US is about the only developed country in the world not to adopt GSM. They use a pretty creaky old system that operates at a much lower frequency. The result of this is that you need a bigger antenna.

Not so. There are the following systems in the usa:

AMPS: 800 mhz ancient analogue system
GSM: 900/1900 mhz (voicestream)
TDMA 800/1900 mhz (att, cingular, etc)
CDMA 800/1900 mhz (sprint)

So you see, GSM and (t|c)dma run at the same (higher) frequency. Frankly however, i do wish more carriers used GSM, since the rest of the world uses it. If i travel to europe with my phone, it would be a paperweight.

Ditto. Patience grasshopper. But GSM/GPRS is just getting off the ground with the US carriers w/VoiceStream and AT&T.

Once we have a decent rollout of devices & folks start to use it, we just have to wait for a little bit of competition so that the pricing plans get reasonable for mere mortals.

Most of the TDMA carriers in the US are going to be migrating to GSM 900. ATT Wireless has already started this migration in a few markets, and plans on converting the rest of it's network as quickly as possible.

Cingular already running GSM in some of it's Pac Bell markets.

Actually, today AT&T Wireless announced consumer GSM/GPRS service in Seattle, Portland, Phoenix and Las Vegas.

Yes they are. And they're testing GPRS in Washington state. Here's the coverage map.

Im really just trying to find a replacement for the Toshiba Libretto. After Toshiba stopped making the palm top, the only real choice people had was PDAs. I really need a wireless device, If I only wanted a calendar or contact list, I have PocketNet phone with Fonesync software. But I needed a true wireless connection with a tcp/ip stack(for SSH) so I picked up a CDPD modem. But carrying around a full size laptop sucks, so I migrated to a PDA. I first started off with an wireless Palm Omnisky. Battery life was nice, upto 1 week light use, and 2 weeks if it sat im my pocket. But I wanted color and sound, I migrated to the PocketPC (Ipaq) and CDPD modem. Not bad, I can surf websites in html not wap, and even listen to mp3s. (Very important for work ya know!) Battery life is weak, and I find myself letting the battery die right when I need. Picked up a IBM Microdrive. Fast, was able to move documents from my laptop and back, neat idea, but didnt use it as much I wanted. I gotta get around to trying out the Pocket Divx Player and put a divx movie on the microdrive. (Gotta watch Red Dwarf ep with the Sock Puppet.)

Heck, They even have PDA pr0n for those long boring conference calls. :)

Im really just trying to find a replacement for the Toshiba Libretto. After Toshiba stopped making the palm top, the only real choice people had was PDAs. I really need a wireless device, If I only wanted a calendar or contact list, I have PocketNet phone with Fonesync software. But I needed a true wireless connection with a tcp/ip stack(for SSH) so I picked up a CDPD modem. But carrying around a full size laptop sucks, so I migrated to a PDA. I first started off with an wireless Palm Omnisky. Battery life was nice, upto 1 week light use, and 2 weeks if it sat im my pocket. But I wanted color and sound, I migrated to the PocketPC (Ipaq) and CDPD modem. Not bad, I can surf websites in html not wap, and even listen to mp3s. (Very important for work ya know!) Battery life is weak, and I find myself letting the battery die right when I need. Picked up a IBM Microdrive. Fast, was able to move documents from my laptop and back, neat idea, but didnt use it as much I wanted. I gotta get around to trying out the Pocket Divx Player and put a divx movie on the microdrive. (Gotta watch Red Dwarf ep with the Sock Puppet.)

Heck, They even have PDA pr0n for those long boring conference calls. :)

Alot of people keep asking why we dont have the cool 3G phones in the US yet, well nokia, mitsubishi, erricson and motorola dont want to put out phones for the small US market. With the large ammount of GSM phones around the world, they can make more money selling only GSM phones. Now this is were GPRS (2.5G) comes in, they can alter the GSM phones to work on GPRS networks with less hassle.

ATTWS is already working toward 3G networks, GPRS/2.5 out NOW, then EDGE in 2002, and UMTS in 2003. Check Here for ATTWS upgrade news And here for the Motorola Timeport P7382i Remember that 10 Billion bux DoCoMo spent for 16 percent in ATTWS? That money is going to pay for the upgrade.

I currently have a Motorola GSM/GPRS Timeport P7382i on ATTWS network. Speeds about around a 56K modem here in Seattle. Even using IR via win2k IRmodem port and PPP, so linux should work flawlessly. On my Ipaq, Im upgrading my sierra wireless Aircard 300 cdpd modem. to a new GPRS pc card modem. Should have my GPRS pcmcia card within a couple weeks.

Side note. I cant wait to install Qnx on my Ipaq, after seeing that /. article.. I also need to try that PDA pr0n site out too. :)

Alot of people keep asking why we dont have the cool 3G phones in the US yet, well nokia, mitsubishi, erricson and motorola dont want to put out phones for the small US market. With the large ammount of GSM phones around the world, they can make more money selling only GSM phones. Now this is were GPRS (2.5G) comes in, they can alter the GSM phones to work on GPRS networks with less hassle.

ATTWS is already working toward 3G networks, GPRS/2.5 out NOW, then EDGE in 2002, and UMTS in 2003. Check Here for ATTWS upgrade news And here for the Motorola Timeport P7382i Remember that 10 Billion bux DoCoMo spent for 16 percent in ATTWS? That money is going to pay for the upgrade.

I currently have a Motorola GSM/GPRS Timeport P7382i on ATTWS network. Speeds about around a 56K modem here in Seattle. Even using IR via win2k IRmodem port and PPP, so linux should work flawlessly. On my Ipaq, Im upgrading my sierra wireless Aircard 300 cdpd modem. to a new GPRS pc card modem. Should have my GPRS pcmcia card within a couple weeks.

Side note. I cant wait to install Qnx on my Ipaq, after seeing that /. article.. I also need to try that PDA pr0n site out too. :)

PDA's, PCCard Wireless Modems, Streaming Audio, Video Phones, Instant Messageing, etc..

Currently I have an Omnisky using CDPD (over ATTWS) and it rocks, I can SSH into my boxes, and work remotely. (Saves your ass more than once..) I just upgraded to a Ipaq PocketPC and waiting on my GPRS modem. Someone even picked me up a keyboard (god love those expense cards) for it. Full size Qwerty, and an SSH client. :)

And if you want a keyboard for you cellphone, get a Ericsson Chatboard It works with the Erricsson CDPD ATTWS PocketNet phone, so you can browse the web or irc. (No SSH yet, but I can wish.)

Or just to enable you laptop for wireless, go get a CDPD PCMCIA card from Sierra Wireless

Point is, I just listed some consumer products, there are business uses, kiosks, hardware monitors, coke machines, police mobile computers, fire and rescue, etc... Really with HighSpeed Wireless and Internet access, there will be some killer applications that people havnt even thought about, or waited till the technolgy was available. Now wheres my streaming pr0n. :)

--
No flying machine will ever fly from New York to Paris ... [because] no known motor can run at the requisite speed for four days without stopping. Orville Wright (1871 - 1948)

Actually the $50 includes 400 minutes of voice, which makes it pretty competitive -- it's basically your first 1MB of data for free. I called them and found out that additional data is $0.0075/Kb, or $7.68/Mb. Still an order of magnitude more expensive than Microcell, but at least it's closer to reasonable.

You can also see the original press release at AT&T Wireless. It also says that unified messaging is an available service, and that you can be notified of new email while talking.

Actually the $50 includes 400 minutes of voice, which makes it pretty competitive -- it's basically your first 1MB of data for free. I called them and found out that additional data is $0.0075/Kb, or $7.68/Mb. Still an order of magnitude more expensive than Microcell, but at least it's closer to reasonable.

You can also see the original press release at AT&T Wireless. It also says that unified messaging is an available service, and that you can be notified of new email while talking.

Something I wrote elsewhere once upon a time:

This year, I've been wearing a pager in hospital, while my digital PCS phone sits either freezing or melting in my car... stashed safely in the parking lot. It's due to the familiar fact that hospitals have those gigantic signs posted everywhere, screaming about how any device that transmits RF might cause a massive explosion or result in patient deaths. We commonly have this explained to us by the fact that "cellular phones and other RF transmitters may interfere with sensitive medical equipment." Aren't these sensitive pieces of equipment RF shielded in any way to prevent this, let alone to prevent the multitude of walkie-talkie conversations and telemetry broadcasts permeating the hospital hallways from upsetting the various electronic doodads? I've even seen docs answer their mobile phones right in front of me, ON HOSPITAL PROPERTY, thumbing their noses at the dictum that "PHONE IN HOSPITAL BAD."

I, procrastinating my own reading, did a quick search online for an answer to this question which has plagued me and my colleauges for some time now. Here are a few highlights from different points of view:

Digital Cellular Phone Interference with Cardiac Pacemakers
Is There an Effect of a Cellular Phone on Pacemaker Function?
Is it time for Cellular Bill of Rights?
Medical Center Goes Wireless
EM interference of external pacemakers... study
Effect of mobile phone on life-saving and life-sustatning systems
Interference to medical equipment form mobile phones.
Initial experience with a wireless PDA as a teleradiology terminal...

--- [DrPsycho] Coping with reality since 1975.

From an employees point of view i can understand the other members opinions on the company ability to reimburse the cost of the phone bill. From an employers point of view i can say that will pay for all business related phone calls and personal calls made to 1 or 2 other phone numbers such as your home number and, if married, your spouses job number.

As for cellular service goes....my hometown is New York City and i travel alot. Its been to my experience that all calling plans differ from state to state..Being that i am from NY during my last visit...July...After days of research AT&T had the calling plan that best fit my needs...they offer the "One-Rate Plan" which lets you make calls from anywhere in the continental US to anywhere in the continental US. There is NO ROAMING fees and NO LONG DISTANCE fees. 600 min free per month with and additional 200 as a signup bonus a total of 800 mins. When your time is up you pay .25 per min for calls. Unlike other services AT&T does round up calls to the nearest minute...meaning five 20sec calls will cost you 5 min....even when your call drops. Other companies dont charge you unless you go past that first minute. As for the cellular phone you would have to research that and find one that best suits your connectivity needs. PCS phones are great because you can receive email on them, also some Internet companies have services which will send you text information such as stock quotes, horoscopes, the latest news and scores of your favorite team...

Checkout NEXTEL I hear this company has the best world wide service, unfortunately before i signed my contract with AT&T, NEXTEL wasnt available in my area but if my service provider doesnt offer me a better plan when my contract is up... NEXTEL will have a new customer!!!

Basically, you pay $80 down for a slightly clunky but prefectly accceptable phone, and some initial starter minutes. After that you can add minutes to the phone using a plastic card you purchase with cash. It is a little expensive, I think the per minute cost comes out to around 40 cents a minute for the largest block. The biggest missing features of the plan are no voice mail, no text messaging. It works nationwide, and all calls are at that minute rate, no matter where in the country you are calling; your number is a 1-888 number with an extension.

But the most you can be ripped off for is the amount you put down up front. If AT&T stops it from working, I'm out for only the minutes I have on my account.

The cost is actually less than that of a subscription based phone for small numbers of minutes. If I don't use the phone at all for a month, I pay nothing. There are very few plans like that available in the US; most of them have you buy minutes that expire in 30, 45 or 90 days, forcing you to buy more minutes than you will use and then have them expire. But the AT&T National Prepaid minutes only expire every 6 months, and they will roll over to the next 6 months as long as you add some amount of minutes to the account. This is there to provide them with an exit from providing the service -- they can just stop selling the cards, wait six months, and then stop providing the dial tone to those phones.

Which brings me to the point that AT&T may be about to do just that. I was told by the clerks at the AT&T storefront where I go to to buy new minutes that AT&T is bringing out a new prepaid plan, and this one sounds as junky as the other prepaid plans offered in the US. The minutes expire in 90 days, you are charged a varying amount based on where you are calling, etc.

I've read in a number of places lamintations about the US "lagging behind" Europe and Japan in cell phone usage. I've also heard that in those areas most of the phones are sold in the pre-paid style; many have a place to insert a card or chip that activates the phone for a certain number of minutes. This insulates you from the telephone company's incompetent billing department, and when you buy the chips and phone with cash, provides more privacy. I think this different style of service is a major reason why the cellular phone hasn't penetrated the US market as deeply. As long as fools like most cell phone users are willing to keep putting out $100 and more a month on a plan, why should the wireless providers bother with actually billing for what they provide ?

It's a shame, really. I'm sure this area comes under the interest of more than one congressional committee, and if I were a congressman I'd have some executives on the stand and I'd be (verbally) beating the shit out of them over it. The fact that they can focus on a small segment of the population willing to be suckers means that the general advancement in that market and industry is being retarded. Since I'm not a congressman, I guess I'm limited to verbally abusing my friends who fall into the sucker class.

It's CDMA, which means it's connection-oriented and will more than likely use your minutes in order to do Internetting. An example of a carrier which uses this type of system would be Sprint. AT&T, on the other hand, uses TDMA, which can use the GPRS packet-oriented system to provide essentially free Internet access which is always on.

My advice? Wait for AT&T to come out with 3G services and then go ahead and drop your DSL connection; you won't be needing it anymore.

Email me.
Don't trust anyone over 90000.

-Brook Harty

Have you WAP'ed today? http://www.attws.com/personal /explore/pocketnet/index.hdml

"Some of the AT&T Digital PocketNet service compatible phones can also be connected to your PC using a cable (tethered). If you choose to connect your phone to your PC for use as a modem, in addition to any monthly fee, you will be charged at $.05 per kilobyte for each individual session. " There is a brief mention of this (without the pricing) on one of the other pages describing the service.

Incoming emails are limited to 50 messages and 2MB/message max. Once this limit is reached, messages are dumped FIFO. AT&T also reserves the right to unilaterally block incoming emails and other content.

I spoke with them about the service, and told them I was very dissapointed in the pricing for tethered service as the display capabilities of a phone are far below what I can get on my Palm PDA or PC. The rep thanked me for calling AT&T Wireless ('natch).

Biggest war right now is that everyone and their brother has a WAP phone, Content is the big key.
Check out the content providers AT&T has, every major trading firm, infospace, disney, abcnews/espn, ebay, and the list goes on...
http://www.attws.com/personal/explore/pocketnet/in fospace_preview.html

IMHO -IronWolve

CDPD is Cellular Digital Packet Data, which crams data packets around the TDMA digital cellphone space, giving 19.2kbps always-on IP data service. AT&T offers a flat-rate service for about $55/mo, and there are various other service providers that offer per-packet pricing.

Metricom Ricochet radio modems are cool - depending on the model, they range from about 28kbps-equivalent to 128kbps performance for radio-based Internet access. They're mainly located in high-tech areas and big airports, but they've gotten recent investment from MCI, so they're starting to grow a lot. It's a microcell system with pole-top radio pods connected to the network either by radioing to each other to reach wired pods. I'm not sure about the new service - the older modems could switch cells easily at walking speed, but not very well at driving or train speed. Hang one on your laptop and you can work wherever you feel like, or at least stay connected when you head out for coffee, meetings, work in the park, etc.

CDPD is Cellular Digital Packet Data, which crams data packets around the TDMA digital cellphone space, giving 19.2kbps always-on IP data service. AT&T offers a flat-rate service for about $55/mo, and there are various other service providers that offer per-packet pricing.

Metricom Ricochet radio modems are cool - depending on the model, they range from about 28kbps-equivalent to 128kbps performance for radio-based Internet access. They're mainly located in high-tech areas and big airports, but they've gotten recent investment from MCI, so they're starting to grow a lot. It's a microcell system with pole-top radio pods connected to the network either by radioing to each other to reach wired pods. I'm not sure about the new service - the older modems could switch cells easily at walking speed, but not very well at driving or train speed. Hang one on your laptop and you can work wherever you feel like, or at least stay connected when you head out for coffee, meetings, work in the park, etc.

CDPD is Cellular Digital Packet Data, which crams data packets around the TDMA digital cellphone space, giving 19.2kbps always-on IP data service. AT&T offers a flat-rate service for about $55/mo, and there are various other service providers that offer per-packet pricing.

Metricom Ricochet radio modems are cool - depending on the model, they range from about 28kbps-equivalent to 128kbps performance for radio-based Internet access. They're mainly located in high-tech areas and big airports, but they've gotten recent investment from MCI, so they're starting to grow a lot. It's a microcell system with pole-top radio pods connected to the network either by radioing to each other to reach wired pods. I'm not sure about the new service - the older modems could switch cells easily at walking speed, but not very well at driving or train speed. Hang one on your laptop and you can work wherever you feel like, or at least stay connected when you head out for coffee, meetings, work in the park, etc.

They're reviving their AT&T PocketNet plan, only this time it looks more like the Sprint offering. It has WAP-only options, or you can go full-bore for $15/month to access any web site.

They have a $100 Ericsson and $200 Mitsubishi phone (the Mits is pretty nice, with the bigger display), but you do have to sign up for AT&T wireless voice service.

See AT&T's Web site on the topic. There's also a story over at the SJ Mercury.

Not Bluetooth...

Check out http://www.omnisky.com/products/index.html
for the wireless palm pilot modems.
Unlimited National CDPD Wireless Service with no roaming..

Side note, Each mobile has its own IP.
Just ssh/vnc into your box remotely, via your palm... oh yeah..

PS. That wap phone that article is talking about is the AT&T Pocketnet phone. (Out now)
http://www.attws.com/business/gov/explore/plans_ph ones/pocketnet/mitsubishi_t250.shtml
Check it out, the phone rocks! (I have one)

-IronWolve

Service
1. AT&T has the largest coverage area, with an extended roaming area for those who live in the back woods.
2. AT&T Digital One rate, you cant beat the price. http://www.att.com/onenet/
3. Family plan, up to 5 phones, unlimited talk time to each other (Same calling area).
4. AT&T prepaid (For those with ok credit)
5. Sprint - Not bad, not great. Works ok, but limited coverage area.

Internet Phones
Mitsubishi T250 with AT&T Pocketnet Service.
http://www.attws.com/business/pocketnet/index.html
Pocketnet has been out for 3 years. But LARGE Personal Launch date is a few weeks away.
The Mistubisi T250 is the same siza as a Nokia, had the best display, with Indeglow backlight.
1. 1. The phone uses CDPD network (Largest Wireless data network, with your own IP)
2. Supports TML, HDML, WAP, WML, WMLSCRIPT.
3. Email, Pageing, Internet surfing, bookmarks, Pop email, Personal site to configure services.
4. PIM (sync with exchange, notes, domma delimited text files, etc..) and much more.

IMHO,
---IronWolve---

If you can't get Ricochet, you can get unlimited CDPD for about $45-$60 a month.
http://www.attws.com/business/data/inde x.html

When AT&T upgrades the basestations at the end of this year to GSM we will start to see 3G products. Speeds will start at 128K then upto 768K.

WAP/Hdml will stick around for phones, but people want to view websites with html,java, vscript, shockwave, etc... 1 Bit bitmaps and text doesnt cut it.

Also if you cant wait for wireless data, check out the new CDPD phone from Mitsubishi. Its the same size a nokia, has Indeglo screen, 10 Lines of display, and a jack to hookup your laptop, 128bit encyrption.
http://www.mobileaccessphone.com/products/index.ht m

You can use this phone with AT&T Pocketnet CDPD Service. Its the one I use. (Oh yeah, ask about the Unlimited access)
Personal @ http://www.attws.com/personal/pocketnet/index.html
Business @ http://www.attws.com/business/pocketnet/index.html

Hey, if Slashdot ever has an HDML page, Alot of us mobile junkies would love it. (If I just had time to get the darn html-hdml convertor working..)

When AT&T upgrades the basestations at the end of this year to GSM we will start to see 3G products. Speeds will start at 128K then upto 768K.

WAP/Hdml will stick around for phones, but people want to view websites with html,java, vscript, shockwave, etc... 1 Bit bitmaps and text doesnt cut it.

Also if you cant wait for wireless data, check out the new CDPD phone from Mitsubishi. Its the same size a nokia, has Indeglo screen, 10 Lines of display, and a jack to hookup your laptop, 128bit encyrption.
http://www.mobileaccessphone.com/products/index.ht m

You can use this phone with AT&T Pocketnet CDPD Service. Its the one I use. (Oh yeah, ask about the Unlimited access)
Personal @ http://www.attws.com/personal/pocketnet/index.html
Business @ http://www.attws.com/business/pocketnet/index.html

Hey, if Slashdot ever has an HDML page, Alot of us mobile junkies would love it. (If I just had time to get the darn html-hdml convertor working..)

CDPD is used in the Palm III's Minstrel, and the new Palm V Omnisky Minstrel [www.omnisky.com]). If I recall there are a couple of PCMCIA type II and III cards that support it as well (the Spider comes to mind)

AT&T has 'unlimited' service for it at around $25/month for the palm $55/month for other devices in many areas (called AT&T Wireless IP Service) and it gives you a 19.2k TCP/IP stack.

The service is damn near ideal for wearable/pda use, so, I wouldn't go so far as to say there are no options for internet connectivity.