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Here is the coverage info for their 4G service.

http://www.nextel.com/en/stores/popups/4G_coverage_popup.shtml

Thankfully I live near Baltimore.

No it's not. If you'd like a mobile telephone I suggest a less capable model such as any of the cheaper motorola models, such as the i776. If you are looking for a PDA or mobile media center which happens to also have cellphone capabilities then this is probably for you.

http://nextelonline.nextel.com/en/stores/popups/4G_coverage_popup.shtml
Claim "typical" speeds of 3-6 Mbps...in those cities that have 4G coverage.

Sprint-Nextel International Phones

Verizon International Phones

I was under the impression that Verizon and Sprint happen not to.

Verizon.

Sprint (select "Mobile Broadband" toggle).

AT&T.

T-Mobile.

Well not so much games. 3G was never supposed to indicate speed.

0G - Radio phones (walkie talkies, CB, and the like)
1G - Analog cellular phones
2G - Digital cellular phones (where data was added onto the 'talk' stream)
3G - Digital cellular phones with data desigend to be accomodated

Sprint, Verizon have ~1.4 Mbps system, and have the best coverage
ATT has ~3.5 Mbps "3G" And have OK coverage
T-Moblie has not specified their speed but probably have 7.2 Mbps, but have limited urban area coverage

And EDGE which ATT considers 2.5G is actually in the 3G specification. They advertize this so people don't expect 'fast' data access with 2G, and to get people to upgrade to 3G.


Sources:
http://aboutus.vzw.com/bestnetwork/network_facts.html
http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/why/technology/3g-umts.jsp
http://nextelonline.nextel.com/en/stores/popups/4G_coverage_popup.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-Mobile_USA#3G_upgrade

"Palm has officially retired Palm OS and is now focusing hard on its next-generation WebOS in the Palm Pre, the company is still selling Palm OS-powered smartphones; two current models are the Treo Pro on Sprint and the Centro."

Considering I have 14 Sprint Treo PRO in my phone fleet, I can tell you someone didn't do their fact checking - The unit DOES NOT run on PalmOS - it's Windows Mobile Pro 6.1

http://nextelonline.nextel.com/NASApp/onlinestore/en/Action/DisplayPhones?phoneSKU=PTR850HK

Way to go, Appscout.

Sprint DOES prorate the ETF for all contracts signed after November 2008. However, there is still a minimum of $50, so your ETF after 18 months would be $87.50

See http://nextelonline.nextel.com/en/services/termination_fee/early_termination_fee.shtml

I know. I should have been clearer.

The point of my comment was simply that when referring to a "per kilobit/byte" rate I would refer to them as "data usage rates" or "network usage rates" rather than "network transfer rates", as this phrasing (to me, at least) implies a measure of speed.

I guess my other inadequately articulated point was that in our society's vernacular, people tend to refer to a 20 Mbps connection as "20 Megabit", even though this is technically incorrect. Consequently, most regular people really only hear and use the terms "kilobit", "megabit", and "gigabit" in ways related to data transfer speed.

In retrospect, I should have been clearer. However, my point still stands. All the providers I've checked (in addition to the aforementioned AT&T) bill in Kilobytes and advertise speeds in Kbps.

VZW: "The speed of the Verizon Wireless data network is measured in Kilobits (kb) per second. However, the amount of data transmitted over the Verizon Wireless data network is measured in Kilobytes (KB), Megabytes (MB) or Gigabytes (GB). " -- http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/store/controller?item=planFirst&action=viewPlanList&sortOption=priceSort&typeId=5&subTypeId=13&catId=409

Sprint: "Data: Services are not available with all Sprint phones. Usage is calculated on a per kilobyte basis and is rounded up to the next whole kilobyte." -- http://nextelonline.nextel.com/en/legal/legal_terms_privacy_popup.shtml

Same with Sprint; they call their version the AIRAVE and it says: "Limit access to your AIRAVE by creating a list of up to 50 approved Sprint phone numbers."

What a great idea! Can't believe I didn't think of trying this! That basically amounts to free international calling, and the ability to use my american cell phone (without a SIM card) overseas!

Sprint makes a device called the Airave that acts as a mini-cell tower over a DSL line. I imagine it could be plugged into any DSL line overseas, and route calls and voicemails to my cell phone in another country. Even if Sprint had some geographical limitations as to where the traffic could come from, I could tunnel the data back to my house and have it leave from there, at the expense of a little extra lag.

Does the wireless spectrum match up in, lets say Europe, to allow for this? It would save me a fortune in international calls and prepaid cell phones on trips.

It's an issue of semantics.

No it isn't. It's a matter of self-entitlement (although saying so results in '-1 Troll').

The providers thought that they were offering unlimited data plans to use with the built in web browsing capabilities of the phone.

Actually, that's exactly what they (Sprint-Nextel in this case) offer. Look at the advertised features. Enter your ZIP Code here to look at the plans, and notice the ones which say Unlimited Data. Click for more information, and read the note about tethering.

Look at the Everything Data plan for example, which (naturally) includes Unlimited Data. Clearly stated, 'Phone as modem or tethering: not included.'

Not unlimited data plans for phones that are connected to computers and used like modems.

I agree completely with this sentence fragment. The providers *knew* (you used the word 'thought' which incorrectly implied that the providers' belief might not be true) that they weren't offering an unlimited data plan for phones that doesn't include tethering but also does include tethering. They knew this because simultaneously not doing it and doing it would break the time-space continuum, a move against which Sprint-Nextel's lawyers highly advised them.

Soon enough there will be enough of an uproar over the ambiguity and the lawyers will get together and come up with some new terms that more clearly define things in favor of the providers.

They already did ages ago in the original advertising and contracts, which suggests that they have read your post and used a time machine. There is currently *no* ambiguity if you read before clicking 'buy' or leaving for the Sprint store. There is *very little* ambiguity if you ask or click one link for 'More Information.' The terms are in favor of both the provider and the customer; Customers may purchase the Phone As Modem plan ($15 per month for a 5GB cap or possibly the Unlimited for $40 if it is still offered) to allow Tethering, a much more resource/bandwidth-intensive, optional feature for the provider to offer. Otherwise, it will cost '$0.03 per kilobyte' to use.

It's an issue of semantics.

No it isn't. It's a matter of self-entitlement (although saying so results in '-1 Troll').

The providers thought that they were offering unlimited data plans to use with the built in web browsing capabilities of the phone.

Actually, that's exactly what they (Sprint-Nextel in this case) offer. Look at the advertised features. Enter your ZIP Code here to look at the plans, and notice the ones which say Unlimited Data. Click for more information, and read the note about tethering.

Look at the Everything Data plan for example, which (naturally) includes Unlimited Data. Clearly stated, 'Phone as modem or tethering: not included.'

Not unlimited data plans for phones that are connected to computers and used like modems.

I agree completely with this sentence fragment. The providers *knew* (you used the word 'thought' which incorrectly implied that the providers' belief might not be true) that they weren't offering an unlimited data plan for phones that doesn't include tethering but also does include tethering. They knew this because simultaneously not doing it and doing it would break the time-space continuum, a move against which Sprint-Nextel's lawyers highly advised them.

Soon enough there will be enough of an uproar over the ambiguity and the lawyers will get together and come up with some new terms that more clearly define things in favor of the providers.

They already did ages ago in the original advertising and contracts, which suggests that they have read your post and used a time machine. There is currently *no* ambiguity if you read before clicking 'buy' or leaving for the Sprint store. There is *very little* ambiguity if you ask or click one link for 'More Information.' The terms are in favor of both the provider and the customer; Customers may purchase the Phone As Modem plan ($15 per month for a 5GB cap or possibly the Unlimited for $40 if it is still offered) to allow Tethering, a much more resource/bandwidth-intensive, optional feature for the provider to offer. Otherwise, it will cost '$0.03 per kilobyte' to use.

This is probably your most feasible solution. A cell phone is going to be able to accomplish most of these items, without being a giant brick.

Sprint ( I do not work for them, but do use them), has a service that works like this:
http://www.nextel.com/en/services/gps/family_locator.shtml

And I am sure that others do as well. I think the one saving grace about this, is that it sends a text message when it "locates" a person, so they know, that you know, where they are.

I am probably going to start using a service like this once my son gets older, just because of the peace of mind of "yes, I do know where my kid is at 2 in the morning".

The thing that I am having issues with is:

A. What age to I get it for him?

B. Will this conflict with school policy? Ideally, the phone will be in silent mode during the school day, and my son will have enough discipline to not get himself in trouble with it, and have it confiscated as a result.

Good luck

That's odd - I can't find that at all after extensive searches. All I see is "unlimited data" (and that's what my contract reads). Then again, my area doesn't show the option to limit to just mobile broadband plans. Maybe it's just wherever you live - or maybe they figure that, if I have the patience to download that much in my 1xRTT (~160KBps) coverage area, I'm welcome to it. :)

I did find this, though, on http://nextelonline.nextel.com/en/legal/legal_terms_privacy_popup.shtml

Data Usage Limitation (Mobile Broadband Cards, USB Modems, Embedded Modems and Phone-As-Modem): The amount of data transmitted over our network is measured in kilobytes (KB), megabytes (MB) or gigabytes (GB). Sprint reserves the right to limit throughput speeds or amount of data transferred; and to deny, terminate, modify, disconnect or suspend service if usage either exceeds (a.) 5GB/month in total, unless specified otherwise or (b.) 300MB/month while off-network roaming. 1024KB equal 1MB. 1024MB equal 1GB.

Where did you find Sprint's "over 5 GB" price documented?

http://nextelonline.nextel.com/NASApp/onlinestore/en/Action/DisplayPlans?filterString=Mobile_Broadband_Cards_Filter&id12=UHP_PlansTab_Link_DataPlans

In particular, the sentence "Additional monthly usage over 5 GB costs 5/MB."

The problem is that they're essentially telling you to sign a two year contract committing yourself to paying whatever bill they send you, but won't tell you what the bill will be.

It's actually a bit more complicated than that, as I found when I shopped last fall for a major carrier:

• Verizon seemed to have the best agreement; it allowed me to cancel (within 60 days of notice) without early termination fees for any billing change that would cause a material adverse effect on me--including any tax they were not required to pass to the consumer but did anyway. I cancelled mostly due to their locked-down phones, their anti-consumer attitude, and their anti-openness lobbying; but when they chose to pass to me an increased state tax it was a last straw and get-out-of-ETF-free card.
• As I recall, Sprint's agreement was similar to Verizon's, but specifically allowed them to increase text message fees without limit, and you would have no recourse. When I see their material adverse effect clause now, it seems that they've removed that exception to be equivalent to Verizon standards (but you must cancel within 30 days of when higher rates take effect).
• When AT&T raises any fees, you may cancel without ETF (within 30 days of first affected bill), except for a change in how much tax they wish to pass to you (in which case you have no recourse).
• T-Mobile's terms are the worst: they say you can cancel without ETF (within 30 days of notice) only if the advertised monthly charge changes, but they can change any "fees" arbitrarily!

I ended up going with T-Mobile's prepaid FlexPay account, which is the same price as the normal one but without the 2-year unbounded risk and without subsidized phones.

AT&T is indeed sold in GiB/MiB:"1,024 kilobytes (KB) = 1 megabyte (MB)" from http://www.wireless.att.com/businesscenter/popup/dataconnect-comp-table.jsp#laptopconnect

Sprint: yes, from http://nextelonline.nextel.com/en/legal/legal_terms_privacy_popup.shtml

Verizon: yes, from http://b2b.vzw.com/broadband/bba_terms.html

So, yes, they are all sold in binary units, and the SI prefixes are incorrectly used here.

First off, very well worded response, holophrastic.

In regards to - Now I have no problem organize a list of people, to whom I grant the power of grey skull... - Sprint already has a service (http://www.nextel.com/en/services/gps/family_locator.shtml) much like this. As you detail, it allows family members and those you designate to see your location. It could be used, I suppose, to keep "track" of that mischevious teenage girl of yours, or in situations like the ones you describe.

Disclaimer - I don't work for Sprint. I don't know if other cell phone carriers offer this same service. I simply noticed it when browsing my plan and options on their site.

"There are not that many people out there prepared to buck the establishment," said Toronto lawyer Margaret Waddell, who is involved in a class action against a bank for the transaction fees on its cash advances.

No Class Actions
TO THE EXTENT ALLOWED BY LAW, WE EACH WAIVE ANY RIGHT TO PURSUE DISPUTES ON A CLASSWIDE BASIS; THAT IS, TO EITHER JOIN A CLAIM WITH THE CLAIM OF ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY, OR ASSERT A CLAIM IN A REPRESENTATIVE CAPACITY ON BEHALF OF ANYONE ELSE IN ANY LAWSUIT, ARBITRATION OR OTHER PROCEEDING.
No Trial By Jury
TO THE EXTENT ALLOWED BY LAW, WE EACH WAIVE ANY RIGHT TO TRIAL BY JURY IN ANY LAWSUIT, ARBITRATION OR OTHER PROCEEDING.

Fortunately Sprint is not the final arbiter of the facts, a jury is.

Instead Of Suing In Court, We Each Agree To Arbitrate Disputes We each agree to finally settle all disputes (as defined and subject to any specific exceptions below) only by arbitration. In arbitration, there's no judge or jury and review is limited. However, just as a court would, the arbitrator must honor the terms and limitations in the Agreement and can award the same damages and relief, including any attorney's fees authorized by law. The arbitrator's decision and award is final and binding, with some exceptions under the Federal Arbitration Act ("FAA"), and judgment on the award may be entered in any court with jurisdiction.

I believe Sprint has had something like this for a while now. "Sprint Family Locator" lets you see where your kids are using GPS, or, when unavailable, cell signal approximation.

My understanding is that many GPS apps use "Assisted GPS" like this, triangulating from cell towers for location help, since traditional GPS requires a clear view of the sky and that's not always practical (you're indoors, or in an urban or actual canyon, etc).

I'm not sure where you are getting your internet rate from Sprint, but looking at their website i can see the Vision Pack offered for $15 with the cheapest plan. That means the whole deal with unlimited internet is $35. Pretty long distance from $60 charged by ATT.
Obviously upgrading the Sprint plan to 450 minutes raises the price to about $55, but that also gives you 7pm unlimited nights and weekends. (I couldn't find ATT's time for N&W, but I haven't heard anyone with ATT saying they got early nights)

Being an American, my providers charge me an arm and a leg for each text received or sent...

One quick look finds http://www.nextel.com/en/services/messaging/text_messaging.shtml If you really send/receive more than 1,000 text messages a month (for $10) you can go to $15 for unlimited. Personally, I never even come close to 300, so $5 would be pretty reasonable to be able to text the kids.

You could try to get a USB device to wirelessly get a cell phone connection with EVDO speeds. The two fastest providers are Sprint and Verizon, because they both use EVDO... Cingular and T-Mobile do not use this, so their speeds are slower. I have a PCMCIA one of these Sprint cards, and I get 1mbit down constantly while driving in the car, and I lost my connection only once every 30 minutes or so, for about 15 seconds... Most of them are PCMCIA cards, for a laptop, but they do make some USB ones, such as the Aircard® 595U by Sierra Wireless. Before you get it, you should check if your area gets a signal. Type in your zip code on the side panel at the right, and when the map appears, you must remember to check the box under the map that says "Sprint Mobile Broadband Network". If your area receives no service, you should try to find out if Verizon cards get any reception there either. Chances are, if cell phones using Sprint or Verizon get reception at your house, then a USB card should, too.

Nextel sold a dual iDEN/GSM phone for travellers (i930). They also sold some GSM-only phones for international use, but those wouldn't work on the nextel U.S. network (v505, v180). But, they had no GSM network in America. http://www.nextel.com/en/support/faq/worldwide.sht ml#worldwide_q3

Interesting! But some carriers definitely have "real GPS" in their phones. I use Nextel and have an i870 handset, and it has to refresh the list of satellites, has suggestions on how to orient the unit to give the GPS antenna (internal) the best reception, etc. Now whether that's the data they use for the e911 service is anyone's guess. But they do specifically state that for the employee tracking tools they use utilize the GPS receivers in the handsets. (see http://www.nextel.com/en/solutions/gps/track_manag e.shtml)

As a marketing d00d myself, clearly the message here is that the current models of in-game advertising are not effective enough. My firm is looking to increase the saturation of our in-game ads, and product placement is really taking off. I've been talking to several big names. Let's just say you'll be seeing a lot more of Tony Sinclair as a playable character in a variety of genres. For example, why leave your on-screen message display system unbranded, when instead you could have a simulated Nextel walkie-talkie on-screen for the whole game, complete with the signature beep sound whenever the player accomplishes a goal? We're also looking at putting watermark logos into the alpha channels of game textures. We've done some focus groups and the subtlety of these watermarks is very good, with a much higher impression rate than with "traditional" subliminal advertising. Really, the sky's the limit these days. Will these new methods be enough to crack the resistance gamers have to advertising? Only time will tell.

I work for a Nextel reseller. They're not GSM, but any three-digit model numbered phone does use a SIM card. These phones make up the vast majority of the current subscriber base.

For more information, visit http://www.nextel.com/sim

I hope they manage to do it better than their wireless service was with the IM 1100. That was an absolute piece of crap. I could get a connection, but don't expect to do anything on it. Latency was in the high 3 digit range (like 900ms pings), and even for a simple web page, you'd be waiting for 5 minutes.

The only practical thing I ever got it to do was send a webcam feed, while I was driving. One small picture every 5 minutes was ok for that.

The only upside was that it worked under Windows and Linux. :) it was just a regular serial device, as far as the comptuer was concerned. It had a short init string to turn it on, and then you'd fire up pppd.

I'll be happy if this new service works, assuming they're rolling it out to the whole country. I heard Verizon had one that worked pretty good. I don't really want an extra cell phone bill though.

He demo'd it... "bleep bleep" - sounded just like a nextel to me.

Yeah, there are a LOT of situations around the country where one company is dominant in the non-metropolitan areas. In my area, (and well, many others) Alltel is the only provider that will cover you out in BFE. But if you look at the two coverage maps for Sprint and Nextel, you will see that they are already catering to all the metropolitan areas around the country. My point was that instead of buying a company that has basically already done exactly what they are doing with a completely non-compatible technology, they should invest that money in their own company, expand their network and give the people in the rural areas competition and choice.

Unlimited local, $30; unlimited LD, $50; feature packages available

Unlimited cellular minutes, $100

I did this 3 years ago, for a cross-country drive (Tampa, FL to Los Angeles, CA, 2500 miles, 2.5 days). I wanted to "broadcast" my drive, so I had my Linux laptop capturing from a webcam, and sending the pictures back up to my web server.

I used the Nextel im1100. The speed wasn't great (or even good most of the time), but it let me get the images up slowly. I could get one frame every 5 to 10 seconds sent up, which was more than enough to entertain my friends, who would check up on my progress every few hours.

You have to do a ppp script, just like you would dialing up on a conventional modem to an ISP. The init string was something odd. I think it was AT&S0=0 . The dial string was simply "ATDT". If you search around on DejaNews, you can find the right init string, if I'm mistaken.

There are other providers who's modems work exactly the same way. When I was researching it 3 years ago, they all acted like serial cards. I picked Nextel, because I already had a couple cell phones with them, and I could simply add it to my account. I don't know if things have really changed, but when I was looking at them, they advertise a "max" speed, which is *MUCH* higher than your real connection speed. In other words, you'll never see the speeds they offer. Generally it'll be 9600 baud, with really bad latency. 400ms+ pings were the norm.

Nextel will tell you specifically that they won't work on anything but Windows, but trust me, it works fine. It's the difference between what the support people know, and the way it really is. :)

The im1100 has it's own battery, it doesn't depend on the laptop for power. For my drive, I had the laptop and the modem plugged into a power inverter. I got pulled over twice on that drive. The cops gave my setup a really funny look, but didn't really say anything about it. Oddly enough, driving 2500 miles, you really start questioning if the speed limit should be so low..

I kept asking myself, "My car can easily do 160mph. I'm doing 75mph. If I doubled my speed, I'd cut this drive time in half. It's 800 miles to the next state. At 75, that's 10.6hrs. at 100, that's 8hrs. At 130mph (a nice cruise speed for my car) that's 6.1 hours. 6.1 hours sounds a lot better than 10.6 hours."

Right about the time I'd start trying it, is when I'd get pulled over. Since I was on I-10 in fuckin' Wyle E. Coyote country, where the cactus outnumber the humans 100000:1 they were ok with my 5mph over. They just wanted to remind me to slow down. I'm good with that. I like warnings a lot more than tickets.

Oh, and if you try to figure out my average speed for the drive (41mph), I did stop in El Paso for 12 hours, and had 6 fuel stops (4 of them I was kinda fuzzy from lack of sleep and a constant caffeine buzz). I also hit shitty traffic in San Antonio, and tried to stop in Bum-stick Arizona for cigarettes (couldn't find my brand), and again in Phoenix (again, couldn't find my brand). I was twitching by the time I got to California, and it was 2 days to find a store that had my brand.

It's an interesting drive. Everyone should try it once by themselves, just to say they did it. :) Oh, and never drive it in a U-Haul. It took 5 days with only one real sleep stop.

Based on some of the news reports the device used was likely some Nextel GPS enabled phone, like the i58sr with the AtlasTrack 2.0 software and service provided by Networks in Motion.

Phone
Software
Service

Not connecting the phone to the car battery becomes less suprising when you realize the solution in available at the mall.

Please reference the following page: http://www.nextel.com/support/enet/index.shtml

I have used this on multiple occasions and have always found the results to be beneficial. Sometimes there is just nothing they can do, but they will explain exactly what they find to be the cause if they can and that knowledge, alone, is comforting. Regarding "drops" on freeways though, they often can resolve these with tower configuration changes if they are brought foreward.

And by the way : It is very nice to have the same telephone number several stories under the ground or in singapour, hong kong or new york

Someone else who hasn't used Nextel! Nextel has (albeit, butt-ugly) phones that transparently roam between domestic (iDEN) and international (GSM) networks. I use my i730 in the US, but move my SIM card to the i2000plus when I need to go to Europe. I know you said "without changing phones" but a 20 second change on each end of the trip to keep the same number in 144 countries is hardly an inconvenience. I especially like being able to change my wife's phone over before I leave for Europe knowing that she's going to join me later in the week, and her phone will "just work (tm)" when she arrives (except of course, no PTT overseas). Nextel certainly started as a business-oriented provider, but its market is expanding.

It's also easy to integrate the system with desktop phones and mobile phones. The database software allows the device to forward its messages to phones and pagers and also can accept calls forwarded from phones.

This would seem to be the next logical step for the Nextel style "walk-talkie" communications. In a few years we will all be taping our shirts to answer our phones, but the only real limiting factor I see here is I cannot really imagine everyone using a cell phone today escentially walking around talking on a speaker phone. It would be so overwhelming that you would hardly be able to carry on a conversation.

It that ends up the case, I'm sure we will all be sitting around telling people how we remember the good old days when you could actually hear yourself think in a public place.

If they could make the whole thing fit into an ear piece, and just use the mini-boom mic that you see on a lot of cell phone head sets now, they would probably spread like wild fire, but all I have to say is I have a hard enough time not losing my cell phone as is.

I always felt that this Motorola i90c was strikingly similar to the Star Trek communicator. It is very similar both in appearance and functionality.

Shure makes some excellent wireless products for the music end of it. I'm sure there are other products out there that would work well. You could even be really geeky and get those Nextel radio/cellphones for the crew. I've played a venue recently that the stage guys used that.

A couple months ago, apple was just telling people to throw their ipods away if the battery died.

The iPods niche is rabid fanboy's who can't even conceive of buying a competing product, and don't look at what else is available.

This has been out for awhile. Also, there will be (or already are) features in newer phones that provide location information to 911 call centers automatically.

The real CSI folks don't show up to crime scenes in a Hummer H2, talking on their Nextel i90c?

Not true:
Verizon: $59,99, 400 minutes (unlimited Push to Talk)
Nextel: $59,99, 400 minutes (unlimited Direct Connect)*
After that the plans leapfrog each other, Verizon going with the sleek $79, $99 options and Nextel picking the oh-so-stylish $69, $89 price points.

Pricing doesn't mention how 'high-speed' data will roll into this (which you can't get on Nextel)

Not true. Nextel offers Packetstream Gold, which give about 56k download speeds (but at a $54.99/month charge, it's expensive, too).

*Keep in mind that for Nextel nationwide Direct Connect there is a $10/month extra charge. Not sure about Verizon.

A closer example of a Start Trek Comm unit would be this unit from Vocera. Of course, there is also the Nextel system which both behaves and looks surprisingly similar to the communicators from the original Star Trek series.

Nextel released the i58sr and i88s handsets in November of 2002. Many vendors have provided the Java and web/desktop software nessecary to track the handsets since that time. They are probably over 20 vendors now including Actsoft, Xora, Portable Internet, GearWorks, Televigation and At Road just to name a few.

Nextel released the i58sr and i88s handsets in November of 2002. Many vendors have provided the Java and web/desktop software nessecary to track the handsets since that time. They are probably over 20 vendors now including Actsoft, Xora, Portable Internet, GearWorks, Televigation and At Road just to name a few.

These must be those super cellphones that are built around computers rather than the ones you get with a basic plan. Better use than games on the things, although I'm at a loss as to how you'd actually type using the twelve digit keypad.

With a keyboard, perhaps? (Don't laugh...they're available for some phones. For instance, the packaging for the Motorola i95cl shows the phone plugged into something that resembles the keyboard for my Palm III.)

Vagary,

There are plenty of full-blown, client-side, enterprise quality J2ME apps that run on cell phones, that can use public IP addresses on the Internet (yes, I've seen HTTP servers on a cell phone and cell phones with domain names), and that can do what staid enterprise developers would call Cool Things (barcode scanning, biometric IDs, on-phone GPS location tracking, voice recognition, phone-to-phone data streaming, FIPS-II crypto).

Not only that, these apps sell and companies make money off of the software.

Take a look at the various APIs that the actual handset manufacturers and network carriers make available--you may get a sense that J2ME two years ago and J2ME today are two different beasts.

I've noticed something like this with Nextel i1000s. I'm not sure if the power is actually cutting out, but just before a call arrives, the speakers issue a signature pop-pop-pop-pop.