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In my case, I was looking to move from call center flunkie doing technical support for voicemail (a job I took because I needed a paycheck, doing what it took to earn a living) into the sort of IT position for which I was much more suited, both in terms of experience and temperment.

I couldn't get so much as an interview for an internal promotion, and my requests for use of the company's training materials were turned down because the "request is not related to job functionality." Correct. I had already learned everything I needed to know to do my particular job.

Here's the funny part: My annual review with the company was excellent; my merit raise was higher than average, and in fact, my manager RAISED the raise suggested by my direct supervisor.

Yet they wouldn't let me out of the call position. When the stress of the inbound call line flaked me out, I pleaded to be moved to a non-call job, even with a pay cut, even if that meant pushing a broom and cleaning toilets. "Well," they said, "it's a call center."

Unable to retain me, I left the company, bitter and disappointed about their promise of offering growth and opportunity (in a company with 50,000+ employees!) that translated into being pigeonholed into taking calls for the rest of whatever life I chose to spend with them.

While this particular case was extreme, I've seen promises of growth in other companies as well, and have never once seen them deliver. I wonder if the whole idea of "growth opportunity" is nothing but a b*llsh*t ploy designed to recruit, and then we hope we can string 'em along long enough to make our money off the OJT we did.

But I guess it's not /. news until they can be sure to be the LAST to report it! Hmm.. Ya, but those wireless microwaves... Wooo doggy, uber geek, but... Ah, nevermind, it is sort of cool, just a bit more pointless. Just glad there are at least one or two other sources of Geek news than slashdot...

I'm surprised and the US Cellular claims of PCS coverage in comparison to the Sprint PCS claims. I wonder why companies wouldn't mutally negotiate terms for sharing PCS access. Unless PCS is some general term and TDMA and CDMA in no way like one-another.

-Daniel

ps, personally I don't think there's going to be a good solution, and he should abandon the "live" idea and just get a good camera with lots of storage, mount it, take slides, and upload them progressivly at the end of each day using a phone modem.

I'm quite confident that Sprint PCS or a GSM from Iowa Wireless are not going to be appropriate solutions for covering all of Iowa. The "race" in question here goes winding all over rural Iowa and pretty much tends to avoid the interstate system where the national carriers like Sprint provide service. The only carrier I'm aware of that even comes close to providing digital coverage to all of Iowa is TDMA service from US Cellular. I have a phone from them and they really do a good job of providing digital service to even the most rural areas in the state (except for my apartment, grrrr). I don't think that they offer CDPD service, although I haven't really checked into it since I don't have a laptop.
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You forgot the links Gateway PR dept and Sprint PCS.

I have a Sprint PCS Touchpoint 120 and it's pretty nifty. It handles the essential phone basics very well - a reasonable battery life and good coverage around town and the city (town = Boulder, CO, city = Denver). The signal easily gets lost if I go up into the mountains, but that's to be expected. I am a little wary of their billing / web ordering process though - when I signed up they accidentally created two accounts in my name and billed me an extra $50 that I didn't owe before they eventually got it sorted out. Finally, their web site is also often overloaded if you want to check or pay your account online.

The WAP features were quite a fun toy for the first week or so, but you can't really do any serious stuff with 6 lines of text. I find myself using it occasionally to check my email and get movie times when I'm outside (one of the dangers of being in Boulder, I suppose). Look on Yahoo! for a WAP directory. Note that sending mail is possible but requires much patience, and there is no direct POP3/SMTP support (web email like Yahoo! works just fine). It has a secure WAP implementation of some sort, so you can happily buy stuff online from anywhere. The phone also has some basic PIM features, but I largely ignore them as I also have a Palm. I think I could plug my Palm into this phone and get online that way, but I've not yet had the urge to try.

In short: I love this phone. As long as you don't want the world, you should be fine with whatever Sprint WAP-enabled phone takes your fancy. You mention the NP1000 - I had a look at one in the store and I didn't like it. Sure, it has a larger screen - but it looked suspiciously fragile, and it was only single band (ie: no analog roaming).

I did find some reviews on Epinions, so go have a read. There was a mobile phone section up on the Deja.com buying forums, but they're gone now that Deja has reverted to being a usenet feed (yay!).

If you primarily need a new mobile phone - get one and enjoy WAP as a toy. If you need full web access (or if the phrase: "mobile ssh or telnet client" starts you drooling), get a VisorPhone (or wireless Palm if you don't mind not being able to make voice calls) - but the monthly subscription fee might be astronomical compared to the 1500-minute per month holiday offers I've seen Sprint pushing recently.

AIM is a little hard to use on a phone without T9 entry - but it's still pretty cool.

Sprint just introduced this My Music thing just recently. Apparently they're providing 2GB of MP3 storage for use with a Samsung Uproar phone. I don't know how they're planning on streaming to the phone - best data rate I can get with my SCH 3500 is 14.4.

NeoPoint has had a cell/PDA, the NP1000, out for a while now with Sprint. They are releasing the NP2000 in time for Christmas. The NP1600 is out with Verizon now... I like being able to carry only one device to keep my phone numbers and my appointments, surf the web and call people. It's just so much simpler. It has T9 to make typing easier (it guesses the word you are trying to spell instead of having to hit the 6 key three times for an O etc.). And it syncs with outlook, notes etc. to keep me up to date. I won't go back to two separate devices. 8-)

Info can be found here

Features:
Smart Phone Digital phone and electronic organizer in one package.
- 3COM-based (Palm III platform) Personal digital assistant (PDA) is built-in.
- Address book keeps track of names, addresses, phone numbers, e-mail and website addresses, as well as other information about your personal and business contacts.
- You can make a call, send an e-mail or open Internet sites directly from your address book. - Date book records appointments quickly and easily.
- To-Do list allows you to make a list of things to do and assign a priority level and due date for each task.
- Calculator lets you perform basic operations.
- HotSync Technology: Synchronize data between your phone and your PC.

Wireless Web Message Capable
This phone is MiniBrowser ready, includes all necessary items (software and cable) for wireless connectivity and can receive wireless web messages. Access the Internet to browse text-only versions of popular web sites. Check weather reports, sports scores, stock reports and more.

Stylus Navigation
Large Display offers touch-screen capabilities and stylus-based navigation. Hold the stylus like a pen, and you can write directly on the screen.

Funny thing is that this phone doesn't sell well. When will people learn that taking two things they like, like ice cream and tuna fish, and combining them simply does not always work. This is a perfect example.

People, especially americans, want smaller phones. Hell, people that WANT a Palm will get a Palm. The majority just want a cell phone and don't need that additional functionality. Plus, putting a huge block of a phone against your ear simply is not "new yorker-ish" (ie stylish)

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.

Perhaps there are differences between what you're using and what I'm using, but from Sprint's web site (http://s4.sprintpcs.com/wireless/pricin g.html), I see

Sprint PCS Wireless Web Option
For $9.99 a month, you can add the Sprint PCS Wireless WebSM to your existing service plan of $29.99 or more. This Option lets you use your calling plan minutes for both clear calls and accessing the wireless internet, and you get 30 Sprint PCS Wireless Web updates included. Each additional minute of Sprint PCS Wireless Web access costs $0.25. Each additional update costs $0.10.

I figure it's cheaper for me to pay the 39c per minute (I never go under on my minutes, but don't go over enough to bump up) rate instead of paying $10 for 30 minutes + 25c/minute after that.

Are you really getting an "unlimited service is only about $11/month" through Sprint PCS?

It seems from the images that they supply a serial cable and a CD... it's difficult to see why they want $199 for it. Unless the software is some kind of external Winmodem driver, it seems like you could put together a cable yourself and save the $199.

Anyone have one of these?

Chris Moyer
moyerca@one.net
www.atwatch.com

I just got mine from SprintPCS.

It has a built in modem, and allegedly will function as a wireless modem via standard AT commands. I haven't verified this, yet. All suppliers of the necessary cables are on backorder.