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Sony Ericsson Makes a tri-band GPRS modem

Posted by Hemos on from the tri-band-that-modem dept.

prostoalex writes "Sony Ericsson announced their new PCMCIA GPRS wireless modem, capable of delivering 57.6 Kbps. It is tri-band and works in 900/1800/1900 MHz range, which led Sony Ericsson to imply that the card will work in 160 countries, providing an always-on Internet connection. Currently only Microsoft operating systems (starting at Windows 98) are supported. No exact price information on official site, but the PC Pro article above quotes 200 UK pounds. The manufacturer also runs a contest for those who would rather get one for free."

6 of 143 comments (clear)

  1. Re:One more thing... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    900 MHz is also European GSM range. They cannot be easily tapped with cheap equipment.

    Also note, when they are talking about triband, they mean 900/1800/1900 MHz, GSM only.

  2. Nokia Cardphone by Psychic+Burrito · · Score: 5, Informative

    Also, compare it to the Nokia Cardphone. Works with Linux, too :-)

  3. It has happend if you buy Nokia by chrestomanci · · Score: 5, Informative

    Check out the D211
    http://www.nokia.com/nokia/0,4879,1449,00.ht ml

    It is a wireless PCMCIA conectivity card, which supports both GPRS and 802.11b

    There are even linux drivers avalabe to to download. (I don't know if they work)

    It has been out for a couple of months.

    The main downside is that it only supports dual band opperation, so I guess american readers are out of luck.

    The other downside is that switching between GPRS and 802.11 is not automatic, though you could probably put together a script to make it so.

    I dare say it is rather expensive as well.

  4. Ummm... by rcs1000 · · Score: 4, Informative

    All European cell-phones have removable SIM cards. Many, although most users don't realise it, have built in modems.

    The Nokia 7xxx and 8xxx, plus the Ericsson R520, T28 and T68. By using either IR or Bluetooth, you can attach these phones to a laptop, and can then use an anonymous Internet account (like Freeserve in the UK.)

    Indeed, I have been using this method (except for the Freeserve bit) for about four years now to access the web when I am travelling. It's not quick, but it's super useful.

    Contrary to this posters' opinion, most criminals won't use stolen cell phones for Internet access. It's slow and clunky, and there are still ways to find who posted the hypothetical email message...

    (1) Trace email message to ISP.
    (2) Dredge ISP log to find phone number and time, duration of call.
    (3) Contact cell phone company that carried the call, discover IMEI number of the cell-phone.

    Now if anyone uses that cell phone again... you will know. You can track which cell they are in, etc. Complicated, but theoretically possible to catch the person you want.

    Thx,

    Robert

    --
    --- My dad's political betting
  5. Re:One more thing... by radish · · Score: 4, Informative

    This is GSM, it's encrypted. It's crackable in reasonable time, but it's certainly not "easily tapped with cheap equipment". This is nothing new, remember GSM has been around for years. I have never heard of anyone tapping GSM transmissions (publically anyway), whilst it used to be common place with *shudder* analogue cellphones.

    --

    ---- Den ene knappen er powerknapp, den andre er Bender voice knapp "Bite My Shiny Metal Ass"

  6. Re:Always on? by Ilgaz · · Score: 4, Informative

    You pay for bytes on GPRS, not being online. Just like some of those corparate lines.