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Handhelds Wireless Networking Hardware

Best Cell Phone Service for GPRS? 53

Posted by Cliff from the finding-the-right-provider dept.
hojo asks: "I have a Palm Tungsten T and I'd like to start using it for (limited) wireless web browsing. It has Bluetooth support and will work with GPRS cell service. Alltel, my current cell provider, doesn't support GPRS so I want to switch to another plan. What cell phone service plans are there that you have used or know about that will work to allow me to use my Palm and preferably a Bluetooth phone for some on-the-road lookup? My only other issue is I'm trying to keep the cost less than $100/month."
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Best Cell Phone Service for GPRS? More

Best Cell Phone Service for GPRS?

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  • The Sony Ericsson T616...fabulous phone - available on on ATTWS and Cingular

  • Costs: (Score:4, Informative)

    by BrokenHalo ( 565198 ) on Wednesday August 20, 2003 @01:26AM (#6741324)
    I'm trying to keep the cost less than $100/month.

    The whole point of GPRS is that you pay for the traffic you use (rather than connect time), so if you want to keep costs down, you simply have to keep traffic down. As for the best service, it will depend on what performs well in your area. Here in Western Australia, Vodafone is pretty good, but it your mileage may (will) vary. It shouldn't make any difference what hardware you use: that's just a matter of preference.

    • Actually, T-mobile at least and, I think, ATT and Cingular both offer unlimited GPRS in the states.

    • Traffic (Score:4, Interesting)

      by fm6 ( 162816 ) on Wednesday August 20, 2003 @04:55AM (#6742051) Homepage Journal
      The whole point of GPRS is that you pay for the traffic you use (rather than connect time)...
      That's the theory. And it does appear that nobody's charging for GPRS connect time. (I'm not even sure it's possible.) But the big GSM/GPRS provider in my area (TMobile, California) seems to have had trouble selling GPRS on per-packet basis, and now offers a monthly rate with unlimited usage. I suspect people found the per-packet plan too expensive. Might be different in the U.S. than in countries where almost everybody uses GSM (such as Australia), and they can recover their capital costs from a larger consumer base.

      Here's a little background for people in GSM-only land. Outside the U.S. In the U.S., providers refused to standardize their technology, claiming that GSM wasted too much bandwidth. If I remember correctly, CDMA [cdg.org] is the leading technology, with TDMA [iec.org] second, and various forms of GSM (not all of them compatibile with international GSM systems) a distant third.

      • Re:Traffic (Score:5, Informative)

        by The Mayor ( 6048 ) on Wednesday August 20, 2003 @08:12AM (#6742712)
        The GSM used in the US is compatible with Europe. There are 3 bands commonly used by GSM. Only 2 of these are used in the US, since the third is in the unlicensed 900MHz spectrum (a licensed spectrum in most of the world).

        Dual-band GSM phones work fine in the US, but may be more succeptible to bandwidth crowding. But international GSM phones work fine in the US, and US GSM phones work fine outside the US (just about every country outside the US uses GSM).
        • There are 3 bands commonly used by GSM. Only 2 of these are used in the US, since the third is in the unlicensed 900MHz spectrum

          There are actually four GSM/GPRS bands in use around the world: 850, 900, 1800, and 1900 MHz. The US uses 1900, and is beginning to use 850 (I believe freed up from old TDMA and AMPS cells). 850 is also used in South America.

          The parent post implies that 1800 is also used in the US: I'm not aware that's true, but perhaps that's a new thing too.

          Europe and most other countries u

      • Re:Traffic (Score:5, Informative)

        by Andy Dodd ( 701 ) <atd7&cornell,edu> on Wednesday August 20, 2003 @11:18AM (#6744407) Homepage
        Just a minor comment:

        The TDMA you refer to is officially called D-AMPS I believe. It uses TDMA as its modulation scheme - But so does GSM.

        Most CDMA providers (Basically all for now, this will change with UMTS) use cdmaOne or CDMA2000. CDMA2000 is a seamless upgrade from cdmaOne. (cdmaOne phones work on CDMA2000 networks and vice versa, unlike UMTS and GSM, which are completely incompatible with each other.) UMTS (3G GSM) also uses CDMA for modulation.

        Of the providers in the U.S.
        Verizon - cdmaOne, rolling out CDMA2000 gradually

        Sprint PCS - Small CDMA2000 network. They rolled out CDMA2000 to all their towers at once.

        AT&T - Formerly D-AMPS. Their D-AMPS network was #1 in coverage, even better than VZW. AT&T shot themselves in the foot by upgrading to GSM. Not only did they negate their coverage advantage, but they rolled out a dead-end technology with no upgrade path. (UMTS requires new base stations, new phones, and new RF heads network-wide. A partial UMTS rollout is not possible.)

        Cingular - Another D-AMPS gone GSM provider.

        VoiceStream (now T-Mobile) - Has been GSM since Day 1. Worst coverage and service of any provider in the nation. GSM can't seem handle multiple providers gracefully, so many T-Mobile customers started getting "Service Unavailable" the day that AT&T or Cingular put a GSM tower on-air in their area. (See an above comment about AT&T's "No Service Weekends" plans.)

        Nextel - Uses Motorola's iDEN system. Completely proprietary, but is firmly entrenched in the construction/contractor business due to their direct-connect functionality.

        There are also a few smaller CDMA providers, such as Alltel. Note that Verizon seems to have roaming agreements with all of the other CDMA providers, very often "one-way" ones. (Verizon customers can use Sprint towers as part of their plan, but Sprint customers can't use VZW towers. Of course, VZW customers are paying more per minute for that privilege. As a VZW customer - It's worth it. I hear people with other providers complain about their cell service routinely - My service is great.)
        • I know Verizon has an unlimited plan with CDMA 2000 for $79.99/month. Actual speeds are anywhere from 60-90kbps. I had to buy a $300 wireless card for my laptop. I'm not sure how it would work with a PDA since I connected using the card and not a phone.
        • VoiceStream (now T-Mobile) - Has been GSM since Day 1. Worst coverage and service of any provider in the nation. GSM can't seem handle multiple providers gracefully, so many T-Mobile customers started getting "Service Unavailable" the day that AT&T or Cingular put a GSM tower on-air in their area. (See an above comment about AT&T's "No Service Weekends" plans.)

          Nope - T-Mobile has better coverage than any other provide in Northern/Central New Jersey. Verizon comes a close second. You can't judge

          • "T-Mobile has better coverage than any other provide in Northern/Central New Jersey."

            Look at T-Mobile's coverage map: http://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/Default.asp

            Then look at Verizon's coverage map.

            Oh look, Verizon is STILL the only provider that can cover 100% of the landmass of the most densely populated state in the union.

            And I *live* in Central Jersey (Bridgewater, I work in Warren) - My Verizon phone routinely works in places where T-Mobile phones don't work. I have yet to go anywhere that my Ver
            • Oh look, Verizon is STILL the only provider that can cover 100% of the landmass of the most densely populated state in the union.

              Coverage maps don't mean squat - my Verizon-subscribing coworkers have told me that their claim of "100% coverage in New Jersey" is bullshit. There are plenty of spots in New Jersey where your phone won't work (and neither will mine).

        • "GSM can't seem handle multiple providers gracefully, so many T-Mobile customers started getting "Service Unavailable" the day that AT&T or Cingular put a GSM tower on-air in their area."

          GSM handles whole stacks of providers just fine. If T-Mobile screwed up that's their problem. I can access at least 5 GSM providers where I live.
      • Here's a little background for people in GSM-only land. Outside the U.S. In the U.S., providers refused to standardize their technology, claiming that GSM wasted too much bandwidth. If I remember correctly, CDMA is the leading technology, with TDMA second, and various forms of GSM (not all of them compatibile with international GSM systems) a distant third.

        if you decide to provide us non-americans with some background you should do so in an accurate way. bandwidth is only one parameter when comparing tele

        • SIM cards are on a layer much higher than CDMA/TDMA. You could very well have SIM cards on a CDMA network.
        • You seem to be assuming that I'm an advocate of CDMA. Nothing could be farther from the truth. I hate my CDMA phone, and will switch to GSM at the first opportunity. The hodgepodge of cell technologies in the U.S. sucks royally.

        • cdma phones dont have sim cards which is certainly a very positive feature.

          You mean that SIM cards are positive feature or that not having them is a positive feature? If the later, could you please elaborate?

  • U.S. Options (Score:4, Informative)

    by Jenova_Sidekick ( 615096 ) on Wednesday August 20, 2003 @01:57AM (#6741456)
    In the U.S., your options are T-Mobile and AT&T. T-Mobile is the only U.S. provider that has a nationwide GSM/GPRS network, so they're the best bet for coverage. They're the best bet for price, too. Recently. they changed all their GPRS plans to unlimited usage. with at least a $29 voice plan, you get unlimited GPRS for $19/month. By itself, it's $29/month. I had a Sidekick/Hiptop device for several months, and recently traded for a Pocket PC Phone Edition. I average about 20-30 Kbps download, with occasional peaks around 50 Kbps. I love that tbe connection is "always-on", too. In fact. I read this article. and posted this reply on my Pocket PC phone Edition. :-) I love being a gadget geek! W?BIC!
    • I just added this plan on to my cell phone service. I use it with my Nokia 6310i (not available from T-Mobile) which has bluetooth and my 12" Powerbook (also has bluetooth) and I have nothing but good things to say about it. Setting it up wasn't hard, and I've always been able to connection when my cell gets any service. Most places I connect at, the signal isn't great, but it's always faster than using my phone to dial up. I'm not sure whether it's a GPRS limitation, or my cell phone, but I can't use bo
  • Most any European operator will provide you with reasonable GPRS plan.

    Oh wait, you're not in Europe but in Singapore? Or Angola? Well, then bad luck, I have no idea, you should have stated _where_ you were.

    Administrators, could we just skip this kind of submissions that somehow forget that there's world behind borders on poster's Iowa house?
    • It may not be terribly obvious, but Slashdot is definitely a U.S.-centric [slashdot.org] site. There's an implicit assumption that the default location for Slashdot stories in the U.S. I don't think that's anything to apologize for, though it could be more clearly stated.
      • You are correct and I have no problem with Slashdot being U.S.-centric (certainly wouldn't mind otherwise, but can live with it :-). However, the original post was nonsense even in U.S.-centric media, IMHO. He failed to say where in the U.S. he were, where he travels, what are his usage patterns ... You cannot give any useful help because on the other coast, conditions may be completely different.
        • Well, there you have a point. About 75% of the time in Ask Slashdot, we get a question that's really specifics-deficient. (Cliff should really bounce these back to the submitters and ask them to fill in the blanks.) But a couple of notes:
          • You did make fun of the submitter for not mentioning what country he's in.
          • Some of the details you mention should have been included, but we certainly don't want to talk about cell phone issues that only apply to where he lives. A conversation that only applies to reside

          • Well, I couldn't resist joking a little. Hope no one is offended too much.

            I believe that either he is looking for an answer to his immediate need, and then he should be as specific as possible. At least saying how much he expect to travel and how much he expects to use the plan would be nice. And on which cost he is based. Or the question was more like "I'd be interested to know what are the GPRS conditions around in U.S., Canada, Europe and Asia, to get a broad picture". Then he should have said so an

    • The fact that he posted a budget of $100 and failed to mention which country he is in should be enough to deduce that the poster is , in fact, an american ;-)
  • That is expensive. Well, I was under the impression that cell phone rates were cheap in the US. I remember watching ads for "4000 minutes for 40 USD". Rates in Mexico are just crazy. You get 75 minutes for around 35 USD with no SMS. You need to pay 8 dollars more for that, plus 10 USD for 1MB of GPRS.

    There is an old discussion about gprs rates in esato [esato.com]
    • Well, for a $100 he could probably get 1000+ minutes a month. Cingular, for example, has a plan that costs $100/month and gives you 1350 anytime minutes nationwide, and 5000 night and weekend minutes. That also includes rollover minutes, so you're unused minutes from the previous month can be used towards future months, to avoid overage charges.

      Personally, I have a family plan with three additional phones. We pay $49.99 a month for 1000 anytime minutes and 5000 night and weekend minutes with rollover for t
  • In the US AT&T Wireless services and T-Mobile both have GPRS services. I have a GPRS PC card and it's pretty cool how it works even though it's slow.
    I've heard some rumblings of a flat-rate service for *puts pinky to corner of mouth* FIFTY dollars a month!
    • As I posted earlier, under my mobile login Jenova_Sidekick, T-Mobile already offers a stand-alone unlimited GPRS plan for $29.99/month

      You can add unlimited GPRS to a qualifying voice plan ($29 or higher) for just $19.99.

      They moved to this new rate structure a couple of months ago, and abandoned all of their "pay for play" plans at the same time. Smartest move they could have made, IMHO.

      I love unlimited GPRS on my Pocket PC Phone Edition!

  • Sprint and Verizon.. (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Don't have GRPS, but instead have 1xRTT, a service much faster and reliable than GRPS. It runs on top of CDMA.

    GRPS is dependant on GSM.

    But, with T-Mobile you can get unlimited T-Zones (WAP access over GRPS) for $10/mo + voice plan, and with a little luck configure this on a laptop/other device. Or, you can pay $20/mo for unlimited T-Mobile Internet, get faster speeds, and get official tech support.

    1xRTT is a better serice than GRPS, though. If you're getting a phone only for data, I'd go for a 1xRTT serv

  • Tungsten W and AT&T (Score:3, Interesting)

    by MrIcee ( 550834 ) on Wednesday August 20, 2003 @10:12AM (#6743775) Homepage
    I just picked up a Tungsten W after learning that AT&T wireless now offers GPRS here on the Big Island of Hawaii. Up until now only verison had wireless internet, but it wasn't GPRS.

    The AT&T service is fine - though not all the transmitters here have GPRS. AT&T let me keep my non-GPRS cell phone as well (you have to maintain a voice plan along with the data plan). The nice thing is... I've now got 2 cell numbers (one for the non-gprs phone and one for the tunsten w). The non-gprs phone works pretty much everywhere on the island (except places where all cell service is blacked out due to mountains) and the tunsten works many, but not all places (e.g., it doesn't work up on the active volcano - whereas my cell phone has excellant reception there).

    AT&T plans start around $20 and go up to around $79 or so... at the $70ish range they do offer an unlimited bandwidth plan.

  • The $75.55 I paid AT&T last month covered more minutes than I used (56) and more data than I used (7.4 MB). I surf the web recklessly, but I haven't used more than 2MB in any one day yet. The T68i in New York City is somewhat cruddy as a phone (the signal strength is weak), but works okay as a GPRS modem with the Tungsten since I can stick it on the window sill. The T68i battery life is very good.

  • Another vote for AT&T (sorta) (Score:4, Informative)

    by jakedata ( 585566 ) on Wednesday August 20, 2003 @11:32AM (#6744541)
    Off grid, off the coast of Maine on an island with an external directional antenna plugged into one end of my Nokia 6310i and a solar panel plugged into the other end, I enjoyed uninterrupted data service via AT&Ts GPRS service.
    I used the infrared port on the phone to link to my laptop. Didn't want to spend the $$$ for a Bluetooth adapter.

    Caveat 1 - No unlimited data service plan yet.

    Caveat 2 - You get a NAT address 10.x.x.x rather than a routable IP address - so have that VPN ready on your cable modem.

    Caveat 3 - Windows based AT&T software that filters ads, compresses graphics and manages dialup. You don't absolutely need it, but it is a big help.

    Caveat 4 - Pro-rating of the monthly service charge also pro-rated my data allotment. I went over and was charged much extra $$$.

    All that being said, It worked quite well.

    -j

  • ATT Sucks.... (Score:2, Informative)

    by Goyuix ( 698012 )
    I picked up an ATT plan and a Siemens S56 for the sole purpose of using Bluetooth to get on the internet and read slashdot.... And I have to say I was utterly depressed by the speed of the service. The actual transfer of data wasn't horrible, around 33.6K average experience (though it seemed to peak higher at times) - it took a good 10 seconds to resolve DNS and start the data flowing, or whatever the heck ATT was doing. I have heard TMobile / Verizon have pretty decent data plans (unlimted for $20 / mont
  • Cingular and T-Mobile jointly operate their data networks in California but each have their own 10MHz, so call/data volume on one doesn't affect the other. T-Mobile provides Cingular's service in New York, as well. See this press release [t-mobile.com].

    So if you live in one of those two areas, there would be no coverage difference between them and ATT Wireless is the only other option. GPRS roaming between T-Mobile and ATT Wireless does not work, even though they have a voice roaming agreement.

  • T-Mobile in US (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    If you're in US, I strongly suggest you to go with T-Mobile with their unlimited GPRS plan. By subscribing to the unlimited GPRS plan, you're not only get internet connection to your phone, but also the ability to send/receive mms. Yes, you do not have to subscribe T-Zone if you're in the unlimited GPRS plan. Currently I'm using Sony Ericsson P800. With unlimited GPRS plan, I can connect my PocketPC, and laptop to internet using bluetooth. Or, use Opera browser for P800 to browse internet right from the pho

  • Isn't it an easy choice? (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Why not just go for the $30 a month T-Mobile unlimited GPRS plan? That is one of the best deals I have ever heard of.

    I live in the UK, and GPRS charges here are mad (and you have to have a voice plan as well) - we pay 15 a month (which is around $30) for only 7Mb!

    I wish we had an unlimited GPRS plan that cheap in the UK. Take advantage of it - you're lucky.
  • T-Mobile is great, if you can get a signal. Most times, I have to make calls from the sidewalk outside my house, because of the lack of a signal from even my porch. I called 'Customer Care,' and the reason for the piss-poor signal is that two of the four towers effecting my zipcode have been down for over a month. But for my troubles, they gave me a whopping credit of... five lousy bucks.
  • All I know that you need to get a tri-mode phone in the minimum. I have the PocketPC phone... love the phone Hate the service. At least with a tri-mode phone it could possibly hop over to CDMA if it needs to. (i think this can be done) My business partner and I dislike the service so much that we are dropping the service (T-Mobile has been nice enough to not bill us for the phones or the early termination fee) and probably switching over to Verizon or Nextel. Just need to find a decent PDA/Phone... Any sugg

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