Best Cell Phone Service for GPRS? 53
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."
SE t616 (Score:1)
Costs: (Score:4, Informative)
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.
Re:Costs: (Score:1)
Traffic (Score:4, Interesting)
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)
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).
Re:Traffic (Score:1)
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)
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.)
Re:Traffic (Score:2)
Re:Traffic (Score:2)
Nope - T-Mobile has better coverage than any other provide in Northern/Central New Jersey. Verizon comes a close second. You can't judge
*coughcoughBULLSHITcoughcough* (Score:2)
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
Re:*coughcoughBULLSHITcoughcough* (Score:2)
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).
Re:Traffic (Score:1)
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.
Re:Traffic (Score:1)
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
Re:Traffic (Score:1)
Re:Traffic (Score:2)
Re:Traffic (Score:1)
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)
Re:U.S. Options (Score:1)
Re:Fuck the American non-standards... (Score:2)
For the original post, I'd say pick the best service, and try an Ericsson T68i. It's a great phone, and you can use it as a bluetooth modem.
My only concern would be the speeds of GPRS. If y
Re:Fuck the American non-standards... (Score:1)
The Bluetooth functionality may be cool, but I have the T68i with AT&T, and for some reason, whether it's antenna, circuitry, or something, it has crap reception, even when other AT&T users with different phones have decent reception.
Also, at work we use the Sprint PCS cards (specifically the Novatel Wireless Merlin C201) which has a max THEORETICAL speed of 144 kBITS/sec, so your claimed speed of 230 KBytes/sec is 13
Re:fsck the Sony-Ericsson crap phone (Score:2, Informative)
Sony Ericsson phones have lot's of flash, but phones they suck. The display is pretty and eye-candy like screen savers and games are cool. And, it has great connectivity (IRDA and Bluetooth). But, as a telecommunication device they just stink.
All the flash comes at a price, because the phone frequently crashes. I have three different failure modes.
Invalid Mobile The phone dies silently and the banner line reads invalid mobile. T
t68i - one person's experience (Score:1)
I have three different failure modes.
I have never seen a phone failure. Sometimes I can't access my addressbook for a brief period of time after powering the phone on.
No notification for failed calls
Yes, I've noticed that calls that fail to connect do not result in a voice notification; I end up waiting for far too long u
Re:Fuck the American non-standards... (Score:1)
Most any European operator (Score:2, Interesting)
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?
Slashdot is America! America is Slashdot! (Score:1)
Re:Slashdot is America! America is Slashdot! (Score:2)
Re:Slashdot is America! America is Slashdot! (Score:1)
Re:Slashdot is America! America is Slashdot! (Score:2)
Re:Slashdot is America! America is Slashdot! (Score:1)
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
Re:Most any European operator (Score:2)
100 a month ? (Score:1)
There is an old discussion about gprs rates in esato [esato.com]
Re:100 a month ? (Score:1)
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
T-Mobile and AT&T wireless (Score:2)
I've heard some rumblings of a flat-rate service for *puts pinky to corner of mouth* FIFTY dollars a month!
Re:T-Mobile and AT&T wireless (Score:1)
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!
Re:T-Mobile and AT&T wireless (Score:2)
D
Sprint and Verizon.. (Score:1, Informative)
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)
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.
Sony-Ericsson T68i, AT&T, Tungsten T (Score:2)
Another vote for AT&T (sorta) (Score:4, Informative)
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)
Cingular == T-Mobile in California and New York (Score:2, Informative)
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)
Isn't it an easy choice? (Score:1, Informative)
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.
Thoughts on T-Mobile (Score:1)
T-Mobile GPRS service sucks in Upstate NY (Score:1)