Registered: Aug 2000
Location: St. Louis
Posts: 308

I have been looking at springbords and the @ctiveLink seems like it would be an affordable alternitive to Minstral (or however you spell it) S services. Don't get me wrong thoes are great by they are so darned exepensive. The only problem is that they haven't released (that I have been able to find) any priceing data, so Dose any one have any information on the @ctiveLink?

thanks

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Sam Kleinman

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Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Texan in Calgary for a while
Posts: 1361

I still can't get any pricing info out of Glenayre, but I think it should be cheaper than the Minstrel S.

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James Hromadka
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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: St. Louis
Posts: 308

let's hope so.

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Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Metro Station, Hollywood and Highland
Posts: 1018

Think twice

A few weeks ago, someone on VC posted a link for Glenayre's paging service provider. I can't remember who the provider was, but I do remember looking at the service plan, and I think the "standard" plan was $24.95/mo. for 1000 10-character message units. While I originally thought the Glenayre would be an inexpensive alternative to the Minstrel S, I've reversed my opinion. At $24.95 a month, you can get unlimited email and full access to the web on the Minstrel through Verizon and AT&T Wireless. Keep in mind that we have no idea how much the @ctiveLink unit will cost. It's not a foregone conclusion that it will be cheaper (did anyone expect the monochrome Sony CLIE to cost $399?).

The @ctiveLink is probably the better choice for quick Graffiti-based messages, but Stowaway and GoType users are liable to compose much larger messages than anyone using a stylus. So for keyboard users, the Minstrel S with an unlimited service plan, expensive as it seems, will probably be the more economical choice in the long run.

[Edited by Gameboy70 on 08-30-2000 at 02:13 PM]

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: New York, New York
Posts: 560

I'm a little confused by the active ink.

Will you be able to surf the web?
Update avantgo?
It says you can check your email, but is that any pop server or a special activelink one? Will you be able to use multimail to check this email?

First springboard that can do the above will probably get my money.

Felipe

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Felipe Garcia
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My Treo 600 is my phone, my PDA, my watch, and my MP3 player. Oh yeah, I take a picture once in a while with it. Convergence is such a great thing.

Registered: Aug 2000
Location: St. Louis
Posts: 308

The thing about 1000 10 charcter paging units sounds like the InfoMitt pager which IMHO seems like a rip-off. As far as the minstral S goes I was under the inpression thatfo unlimited access 40 a month what you have to pay. 15 dollors amonth is about all I can aford ( I'm a highschool student ) fo a service and 150.00 for a springbord, lets hope that the activeLink falls in to both of thoes price ranges ( am I just dreaming ) and has some diecent features.

I like the Minstral Idea but it is just to exepensive, (or could it be in that range and I'm just looking in the wrong places for service?)

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Sam Kleinman

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Here's what I got in the mail:From: Wireless Services

(Santa Clara) <[email protected]>
To: 'Sam' <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, August 31, 2000 1:29 PM
Subject: RE: Service

Our bundle will be available in a week or two at http://www.palmgear.com <http://www.palmgear.com> . the bundle means the visor and the module and it should go for around $425 but It may vary. The service is done by a carrier such as skytel, weblink, metrocall, pagenet, verizon, arch, and TSR. Their prices may vary but they charge a monthly fee of around $30 for a block of characters (200,000) then about 5 cents per character after that. So make sure you get a plan that meets your needs or it can get expensive. The @ctivelink has sofware called infobeam that allows you to search the web for anything you could want. stocks, sports, package tracking, restaurants, directions, yellow and white pages, airline info, news, movies, you name it. It is a two way devise that is always on and can send and recieve e-mail. With added software you can synchronize your PC with your @ctivelink so that e-mail and info is automatically send to your @ctivelink as well. It's pretty cool. so check out Palmgear next week

Brent Edwards

This pushes it out of my price range (i think). but it dose sound cool

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Not too shabby

This is actually good news. $30 for 200,000 characters is a hell of a lot better than $25 for 10,000, especially if there's no monthly cutoff. And judging from the Visor/@ctiveLink bundle estimated price, it sounds like a standalone @ctivelink will be less than $200. It looks like I might reverse my opinion on the @ctivelink vs. Mistrel S issue yet again.

I'm curious about the infobeam software. The press kit made it seem like a limited web access model, like PQAs. Mr. Edwards "search the web for anything you want" phrase implies that infobeam is for full web access. Then again, he may only be referring to searching.

In any case, I'll definitely be hovering around PalmGear all week.

Registered: Aug 2000
Location: St. Louis
Posts: 308

Helllo, me again. Sorry James for all of these posts.

I asked a cupple of questions and got these answers.

Q. Which Visor will the acitve link be bundled with

A.It will be bundled with the new deluxe. it has been upgraded. It will not be sold individually for a couple of months.

Sam's(me) Analsis: Is it just me or did this guy infer that there was a new diffrent Visor delux (not that I'd beable to pay for it anyway.) and we'd have to wait another month or two to buy it if we didn't want the module, seems like a dicent way to deal with product shortages.

Q. Can I check pop3 email in addition to an @CTIVElink account, and what palm internet programs such as Avantgo or ICQ can I use with the active link.

A.I am not for certain which applications it is compatable with but it does have many. I don't know if advant go or ICQ are two of them. You should get Microsoft outlook for your PC and use it for your e-mail because we have software that will synchronize outlook with the @ctivelink. Not pop mail or hot mail or anything else, sorry.

Analsys: I can alredy sync my outlook with out a module, and if it dosn't do pop or anyother sort of mail then whats the point, However i belive that it has two way use of a special activelink e-mail address and he just miss understood me.

Summary: As far as wireless options go the Minstrel S is better, but we knew this from the get go. I though that the active Link provided a cheper alternative to the Minstrel S but unless an afordable unlimited service plan (20.00 or less) is aviable and I doubt that there will be you could get more functionality out of a Minstrel S for a similar price, and While the module is cheeper by quite a bit i suspect that you could get a good deal on it from you service provider

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Celchu19, post all you want. I'm trying to get more info from my media contact on this, so I'll let you know what I find.

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James Hromadka
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Registered: Jul 2000
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quote:

---

Originally posted by Celchu19
Q. Which Visor will the acitve link be bundled with

A.It will be bundled with the new deluxe. it has been upgraded. It will not be sold individually for a couple of months.

Sam's(me) Analsis: Is it just me or did this guy infer that there was a new diffrent Visor delux (not that I'd beable to pay for it anyway.) and we'd have to wait another month or two to buy it if we didn't want the module,

---

Registered: Aug 2000
Location:
Posts: 4

I have a (Glenayre accesslink II) pager with Skytel advanced messaging for $35/mo. This buys me a 800#, 2 way email capability, faxing and voice messaging (with caller id). It allows me to send/receive 500 (100 character) messages per month. I can also request �more� than the 100 characters for any email I care to. For my small business, this has worked very well for me! (BTW, my usage averages about 250 messages per month).

Last week, after hearing about the new module announcement, I went to the Glenarye and jp systems sites. I found that I could download the Info beam software for free, and that the only cost was through my service provider (Skytel). Basically, sending/receiving information costs me 2 messages(of my 500 limit per month). I am charged ONLY if I use it. I�ve tried it, and it so far has worked like a charm!

In addition, JP Systems (infobeam) also offers a $30 software that allows you to send/receive email via the pager/Visor combo also. I have not tried this yet, but it would definitely serve my purposes. With the Glenayre Accesslink II pager, this means I can use the IR port on the pager with the IR port on my PDA to create kind of a wireless arrangment. I can do all this without buying a springboard, modem, or additional monthly fee! And I get all of the other goods too.

So if you are looking to stay in touch (or if you already own a Glenayre), and don�t need to send a lot of huge emails, perhaps this is another option to look into. It keeps me �connected� for a lot less!

Hope this helps