Registered: Feb 2001
Location: Kansas City, KS
Posts: 9

Visorphone or cell phone?

I was recently looking into purchasing a cell phone, and i was wondering if i should go for the visorphone, or a regular cell phone? And if the latter, what models do you all like?

Registered: Jul 2001
Location:
Posts: 9

Ben:
As a VisorPhone owner I can tell you that it's not a straight-
forward answer. It depends on who your service provider is. VisorPhones use the GSM standard. Not the same standard as found with say, Sprint or Verizon. GSM service providers are limited. So the first thing is to find out who the local GSM provider is. In New York where I am, it's VoiceStream. Next you want to research their coverage. Coverage may be great in a large city but you may have spotty coverage or no coverage at all in the suburbs or rural areas.
VoiceStream Coverage is spotty outside of Manhattan but it works where I need it to work. If the coverage is there for you then the decision is a no brainer. Buy the VisorPhone. I really enjoy using mine. Not only is it a great cell phone but I can dial into my ISP with it, I can check my Email with, I can update my AdvantGo channels with it and I can even AOL AIM Chat with it (This works great with a Stowaway Keyboard). Mine worked well right out of the box and I find the features and design to be well thought out. Good luck with your research and your decision.

SLDubin

Registered: Feb 2001
Location: Kansas City, KS
Posts: 9

So does the visorphone act like any other GSM phone would? Is the reception the same, etc? My other option is a sprint phone, which is a CDMA 1900 Mhz network. Does CDMA work better than GSM in your opinion?

Registered: Dec 1999
Location:
Posts: 97

Visorphone or cell phone? I say both!

I've had my Visorphone about 2 months now, and it's terrific except for one problem I never anticipated. There are lots of times, especially on weekends or evenings when I'm not working, when I don't want to carry around the whole visor+phone+case+belt clip enchilada. I'd rather just throw a cell phone in my pocket and do what I want to do.

The SIM card in the Visorphone makes it easy to do both! You just have to buy another Voicestream-compatible phone (or whoever your provider is) and move your SIM card back and forth between the phones. I just picked up a Nokia 8290 which is the tiniest phone I've seen; I hardly notice it in my pocket (or am I just glad to see you?).

You don't have to buy a separate account. Both phones work on the same phone number with the same number of minutes. So you can pick and choose which phone you want to take with you, work or play. Pretty neat, huh?

P.S. Voicestream's coverage is not as good as Verizon's, but it's still very good. Great in NYC, not so hot in the sticks. Better than AT&T's, though.

Registered: Jul 2001
Location:
Posts: 9

Ben:
HandSpring reports that the VisorPhone is certified as a world phone. All you need is a SIM card from your overseas service provider and you're all set.
I should mention that there is some confusion related to using the Visor Deluxe with the VisorPhone as a worldphone. It seems that the higher frequencies used for GSM transmission overseas produces an RF that can interfere with the VDX (Not a problem in the US). HandSpring recommends that if your needs are for a worldphone, then use it with a Platinum or a Prism. On the other hand there are those who say the problem was only with earlier Visor Deluxe models and finally there are those who have tested it in Europe and say there's no problem. I suggest you check some of the other forums on this board for more info if you're a VDX owner.
Concerning quality. I was a disatisfied SprintPCS user for years. The signal was always breaking up and people on the other end of the line always heard echo or asked me to repeat what I had just said. I haven't had any of those problems since I started using the GSM phone. GSM transmissions are generally more powerful although I can't tell you how that translates into better performance. I can only tell you that a few people thought I was talking to them from a landline phone. That was never my experince with CDMA.

Steve.

Registered: Dec 1999
Location:
Posts: 97

I'm not sure what causes the echo problem, but I think it's endemic to all the cell phone systems. My personal experience is that it happens more frequently on the Voicestream GSM system than it did on either Verizon's CDMA system or AT&T (which I think uses TDMA). It's hit or miss; there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to when it occurs. In fact, when there's a bad echo at either end of the line, I redial and it usually (but not always) goes away.

I find that the Voicestream GSM has excellent sound quality, either through the Visorphone or the Nokia, perhaps even better than Verizon's CDMA. But CDMA is also very good; I would have stayed with Verizon if Visorphone was available on that system. (But stay away from AT&T.) The coverage is much better with CDMA outside the major cities because it's been around longer and has been steadily expanding its reach. But my impression is that Voicestream is also expanding aggressively and I've been quite satisfied. And if you travel overseas, GSM is obviously your best bet.

Registered: Feb 2001
Location: Kansas City, KS
Posts: 9

GREAT!

I can;t thank both of you enough. You have awnsered my quirey and then some. What i have decided is I think i will go for the visorphone after all, but switch the SIM card up with another phone, like the 8290 or something provided by Voicestream, that being the only carrier that carries the visorphone in my area (KC,MO). Again, i thank you both for your help with this subject. The best of luck to you both with your visor experience and in life.

Registered: Feb 2000
Location: El Segundo,CA
Posts: 374

FYI, I signed with Cingular but can use the Visorphone in a Voicestream area.

__________________
My Treo has more memory than I do.

Registered: Feb 2001
Location:
Posts: 268

i was looking into this and ... i think i'll wait for those new pda cell phones (see the latest issue of Popular Science). they are small and light, about the size of the nokia 5100/6100 phones.

Registered: May 2001
Location: Mpls, MN
Posts: 14

Motorola Startac & simm card

My wife has a Startac and was thinking of handing it to me (since I like the form and she doesn't) but since the number is used for work, she would like to hang on to it (the number). Is this one of those phone modules with a removable card? If not, she will probably keep it and I'll buy the VisorPhone.

Registered: Dec 1999
Location:
Posts: 97

As far as I know, only Voicestream uses the SIM cards that can go from phone to phone. So if her Startac is on Voicestream (I don't even know if Voicestream uses Startacs), you're fine. If it's on another system like Verizon or Sprint, you're f---ed.

Registered: May 2001
Location: Mpls, MN
Posts: 14

clarification

Thanks for the quick response!

Her calling plan is Voicestream. So now I can really demonstrate my ignorance; when I looked at her phone, it was not obvious to me how to access such a card. Can you or someone else advise?

Thanks

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan USA
Posts: 790

Re: clarification

quote:

---

Originally posted by Les Spicy
Thanks for the quick response!

Her calling plan is Voicestream. So now I can really demonstrate my ignorance; when I looked at her phone, it was not obvious to me how to access such a card. Can you or someone else advise?

Thanks

---

__________________
Jeff

Registered: Jan 2001
Location: Twin Cities, MN
Posts: 89

GSM Startac

I did not think that motorola made a GSM StarTac. I know that they make a GSM Series V3682 Phone, which is simmilar to the StarTacs but smaller.

__________________
Son mis dos centados!

Registered: Feb 2000
Location: Clifton Park
Posts: 24

I was about to jump and get this. But one thought crossed my mind. Is it possible that Airprime/Sprint is soon coming out with the CDMA phone, which has better coverage and upgradeable to higher data rates later? Handspring might want to get as much market share as possible before that happens. Could it be??


Warkari
wondering...