Registered: Dec 2000
Location: Silicon Valley, California
Posts: 173

I'm thinking of taking the plunge and getting a cell phone. Mainly for work, to answer pages when I'm in transit. I was thinking if I hooked it up correctly, I could just get a phone and not need to buy a modem for my prism.

I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, near Stanford. The providers are Verizon (aka GTE), ATT (aka CellularOne), Cingular (aka Pacific Bell) and Sprint PCS.

Now...I like the Nokia 8290 which is GSM and has IR. It is available from Cingular.

ATT has the 8260 and various 6100, 5100 Nokias with trimode capabilities.

Verizon has Kyocera (sp?) and Nokia trimode phones.

The costs of service are similar. ATT has $75 rebate which would decrease the cost of the phone.

ANY input would be greatly appreciate!

Registered: Feb 2001
Location: Them Twin Cities
Posts: 1758

Search around and see what phones have working cables that connect them to visors. I know that Nokias and Startacs have had luck, while Samsung is less that great...

As far as which service, IMHO, go with the one that has the strongest signal where you're going to be using it.

Registered: Feb 2001
Location: New York City
Posts: 3

I use an Ericsson R280LX with ATT Pocketnet service. I can check my email, surf the wireless web (which gets better every month), buy movie tickets through moviefone's wap site, etc. I also hotsync my visor through fusion one so that I have all me data available through my phone and any other web connection I need.

I live in Manhattan, so I need to be extremely mobile.

ATT has a good family plan that lets me SMS or call my wife's phone without any time restriction (unlimited calls). It's also connected to a land line for unlimited minutes. Also, ATT's Pocketnet service does not deduct from your over all minutes, like Sprint does.

ATT will have I-mode phones later this year, so it's a good company so far.

Hope this helps.

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{:^) tkj

Registered: Feb 2000
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Posts: 165

I suppose the available phones and prices may vary from market to market, but you might want to see if any of the providers you're looking at have Motorola StarTAC 7868 phones available with new service agreements. I've seen both Verizon and Spring (at Radio Shack) selling them in L.A. for $150 with a new service agreement.

$150+tax for the StarTAC, $30 for the data cable from cables4pdas.com, and you're online at 14.4K! I've been using my cell to dial my ISP more than I have been to call people lately.

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<br>"Form follows function - that has been misunderstood. Form and function should be one, joined in a spiritual union" -Frank Lloyd Wright

Registered: May 2000
Location:
Posts: 209

Hold on..

If the one of the purposes of your wireless phone is Visor connectivity in the Bay Area, then I believe you have to consider phones that work on Cingular, Sprint and Verizon services.

AT&T's coverage in the Bay Area is analog, TDMA 800 MHz and TDMA 1900 MHz. No CDMA or GSM apply in the old Cellular One network. I believe there's no (or real easy) connectivity solutions for Palm/Visor owners in the Bay Area using AT&T Wireless. In other AT&T territories, yes to maybe. But not in the SF area.

Registered: Dec 2000
Location: Silicon Valley, California
Posts: 173

quote:

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Originally posted by ProjectZero
Hold on..

If the one of the purposes of your wireless phone is Visor connectivity in the Bay Area, then I believe you have to consider phones that work on Cingular, Sprint and Verizon services.

AT&T's coverage in the Bay Area is analog, TDMA 800 MHz and TDMA 1900 MHz. No CDMA or GSM apply in the old Cellular One network. I believe there's no (or real easy) connectivity solutions for Palm/Visor owners in the Bay Area using AT&T Wireless. In other AT&T territories, yes to maybe. But not in the SF area.

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Registered: Jan 2001
Location:
Posts: 12

8290

I got an nokia 8290 and it works great. The only problem is people keep bumping the table I place it on or they pick up to when they see my Platinum. You waste a lot of minutes that way. If there's a cable for my phone I would get that instead of using the IR.