Registered: Oct 2000
Location: Here
Posts: 213

Always On w/ Visorphone !!! (well kinda)

I can say that I am really enjoying the VisorPhone ! I am anxious for the Treo, but the VisorPhone has some nice features. I actually use is with very little dial up minutes effectively and I would like to share my approach !

I use AT&T 7 and 7 plan, (7 buck for internet and 7cent for long distance) so, I share the dial up number with my Prism/VisorPhone as well as 2 home computers for unlimited hours. It's $7 per month with unlimited dial up and e-mail. I use Voicestream as my GSM provider. I just have a basic $20 per month plan but can manage it well.

E-Mail -

First off with AT&T you can have up to 5 different e-mail accounts (not that you need 5) with 10 meg capacity each. I configure the e-mail so it can be accessed via ANY pc thru the web (like hotmail). The neat part is tp set it up so when e-mail arrives, it is configured to "automatically" forward or push it to my visorphone via an e-mail SMS message. You you immediately get notification of e-mail and the 1st 132 bytes or so WITHOUT being dialed up !! You can look at the message and say fine, or you can download it is you choose. For downloading the e-mail I use "Onetouch". It's free with the VisorPhone and works very well. I find it very useful, you can compose offline then dialup to transfer. If you just need a short reply, you can use the SMS e-mail approach, again.....no dial up required. Most of the time I have no need to actually dial.


Real time messaging and paging -

I exchange messages with work partners via SMS message capability. Again, it's real time and no dial up. I might get a snapntype to improve my thruput.


Stock Quotes, Weather, New etc.

I have "Alerts" set in voicestream, so stock limits or sports scores are "pushed" to me on my parameters. Or I will do "On Demand" alerts, where you send a SMS request for news, and you get the news as the reply. Same for a stock quote, sports score etc. Very nice, no dial up, and always on. No minutes burned, only SMS messages.

Browsing -

Yes, I do dial up on occasions, ( landline with thinmodem) when possible, or VisorPhone when on the go. Same dial up number. I sync stuff with Avantgo for off line reading, PDABUZZ, PALM INFOCENTER, and yes VISORCENTRAL all have Avantgo pages, and I sync My e-Bay and personal Yahoo portfolio etc.

For "oniline" browsing I use Blazer 2.0, especially on the weekends when I have free minutes to burn.

Voice -

On, yes, I do make an occasional phone call ( how ancient) with the visorphone. Actually if I am out and about, my spouse will SMS me with the grocery list rather than calling me becuase she knows I have a written record then. 1st incoming minute for voice is free, so I get a lot of freebee calls in that way. HA

In net, with the balance, of SMS Alerts, SMS Messaging, E-Mail notifications and SMS E-Mail, adds a lot of function to the mobile person in an "always on" type of functionality.

I'll still buy the Treo, but I like after working with the VisorPhone the function that I am able to get and a reasonable budget approach.

Last edited by george_vc on 11-01-2001 at 03:27 AM

Registered: Nov 2000
Location:
Posts: 85

Doesn't all that SMSing get expensive? They aren't unlimited, are they?

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...the patron saint of the easily amused...

Registered: Oct 2000
Location: Here
Posts: 213

You get 50 free SMS with the basic plan, for $3 more you can get 500 extra. Quite a bit cheaper than having a voice plan and also a GPRS plan.

Registered: Nov 2000
Location: New York City
Posts: 76

This is a little OT, but I recently started doing something similar with my SprintPCS phone and Yahoo Mail. You can set it up to send an alert to your cell phone when a new message arrives in your in box (or you can filter the alerts as you wish). Thus I have not quite instant, but pretty close, notification of new e-mail messages. Typing a reply on a cell phone is no joy, but I also have a cable to connect the phone to my Prism, so I can use the Prism for more serious e-mailing. I believe this will work with any cellular provider.

Pretty cool, but ultimately useless unless I can get more "wireless web messages." The wireless web option comes with 50 messages per month, and since I started doing this not too long ago, I've burned through almost my entire allotment.

Question for Sprint customers: is it possible to buy a bundle of more messages (a la the Voicestream $3 for 500 option mentioned above)? I think they charge $.25 (?!?) per message over your allotment, so this will get expensive quickly if I don't get more messages.

Update: I just got a reply to my e-mail to Sprint customer service (which in itself is amazing). They want $2 for and additional 30 messages, or $10 for 200! Now that's a scam, and a far cry from the Voicestream offer. Grrrr.

Last edited by valodya on 11-01-2001 at 09:15 PM

Registered: Oct 2001
Location: Silicon Valley
Posts: 66

I know that people don't like hauling around 2 devices but you should think of getting a talkabout t900 two way pager. I must say that it is a great device. $10 a month for me who doesn't get any email 30 or 40 for heavy users.

Instant notification and there is a program that will forward your email from home to the pager. You need always on internet.

The pager itself is about $150 pretty good price. I can't afford a blackberry so I got this and I love it. I send email to my brother and cousin who have sms at&t phones.

If you like email this may be for you.

Registered: Sep 2001
Location:
Posts: 11

George, Worldnet on VisorPhone?

How did you manage to get WorldNet_AT&T to work on a Visor? I have the same 7/7 plan that you do with AT&T, but it requires their special connection software (the kind permitting online ads to be your constant companion), at least it does for me. No ads, no connect. P.S. my SMS to e-mail continues to work well. And, thanks for a most interesting posting!

Registered: Oct 2000
Location: Here
Posts: 213

Re: George, Worldnet on VisorPhone?

quote:

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Originally posted by runnicle
How did you manage to get WorldNet_AT&T to work on a Visor?

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Registered: Sep 2001
Location:
Posts: 11

George, I'll be waiting...

if you can find the "missing link" to get the 7/7 AT&T ISP to work on Visor, I'll be waiting here for your answer.

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

I think the program you used was rasspy, search VC discussions for it.

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My Treo has more memory than I do.

Registered: Sep 2001
Location:
Posts: 11

Thanks, J76...

and, by George, I think I've got it! Certainly, it had to be rasspy that George was describing. There was lots of chatter about it on VC earlier this year, and most of them featured this link to a full description of the process:
http://www.geocities.com/daveinfopa...ot_freeISP.html

Registered: Oct 2000
Location: Here
Posts: 213

Runnicle, that was indeed the link. Good luck. Only the userid and password for the dial up connection are hidden, not the userid and pass for pop3 mail retreival.