[SOCALWUG] Re: Verizon Blesses Phone-As-Modem Plans

[charlie wallace]

An extra $59 a month, on top of the existing service, for tethered connection at 1x EVDO in a limited area vs GPRS speeds ( which you can already do with most phones, certainly all the listed verizon ones) if you're ok with the lower speed stuff, i'd go with sprints PCS Data plans, its pretty much unlimited and has a good coverage, its good for email and surfing.   speeds widely vary on it, i find myself just relying on the tmobile hotspots more than my EVDO card, since pretty much everywhere i'd be there a starbucks or hotspot. but i'm paying $960 a year for the EVDO card since i got it at the inception and the $59 rate is only for new customers, and if you cancel the service they charge you about $170 then bar you from rejoining for 3 months  (dependant on location it seems) the sierra card in my experience is a bit dodgy too, its easy to break and its only PC-CARD so i can't use it on my 12 powerbook without an adapter.   plus verizon cripple everything they possibly can, a recent bluetooth class action was settled for them glorifying  the bluetooth capabilites i have the 9800 its bluetooth is basically limited to headsets, my cheap 6820 thats years old can do 5x as much as that, compared to a $500 phone its insane. even doing their web email thing is an extra $19, its a pity because the 9800 is a pretty decent phone otherwise, its got a great phone, but i only only transfer the pictures either by paying airtime or using the cable and the developer software.   some of the usb cables can charge the phone while its tethered. ----- Original Message ----- From: Richard To: SOCALWUG@googlegroups.com Sent: Saturday, February 04, 2006 11:30 AM Subject: [SOCALWUG] Re: Verizon Blesses Phone-As-Modem Plans ...and then I read the whole story: "The official announcement from Verizon mentions using a USB cable, not Bluetooth wireless technology, to connect your phone and PC. All the phones listed above can theoretically connect to PCs using Bluetooth, but Verizon disables that modem function." http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1918150,00.asp An additional $60/month for a set up that won't even use the existing wireless feature of the phone.  That's the same price as the per-month charge for their existant cell-network Internet service.  Better to not use up the batteries and have the phone be busy to phone use, and just buy their $99 modem for their broadband. Richard N6GPP On 2/4/06, Kenneth Crudup <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: I'm currently with SPCS, which I've been with since '98. I've been thinking about getting one of the cellphone companies' broadband PC-Cards to supplement the WiFi in my laptop. Considering the plans are expensive (IMO) for what you get, speedwise, plus telcos LOVE contracts (even if you buy your equipment outright) I've never gotten past the "thinking about it" stage. Does anyone know if Sprint's EV-DO solution is any faster than VZ's setup? I'd imagine VZ is in more places than SPCS, too. Anyone on this list done a comparison?         -Kenny -- Kenneth R. Crudup  Sr. SW Engineer, Scott County Consulting, Los Angeles H: 3630 S. Sepulveda Blvd. #138, L.A., CA 90034-6809      (888) 454-8181 -- "Being a bit scattered tends to be a trait of highly imaginative people."   The more you rattle the marbles around in your brain, the more creative new connections you make, as it were – connections that might be lost on those focusing intently on just the red ones.   - Ed Vogel, University of Oregon, Department of Neuroscience