Don, I looked at the Airave website and while it did provide some information, there were a couple of things it didn't answer. One is, is there an initial cost for the device itself? Second, I wonder if this would reset our contract start date? Finally, there doesn't seem to be any restriction on taking it to other places, but I imagine until they get their infrastructure set, there might not be a handoff from the device to a local cell tower in some areas. I checked for availability and it said it still wasn't available in my area, but would be "soon." I assume this is due to the above-mentioned handoff stuff, but I'm not positive. It's a little surprising they don't have it here since if not based here, Sprint at least has some pretty major offices just 10 miles or so from me, and of course, this is one of the big metro areas in the country (Washington DC). I'm definitely interested in hearing more of your impressions as you start using it! Levi
________________________________ From: [email protected] on behalf of Don Ferguson Sent: Sat 9/22/2007 9:21 PM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: [Treo] Sprint Introduces Airave To Help Weak Reception Well, we'll find out soon since I just picked one up. My view of it is a little less cynical, though. Since I'm in the test market (Denver) I get the device for free. I will now be paying $15/month for unlimited calling while I'm connected to my own little cell tower in my house. They say it covers 5000 square feet. The footprint of the first floor of my house is 2300 square feet, so I'm assuming this will work outside to some extent as well. As a practical matter, that means I can: 1. Reduce my cellular plan by the number of minutes I typically use the cell phone from home. 2. Finally eliminate my second line at home since I'll not only get a strong, consistent 5-bar signal inside my house, but get all calls included in the $15. 3. Possibly eliminate my primary home line at some point since this service has a GPS-based e911 component. In addition, although this doesn't apply to me, this could also allow a Sprint user with NO reception at home or another location to make unlimited calls from that location. A rural mountain user here in Colorado, for instance, could have Sprint service at home even where there is no cellular coverage, and the pick up the regular Sprint network upon entering "civilization". I will probably always have a land line of some sort since my burglar alarm uses one, but even now that line has been reduced to just a $15/month basic line with no extras. I have VOIP lines that I actually use (Vonage and Broadvoice) and I have to say that cellular compares very well in call quality to them. Now that the "cell tower" will be right in the house, from the phone's point of view, battery consumption should be reduced on the Treo as well as it won't have to reach very hard for a signal. I see this as analogous in purpose, but not implementation, to the T-Mobile [EMAIL PROTECTED] service: both are targeted at allowing people to eliminate a home line. Each has strengths: Sprint's offering works with all Sprint CDMA phones, not just a limited set of special phones. T-Mobile's offering can work anywhere (especially at Starbucks or other hotspot) there's a wifi network, not just at one location. In an office/home environment, however, since the Sprint device is not limited to just one phone, one could have a home one of these and an office one, and do unlimited calls at those two locations for $15/month each. Depends on how one uses the setup, I guess, as to which way to go, but at $15/month this will pay for itself, for me. Cheers, Don -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of john.messeder Sent: Saturday, September 22, 2007 8:15 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Treo] Sprint Introduces Airave To Help Weak Reception That was the first thought I had - a new sales approach: instead of great service for everyone, Sprint has opted for service /a la carte/. Lio wrote: > > Or are they just charging you for bad service -- /"Thirty-five million deaths leave an empty place at only one family table." / (News commentator Eric Severied in a radio essay on the 25th anniversary of the start of World War Two. 8/31/64) Yahoo! Groups Links [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
