I run a business and need to be able to access my company's web admin server
when customers call. Unfortunately sometimes they call at times when I'm not
anywhere near a computer, so I would like to be able to access my web server
on a PDA. I need a full blown web browser that can handle SSL connections,
not some cheesy WAP browser.

I live out in the boonies in Michigan's Thumb area. The only towers
available here that I am aware of are Thumb Cellular (CDMA), Dobson Cellular
One (GSM), and Nextel (IDEN). Also, there is Cingular's Mobitex data service
out here, but they don't have voice cellular service in the area and refuse
to sign me up. (I could use a fake billing address I suppose.)

I use Verizon Wireless for my voice calls, which works great because Thumb
Cellular is a free "extended network" area on America's Choice. (Where as if
I signed up through Thumb Cellular locally I'd be roaming on Verizon and
wouldn't get any freebies like nights and weekends or anything when I go
anywhere). I don't think that Thumb Cellular has any sort of data service
offering beyond just SMS text messaging, and since it's an extended area I
imagine you can't use Verizon Express Network here either. I don't know if
Dobson Cellular One does anything, but I don't really care either because
their service is crap.

I commonly go away on weekends and things, so I am interested in trying out
this "Express Network Minutes of Use" thing that some of the Verizon people
keep talking about. I mean, if it just uses my minutes and I have free
weekend minutes when I'm down in the Verizon area on weekends, I might as
well use it. Right?

Can I get online with a PDA out in the Thumb area with my Verizon phone
service while roaming as extended network on Thumb Cellular? I mean, I know
you can't use the "express network" here, but can I get online with say a
modem call to my ISP or something? If so, I could just use that for now
until my usage gets to a point where I'd need to get it on a seperate plan.

Eventually I would like to be able to talk on the phone at the same time as
surfing the net (so that I can access the customer's account info on my PDA
while I'm talking to them on the phone). That would mean a whole seperate
rate plan wouldn't it? Obviously in that case, I'd like to get something
that would allow me to use it both in the Thumb area as well as outside the
Thumb, so I don't think Verizon would be a good choice for that... Unless
they offer a good deal on roaming data service, if such a thing is even
available.

Otherwise, I guess I'll have to get either Cingular's Mobitex service which
is a total rip on the prices -- don't they charge by the killobyte? Or, I
could get Nextel's packetstream thing but that sounds rather expensive. Is
there any other options?

What PDA can I use with these things? Is there a device that would work with
both Verizon and with Nextel? I'm thinking... Nextel has one of those PCMCIA
card jobies to use with their service. Until I get to using it enough to
require it's own rate plan, I could maybe plug the PDA into my Verizon phone
for now? Would that work?

If I get stuck paying per the minute or per killobyte, on either Cingular
Mobitex or Nextel PacketStream, could I still use the free weekends on
Verizon Express Network Minutes of Use on the same PDA?

Thanks,
Jeff

In article <108ofl6339m30b9@corp.supernews.com>,
"jeff" <jeff_philNOSPAM@yahoo.com> wrote:

> I run a business and need to be able to access my company's web admin server
> when customers call. Unfortunately sometimes they call at times when I'm not
> anywhere near a computer...
>
> I live out in the boonies in Michigan's Thumb area....
>
> I commonly go away on weekends and things...


1) Move.

2) Get into a new business.

3) Stay home.


Those are the only choices I can come up with, sorry....

"jeff" <jeff_philNOSPAM@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:108ofl6339m30b9@corp.supernews.com
> Can I get online with a PDA out in the Thumb area with my Verizon
> phone service while roaming as extended network on Thumb Cellular? I
> mean, I know you can't use the "express network" here, but can I get
> online with say a modem call to my ISP or something? If so, I could
> just use that for now until my usage gets to a point where I'd need
> to get it on a seperate plan.
>

Sort of an old PDA (they have lots of newer ones now), but I used the
Audiovox Thera on Verizon and Quick 2 Net when I was in Saginaw, it was
slow, but I was able to log on to secures sites (https stuff, like my banks
and brokers). I use Earthlink as my ISP and can connect via dialup/cellphone
(both low speed and high speed)/802.11/ethernet/cable/dsl/etc.


>
> I commonly go away on weekends and things, so I am interested in
> trying out this "Express Network Minutes of Use" thing that some of
> the Verizon people keep talking about. I mean, if it just uses my
> minutes and I have free weekend minutes when I'm down in the Verizon
> area on weekends, I might as well use it. Right?
>

When I go to other areas that are native verizon (not extended) I change the
ESN online and use my Kyocera 2235 (an older phone but 1X compatible, and I
have all the accessories for it)/Mobile Office/EN-MOU (Now NA-MOU) with my
laptop. Works great, and with the free N&W, I can surf/email/etc to my
hearts content (is up to 10 times faster than the old qwk2net).

When you asked about talking and data at the same time, my partner (we are
both consultants, travel and use cellphones extensively), has a share option
on his 2 lines/2 phones. He can talk and be online at the same time. (he
uses an aircard in his laptop as a second line, but it only works in native
verizon areas, not extended)

"Peter Pan" <Marcs1102NOSPAM@Hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:c6hgjr$c183u$1@ID-190045.news.uni-berlin.de...
>
> When I go to other areas that are native verizon (not extended) I change
the
> ESN online and use my Kyocera 2235 (an older phone but 1X compatible, and
I
> have all the accessories for it)/Mobile Office/EN-MOU (Now NA-MOU) with my
> laptop. Works great, and with the free N&W, I can surf/email/etc to my
> hearts content (is up to 10 times faster than the old qwk2net).
>
> When you asked about talking and data at the same time, my partner (we are
> both consultants, travel and use cellphones extensively), has a share
option
> on his 2 lines/2 phones. He can talk and be online at the same time. (he
> uses an aircard in his laptop as a second line, but it only works in
native
> verizon areas, not extended)
>

Well, thanks for your advice. I looked at Cingular's Mobitext prices and I
can't see myself paying them by the kilobyte when they don't even cover all
of the areas I go. I might as well just do dial-up modem calls over my
existing cell phone and use the plan minutes if I'm going to go the
pay-per-use route.

Eventually as I have to do this more and more often, I think I might have to
go with the Nextel packetstream unlimited plan, even though it's a bit
expensive. At least then I could use a completely seperate device so that I
can be on the phone simultaneously, and their coverage is adequate for the
areas I would use it most often.

I notice that NexTel has a PCMCIA card for their PacketStream service. Are
there any PDAs out there that can use their card, as well as an external
data cable through verizon? I'd like to get the PDA and start using it with
my existing Verizon minutes as a dial-up call, but eventually switch over to
the Nextel card at some point down the road if nothing else becomes
available.

-Jeff

"jeff" <jeff_philNOSPAM@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:108oo8jrbtkb23a@corp.supernews.com
> "Peter Pan" <Marcs1102NOSPAM@Hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:c6hgjr$c183u$1@ID-190045.news.uni-berlin.de...
>>
>> When I go to other areas that are native verizon (not extended) I
>> change the ESN online and use my Kyocera 2235 (an older phone but 1X
>> compatible, and I have all the accessories for it)/Mobile
>> Office/EN-MOU (Now NA-MOU) with my laptop. Works great, and with the
>> free N&W, I can surf/email/etc to my hearts content (is up to 10
>> times faster than the old qwk2net).
>>
>> When you asked about talking and data at the same time, my partner
>> (we are both consultants, travel and use cellphones extensively),
>> has a share option on his 2 lines/2 phones. He can talk and be
>> online at the same time. (he uses an aircard in his laptop as a
>> second line, but it only works in native verizon areas, not extended)
>>
>
> Well, thanks for your advice. I looked at Cingular's Mobitext prices
> and I can't see myself paying them by the kilobyte when they don't
> even cover all of the areas I go. I might as well just do dial-up
> modem calls over my existing cell phone and use the plan minutes if
> I'm going to go the pay-per-use route.
>
> Eventually as I have to do this more and more often, I think I might
> have to go with the Nextel packetstream unlimited plan, even though
> it's a bit expensive. At least then I could use a completely seperate
> device so that I can be on the phone simultaneously, and their
> coverage is adequate for the areas I would use it most often.
>
> I notice that NexTel has a PCMCIA card for their PacketStream
> service. Are there any PDAs out there that can use their card, as
> well as an external data cable through verizon? I'd like to get the
> PDA and start using it with my existing Verizon minutes as a dial-up
> call, but eventually switch over to the Nextel card at some point
> down the road if nothing else becomes available.
>
> -Jeff

Not sure what you mean on this. The PDA's that I have seen used on verizon,
either have a built-in phone, and/or use a cable to tie it to a laptop, or
an SDIO card. Fraid I've never seen a PDA that can use a PCMCIA card. Most
of the things I've played with on Verizon, are PDA's that use things like
USB data cradles, or SDIO cards etc. (SDIO cards are really cool at places
that have a wireless network!) Do they make an SD card that works with
packetstream?

I should be clear that both my partner and I are consultants, we travel
around, and absolutely must have something that works in the most places.
Verizon has worked in every place we have been, Nextel less than 40%. We
went with Verizon. Not to say there is anything wrong with Nextel, if it
works for you great, just didn't for us so we discounted it as a
possibility. My understanding is that Nextel is IDEN and Verizon CDMA (and
Cingular GSM), all incompatible protocols. Sorry I

One thing of note, you may find that different phones require different
cables./drivers/sometime software. Depending on what you have/need to buy,
you may find it rather expensive to experiment (luckily we get to put the
costs on our expense account

There are multiple alternatives for using a PC card with a PDA.
Compaq has an add on 'sleeve' for some of their units that accommodate a
PC Card. There are also PC card / CF adapters that allow a PC card to be used
with a PDA that has a CF slot. I personally use an Airtouch (Sierra Wireless) 555
with a Dell Axim X5 using the latter solution.

One caveat. Card bus cards (if you don't know, ask) may not work with PDAs. So far,
Sierras' cards aren't card bus, so they work fine, but do burn battery quickly....


> I notice that NexTel has a PCMCIA card for their PacketStream service. Are
> there any PDAs out there that can use their card, as well as an external
> data cable through verizon? I'd like to get the PDA and start using it with
> my existing Verizon minutes as a dial-up call, but eventually switch over to
> the Nextel card at some point down the road if nothing else becomes
> available.
>
> -Jeff
>
>

> has a share option
> on his 2 lines/2 phones. He can talk and be online at the same time. (he
> uses an aircard in his laptop as a second line,

I have it on good authority that things changed as of April 15th. When
you get a data card, you have to get a data plan. You can't just add
it to an existing AC plan. The system in the stores enforces this, so
even a friendly manager can't do anything for you.

The data plans are $80 for unlimited. If that is fine by you then you
are all set. If you want to spend less, because of occassional usage,
then $35 gets you 150 data minutes (chargeable at all times - no night
or weekends free).

[This is for Northern California. Other regions may vary]

Roger

"Roger Binns" <rogerb@rogerbinns.com> wrote in message
news:toful1-jcf.ln1@home.rogerbinns.com...
> > has a share option
> > on his 2 lines/2 phones. He can talk and be online at the same time. (he
> > uses an aircard in his laptop as a second line,
>
> I have it on good authority that things changed as of April 15th. When
> you get a data card, you have to get a data plan. You can't just add
> it to an existing AC plan. The system in the stores enforces this, so
> even a friendly manager can't do anything for you.
>
> The data plans are $80 for unlimited. If that is fine by you then you
> are all set. If you want to spend less, because of occassional usage,
> then $35 gets you 150 data minutes (chargeable at all times - no night
> or weekends free).
>
> [This is for Northern California. Other regions may vary]
>
> Roger
>

I assume that only works in Verizon's native coverage areas. What if I try
to make a data call from an extended network area? Is it possible? How much
would it cost?

Thanks,
Jeff

"jeff" <jeff_philNOSPAM@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:108r685qvssf9e4@corp.supernews.com
> "Roger Binns" <rogerb@rogerbinns.com> wrote in message
> news:toful1-jcf.ln1@home.rogerbinns.com...
>>> has a share option
>>> on his 2 lines/2 phones. He can talk and be online at the same
>>> time. (he uses an aircard in his laptop as a second line,
>>
>> I have it on good authority that things changed as of April 15th.
>> When you get a data card, you have to get a data plan. You can't
>> just add it to an existing AC plan. The system in the stores
>> enforces this, so even a friendly manager can't do anything for you.
>>
>> The data plans are $80 for unlimited. If that is fine by you then
>> you are all set. If you want to spend less, because of occasional
>> usage, then $35 gets you 150 data minutes (chargeable at all times -
>> no night or weekends free).
>>
>> [This is for Northern California. Other regions may vary]
>>
>> Roger
>>
>
> I assume that only works in Verizon's native coverage areas. What if
> I try to make a data call from an extended network area? Is it
> possible? How much would it cost?
>
> Thanks,
> Jeff

If you are talking aircard in extended network areas, no it sometimes
(usually when you want it to) doesn't work. Hard to tell if it will or
won't. For instance, I was in South Carolina on Alltel and it worked, but
when in Saginaw Michigan, it didn't. You may want to look on verizons
website at a national access map, it is much smaller area than Americas
choice, but should give you some idea of area that it may work in.

"Peter Pan" <Marcs1102NOSPAM@Hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:c6k90s$css2h$1@ID-190045.news.uni-berlin.de...
>
> If you are talking aircard in extended network areas, no it sometimes
> (usually when you want it to) doesn't work. Hard to tell if it will or
> won't. For instance, I was in South Carolina on Alltel and it worked, but
> when in Saginaw Michigan, it didn't. You may want to look on verizons
> website at a national access map, it is much smaller area than Americas
> choice, but should give you some idea of area that it may work in.
>

I don't understand. Saginaw, Michigan is and always has been a native
Verizon coverage area from the days of Airtouch. It's certainly not extended
network. Do you mean there are areas that Verizon owns the towers themselves
but does not provide data service? I had thought the difference between
America's Choice and National Access was that National Access was just
Verizon's native towers, while America's Choice included their roaming
partners.

-Jeff