OT: GSM Phones w/ Email & Web

[Owen Densmore]

For folks not traveling internationally, you can delete now!

For others -- On two trips, one to Italy and one to Ireland, I found  
I could get by without a computer for email and simple web browsing  
by using my GSM phone, a multi-band (both US and international  
frequencies) Treo 600 (a PalmOS PDA/SmartPhone).  I could also buy a  
pay-as-you-go SIM for my phone which allowed me to have a local phone  
number.  I simply called my US GSM provider (T-Mobile) and had them  
enable international roaming and give me the unlock code for using a  
local SIM.  Worked great!  I'm committed to GSM.

But my problem is that I need a new phone now, and T-Mobile no longer  
supports Treos.  I may simply get an unlocked Treo (expensive!) or  
move on to a new type of phone.  I could also move to a different  
provider, but T-Mobile has been so supportive in the past that I'm  
somewhat resistant to moving to the only other US choice, Cingular.  
(Another FRIAMer, Tom Johnson, is also looking at this dilemma ..  
thus prompting this off-topic email.)

So my question is to all you GSM savvy, world traveler folks out there:
   - What GSM multi-band phones do a good job with email and web?
   - What have your experiences been using them for email/web while  
traveling?
   - Is Cingular OK in terms of international roaming agreements and  
service?

Thanks!!!

     -- Owen

Owen Densmore
http://backspaces.net - http://redfish.com - http://friam.org

[Marcus G. Daniels-2]

Owen Densmore wrote:
>    - What GSM multi-band phones do a good job with email and web?
>  
I haven't used it on international travel, but I've been using a
Cingular 8125 PDA for a few months.   Slide out keyboard that I have
become efficient using, and it is also works well as Bluetooth or USB
direct connect modem for a laptop.    Upstream speed is slow, say
32kb/sec, but downstream can be as high as ~200kb/sec, e.g. in the bay
area.   Windows Mobile 5 mail supports IMAP4, but I find I just as often
use webmail as the speed is good enough that the extra overhead is
tolerable (e.g. avoiding the need to use a VPN).   It has wifi, but I
don't turn it on much as the phone itself is pretty fast.

Marcus

[Roger Critchlow-2]

I just bought a new Cingular branded, but unlocked, Treo 650 on ebay
for $302 with $19.95 shipping.  It been working fine since it arrived,
but it did take the seller an excruciatingly long time (9 business
days) to ship.

-- rec --

[Owen Densmore]

Cool!  Are you using T-Mobile?

BTW: I'm considering another, slightly weird, solution:
   - Get a good quad-band (but not PDA) T-Mobile phone, with bluetooth.
   - Then get the Nokia 770 as the email/web solution.
   - When not in a wifi location, use the phone's bluetooth as a  
wireless modem.
   - Try a dialup-wifi device as a backup. (I've got a great  
worldwide dialup service)

Risky, but maybe the best solution.  I found that most of the hotels  
in Ireland had WiFi.  I think that holds for the rest of Europe too.  
Often true in the US.

So the strategy is to simply get a good, reliable T-Mobile phone with  
at least the ability to sync the address/phone book.  (SIM devices  
typically have ways to do that.)  Have them unlock and enable  
international roaming, giving me the ability to have a local SIM and  
my US one.  This gives me good phone service with reasonable options.

Then use the Nokia as the email/web device, fine in a wifi  
environment.  Try to use bluetooth with the phone to allow using it  
as a wireless modem .. probably a bit risky/unreliable.  At worse,  
buy a dialup WiFi device .. there are some.

Just might work!

     -- Owen

Owen Densmore
http://backspaces.net - http://redfish.com - http://friam.org


On Jul 22, 2006, at 5:45 PM, Roger Critchlow wrote:

> I just bought a new Cingular branded, but unlocked, Treo 650 on ebay
> for $302 with $19.95 shipping.  It been working fine since it arrived,
> but it did take the seller an excruciatingly long time (9 business
> days) to ship.
>
> -- rec --
>
> ============================================================
> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
> lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

[Roger Critchlow-2]

On 7/22/06, Owen Densmore <owen at backspaces.net> wrote:
> Cool!  Are you using T-Mobile?

Yes.

I mentioned this on Friday, with respect to the $100 laptop, but I
just rechecked the prices and a Treo 600 is about $150 on Ebay now.

-- rec --

[Marcus G. Daniels-2]

Owen Densmore wrote:
>    - Then get the Nokia 770 as the email/web solution.
>  
Nice idea..  Another thought, disregarding price, is:

  http://www.pegasuswirelesscorp.com/products/wijetg.html

It says supports PocketPC.  So if you know you are going somewhere where
a monitor (or projector) is likely to be available (e.g. to give a
talk), just run Powerpoint on the PDA itself!

It says it doesn't do so well with full motion, so it's not going to be
a home digital A/V solution.

Marcus

[Carlos Gershenson]

>
> BTW: I'm considering another, slightly weird, solution:
>    - Get a good quad-band (but not PDA) T-Mobile phone, with  
> bluetooth.
>    - Then get the Nokia 770 as the email/web solution.
>    - When not in a wifi location, use the phone's bluetooth as a
> wireless modem.
>    - Try a dialup-wifi device as a backup. (I've got a great
> worldwide dialup service)

If you are used to Palm, you could also get a Palm TX ($300 new) or  
LifeDrive ($400 new), to do all your tasks, and these can connect to  
the web via Bluetooth with your mobile, or directly with WiFi. More  
info at http://www.palm.com/us/products/index.html

Cheers,

     Carlos Gershenson...
     Centrum Leo Apostel, Vrije Universiteit Brussel
     Krijgskundestraat 33. B-1160 Brussels, Belgium
     http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~cgershen/

   ?Tendencies tend to change...?