Sony Ericsson Makes a tri-band GPRS modem

prostoalex writes "Sony Ericsson announced their new PCMCIA GPRS wireless modem, capable of delivering 57.6 Kbps. It is tri-band and works in 900/1800/1900 MHz range, which led Sony Ericsson to imply that the card will work in 160 countries, providing an always-on Internet connection. Currently only Microsoft operating systems (starting at Windows 98) are supported. No exact price information on official site, but the PC Pro article above quotes 200 UK pounds. The manufacturer also runs a contest for those who would rather get one for free."

Price Listed on site.

[A Commentor]

So on the contest site (sonyericsson.com), in the rules it states that it's a EUR 399 value

The prize consists of one Sony Ericsson GPRS PC Card Modem, GC75, which has a recommended retail price of EUR 399.

Re:so when

[trynis]

Actually you can do this yourself. I did it a year and a half ago. It's called vertical handover, and I did it between 802.11b and bluetooth. I wanted to do GPRS as well, but I had no access to such hardware at the time. It's quite easy to set up using MobileIP and some clever programming. There should be more advanced solutions available now, I think.

I think the Nokia D211 is much cooler

[adrianm]

GPRS, HSCSD, and 802.11 all in a single PC Card
(http://www.nokia.com/nokia/0,1522,,00.html? orig=/ phones/nokiad211)

Re:One more thing...

[Anonymous Coward]

900 MHz is also European GSM range. They cannot be easily tapped with cheap equipment.

Also note, when they are talking about triband, they mean 900/1800/1900 MHz, GSM only.

Nokia Cardphone

[Psychic Burrito]

Also, compare it to the Nokia Cardphone [nokia.com]. Works with Linux, too :-)

It has happend if you buy Nokia

[chrestomanci]

Check out the D211
http://www.nokia.com/nokia/0,4879,1449,00.ht ml

It is a wireless PCMCIA conectivity card, which supports both GPRS and 802.11b

There are even linux drivers avalabe to to download. (I don't know if they work)

It has been out for a couple of months.

The main downside is that it only supports dual band opperation, so I guess american readers are out of luck.

The other downside is that switching between GPRS and 802.11 is not automatic, though you could probably put together a script to make it so.

I dare say it is rather expensive as well.

Re:Well...

[Arker]

It's not a phone, that wouldn't be news, I've got a tri-band GPRS phone in my pack. Plug it in via firewire... anyway this isn't a phone, it doesn't do voice, data only, it's a PMCIA card dedicated GPRS modem. And you're right, it's expensive, mind you the nice thing with GPRS is that you don't pay for time connected, just bits transferred, so if you filter your mail on the server and browse with lynx you could keep constantly up to date relatively cheaply. GPRS service in Europe runs around 20 cents a megabyte IIRC, depending on where you are of course... anyone know about the US? it would definately get expensive fast if you don't take steps to keep your bandwidth usage limited.

Re:Wonder if it's really Windows-only

[Des Herriott]

I should have done some more research :-) Yes, it looks like it will work just fine on a Unix-type OS. It does indeed appear as a regular serial device.

Check out this link [geocrawler.com] (and the followups to it)

Already Been Done

[GuyZero]

Gee, too bad there's already the same thing... in Compact Flash.

http://www.shoppingpda.com/product/rtm8000/rtm80 00 .asp

GSM/GPRS, Tri-band, data, earphone jack for voice calls, supports PDAs & Windows - oh, and it's only $283 USD. Cheaper too.

Ummm...

[rcs1000]

All European cell-phones have removable SIM cards. Many, although most users don't realise it, have built in modems.

The Nokia 7xxx and 8xxx, plus the Ericsson R520, T28 and T68. By using either IR or Bluetooth, you can attach these phones to a laptop, and can then use an anonymous Internet account (like Freeserve in the UK.)

Indeed, I have been using this method (except for the Freeserve bit) for about four years now to access the web when I am travelling. It's not quick, but it's super useful.

Contrary to this posters' opinion, most criminals won't use stolen cell phones for Internet access. It's slow and clunky, and there are still ways to find who posted the hypothetical email message...

(1) Trace email message to ISP.
(2) Dredge ISP log to find phone number and time, duration of call.
(3) Contact cell phone company that carried the call, discover IMEI number of the cell-phone.

Now if anyone uses that cell phone again... you will know. You can track which cell they are in, etc. Complicated, but theoretically possible to catch the person you want.

Thx,

Robert

Re:One more thing...

[Anonymous Coward]

GPRS encryption algorithms GEA1 and GEA2 are similar in principle to (but subtly different from) the A5/1 and A5/2 algorithms used for GSM.

While it is true that GSM encryption is not especially strong, the paraniod can, of course, run SSL to encrypt at the IP packet level. You'd also have to say that GPRS encryption and encryption procedures are some way beyond, say, 802.11 - and the encryption is more than adequate to deter all but the most determined.

Re:One more thing...

[radish]

This is GSM, it's encrypted. It's crackable in reasonable time, but it's certainly not "easily tapped with cheap equipment". This is nothing new, remember GSM has been around for years. I have never heard of anyone tapping GSM transmissions (publically anyway), whilst it used to be common place with *shudder* analogue cellphones.

cdma 1x cards already available

[gyc]

In the U.S., at least, you can already purchase a CDMA 1x PC Card for $200 that will get you speeds over 100kbps.

Motorola P280

[rit]

I have a Motorola P280 (purchased last year) TriBand GSM Mobile which does the same thing. It's access is via t-mobile here in the states; it came with a serial cable which plugs right into the phone - the phone is a full 56k modem which when plugged into serial port is addressable as a standard modem - no special software required.

It also handles GPRS modem, which does require special "iStream" software ( dunno what voicestream calls it now that they rebanded to t-mobile) and only runs on Windows.

It has all the same features of the above mentioned modem, but it also is a phone.

I paid about $300 for it in January, so it's probably more affordable now.

They have an i280 now also that is same phone PLUS bluetooth.

I love the Motorola bluetooth car kit....

Re:Always on?

[Ilgaz]

You pay for bytes on GPRS, not being online. Just like some of those corparate lines.

Re:Barrier in Europe: Cost

[Anonymous Coward]

In the U.S., Sprint PCS now offers unlimited voice and data plans.

I have the Sprint PCS Connection Card, a.k.a. the Merlin C201 from Novatell Wireless:

http://www.novatelwireless.com/pcproducts/index. ht ml#SprintPCS

I was very skeptical when I bought it, but after 14 days of testing in various locations I decided to keep it. It works well even in places where I have only one bar of signal strength.

Testing using the test for mobile devices at bandwidthplace.com I regularly see connection speeds in excess of the "peak" advertised, and my average speed is definetly higher than the average the 50-70Kbps they advertise -- more like double that.

Re:Barrier in Europe: Cost

[Denito]

Indeed, I cited the wrong rate above, as I lost a zero on my Kroner -> Dollar conversion..

it is about 3 USD per Mb. That's why it's cost prohibitive.