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Handhelds Hardware

Wireless Net on the Zaurus 103

Posted by CmdrTaco from the can-you-ping-me-now?-good dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Straight from infosync.no: "Sharp has announced the release of a wireless Internet package for Sharp Zaurus SL-5500 and SL-5000d. Using the Verizon Wireless CDPD network in US, the package includes a Compact Flash CDPD modem from Enfora, the necessary software, and a Verizon Wireless account"."
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Wireless Net on the Zaurus More

Wireless Net on the Zaurus

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  • Its Huuuge (Score:2, Informative)

    by evilempireinc ( 592230 )
    Is it just me, or does that thing look about the same size as the zaurus itself?
    • Big antenna anyways ;-)
    • I've been installing Opera 6.03 on a bunch of user accounts this afternoon, and one of the ads that Opera runs lately is the special to buy opera and get entered in a contest to win a Zaurus. Sure, I'd like to have one, just as long as it's smaller than a laptop, and almost free to boot. Guess I'd have to spring for the modem, etc. to go with the Zaurus if I won one, also the access$ account$.
      Also this:
      Deutsche Telekom has proposed selling its U.S. wireless unit VoiceStream to Cingular Wireless, a combination which would rival market leader Verizon Wireless, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.
      Apparently D. Telekom needs to pay some debt, and has to sell VoiceStream or so I have heard.
      Not that any of that would affect the Zaurus setup, but it might...

  • CDPD? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by MaxVlast ( 103795 ) <maxim@[ ].to ['sla' in gap]> on Monday August 26, 2002 @04:25PM (#4144088) Homepage
    Has anyone here had any CDPD experience? I recently purchased an AirCard 710 for use with AT&T GSM/GPRS service, and it was awful. The hardware was flaky and coverage was dismal. I'm thinking about going to CDPD with Sprint, but am pretty discouraged after my GPRS experience.
    • I'm thinking about going to CDPD with Sprint, but am pretty discouraged after my GPRS experience.

      I got one of Sprint's AirCard's about a year ago, and I was pleasantly surprised by the coverage in TX and CA. The speed was horrible, of course, only around 14.4 max. Plus it wasn't always-on, either.

    • Re:CDPD? (Score:2, Informative)

      by nuwayser ( 168008 )
      Starting in May of 2001 I used CDPD with Omnisky on both Palm and PocketPC. The PocketPC setup was a Sierra Wireless AirCard 300 CDPD PC Card for Handhelds with an iPAQ 3670 (must pause to inhale... OK :-) in the Washington, DC metro area. It was the Omnisky network (which runs on Verizon on the Boston/NYC/Philly/Balt/Wash corridor) With a strong signal, it works pretty well... response times are spiffy, while content loads...er... eventually. Much better suited for IM than for browsing. All you need is one slight interruption of signal for the thing to get confused. At those times, I would usually need to stop whatever I was doing (browsing or IM), disconnect and reconnect the modem connection and start over. Sometimes, if the signal drop was very brief, it would be OK. When the signal was strong, though, I could IM and browse at the same time without it being very obvious that I was using a slow connection (to the other IM user, I mean). Another thing I disliked was the removable antenna on the AirCard... that thing was just waiting to be bent or lost. Also while the modem is on the batteries get sucked dry within couple of hours of constant use... and that's with the external battery contained in the iPAQ PC Card sled!


      The Palm setup was a Vx with the Novatel Wireless sled. This, of course, was a bit less bulky than the iPAQ with the PC Card sled, and I liked the retractable antenna. However, unlike the iPAQ where you could charge both batteries simultaneously, you have to charge the Palm and the sled separately. Also it seemed like the Palm combo was just as vulnerable to network holes and spottiness.


      I stopped using both accounts because of the inconveniences caused apparantly by the hardware's inability to hold on to a signal. What was gained in convenience by the small form factor was more than washed out by those problems. I would rather wait for a GSM+GPRS-based solution (only because I perceive GPRS to be both faster and less spotty, not because I have empirical data comparing the two).

      HTH!

    • I used CDPC service on my Handspring for over a year and I was very happy with it. Note that I was probably lucky in that most of my time was in areas where the coverage was pretty good. I have to point out that the coverage from Sharp/Verizon is nowhere near as good as was from Omnisky/Earthlink. LA and OC California coverage is available through AT&T and you are roaming 100 percent of the time. Ouch! Brad
    • Has anyone here had any CDPD experience?

      Sure, I used the Omnisky service for a couple of years. My take in brief: CDPD sucks.

      They claim 19.2kbps; I rarely saw a quarter of that. But worse than that is the fact that you lose service if you're moving around very much ... e.g. in a car or on a train. Coverage is poor, too, even in major urban areas (e.g. Boston and New York City).

      I had hoped to use the service to expand the capabilities of the palmtop device by allowing remote access to deep datastores (the web, of course, but also mail archives and personal files). The reality was that it was too slow and unreliable to use for anything but short data bursts ala AvantGo. I could only use it for e-mail in emergency situations, and it was next to worthless for the web both because of performance and display limitations.

      The 2.5G network Verizon is rolling out may have a better shot at it. With much higher data rates and presumably better handling of cell migration it might just be good enough. Until then I'm using 802.11 despite its short range. CDPD is a bust.

    • GPRS is pretty young, give it some time. They'll improve the service.

      Plus, sprint now offers 1xRT service, (BTW, this is not 3g as most ppl define it).

      I've only played with it briefly at the Sprint store, but Sprint's phone service is pretty good around here (NYC/LI).

      They're also offering a 3 mos. discount right now.
  • It's $40/mo for unlimited use, but it's only 19.2. If you're a bandwidth freak, it makes more sense to go with Verizon's 144kbps Express Network - unlimited plans are $100/mo, and they have PCMCIA cards as well as phones.
  • No GPS! What good is mobile Internet unless you know where you are??
    -russ
    • The serial and USB ports are still free after you plug in that modem.

      By the way, the wireless modem is a CF serial device running PPP, a very conventional Linux networking device accessable by free software, not some proprietary BS with a closed driver.

      I haven't figured out how to make the USB slave into a master yet, but it's probably possible. I just got a 1/2 Gig SD card, and an SMC 802 card usually lives in the CF slot when I'm home.

      Bruce

      • 1/2 Gb SD Card.. WTF.. I need me one of those.
        that wont eatup the CF slot.. and gets you similar
        storage to the IBM microdrive.. gdamn that cool.
      • I haven't figured out how to make the USB slave into a master yet, but it's probably possible.

        Alas, no. The USB client is built into the CPU, and it can ONLY be a client. And yes, the serial port is still available, but cords are a Serious Pain in the Butt.
        -russ
    • You'd think someone had written a GPS applet for his handheld. ;)

      I guess you'll have to put the GPS card in, figure out where you are, swap in the wireless card, and *then* browse the Internet. Easy, right?
  • Am I missing something here? My friend uses his Zaurus with a wireless card and is on the internet on it every day. He easily locates access points.

    Is the news here that Sharp is providing internet access? Confused as to the news here.

    Loomis

  • the evil Starbuck's.. (Score:4, Informative)

    by NanoGator ( 522640 ) on Monday August 26, 2002 @04:29PM (#4144120) Homepage Journal
    My boss has a Zaurus with an 802.11 card. After that story the other day about Starbuck's 'interferring' with a free 802.11 provider, I discovered that there are a LOT of Starbuck's around Portland that have the T-Mobile service ready to go. Seriously, I've been to 3 different stores that had it and 1 of them was in the mall. It's a sure bet that the bigger mall will have it soon too. (That Starbuck's is remodelling...)

    This isnt' worth the $30 a month they want for it, otherwise this is a seriously cool combination with a Zaurus. I could go to the mall and do my shopping. If I'm concerned about an item costing a little too much, I could run down to the Starbuck's (or just close to it...), fire up the Zaurus, and go check out the price at a place like Newegg.com. Even better, I can find out if a competitor is running a sale! Best Buy's site will let ya order the item from the web and pick it up in the store.

    As I said, this isn't worth $30 a month to me, but that's a seriously cool alternative to trying to cover the US with a cellular-like WAP cloud.
    • I discovered that there are a LOT of Starbuck's around Portland that have the T-Mobile service ready to go.

      Every one of 'em in Dallas and Houston has had them for around a year. I've been a subscriber for quite a while, and it's a phenomenal service, but I wish it had better coverage in more airports.
    • T-Mobile actually bought the assets of the original company. I forget the name....

      I think they had almost every Starbucks covered.

      The original company folded like a 10 high poker hand.

  • Day Late, I'm afraid... (Score:3, Informative)

    by mgeneral ( 512297 ) on Monday August 26, 2002 @04:33PM (#4144147)
    CDPD was great 5 years ago, but today, GSM/GPRS is spreading out and I wouldn't recommend investing in the older, slower technology. CDPD has a data rate of 19.2kb/s, but with error correction and overhead, the users throughput is more like 10 to 15kb/s. Versus GSM, which operates at 40 to 50kb/s and is found throughout the world.
    • Given that Verizion and Sprint both offer unlimited 3G for $99/month... at 80K measured speeds (144K burst).... it seems foolish to use these CDPD services.

      GSM/GPRS isn't the only choice. Verizion has good coverage now, Sprint's is almost everywhere.

    • CDPD has a data rate of 19.2kb/s, but with error correction and overhead, the users throughput is more like 10 to 15kb/s. Versus GSM, which operates at 40 to 50kb/s and is found throughout the world.

      err... that would be the GPRS bit, plain vanilla GSM maxes out between 9.6 and 14.4kbps

  • CDPD - Slow and outdated (Score:3, Informative)

    by Kerosene ( 18371 ) on Monday August 26, 2002 @04:33PM (#4144148)
    CDPD is one of the slowest wireless data technologies still in use. It's only 19.2kbps (max speed, you really only get 9600 and that only if you're lucky and in the middle of a cornfield next to a cell tower) and is overpriced for what you get. GSM/GPRS is a more viable option at 60kbps, or sprint's new 3G "PCS vision" [pcsvision.com] service. (70kbps at the moment, has potetial for 1mbps+)
    • CDPD may be outdated and slow, but is GPRS flat rate?

      Judging from the prices paid for the 3G spectrum licenses, it looks like the 3G providers were looking to extract ~$100 month per subscriber....

  • Battery Life (Score:4, Interesting)

    by SomeOtherGuy ( 179082 ) on Monday August 26, 2002 @04:33PM (#4144149) Journal
    Any word on the battery life for this? I know that 802.11B sucks the batteries right out of most handheld devices. I am testing an "industrial" Symbol device (PocketPC) here at work -- and am hard pressed to surf around for more than about 45 minutes on a full charge.

    Based on the size of this thing, it may have an additional battery on board. A few quick glances of the website did not make it appear that way.
    • These technologies sap battery like leeches. Unless you're connecting with a data cable though your cellular telephone, the real usefullness of these services lies in laptops, where larger batteries counteract the drain from the wireless connections. A lot of "devices" made for PDAs come with batteries onboard that do stretch your surfing time. But if it's a card, I doubt it would last long.
    • I can use a CF 802.11b (Linksys for what its worth) card with my Zaurus for a whole day with any battery issues.

    • Re:Battery Life (Score:4, Informative)

      by Royster ( 16042 ) on Monday August 26, 2002 @04:44PM (#4144212) Homepage
      The modem has its own battery.

      I used one of these as part of the wireless beta. I got a good 2-3 hours out of a charge on the wireless battery and about 4-5 hours of constant use on the Z itself.
    • I use a SocketCom Bluetooth CF card, to communicate with my GPRS-capable Nokia 6310i, which drains barely anything from the Zaurus. I left the sucker online for hours (logged into Jabber) in my pocket at DefCon, and at the end of the day the battery life gauge on the Z hadn't even moved. Of course, that gauge is crap anyway, but you get the idea.

      Obviously, this saves a lot of power on the Zaurus because it doesn't have to manage its own long range cell connection. I do have to say though, that with GPRS, even the phone spent very little battery life, since you only spend energy (and money, hehe) when you are transferring data. I'm sure it would be different if I were downloading huge files, but if I'm just sitting in away-mode on Jabber I get very good mileage. And cheap too!
    • It depends on the chipset of the wireless card that you were using. If you were using one of the old Prizim2 chipset cards your battery usage could be as bismal as 1 hour. The reason is that it is set to allways on full strengh. The prizim2.5 as found in the Socket and Symbol cards have power managment so that they can drop all the way down to 20mA when not in transfering data and the driver is availble as a ipk install file.
  • Is every single wireless or handheld product released, submitted and posted as a story on /. I read /. to hear about the latest and greatest products too, but there seems to be some bias in the handheld and wireless markets. Is Taco getting some kickbacks from the wireless consortium or is this really the fastest growning industry sector right now?
    • Slashdot is News for Nerds. Not News for Nerds who Don't Care About Handheld Devices. There are an awful lot of stories about linux on slashdot too, but I don't hear ya complaining....
    • It's the only place where really interesting things are still happening on a regular basis. PDAs and wireless devices are today what PCs used to be in 1991 when the unwashed masses were just discovering that they could be entertaining and useful for everyone...

  • Too little, too late. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Quickening ( 15069 ) on Monday August 26, 2002 @04:42PM (#4144200) Homepage
    Talk in the community is this has been unreliable and slow. (I haven't heard if it's gotten any better). It's easier and cheaper connecting with a cellular phone for now, because in a few months we'll have a choice of several higher bandwidth alternatives (Sprint Vision with a compact flash card soon, for example). We already have several bluetooth devices too, just waiting for coverage.
  • The US has the unique privilege of being one of 4 countries in the world where CDMA is the de facto standard for wireless. In some countries analog or TDMA is the standard, but for the most part, everywhere outside of North America uses GSM.

    Does Sharp plan on selling this wireless package outside of North America? If so, then why can't any American just pick up the European GSM version of it, and use it here? Sure, the GSM version would need to support 1900 MHz... but Sharp does expect European users to roam, no?
  • When others are beginning to showcase 3G and broandband wireless access, what do they do, introduce a "19.2 kbps" modem whose actual throughput is more closer to 9.6 kbps [ic.ac.uk] and plan to charge $40 per month for it.

    Well, actually, if the connection would not be "proxy based" - it could make a lot of sense - to have a always-on (even low bandwidth) connection in your pocket which does not suck your batteries in a second. But this "proxy based concept" seems to be the fun-spoiler and aimed to make your life more difficult when you actually would like to do something fun with it. Like making it more difficult to get an IP masquared for that.

  • I've been researching this for a while and I wanted a convenient way to access work 24x7. So I bought the sharp zaurus SL5500 and now the wireless portfolio from enfora. The portfolio looks like the better deal as I get to use my CF slot for something else.

    Obviously I won't be doing much C++/Java coding through it but it will be nice when I get a call out on the town and I need to fix production.

    Much better than explaining the use of the 'top' command to find a run-away process to the new operations guy. (yes, I've had to do this).

  • Specifics about the modem (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Bruce Perens ( 3872 ) <bruce@perens.com> on Monday August 26, 2002 @04:52PM (#4144259) Homepage Journal
    I ordered one of these last week. I'm told it appears as a compact flash serial modem running PPP, doesn't really require a proprietary driver (although proprietary modem management software comes with it), and works as a general network device rather than just web and email.

    My 1/2 Gigabyte SD card came in the mail today. I have an 802.11 card from SMC in the CF slot right now. I can ssh from my desktop to the palmtop.

    I am about to put the OpenZaurus load on the machine instead of the partially-proprietary load it comes with.

    Bruce

  • Quick primer on CDPD (Score:5, Informative)

    by wowbagger ( 69688 ) on Monday August 26, 2002 @04:52PM (#4144262) Homepage Journal
    CDPD - Cellular Digital Packet Data.

    The CDPD system involves sending short, relatively low speed data bursts over a voice channel of standard North American Analog Phone Service (AMPS). This allows a standard AMPS system to carry CDPD with little retrofitting of the cell towers, whereas GPRS requires a whole new system. Given that your average cell site runs about US$1M, that adds up very quickly.

    CDPD is a CS/A TDMA system (Collision Sense/Collision Avoidance Time Domain Multiple Access) system - Multiple users transmit on the same frequency at different times, much like Ethernet.

    CDPD is in common use for vending machines, electric meters, and other systems that need to report relatively little information.

    When it first came out, years ago, I thought "YOU IDIOTS! You are pricing this PER PACKET - it will never sell. Price it flat rate and people will eat it up!" Guess what - now they are starting to look at pricing it flat rate, and it is now becoming attractive!

    CDPD operates in the 800MHz US Cellular band. It can use encryption based on RSA.

    I had done some work on a CDPD tester [navair.ca] in the past.
  • is the availability similar as to having gprs modem in europe? (like, will it work from the deepest woods to darkest sprawl?).

    my bro has a zaurus and even with just a clumsy gsmphone(with flat rate gprs) connected with ir it's attractive as hell(tho should be much more user friendly when/if he gets the bluetooth card for it), ssh&opera everywhere!

    is there similar lag in this system? accessing pine through ssh is like you're on 9.6kbps modem, transfer speeds average around ~8kbytes/s when moving files though so it's pretty snappy, plugin the card from camera, click, leave it to u'l the pictures to home during night, blam, your all ready on the morning for another phototrip.
    • well, its kind-of-similar to GPRS, the main difference is that GPRS can theoritically run at 115 Kbps, actual throughput varies a lot, because you are not likely (you will never get) to get all 8 time slots (because of power consumption, heat emisssion, maximizing amount of simultaneous users). So, you are likely to get anything from 1 to 4 * 13 Kbps for download and one for upload.

  • Sure imap and web browsing are neat tools for sales guys but what I really want is a way to login analyze and fix a problem with a server from anywhere.

    The scenareio would go something like this:

    Use remote server monitoring software to check on my server.

    • If a problem occurs an email is sent to my palm pilot account.
    • Using the same palm pilot I can login and fix what is wrong.
    Now that would be cool. (Except if my company expects me to carry it on holidays).
  • I have an older PDA (Cassiopeia E-125). It has a single CF slot (as from what I read does this machine).

    I have been recently excited about getting a wireless CF LAN card (after rebate they are in the $35 - $40 range at BestBuy and Circuit City). Problem here is that the machine itself comes w/little on-board space and my large storage comes from ANOTHER CF card.

    So, without two CF card slots (I always found laptops w/only one PCMCIA slot annoying as well) this machine is not very good for any sort of Internet connection.

    When the machines come w/1G on board or a second CF slot for my Microdrive, I will make another PDA purchase.
    • The Zaurus comes with an SD slot and a CF slot. I use both myself. The SD more or less permenantly mounted for 128M, and the CF gets memory, camera, or network cards as needed.

      Personally, the service has some appeal, but the battery life on the Zaurus is far too short. Still, it's proven useful for WarWalking with a CF 802.11b card.

      Have to agree with the general consensus though. 19.2K (max) is far too slow for the modern web, though if I can ssh through the proxies I could actually get some work done while sitting in traffic...

    • The Zaurus has not only a CF slot but ALSO a SD slot. I have a 256 sandisk in the SD and a Socket Wireless nic in the CF slot... kismet has plenty of room for logs :P

  • Zaurus and Wireless (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I own a Z and think that wireless access would be great. But CDPD is so slowwwww! And outdated. Plus, check out their coverage chart...

    http://www.verizonwireless.com/mobile_ip/svc_avail ability/index.html [verizonwireless.com]

    Not much to talk about. They say most major US cities. How did they come to that?
  • I walk around my school running kismet, within a few minutes, I'm on!
  • I went to purchase one of those little bad boys at Best Buy and they said they are no longer going to sell them. Is this PDAgoing to share the same fate as my agenda VR3?
    • I just bought a Zaurus from BestBuy this weekend -- the display module. I guess they are going to quit selling them.

      Now I just started using it, but I've got to say, this thing is awesome! I probably wouldn't recommend it to someone new to PDAs though. In all honesty, the PIM (calendar, addressbook, etc.) applications included are kinda week. They're okay, but they're not as polished as what I'm used to with a Palm. The multimedia features are very impressive, but best of all is that you have an entire _real_ OS to work with. I've got apache and mysql running on it now. I can use a VNC client on my Zaurus to connect to my servers. I mean, come on, what else could you want?

      While I don't expect the Zaurus to outpace Palm anytime soon, if Sharp keeps developing it, then I expect it to be a real contender. Oh, and there is a fairly active development community too. Try zauruszone [zauruszone.com] for example. And there are some good replacements for the week PIM apps that come with it ( thekompany has some really nice ones for a couple dollars too).
  • Man, that's lame. I miss Ricochet (128 kbs).
  • From my experience with the Jornada, and the Ipaq, I would have to say any internet connectivity is better than nothing... but the only way you're going to be able to do anything other than transmit text and tiny graphics at 19.2k*(PEAK!)* baud is to plug in your 802.11b nic and go to the nearest coffee shop...

  • I too was on the SharpMobile beta, but as a lot of the posts point out, CDPD is too slow these days. Sharp's modem is a little large (that battery I guess), but coverage in Manhattan is great. However, the Symbol Bluetooth card and an Ericsson T39m (or T68i these days) absolutely rocks. OK, you have to be comfortable with the command line and a little fiddly set-up. Sharp's solution is for the consumer, but never the less - go for Bluetooth and a phone. Rgds Adrian

  • no cell phone plugin? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by ComSon0 ( 473373 )
    When the heck are they going to comeup with cell-phone modules for the Zaurus?
    I'm getting tired of carrying both and a "unification" is past due.

    enough ranting...later!
  • Here are a couple of screenshots of what Slashdot looks like on a Zaurus. I was connected through ethernet, not wireless. The reason you see the whole Zaurus is because I connected to the Zaurus from my Mandrake box, using FB VNC Server [killefiz.de].

    Click HERE [frontiernet.net] to see Slashdot on Opera.

    Click HERE [frontiernet.net] to see Slashdot on Konqueror.

  • I tried a Zaurus at LinuxWorld and really wanted to buy it. It was on sale for $299, and my wife was standing next to me.
    My wife said, "Buy it if you want it." But I just couldn't.

    After ten minutes of futzing, I couldn't type on it. I have small hands, and I use a Motorola T900, which has a tiny keyboard too, but there's a big difference in usability between them, and even though it was clear that day that the Zaurus would have a superior wireless solution, better apps, and the coolness factor of opening up an xterm (qtterm?), I just couldn't buy it.

    My fingers even actually hurt from trying to reach the number keys, which are sandwiched about 2 millimeters away from the edge and almost impossible to press. The keys themselves are oddly peg-shaped, uncomforably to press, and reminded me of the Commodore PET and the TI 99/4 chiclets.

    Sharp, please benchmark against the T900 and Blackberry and try to make the keyboard more usable on the next version.

    • You weren't using your thumbs were you?

      Hold the Zaurus with both hands, then use your thumbs like its a gameboy.

      Works really nicely.
      • Yes, I use my thumbs on my T900 and I can type quite fast on it, but I found the placement of the number keys and the angle of operation of all keys to be such that I could not type on it. Have you tried a T900 or a Blackberry? They keyboards are much, much better, in my opinion.
  • Because they're tied specifically to Verizon, you have to have Verizon CDPD in your local area to even sign up. Here in Portland, OR, we have "excellent" CDPD coverage (according to the Zaurus Mobile web site), yet they won't let me sign up because Verizon doesn't do CDPD here. If they did, I'd have to pay roaming charges of $.05/Mb (which really isn't *that* bad if I'm careful). Apparently I might be able to arm-twist them into letting me signup if I call them on the phone, but the web site checks your billing zipcode and if it's not a blessed one, you're outta luck.

  • ... is like putting an Archer 8-track stereophonic in your new Lexus. Sound comes out, but it's just plain wrong.

  • CDPD and PDAs (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    CDPD slow and dated? Perhaps, but how much bandwidth do you really need to a freakin' PDA?

    I have been a CDPD subscriber for several years now. Infact, i am currently on a CDPD connection as of this posting. It has been a very reliable service for me in the Seattle area -- both in coverage and in up-time. I have used this service on both my palm pilot and laptop.

    My palm pilot experience was probably the best. Since most web browsers on the palm made use of compression proxies, load times were as snappy as a modem. SSH, telnet, email, etc. from the palm was very responsive. I have done circuit turnups and various other network engineering tasks from this device without fail. Switch techs would sometimes ask what all that noise was....id be driving one day, or at the mall the next...it was a riot.

    19.2kbps on a laptop isnt all that bad either. I am able to surf the web, IRC, check email, use various instant messaging clients, SSH, webcam, etc. from my laptop with little trouble. Plus, i can do this from the car, plane, bus, park, etc.

    As a network engineer (and frequently being "on call") this service has been a life saver countless times.

    Until recently, there has no real alternative. Especially with the wide footprint CDPD provides. Circuit switched is expensive, 802.11b coverage is non-existant, and GPRS is expensive and immature. My GPRS experiences have been absolutely horrible -- enough for me to cancel service.

    CDPD is unlimited, cheap, and although a little slow, completely bareable. And when no internet is my alternative, i choose CDPD.

    You guys can dog CDPD all you want, but I love it!
  • CDPD is slow, expensive, lossy, and otherwise sucks ass. Just say no.

  • See the truth (Score:2, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Greeting- My comments have been up on the Sharp Wireless Service and the Enfora modem that they sell for the Zaurus for many months at http://zaurus.wynn.com/ [wynn.com]. I found it so unusable that I dropped the service in favor of using public access 802.11 sites in the NYC area. There are more and more of them!
  • since i have been reading slashdot (on the john) every morning for the past year, i would point out that if you take a dlink 802.11 card for an ipaq, bandsaw off the ears so yoy can get to the pen and the audio, you can run opera just fine. btw, why is it some days slashdot fits ok on the screen and some days runs over? gotta go my legs are falling asleep.
    • I just heated up a knife and used that to melt the ears off so I could get at the audio jack-- never bothered with the pen hole. Was able to make it nice and smooth too.

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