Life on the Road with 3G 188
david_adams writes "Since I first evaluated Sprint's new Vision "3G" high speed wireless data service in September of last year, I've had the opportunity to travel around the country, using the service to keep in touch with the world, receive all my spam, er, email, and do my work. I've used the service in hotels, restaurants, parked cars, moving cars, picnic tables, and airports, in huge cities, and in desolate stretches of interstate highway. Here are my impressions after this long term test."
What we really want to know is... (Score:4, Funny)
SMS (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:SMS (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:SMS (Score:5, Interesting)
This is all aside from the wierd fashion it has become among some teens here in Germany.
That said, I don't think SMS will be terribly popular once real e-mail is more mobily accessible.
Re:SMS (Score:2, Interesting)
- big lecture classes with attendance policies. everyone has had at least one of these, one where you knew the subject material inside and out but were still required to come. sleeping is *much* more noticable than sending an sms
- communication with your friends and such at concerts/bars/clubs where there's no way you could hear what was coming out the speaker.
Re:SMS (Score:2)
I set up my media player (It's a SQL based music database/player that I've been working on for quite some time) to serve WAP pages to my phone. It was great - I could search, browse, etc.
I could also get whatever info I wanted by surfing around on the WAP web.
Now the service has been replaced with a charged-by-the-ki
3G in Japan (Score:3, Informative)
Anyways, advertising here is heavily promoting the use of 3G phones, the fear is despite the techno-addiction of most people here, there might not be enough people using it to be commercially viable. Some people ("gasp") get buy with JUST email on their phone and don't need to see crotch shots of their friend's pet dog sleeping!
3G vs. Wi-Fi (Score:2, Insightful)
Wi-Fi = cheaper, more widely supported. Also 3G handsets are going to be too expesive for most users, for a few years anyway.
Could be interesting to see how the technologies mature and maybe merge (3G PCMCIA cards?)
Re:3G vs. Wi-Fi Already merging (Score:2)
http://pcworld.co.nz/webhome.nsf/nl/EB632492204
Apologies for the evil URL - damned Notes.
SMS (Score:5, Informative)
The other advantage is that in noisy environments like buses, subways, crowded hallways, etc. you don't have to shout over the crowd to get the message across. This keeps your neighbors from strangling you and lets you say your message once rather than repeating it 3 times.
Re:SMS (Score:1)
Goblin
Re:SMS (Score:1)
Ah, but no one ever thinks about that. A simple message like "meet you at the train station" can lead to dozens of messages discussing the exact details. People always underestimate how much information you can get into a one minute call and assume that the first message is all they need.
But often the first message is all you need! (Score:2)
In fact, I could probably live with a small set of predefined messages that I could send with the press of a button. I'm not sure I'd really make more than a few calls a month on my cell phone if I had that, and the ability to receive text
Re:SMS (Score:2)
And you probably never will. Naturally for such circumstances people in Europe still call. But think about these redundant calls "I'm coming home now. Need anything from the store?" or "Happy new year, you old git." or "I'll be 15 minutes late." or "You awake
SMSers have more friends! (Score:2)
Here are some great reasons to use it:
1a.
- "Hey, can you give me Barney's number?"
- "Yeah, its 555-"
- "Why don't you text it to me?"
- "Far out!"
2. Communicating in loud places like bars, clubs, and concerts. (Do most
3. Communicating with other people wh
Economics -- the US is the other way around... (Score:2)
So in the US, SMS is mostly a zooty novelty service for gadget freaks and people with unlimited expense accounts. In reality it adds little value but much cost, so it hasn't caught on.
Speed (Score:5, Informative)
However we have just had Three [three.co.uk] lauch which should provide real 3G services. Now that should be cool. I can't wait to have to make sure my hair is neat when I answer a video call
Rus
Re:Speed (Score:2)
rus
How about Verizon? (Score:1)
Re:How about Verizon? (Score:3, Informative)
They are also testing what's known as 1xEV-DO, which is a version of CDMA that is optimized for data. There is a theoritical max rate of 2.4Mbps, with the goal of most subscribers to be recieving 300-500kbps. Networks are currently up and running in San Diego and Washington. I have no idea i
Yes.. (Score:5, Informative)
Free: Plug in the USB cable and make sure you have the necessary drivers and the phone set to the right setting. Typically, you're limited to 14.4k but it only uses normal airtime with NO extra charges.
Limited: You can pick a plan with either limited airtime for data or limited usage (like 40mb a month for example).
Expensive but oso cool: $99.99 a month gets you unlimited, any time of day, bandwidth at constant ~140kbps at peak time and ~170-180+kbps at offpeak hours. I've heard great things about this if you plan on using this a lot.
You'll need a phone capable of doing this. Most newer phones support it. Check Ebay for a USB cable. It shouldn't cost you more than $11 especially if you check eforcity.com
For example, my Motorola T720 is recognized as a usb modem when I plug it into my computer. Since I don't pay for any of the plans I mentioned above, I get 14.4. Still good for checking email or browsing low-graphic sites.
The official info about this kind of stuff can be found here [verizonwireless.com] at Verizon.
Re:Yes.. (Score:1)
-sadly, i don't have the $99/month for the osocool
Re:Yes.. (Score:3, Informative)
If you want to try it out, I'd recommend Googling for your model of phone and look for how to connect it to Verizon's network. For mine, I plug in the usb cable and dial #777 (I think) and user/pass is qnc/qnc.
Coverage? Contracts? Canada? (Score:2)
I have Verizon but I've never gotten around to trying the regular free service. 14.4k may be slow, but it's plenty fast for email. Now that the cables are available cheap I'll have to gi
Re:Coverage? Contracts? Canada? (Score:2)
I also think the $99 would be an option that goes on top of your existing plan.
I doubt it'll work in Canada because the single rate Canadian plan means that Verizon is dishing out money to the towers it has roaming contracts with up north. Since they aren't owned by Verizon, I wouldn't expect express coverage.
Yeah, tha
Why do I read the articles first? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Why do I read the articles first? (Score:2)
Yes he can, he just doesn't like the mail viewer on his A500. RTFA.
FWIW, I can attest to the suckage of the mail and web clients on the Sanyo 4900, also. But the real reason to have Vision is to use it with a laptop =)
Re:Why do I read the articles first? (Score:2)
A good read but why can't the editors read the article? too busy posting a copy of the last article their teammates posted?
Re:Why do I read the articles first? (Score:2)
Re:Why do I read the articles first? (Score:2)
IAre you receiving a fax right now?
"In the know" (Score:2)
"For now, though, if you're "in the know," you can access the internet wirelessly from most urbanized areas in the United States for $10 per month, with only a threatened, unenforced restriction on usage."
Sounds like Sprint's got another 10,000 people "in the know" on their hands...
It's nice on a "3G" phone (Score:2, Informative)
A number of sites from Google to the BBC have text versions which render beautifully on the little screen and seem to be served up automatically when I go to
Linux support (Score:1, Informative)
Onward to supporting it as a USB net device!
Re:It's nice on a "3G" phone (Score:2)
Just some advice from another Treo 300 owner.
useful for me (Score:1)
I was an early adapter to AT&T's Wireless Web service, and have been using it quite successfully for about 2 years now. The problem the author mentions of the "walled garden" is real, but I found the real use of this service was as an email "article repository" for myself.
What I d
What is this shlock? (Score:3, Insightful)
Secondly, the whole article is pretty much a gripe/review of the specific Samsung A500 Hardware that he's using, and hardly even goes into the 2.5G service?!??! Thanks, buddy, for letting me know that the A500 has A. a crappy web browser, B. a crappy cable, and C. no bluetooth (crappy). I'm also glad to know that you think SMS is useless. That's really great to know IN YOUR SUPPOSED REVIEW OF 3G. WTF.
I know this has been said a bajillion times before, but could the editors please stop to read the stories they post once in a while?
Re:What is this shlock? (Score:2)
1) "Life on the Road with 3G" was the actual name of the article.
2) RTFBQ:
Re:What is this shlock? (Score:1, Interesting)
Yes, but like many other hacks, this one has been suckered into calling the GPRS services "3G" by the mobile companies. You see it would hurt their feelings to admit that they're a generation behind the rest of the world in mobile technology, so they skipped 2.5G and managed to make it all the way to 3G. Except it isn't 3G, its 2.5G. And they have no plans to roll out "real" 3G; at least, nothing significant.
If you want some reviews of 3G, keep
Coverage? (Score:2)
I'm a former Sprint customer specifically because the service is awful. I dropped about every other call.
You can't roll out service like this for anything important (aka your business) w/o being sure coverage is excellent. And what do we get from this review? A short blurb about the great coverage in Arizona, where you can see all the way to Las Vegas on a good day.
Somebody please wake me for the detailed rev
Re:Coverage? (Score:2)
They still have issues with anything beyond base service though. To download anything you have to pay for it. I ddin't realize that was reoccuring every 3 months though. What a joke...
Life on the Road with 3G (Score:2)
Bluetooth Phones and Terms of Service (Score:3, Informative)
http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/phone.php?id=2
Also, using a phone connected to a computer via a data cable is a violation of the Sprint Terms of Service. If you do it enough they will charge you. The Unlimited Vision plans are intended to be used via handset and not cables. Sprint has the wireless internet cards for a reason and if you use these cards you get fast speed compared to the data cable method. Right now Sprint is assumably letting data cable internet usage slide because not a lot of people do it, but if it becomes popular they will start cracking down and many people will see lots of charges on their bill from it.
You've been warned.
err G3? (Score:2, Insightful)
wow, that's new. My mobile is a year old and supported GPRS (ie G2.5) on Orange out of the box. Granted I'm in the UK, but this isn't really new and it is defiantly not G3.
The huge problem with G2.5 is not bandwidth, but latency. If you try running TCPIP over GPRS, it all goes to pot due to the 2sec+ latency. TCP is just not optimised to work well with such a long delay. Hopefully G3 will perform better than this.
Oh and try to convince any european
really 2.5G (Score:5, Interesting)
1. SMS is way overrated. It has its place, but given the tariffs in the US, it will never be a big deal. Calling is just too cheap.
2. Data interfaces suck on phones. Everyone keeps predicting the demise of PDAs, but my Handspring Visor Neo with the Sprint PCS module (available for $20) kills any "phone" out there. Go to a bigger (compared to a phone) Treo (for an arm and a leg), and the web is usable.
3. Phones need a better way to get data in and out. At a minimum, maybe a USB cable to synch data from a desktop/laptop. Again, my Visor/PCS phone rules here. I can't believe the Samsung phone inthe review wastes all the features by lacking that simple item. I hadn't considered "how the features work" when I looked at that phone a few months ago -- gotta add that criteria to my list. I do not want to enter several hundred addresses on a fricking phone keypad.
4. What I want in a phone/pda/service plan are the following:
a. desktop synch
b. a decent, usable screen/browser
c. a smallish form factor (less than my currrent clunky rig, but super-duper small isn't a big deal to me)
d. palm-like features (handwriting recognition, scheduler, phonebook, to-do list)
e. lots of third party developers and apps
f. total cost $100
g. good coverage (very important)
h. 1 meg/day of transfer for data
i. under $50/mo.
j. 250 primetime minutes, free weekends/nights
I have compromised on some of those things, but I still haven't found everything I want in my market. Video phones don't interest me. Ditto cameras and MP3 players. I want my phone and PDA to converge for basic web/mail/phone capabilities in one usable, comfortable package for a reasonable price.
Re:really 2.5G (Score:2)
The main use I've found is surfing the web and doing some email while on a long driving trip. Coverage is usually good along major highways, and it's a nice way to while away some hours. Of course, I have to give it up when it's my turn to drive.
But unless I'm going to have an extende
Re:really 2.5G (Score:2)
The thing I like about the sprint pcs module (besides integration with the PDA for calling) is that you get the web with no cables -- just stick the module in and *ploink* you're ready to go. There are call setup anc tear downs (not "always on") but this doesn't bug me.
If it were buil
Re:really 2.5G (Score:3, Interesting)
It has to be much better than this to get consumers to buy it. Usb? no way. You're much better off with bluetooth considering bluetooth adapters run for under $50 these days.
b. a decent, usable screen/browser
On those tiny cell phones you're never gonna have a decent usable screen/browser.... EVER! You might as well settle for bluetooth connectivity so that you can surf the web on your ipaq with the phone in your pocket.
c. a smallish form factor
Isn't the P800 small enough?
d.
Never happen (Score:1)
Cell Phone execs want to sell your eyeballs to a web site. To them, a laptop is an expensive thing that workers want so that they can screw off working at home.
It's the same attitude that the wireline folks had in the late 70's and early 80's (why would anyone want to connect a modem to their phone?).
Re:really 2.5G (Score:2)
I think the phone is likely 3G capable, my phone says it is on the back.
I agree with the article, the downloaded ringers, games, images and animations are too expensive, what makes it worse is the limited 60 to 90 day use, and you don't get a preview or a test use. I will probably not pay for any of them, I hope there is a workaround.
Re:really 2.5G (Score:2)
Well, in many (most) US cities, smokers have to exit to a designated smoking area or outside the building to puff a cigarette, as a result of a social backlash. While somebody talking on the phone nearby is not really a big health risk, it is annoying, and it's possible that mobile callers will eventually be required to go to designated areas. If that happens, then the convenience of silently tapping a q
Re:really 2.5G (Score:2)
Bluetooth coming soon for SprintPCS (Score:2)
The only difference between this phone and the T610 that was featured earlier on Slashdot is that this phone doesn't have a built in camera. Not a big deal for me. I'm looking forward to having Bluetooth wirele
Pricing (Score:1)
Re:Pricing (Score:2)
I Also Have Verizon 3G... (Score:1)
I have the Kyocera 2235 Phone and a USB cable, its a pretty good combo for portibility but you can't charge
How is you rate? (Score:1)
Re:I Also Have Verizon 3G... (Score:2)
Overrated (Score:4, Informative)
From the point of view of people who want to have fun (play games), 3G sucks because of the latency.
There have been a few cool uses of 3G so it's not all lost - I live in the Isle of Man, and Manx Telecom's mobile arm (Pronto) are doing 3G trials. One use is a bus full of computers they drive around to various schools around the country. The bus is networked by a single 3G handset and according to the piece in the newspaper, has worked out pretty well as a mobile 'net cafe.
he's thrilled about T9 (Score:1)
"Like I said, I can't understand the text messaging phenomenon, since when I want to talk to someone it's a lot easier to just call them than to poke around on my keypad to compose a message, though I must admit that I'm impressed with the magic of T9."
erhm, T9 has been around now for how many years ? I even had it on my crappy nokia phone 4 years ago. I don't really see the point of getting all that excited about it, let alone mention it in a review about "3G (but he really means 2.5G
My own experience (Score:1)
I'd rather run X over dialup than try running ssh over 3G. I never really figured out why, but I was more interested in that it didn't work than why.
Anyway, just adding my thoughts.
Re:My own experience (Score:2)
LG 5350 and my iBook.. (Score:1)
I decided then that it was cool.
OMG!!! (Score:1, Funny)
/. should ban (Score:2)
Re:/. should ban (Score:1)
Sprint 3G (Score:1)
3GUpload [3gupload.com]
3GVisionCorrection [3gvisioncorrection.com]
REALLY help you use the most of your phone with minimal spending.
McD
Verizon 2.5 G and Linux (Score:1)
Vive PCS Vision ! (Score:5, Informative)
I have the Sanyo 4900 phone, fwiw, and it shows up to Linux as a USB modem using the standard acm.o driver. I get a pretty high latency, about 350ms ping to my gateway, but the bandwidth is around 20K/s (that's kiloBYTES) when I'm in a strong service area, averages around 12 if I'm moving around. Coverage is good, albeit not perfect. I drove from Atlanta to St Louis with a ping going the whole time, and lost less than 10 packets. There are a few dead zones in the rural area south of St Louis where my parents live, but not many (and we haven't found ANY cell phones that work in those areas, T-Mobile and Cingular all die in the same places)
A500 (Score:1)
but, data is the point! (Score:2)
i use verizon unlimited service for $99/mo. on a dedicated card. i wish the article actually mentioned tasks accomplished and coverage areas, rather than an off hand mention of arizona. for me, this is the future... i want to connect anywhere with decent bandwidth!
Comments on the Vision service (Score:1)
Sprint and SMS (Score:2)
The phones can receive SMS (except they call it "notifications", because that's what they use to notify you of new Short Mail and new regular mail).
"Short Mail" is very similar to SMS, except it is web-based. To compose a Short Mail message, you have to use the browser, and the message is uploaded to the server, and then an SMS notice is sent. The recipient has to use the browser to read
Re:Sprint and SMS (Score:2)
Is Spring 3G deceiving customers? (Score:2)
GPRS, SMS, multimedia messaging, HSCSD (up to 60kbps) and WAP are NOT specific to 3G. These are all already available on the so-called 2.5G network for years.
It seems that yet again, stupid marketing people are going to cause mass confusion.
THIS IS NOT 3G (Score:1)
Same thing with Samsung N400 (Score:2)
CDMA 2000 vs GPRS (Score:1, Informative)
I am an RF Engineer working for a major wireless provider, and have worked with several of the technologies in use in the US.
The difference between CDMA 2000 3G servi
my commute with PCS vision (Score:3, Informative)
I ordered a new phone, the sanyo 4900, that supported all the typical in-phone features such as email, messaging, and web browsing. It also has a USB for connecting a laptop etc. Since I already had an existing sprint pcs service most of the rebates weren't available, so I ended up paying full price for the new phone.
When I first got the phone I tried out some of the in-phone "3G" features, such as the built in browser, but found it very slow and clumsy. I typically would wait 30-60 seconds every time I tried loading a new page. Trying to type a url in using the keypad is extremely painful, and it seems many webpages just won't render in any usable way on such a tiny screen. I already have two email addresses, so I haven't made any real effort to use the sprint email.
The main way I now use the vision service is by connecting via USB to my laptop. This gives me a real web browser, and makes it possible to connect to my work via VPN.
Like the article says the latency is very high. Typically in the range of 500mS. Also the jitter (the variability in the latency) is very high as well, I often get latencies that vary from 200mS up to 1.2 S! This latency is most noticable if you try to use a terminal connection to login to a remote machine. Trying to type anything with a latency that high is downright painful. I have learned to keep an buffer in my head of what I have typed because I typically won't see it echoed back for 2-3 seconds after I type. For web browsing the latency is noticable, but usable.
Obviously writing code with such high latency is painful, fortunately there is another way. Trying to run a filesystem such as NFS is not really doable under these conditions, but ftp works fine. I typically work by loading source via ftp, editing, saving it back, and then using a (extremely slow) terminal to compile and execute with output redirected to a log file. I then load the log file (again with ftp) debug, edit code and repeat. Fortunately vim has built in ftp support so I can just load a file by saying ftp://hostname/dirpath/filename and then from then on it gets treated as a regular file.
Sprint SUCKS, don't buy the hype (Score:2)
Consumer Reports had a big cellular service comparison recently (I'd give a link, but you need to be a subscriber to view it). Sprint was at the bot
Re:Sprint SUCKS, don't buy the hype (Score:2)
Plus, perhaps some issues are with your specific handset. For instance, my parents live in a low spot, and my Sprint signal there with my old handset was always poor or non-existent. With my Samsung A400, it's still low, but good enough to be used.
Re:Sprint SUCKS, don't buy the hype (Score:2)
Re:Sprint SUCKS, don't buy the hype (Score:2)
Re:Sprint SUCKS, don't buy the hype (Score:2)
Bottom line, they suck.
Re:Sprint SUCKS, don't buy the hype (Score:2)
Sprint's customer service sucks based on my comparison of calling AT&T, Verizon and Sprint. Sprint had the worst menu system and longest hold times and least trained staff. AT&T second worst. Verizon much better.
RE: the CR article. Perhaps instead of making stupid statements you should read the article. It was based on CUSTOMER FEEDBACK. That's right, it represented votes of people like you and me
Some comments and questions (Score:2)
I got the Touchpoint phone, which worked well. I never really used the wireless web functions because of the pricing. It served me well.
Finally, at the end of 2002, with the unlimited
A better browser (Score:2)
Have you tried Reqwireless WebViewer [reqwireless.com]? It's an HTML (not WAP) browser that works on the A500, N400, and most other Java-enabled phones. The Samsung phones don't provide the best experience due to their slow speed and lack of heap memory, but we've still had a number of A500 and N400 users buy WebViewer. (I work for Reqwireless and helped develop WebViewe
T-Mobile Sidekick is a lot better (Score:2)
a500 resources (Score:2)
It'll give you interesting tidbits of information about the phone, and how to get around limitations set forth by phone carriers in terms of available data (images, sounds and software) that you can download to the phone.
SprintPCS CellCam Blog (Score:2)
We've found the Sanyo 5300 to be worthless for general Web surfing under SprintPCS. But it makes a very handy camera, and I set up a system so she can email pictures to her blog for immediate display. The camera doesn't do well in low light, but the form-factor is just too cool. She lugged around a very small tablet computer webcam for a while, but now she just carries the cellphone.
Web browsing on the Sanyo 5300 (Score:2)
Have you tried Reqwireless WebViewer [reqwireless.com]? It's an HTML browser for the Sanyo 5300 and other Java-enabled phones. Our Sanyo 5300 users seem to enjoy WebViewer. (I work for Reqwireless and helped develop WebViewer.)
text keyword ads (Score:2)
Personal experiences (Score:2)
CHOOSING A SERVICE
There are two technologies to choose from, at least in my area (forgive me for not sorting out the acronyms): Good old data over the plain old cell connection (up to 19.2 Kbps before compression, often advertised at some wishful compressed speed of ~40 Kbps) and the new high speed data networks (up to 144 Kbps).
I tried Nextel's 19.2. It is painfully slow. I haven't experienced anything like it since I
wireless access via laptop (Score:2)
my cell phone provider is also an ISP so i can access my cell phone from my laptop via infrared, which then accesses a GSM connection to my cell phone which dials my ISP and gets me online.
i can only connect at 9600 baud, which compeltely stinks, but then again it costs me only 8 cents a minute.
is there any other way?
International European phones for US networks (Score:2)
verizon (Score:2)
Re:I tried Sprint (Score:2)
Verizon at l
Satan deletes! (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Truth: (Score:1, Interesting)
Sure there is. Look around you. The universe exists. We cannot conceive of something existing without having been created, therefore the universe was created. We have no knowledge whatsoever of how the universe was created, so we can make any guesses we like about the mechanism of that creation. We have some evidence to support the idea of a big bang; that's fine, but it fails to answer the question of what caused the big bang.
So we have this giant, overwhelming piece of e
Wrong, wrong, wrong! (Re:Not 2.5G) (Score:2, Informative)
GSM/GPRS/EDGE has a huge advantage because it is already there, and cheap to upgrade. In reality you will probably get a dial-up quality service on GPRS - everywhere! I
Re:Wrong, wrong, wrong! (Re:Not 2.5G) (Score:1)
This happens exactly because 9.6kbps wasn't enough and they wanted a cheap, quick solution....