Arne Hess Pimps His Ride, UMTS Syle

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.theunwired.net/?itemid=2598#article' target='_blank'>http://www.theunwired.net/?itemid=2598#article</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Ok, there is nothing more boring than sitting in the car while in a traffic jam without a high-speed connection, that's wasted time. Sure you can have your Notebook with a 3G/UMTS PC-card with you or (if you are lucky) your HTC Universal, also with inbuilt 3G or - if you are not that lucky (but lucky enough) - you have your GPRS connected Pocket PC with you but why not making the whole vehicle truly wireless? I did - with O2's Surf@home box I'm calling from now "Surf@Autobahn". I've previewed O2's Surf@home a while back; it's basically a W-LAN access point with an interface to O2's UMTS network instead an interface to a DSL-modem which means, you can use your W-LAN equipped devices (Pocket PCs, Notebooks, Smartphones) to surf with UMTS speed, even if these devices aren't UMTS enabled and you don't need a dial-up connection at home anymore (for sure it cannot replace a DSL connection)."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/surfatautobahn3.jpg" /><br /><br />Arne Hess from the::unwired has hacked together a very cool solution - I'd <i>love</i> something like this, but our so-behind-the-times carriers here in Canada likely won't offer something like this for several years. If this is the future of wireless from carriers, I'm all over it - assuming the price isn't too crushing.

[BTS]

Sigh.. :( ...Isn't that the truth about carriers up here in Canada. I actually had to leave Telus (whom I had used for years) for Rogers ONLY because Telus was so far behind in offering a converged device. Telus is STILL offering a PPC 2002 series phone and has only recently started with a more recent device in the last couple of months.

Rogers, for their part, has the HP 6300 series(good or bad depending upon who you listen to) and only started offering this Windows Mobile machine a couple of months ago. It took them almost 7 months to get the Treo 650.

On top of all that, once they do get these phone/PDA devices in, they don't really make it worth your while to drop your current unit. I'm currently the owner of a Treo 600 (nice form factor) but only bought that because the price was right for me. Now that I'm locked into 3 years, it will be hard for me to switch to a different device. Even with the 3 year rebate, the HP 6300 series will still cost about $450. By itself you're looking at $750. I have laid out that kind of money before for a PPC but that price is for technology that is almost a year and a half old. It seems like we take FOREVER to get the new devices in Canada. What is the deal?

[powder2000]

Am I missing something. Isn't it called a stompbox (http://www.stompboxnetworks.com/testing.html). You can use any carrier as long as you find a pcmcia card that can access their network, then share the love with wifi.

[saru83]

i'm sick of the data connection speeds in canada, GPRS is like dial-up which sucks... Rogers just got EDGE but then my JAM doesnt support it, current supporting EDGE PPC Phones r not high performance PPC's ... all over it just sucks....!! :evil:

[dMores]

wait a minute ... is he using that successor of the htc magician / MDAc / XDAmini ?

i thought that unit was supposed to be a 3G device

:?:

anyways ... i'd much prefer a bluetooth motorcycle helmet headset to this thing. on my bike, i'm rarely stuck in traffic.
and i'd be too afraid of dropping my phone, so i don't surf&amp;ride ;)

btw ... it's nice to see theunwired.net has a really neat mobile version of their site available. but it bothers me that my safari browser (apple powerbook!) is being autodirected to this version.
and no "show me desktop version" link to be seen anywhere :(

[stephman]

wait a minute ... is he using that successor of the htc magician / MDAc / XDAmini ?

i thought that unit was supposed to be a 3G device

:?:

anyways ... i'd much prefer a bluetooth motorcycle helmet headset to this thing. on my bike, i'm rarely stuck in traffic.
and i'd be too afraid of dropping my phone, so i don't surf&amp;ride ;)

btw ... it's nice to see theunwired.net has a really neat mobile version of their site available. but it bothers me that my safari browser (apple powerbook!) is being autodirected to this version.
and no "show me desktop version" link to be seen anywhere :(
He's holding the HTC Wizard which has GPRS and EDGE, I believe refered to as a 2.5G device