T-Mobile MDA question

[alma]

I am looking at getting a T-mobile MDA but I don't want to pay $40 a month for the dataplan to use email and Inet.

Both my home and my work have wifi connections. Can you use all of the email and internet functionality through a wifi hotspot or is some service plan requred?

Will the wifi support WPA2?

Also, where can I buy a MDA for $400 or less without resigning with t-mobile.

Thanks,

Alma Cole, SSCP

[cbf]

I have the T-Mobile MDA.

Yes, you can do nearly everything via WiFi that you can do via GPRS. (Two exceptions that probably aren't important to you -- (a) When using WiFi, you cannot use the MDA to enable internet access for an associated PC -- that only works with GPRS. (b) I believe the Exchange activesync email "push" feature that's due to arrive with the MSFP feature pack http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/articles/msfp.mspx will only work with GPRS).

The biggest downside of WiFi only is that WiFi requires more power, and you'll drain your battery faster. That's why I tend to use GPRS exclusively and hardly ever turn the WiFi on. For what I do on the MDA, GPRS speeds are usually sufficient.

Also note that T-Mobile's unlimited data plan is only $30/month, and $10 of that goes toward giving you access to all T-Mobile WiFi Hotspots (something I haven't had occaision to try yet). Unfortunately, T-Mobile won't sell MDA users the old GPRS-only plan that used to be only $20/month.

Finally, as to where to buy the MDA for less than $400. If this is for a new activation, you can get a $50 rebate from T-Mobile, and if you purhase from Amazon.com, there's often an additional $150 rebate that Amazon offers for nearly all new cell-phone activations. Note -- Amazon is notoriously slow in sending out these rebates. I sent mine about 3 weeks ago and I don't really expect it for several more weeks.

Let me know if I can answer any more questions. Overall, I'm quite pleased with the device. It's been more stable than my Treo 600 was -- almost not device resets needed in the past 3 weeks, and the processor feels faster than i expected it to.

[alma]

Thanks for the info.
So, it sounds like I should have no trouble doing email using only wifi.

Does anyone know if the MDA will support WPA2 wifi encription?

I am also interested in buying an MDA without resigning with T-mobile (my contract isn't up yet) so I am looking for a good place to buy. Looks like eBay has them but they might be risky. Any thoughts?

Thanks again,

Alma

[cbf]

It supports WPA, and WPA-PSK with TKIP encryption. I haven't seen any device on the market that claims to support WPA2.

[alma]

Good info. Thanks for the help all!