No more kites for wireless tykes

[Jason Dunn]

<a href="http://www.bluekite.com/">http://www.bluekite.com/</a><br /><br />BlueKite, a wireless proxy service, is going away. As 2.5 and 3G services ramp up, was there still a market for their service? It appears not. I never used the service, but I've heard mixed things about it. Were you a customer? Did you like the service?<br /><br />"The BlueKite Service will be discontinued on Friday May 24th. If you have paid for the BlueKite Service, will receive a full refund. This refund will automatically be applied to your credit card before May 17th If you are currently a trial customer, you may continue using the BlueKite Service free of charge through May 24th. We apologize for any inconvenience. Please see the instructions below for uninstalling the BlueKite software. If you have any questions, please respond to this email to contact support." Source: jjk1106

[24va]

I used it when I got a free Sierra 510 card. There was some speed improvement, but it was really like comparing the pour speed of cold molasses; 19.2 is still 19.2

[JMountford]

I do use BlueKite. I got it through Sprint and use it when I connect my iPaq to the Sprint PCS network. Anyone who knows the trouble with 1XRTT rolling in knows what a crock of ****e this is, because Sprint PCS for one DOES NOT HAVE 1XRTT implemented yet. Even when they do this summer they only have 2 or 3 phones that can do it. On top of that you haveto buy a new data connection kit for whatever phone you buy because no carrier packages the kit with the phone so that they can screw the customer.

Furthermore; I am furious because it seems like the closer that 3G is suppose to be the farther off it is and the more I as a wireless CDMA customer get screwed. A lot of things are better in the US but I get the feeling wireless is REALLY NOT ONE OF THEM.

I am just frickin mad this is crap.

Does BlueKite not realize that only a handful of Providers even have the 2.5 speeds running and that most of that is only in certain areas? Do they forget that there Software is supposed to work for high speed too? I am just amzed at how much crap I go through for technology. I think I should become Amish.

[24va]

Thanks for sugar coating it, I would hate to read how you really feel. :wink:

[Newsboy]

Actually, 19.2 is 14.4. 19.2 between phone and PPC, and 14.4 from the phone to the network. Apples, oranges, whatever. I used Sprint PCS last year w/ my EM-500, and Blue Kite DID help. Signifcantly. Got it operating more like it was closer to 28.8. Though it didn't do a dang thing for my desktop, since the images on most sites really couldn't be compressed much more, and didn't need to be downsized as they can be on a PPC. I just didn't like how BlueKite automatically HAD to start itself up every time I turned on the PPC.

The only way BlueKite would be effective on a wireless 1xrtt network, or 2G or 3G for that matter, would be to require all users to use it on their devices. This would free up precious bandwidth, and the average user might get something closer to the 60 kbps continuous they advertise, instead of struggling for the 40 kbps lower end of the scale. This is the very reason all the carriers are going digital. Each user's footprint on the system gets much much smaller, therefore allowing them to have many more users w/ the same overall signal bandwidth. That means less money spent on infrastructure per user, and more profit for the wireless provider.

Seems like many developers have gotten lax when it comes to optimizing software. Granted, we have 2 Ghz+ processors and over 1 gig of ram on many systems now, but people seem to think that means they can program whatever they want, and the computer will just chew through it no matter what. Bill Gates had to completely re-think Windows when he designed CE 1.0. And he did it, took the best features of Win95, 80% of the functionality, and wrote it all to take up less than 640K. Now that we're getting faster PPCs with more memory, seems like the OS and 3rd-party software are growing at a faster rate. Want not, waste not, I say.

On that topic, can I just tell you how much it frustrates me when people don't know what a .jpg is, and publish a website? Have you ever tried to download an 800x600 background .gif??? UGH! Thought my computer had frozen!

[jjk1106]

I did notice a speed improvement using Bluekite on my iPaq. On my laptop via 802.11b and cable modem the internet speedometer on McAfee.com was pegged. I did always have a problem using Pocket IE via 802.11 on the iPaq without activating BlueKite. I would always get a "Page not Found" error so I had to run BlueKite even thought I didn't need the compression and didn't want the subpar graphics. I tried to de-install (since they are going away might as well start getting use to life without the sun shining on my kite :cry: ). I now can't get any page to load on any of my cards, 802.11, AirCard 300, AirCard 510 or the Nextel/Motorola im1100. I guess I am going to have to do a hard reset and start all over...ARGH!! :x

[heliod]

I used Bluekite. The improvement was good for someone who can only get 9600 in my country, and even better when I connected with HSCSD abroad.

It is a pity that they are going out of business, but I have to agree that in about 0.5-1 year from now I would have left them for GPRS, too.

It seems it would happen to anyone at some point.