BT and T68i

[ott13979]

I'm thinking about buying a BT phone (eg. T68i) and a BT PDA.... (I will be using ATT as my ISP)

1. Can I just get a regular ATT plan and surf the net on my PDA??? Or do I have to buy a special plan??

2. Should I do this or buy a smart phone?

3. Maybe I should go back to a Big Chief Tablet and snail mail :D

Eric Otte

[umichboy]

You can use your normal calling plan minutes to surf if you like and that will require a separate ISP so that you can dial-in. The transfer rate will be no greater than 9.6 kbps.

You can purchase a separate data plan to use GPRS for internet access. The cost is greater, but AT&T will be your ISP and the maximum speed would be 144 kbps. You'll most likely get speeds around 35 kbps or 4k/sec. GPRS seems about as fast as a dial-up modem to me. Just dialing in with your calling plan minutes will be really quite slow; I had transfer rates that slow with Omnisky and my Palm V back in the day, and even though everything was black and white (as rendered by a proxy server) the speeds were still slow.

[Skitals]

Question... I too am about to get a t68i through AT&T. If I use a dialup ISP and connect through my 5655, this goes on my normal minutes, right? Well what about the unlimited night and weekend minutes? Does this mean as long as the call is local (local plan), I can surf as long as I want after 9pm without using my minutes?

Thanks

[foldedspace]

I was thinking of doing the exact thing....although I'm probably going to go with the Nokia 3650....but the T68is is sure tiny. Anyway, has anyone actually done this?


....and why hasn't anyone come up with Bluetooth stereo headphones yet?

[Abba Zabba]

I have ATT. I have the optional Max MB plan. And it works fine for me. I think it just depend on what you need to do with your PDA. :|

[Janak Parekh]

You can use your normal calling plan minutes to surf if you like and that will require a separate ISP so that you can dial-in. The transfer rate will be no greater than 9.6 kbps.
Wait, wait -- I've heard that AT&T GSM doesn't support dial-up like T-Mobile does, and that you must use their GPRS plans. Do you currently use dialup with AT&T?

--janak

[umichboy]

I use T-mobile, so I do not know if AT&T also supports dial-up. I assumed they would, but I may be wrong.

[Janak Parekh]

I use T-mobile, so I do not know if AT&T also supports dial-up. I assumed they would, but I may be wrong.
I'm almost certain they don't. A lot of people have complained about this on AT&T and related forums/newsgroups.

--janak

[spaceman]

I have AT&T with 8mb/month data plan for $20 additional to the voice plan. AT&T does not allow dialup using included minutes. You have to use the GPRS for wireless Internet. The service works very well on my ipaq 3870. Be sure to get Spb's GPRS Monitor to keep track of your data usage.

[Abba Zabba]

Be sure to get Spb's GPRS Monitor to keep track of your data usage.

Yes, definately. But don't be to worried either about going over. AND BTW you can use your mMode service to check how much data you have used :wink:

[foldedspace]

How much time does 8mb get you in a month, generally speaking?

[Janak Parekh]

Hard to say. It would probably cover light websurfing (i.e., 10-20 minutes) every day of the month, plus an occasional email check here and there. I use GPRS about 3 times a week for about 10-15 minutes but have yet to come close to the T-Mobile 10MB limit.

--janak

[ott13979]

What about holding out for Sprint BT phone (should be out on the market soon) and getting Vision... What do you all think about that?

[Janak Parekh]

What about holding out for Sprint BT phone (should be out on the market soon) and getting Vision... What do you all think about that?
Depends on the cost? :)

It's not clear (actually, doubtful) that they'll offer the $10 plan with it.

--janak

[ott13979]

Atleast I will not have to pay by the MB like other planes (i.e. ATT, Verizon, etc...) Correct me if I'm wrong?

Question:
If I were to use a cable between my Sprint phone and my PDA (I have Vision) what kind of speed could I expect?

eric

[Janak Parekh]

Atleast I will not have to pay by the MB like other planes (i.e. ATT, Verizon, etc...) Correct me if I'm wrong?
Like I said, it's not clear what plan the Sprint BT phone will apply under. There might be an unlimited plan, but if that's the case it might be expensive.

If I were to use a cable between my Sprint phone and my PDA (I have Vision) what kind of speed could I expect?
Probably pretty decent, actually. As for a more precise answer, PetiteFlower or one of our other Sprint users could answer that question. :)

(Note that you can only use the LG 5350 -- the other current phones are USB-only.)

--janak

[foldedspace]

Somebody pointed out to me that the SonyEricsson P800 was available on amazon.com. I really wish they hadn't...my self-control is already pretty shaky

:twisted:

[PetiteFlower]

Seems to be about the same speed as my old dialup 56k connection.

[spaceman]

Besides checking email and occasional PIE browsing, I found a compelling usage for GPRS data with your PPC. I've been testing Mapopollis ClearRoute GPS Nagivator software which downloads "live" traffic data to re-route your trip based on current traffic tieups. In the LA area, the traffic data update size is about 400-500K per update. Hey, there are lot's of highways here! At 400k per update, say every 1/2 hour, a 8 MB plan would be eaten up quickly. Mapopolis says they are working on better compression to make the updates smaller.

But what a neat combination of converging technologies: GPRS, BT phone, PPC, BT GPS. A true gadget nut's dream; if only the data service plans don't cost so much.

see http://www.mapopolis.com/cooltraffic.jsp for details. This product will be released in mid May.