12-12-2003, 06:30 PM
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Sage
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 706
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Tracking Your Communications Costs With Spb GPRS Monitor
Over the last few weeks I've started to really take advantage of the combination of my Bluetooth phone and Spike, my iPAQ 2210. I find myself checking work email while out of the office and my private email accounts when I'm out and about. However, I always dread that time of the month when my phone bill arrives. I just don't track my communications costs. Spb GPRS Monitor lets you track the duration and cost of your GPRS, GSM and other communications.
Spb GPRS Monitor's raison d'�tre is to provide you with an easy way to track your communications costs. For example, if you use your Pocket PC to connect to the Internet through your cell phone, GPRS Monitor captures both the amount of time and volume of data that you have transferred. In addition, it ships with carrier pricing information from all over the world so that you can easily capture the cost of your connection. You can also set alerts so that as you are alerted as you reach a particular threshold in your monthly time of download allowance.
Getting Started
Getting started with GPRS Monitor is pretty simple. Following installation you'll notice a couple of changes to your Pocket PC. Firstly, you'll notice a new icon in the task bar on your Pocket PC.
Secondly, you'll notice a new plug-in on your Today screen. This shows you today's download and connection time statistics as well as icons for Internet Explorer, Inbox and launching your default connection. As a bonus, it also provides a battery meter and a backlight slider so that you can control your Pocket PC backlight.
The Task Bar Icon
The Taskbar icon is pretty nifty. It gives you an on-the-spot report of your recent connection history. It gives an expanded view of what the Today plug-in shows as well as a graph of your last seven days of connection activity and a summary of how much time and download volume you have left for the month.
One of the really neat features is that you can customise the position of the Task Bar icon easily through the GPRS Monitor options. This means that its icon need not interfere with icons for any of your other applications.
As an extra bonus, the look of the Taskbar icon pop-up is skinnable. You can download skins from here.
The Today Screen Plug-in
As well providing you with a quick summary of your communications costs and the volume of data downloaded for the day, the Today screen plug-in provides you with shortcuts to Pocket Internet Explorer, Inbox and your connection status. As a bonus you also get a battery meter and a backlight control (the same as the ones in Spb Pocket Plus).
The Today plug-in can be easily customised through the Options in the Today screen settings. From here, you can customise the refresh frequency of the monitor, the display of daily, weekly, monthly of session information, the current connection speed and which application icons and meters you want displayed. This is very easy to use.
How does it Work?
One of the really neat features of GPRS Monitor is that it ships with a database of over 200 pricing schedules from carriers all over the world. And if your carrier is not listed then you can add your own custom settings. It is this database that allows Spb GPRS Monitor to track your communications costs. Also, because it "knows" what your usage limits are you can use GPRS Monitor to alert you when you are reaching your maximum download and cost settings. Spb updates the list of carrier plans regularly and has a Web page where you can view the up-to-date list of carriers, download an updated list of carriers and even submit a new carrier usage plan. If you submit a plan, you receive a free game!
Once you have selected or entered a usage plan you can set both daily and monthly alerts so that you know when you are reaching either download limits or a point at which your download or connection costs might change.
 
Profiles
One of the really nifty features of GPRS Monitor is that it supports up to five different profiles. Each profile can be set with different options. For example, you can set different profiles for different usage plans or for when you want to seperate different types of usage. In my case, I have created "Work" and "Personal" profiles. This makes it easy to track usage and costs for when I'm connected to my work dial up account and for when I use my personal ISP. I can assign a different connection to each profile so that when I dial my private ISP, GPRS Monitor the usage statistics it collects are mapped back to the correct profile. Also, in case you are like me and forget to change profiles, GPRS Monitor can automatically select the correct profile based on which modem connection you use.
Profiles are easy to rename and the data stored against a profile can be easily cleared.
Reports
As well as onscreen graphs and alerting, GPRS Monitor lets you easily generate reports of your connection usage. All you need to do is go to the Report tab, select a date range that you wish to report on and press the Generate button. As well as the on screen report you can have the report generated as a file.
Gotchas
So, is Spb GPRS Monitor is any good? For me, this application just works. Its user interface is pretty simple to get around and, when you're stuck, the online help is clear and easy to follow. However, there were a couple of things that I found a little annoying.
- The connection button on the Today plug-in didn't behave the way I expected. Even when I had a specific profile selected in the application options, it always tried to dial the same connection. Perhaps there was something happening on my PPC that wasn't quite right but I was not able to resolve this on my own.
- It would have been nice to be able to have the MSN Messenger icon in the Today plug-in as well the Pocket Internet Explorer and Inbox icons. That way, all my "Internet" applications could be accesible from a single place.
- The battery meter and backlight control are gray which just made them look a little boring.
- It would have been nice to have the name of the selected profile visible in the Today plug-in as well as in the taskbar icon pop-up
These "gotchas" are not a big thing and they would not stop me from paying for this software. They are just little niggles.
Where To Buy
The software can be downloaded from Handango (affiliate link). There is a trial version available that works for a couple of weeks. The cost of Spb GPRS Monitor is $14.95 USD. Note that the information at Handango is a little out of date as the Spb Software House site clearly states that the software is compatible with Windows Mobile 2003. Handango only mentions Pocket PC 2002. If you buy the software in the month of December, Spb is offering a "Holiday Bonus Bundle" - you can find more details at their Web site.
Specifications
This program will work on any Requires a Pocket PC 2002 or Windows Mobile 2003 device. The program takes up just under 760 KB of RAM.
Conclusions
I really like Spb GPRS Monitor. The installation was easy and the user interface is intuitive. It has in-built support for usage plans form carriers all over the world and Spb maintain and update that list.
If you regularly use dial up services and need to track your usage and costs then Spb GPRS Monitor is an excellent tool.
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12-12-2003, 10:47 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Mar 2002
Posts: 45
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Ever since I installed it, I want no other, SPB GPRS Monitor does rule 
p.s. nice review Anthony 8)
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12-13-2003, 12:49 AM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 120
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runs perfectly on the HTC Himalaya (PPCW.net i-Mate Pocket PC Phone Edition 2003) - as GPRS is very expensive here (Ireland), unfortunately no 'all you can eat' packages as yet, this is a must have application for me
the report generation and excellent graphical display really help you gague your usage at a glance
the traffic warning feature reminds me to cool down on my daily usage so i don't hear a loud thud as the mobile bill get delivered through the door and lands on the floor at the end of the month!
:way to go:
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12-13-2003, 02:41 AM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 137
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Re: Tracking Your Communications Costs With Spb GPRS Monitor
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Originally Posted by Anthony Caruana
Over the last few weeks I've started to really take advantage of the combination of my Bluetooth phone and Spike, my iPAQ 2210.
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"Spike"? You named your iPaq Spike??? :?: There must be a story there somewhere....
'Course, I named mine "Friday".....
Ok, so I was off topic. But to make it revelent, I loaded the Spb GPRS Monitor on Friday. No, not Friday the day-of -the-week, but "Friday the iPaqi". I will be testing it out over the next couple of days.
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12-13-2003, 02:54 AM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,041
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Is that why my 5550 doesn't do everything I ask it to do, cause I haven't given it a name???
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12-13-2003, 05:22 AM
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Mystic
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,725
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I saw an older version of this awhile ago and was amazed. I currently don't have cellphone access from my phone to my PPC, but if I did, I'd prolly get this app. Very neat.
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12-13-2003, 05:52 AM
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Sage
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 706
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Re: Tracking Your Communications Costs With Spb GPRS Monitor
Quote:
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Originally Posted by iPaqDude
"Spike"? You named your iPaq Spike??? :?: There must be a story there somewhere....
'Course, I named mine "Friday".....
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Not much of a story. I'm an Buffy fan so all my devices are named after characters from the show. My PC is Buffy. I was reviewing (for Austrlaian Personal Computer Magazine) the iPAQ 4150 and 4350 last week and I named them Xander and Willow.
The best thing I can say about GPRS monitor is that it just works! Setup was easy, the config is pretty straightforward and the price is right.
__________________
Get your Pocket Mojo. Anthony Caruana is the Mojo master. |
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12-13-2003, 06:20 AM
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Thinker
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 473
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Yeah... i'll recommend spb gprs monitor! It works absolutely great And easily allows you to connect/disconnect.
I haven't figured yet how to set up a profile that includes flagfall yet though... Complicated Optus GPRS plans...
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12-13-2003, 06:42 AM
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Sage
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 706
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by tanalasta
I haven't figured yet how to set up a profile that includes flagfall yet though... Complicated Optus GPRS plans...
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Mmmm... good point. I didn't realise that as the GPRS plan I'm on (also Optus btw) doesn't have flagfall.
Just curious - what country are you in?
__________________
Get your Pocket Mojo. Anthony Caruana is the Mojo master. |
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12-13-2003, 07:32 AM
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Thinker
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 473
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lol I suppose i should edit my profile to display my location I'm in Perth, Western Australia. [Optus is australian! well actually its singtel but hey!]
Bit off topic but:
Optus has two gprs data plans available, details of which are available at:
http://www.optus.com.au/Vign/ViewMgm...ew_255,00.html
The plan you are on is likely to be 0.55c/kb flat with no flagfall
For the US people, i think the current exchange rate is 0.71c Australian per US dollar.
And the other thing you may notice too is that spb has many pre-installed gprs information profiles available. [Including vodafone and telstra although i haven't cross-examined them to see if the rates are up-to-date]. As for the problem in your review regarding dialing the same number each time regardless of profile settings may be due to your device's [aka microsoft windows] connection settings rather than anything to do with spb. e.g. my connection settings are to dial *99# which is what my carrier uses.
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Linear Mode
