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Pastimes : Techride -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Blue Snowshoe who wrote (540)	3/26/1999 2:50:00 AM
From: Joana Tides	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 7442

Howdy Pals, got a Consumer Report on The State of Wireless for ya. Yeah Blue, agree this was a fun day. Good meetings and the 909er inspired me to go shopping so I won't be offline anymore when away from home. Thought I could just take my HITS profit and treat myself to something that will generate more profit. Thought to walk into one of these "Wireless" stores and walk out all connected, "What A Day For A Daydream"! 'Twas an Eye-Opener about the state of the Product Cycle of this....the REALITY of Wireless vs. the IDEA of Wireless! This isn't as far along as we would hope, as consumers & investors. "Wireless Internet" Report To Techride... Had no idea what I wanted; just wanted to see a selection and get The Best. Was hoping for a miniature setup to fit nicely into a large purse and still have full internet access, a large enough screen to read well under a magnifier, a couple spare charged battery packs, a plug-in for car and outlet, a nice phone, and a good deal for carrier access charges (haven't had a cellphone for awhile; my other one broke and they couldn't fix it as the model had already gone out of date. Wanted to get lined up better for online, no time to shop around, so just cancelled the contract. Need a cellphone for safety and convenience not to mention business, but didn't want to sign contract/buy phone with risk of waste if either doesn't work with wireless web gadget). Anyway, Expecting to see Palm Pilots and Japanese miniature gadgets in these stores, but all I saw in 3 of these places were cellphones and beepers spread out in big display cases. Luckily, at the third store met someone knowledgeable. He told me my first step is to pick a carrier. (ATT my choice BTW, never a problem with them, biggest digital/cellphone coverage by far (like 99.999% of anywhere in the country... heard juicy gossip that there's only one area of the country it doesn't work as the guy that owns the towers there takes pleasure in denying ATT access because they once shut off his phone for nonpayment - wouldn't ya know this David with his Slingshot is a Joisey Boy LOL). Then, after choosing a carrier, he said to forget the Palm Pilots and miniatures for now because....their biggest problem is the ADAPTERS to the cell/digital phones to connect it to the Internet! No Standardization is possible! Companies who will make them find it difficult to profit by the rapid changes on either end of the plugs, and because of that no one wants to make too many of 'em! Ya gotta laugh at that - It's State-Of-The-Art For Planned Obsolescence! The Very Bugaboo I cheer as a tech investor yet attempt to dodge as a consumer now confronts me, and I WILL wrestle this thing to the ground! State-Of-The-Art Planned Obsolescence for the "costly r & d" at the Beginning of the Product Cycle...here's their excuse LOL...It's A Problem because every cell/digital phone carrier (ATT, Sprint, Bell, etc.) has a multitude of proprietary phone models to choose from; (Motorola, Nokia, etc.) and each of those models has been customized for that carrier! And the Adapter must fit from the device to the phone! So: first I choose a carrier. Then: I go to a puter store and pick out my device to connect to the cellphone for wireless Internet (he recommended the new IBM thinkpad notebook "i" model as the best out there; said smallers like Palm Pilot etc. are too tiny, glitchy, & limited; and he said the IBM notebook costs only 1/3 more anyway). Then, after choosing the device, The Fun Starts. I then must ask the computer store to show me the catalog of Adapters available for the phones offered by my carrier of choice; and make sure they have a couple of Adapters in stock for a few different phones, and write down the model numbers carefully. Then, I go back to the phone store and see which of these are the newest phone models they offer and hope it matches the adapter. Then, I get and activate the phone, making sure I can exchange it for another if necessary. Then it's back to the puter store so they can test if that phone indeed works with the adapter and the i-net device like the book says it would. He suggested getting a few phones, several battery packs, and several adapters once I find the right fit - because when the phone fries earlier from this type of use, having spares of all will save me having to do this all over again. And when the store runs out of those Adapters They Are History. Holey Mackal Dere Andy! But I'm looking forward to getting all hooked up with it, the adventure will be informative and well worth it. I don't want to go the full-size laptop route, but I might as well, if the IBM thinkpad (as I suspect) doesn't accept a printer/connection for full use on longer trips away from home. I got some shopping and running to do, and will report back on any findings of interest along the way. Any suggestions would be really appreciated. 909 Joanie