Hello: Any users with the ifone and the internet laptop hookup option out there. I wonder if it is worth it. And can it be used instead of an air card.. 3g or 4g tethering and stuff... Is the internet sevice using the ifone usable for an older person?
Seems like every one has their hands in my pocket nowadays..
just trying to save some money and get the service I need.
Regards mike
If you don't already have an iphone then look at the HTC evo from Sprint. That's about all I ever use anymore at home, at work or while on the road! It's 3G and 4G capable IF and when it ever comes to my area. I have everything on it that I have on my laptop and MORE plus it's faster download times make it all in one for me! No tether needed unless you want to sync up and save data to save space. One thing IF you choose the EVO is buy the aftermarket battery for 70 bucks. The oem battery just plain sucks and the newer bigger one last a LOT longer between charges!
Many apps to choose from for work and fun also!
Ace
Mike, two issues. First, the iPhone will not tether to the computer for internet connection. It is capable, but AT&T does not permit. Some folks have done what is called a "jailbreak" operation on the early software versions and have been able to connect. I would think that AT&T would catch on pretty quick, but I have not heard of any effort to go after phones that have been "broken". The latest software versions on the phone prevent tethering, but would guess that someone will break it soon.
The second issue is why? I say that with tongue in cheek a bit, but the AT&T network is so overloaded that even 3G performance is a joke. Certainly, if you want to do the jaibreak it would allow you to download email, but real surfing would be pretty frustrating in my opinion.
Jim
Hello: ATT is offering the tether option with their latest offering. The sales girl actually told me about it. The problem for me is does it work here at home..
The cost is 39.95 for the phone service and 30.00 for the data service per month. the tether cable comes with it I think. The 4g phone is 199. but if I tie it to my homephone. ATT is the only provider available here; it will be 149 for the phone. Possibly less 5 bucks for a bundle offer. I have att and the home fone is 36 plus 13 for long distance plus dsl for 33 for a total of 83 or so per month. I dont have their cell fone. My tracfone cost is about 15 per month with usuage for travelling mostly. Cell service at home is spotty. i have a millenium aircard for road use and it is 60 per month and it works at home.. so total is 160..If I rely on the aircard the total is 140 because dsl is minus 33 but long distance goes up 10 net savings 22 bucks or grand total of 140 per month or so..
Ifone + internet 70 per month + home fone is 60 total around 130 +/- not much savings plus a 2 year commitment..
So if I take the offer and cancel my dsl I have internet @ home and I can use the fone to pay bills if I can read the screen or use the tether.... All this is predicated on if it works.. THe savings is not much but the big question is will it work . Thats why I wonder if anyone is using the ifone and if the internet portion is worthwhile or worthless...
Much ado about nothing here I am trying to save a nickel and billions are lost in Iraq..
Very good news my son-in-law came home from Irag this week third tour and we are very proud and happy he is back
Hope this makes sense if not well excuse the ramblings of an old man contemplating the sins of the world.
Regards mike
I bought a Palm Pre from Verizon, it came with free mobile hotspot. As long as I have a 3G signal I can connect up 5 wireless devices. This is all I use for internet coverage now. No phone line, no dsl, no satelite internet, no air card, just my smart phone.
Jim's right about AT&T. My girlfriend has an Iphone and I have Verizon - except for a very few places, I have always had better/stronger/faster/more reliable connections than her. The downside is that the data plan is $59/mo for 5 GB for my aircard, plus a phone plan. But you get what you pay for...
Steve
I'm curious about the Palm Pre from Verizon. Is it a phone? Or just a hotspot and how much does it cost per month and are there limits to how much you can download? Tell me more, please :)
Thanks, Will
Mike, I stand corrected. Looks like AT&T made some pretty big changes in June. I did some research and this is an interesting take on the changes: http://theappleblog.com/2010/06/02/att-announces-iphone-tethering-cuts-price-and-quality-of-3g-service/ (http://theappleblog.com/2010/06/02/att-announces-iphone-tethering-cuts-price-and-quality-of-3g-service/)
Looks like they have found a way to address the terrible bandwidth load that all of the iPhones and iPads have added to their network (plus all of the other smart phones on the network).
The 2 gig/month bandwidth limit could be an issue for some, but you can add more bandwidth $$$$$.
We needed a backup for the satellite, and chose a Verizon plan with a USB card that can accept an antenna. We then network with a CradlePoint router (also used when we are on satellite).
At the house, our Verizon signal sucks and AT&T is not much better but good enough for phone calls. I hook the Verizon card to the antenna at the house and we get reasonable bandwidth. For your iPhone, you can use an antenna and amplifier with a broadcast repeater antenna. They make these systems for both a house (receive and broadcast antennas must be separated by 30 feet as I recall) and RVs (no specification on separation).
Wilson makes the most popular system for RVs. I have the hard wire version of the Wilson antenna/amplifier and that works fine for the Verizon card, but no way to hook it to the iPhone. I would like to change to the Wilson broadcast repeater antenna/amplifier system, but don't have the money. I could use that system in the bus and at home and it would amplify both my iPhone and Verizon signal.
The Wilson system is described at: http://www.repeaterstore.com/products/repeaterkits/wilson/40db-vehicle-801201.html?gclid=CNfupaOZ6qMCFQsSbAodZgzD3w (http://www.repeaterstore.com/products/repeaterkits/wilson/40db-vehicle-801201.html?gclid=CNfupaOZ6qMCFQsSbAodZgzD3w)
Jim
Mike, my wife has the I Phone with the At&T data plan and she loves it.
I have Verizon just the phone part thanks to one of our friendly moderators here telling me how great it was,all summer I had to borrow her phone to make a call even to call him lol.
I think it all depends on the area with service of any of plans in the west AT&T to me has the best service Verizon, T Mobile and Sprint suck were I live.
I would try the AT&T plan using their 30 day plan all the phone co's rip you if they can
Quote from: PP on September 02, 2010, 06:55:32 PM
I'm curious about the Palm Pre from Verizon. Is it a phone? Or just a hotspot and how much does it cost per month and are there limits to how much you can download? Tell me more, please :)
Thanks, Will
Its a smart phone. I can talk on it, google on it, has apps, and its a free mobile hotspot. I dont have to look for wifi, as long as I can pull in 3G, I can hotspot to the laptop. Verizon offers mobile hotspot coverage on all their smart phones, but the service is like $50 month. There were offering the free hotspot as a promotion, so dont now if its still available.
It has a monthly download limit using the hotspot of 5 gigs, but ive used it hard and most ive hit is 1.5 gigs. Its not probably the greatest or hottest smart phone, but with free hotspot I didnt think I could beat it.
What happened Jim is that the research in the WiFi technology produced a breakthrough 2 yrs ago and is called WiMax and is predominantly controlled by a company called Clearwire which has licensed to AT&T, Sprint and perhaps now Verizon but I don't know about Verizon but it would make sense. As you may know WiFi is very limited both in it's range (600 feet) between repeaters and it's data loads capability. WiMax however is a very substantial leap in both it's range (10 miles) AND data load capacity (in the Gigabytes per second range) but they wanted to find a way to capitalize on it and keep it from spreading like WiFi did which would reduce their profits on the new technology. So although your smart phones may still use cell frequency technology your so called 4&5G is nothing more than WiFi's second generation technology. BTW. What many don't know is that with the right AP Bridge every now current WiFi hotspot could in effect put the cell phone companies out of business practically within a years time. For if they all changed out their Router AP bridges to the WiMax (these AP Bridges are currently being produced by EnGeniustech.com) than the coverage area would easily encompass whole cities and with a phone designed to connect to any WiMax signal and the strongest one and using VOIP could make cell phone frequency technology obsolete overnight. Last year the major cell phone companies and the cell phone manufacturers along with clearwire execs met over a period of months within months after this WiMax technology break through to devise a plan to steer the repercussions of the breakthrough to their benefit rather that their extinction, which they rightly feared.
Their are numerous articles in the techie magazines on this very thing.
I personally give it 3 yrs at most 5 before this hits the fan and WiMax becomes the sword that the cell phone companies unwittingly fall on.
Clearwire is I think a very young Microsoft poised for great things.
Sorry to go so long but it is a very involved subject.
Hope this helps.
Eli.
Quote from: rv_safetyman on September 02, 2010, 07:13:16 PM
Mike, I stand corrected. Looks like AT&T made some pretty big changes in June. I did some research and this is an interesting take on the changes: http://theappleblog.com/2010/06/02/att-announces-iphone-tethering-cuts-price-and-quality-of-3g-service/ (http://theappleblog.com/2010/06/02/att-announces-iphone-tethering-cuts-price-and-quality-of-3g-service/)
Looks like they have found a way to address the terrible bandwidth load that all of the iPhones and iPads have added to their network (plus all of the other smart phones on the network).
The 2 gig/month bandwidth limit could be an issue for some, but you can add more bandwidth $$$$$.
We needed a backup for the satellite, and chose a Verizon plan with a USB card that can accept an antenna. We then network with a CradlePoint router (also used when we are on satellite).
At the house, our Verizon signal sucks and AT&T is not much better but good enough for phone calls. I hook the Verizon card to the antenna at the house and we get reasonable bandwidth. For your iPhone, you can use an antenna and amplifier with a broadcast repeater antenna. They make these systems for both a house (receive and broadcast antennas must be separated by 30 feet as I recall) and RVs (no specification on separation).
Wilson makes the most popular system for RVs. I have the hard wire version of the Wilson antenna/amplifier and that works fine for the Verizon card, but no way to hook it to the iPhone. I would like to change to the Wilson broadcast repeater antenna/amplifier system, but don't have the money. I could use that system in the bus and at home and it would amplify both my iPhone and Verizon signal.
The Wilson system is described at: http://www.repeaterstore.com/products/repeaterkits/wilson/40db-vehicle-801201.html?gclid=CNfupaOZ6qMCFQsSbAodZgzD3w (http://www.repeaterstore.com/products/repeaterkits/wilson/40db-vehicle-801201.html?gclid=CNfupaOZ6qMCFQsSbAodZgzD3w)
Jim
Okay, folks. I have a couple of comments too.
We are only on ATAT. Overall they have been pretty good. We all have Iphones here. However, I can say I probably have my last Iphone right now. Here is why.
I like the Android based phones better (at this point). As most of you know the Android (or just Droid) is a google software. My buddy has a Samsung Galaxy phone. It runs on an Droid platform, and it is great. Here is the biggest thing. It is ATAT, but if I remember correctly it has free tethering capabilities. So he can hook his phone up to the computer for no extra charge. However, the Iphone has an extra charge to do that.
The Samsung Galaxy also has a better user interface, IMHO. It has a clean feel (again this is coming from an Iphone user). Anyways, go to the store and play with both. Shoot, you should be able to spend a couple of hours in there, just playing with them, to see if you like either one.
Also, I know the cell phone store sales help. Usually they don't know much....FWIW
God bless,
John
Eli, thanks for the Clearwire info. Prompted me to do some research.
It sure looks like the whole industry is really in a state of flux.
Some folks think the AT&T move in June will push iPhone folks to explore other alternatives: http://www.thestreet.com/story/10771930/att-metered-plan-good-for-rim-clearwire.html (http://www.thestreet.com/story/10771930/att-metered-plan-good-for-rim-clearwire.html)
Looks like Clearwire is going to need a whole bunch more capitol to make their plans a go and that means opening up to other companies besides Sprint: http://ca.us.biz.yahoo.com/zacks/100902/39648.html?.v=1 (http://ca.us.biz.yahoo.com/zacks/100902/39648.html?.v=1)
Looks like the customer will benefit from all this technology. Wonderful how competition works!!!
Jim
Jim (rv_safetyman):
I was checking out that Wilson amplifier. Is there one that will allow more than one connection at a time?
Jim,
You're the 2nd person I've heard talk about the jailbreak routine and the fact that the newer hardware disallows the tethering option. I have a friend who had an older generation Iphone and downloaded the jailbreak software (free) to tether his phone to his laptop. He really likes it but did tell me it was not available on the new stuff.
FWIW there is lots of discussion about the best over the road internet connection at the "fulltimers forum" at www.escappees.com (http://www.escappees.com) This question gets asked constantly and rehashed over and over, and like posted above the technology changes overnight, so old advice may be obsolete. Check it out. It may help.
David
Absolutely Jim.
The cell phone companies are in a panic as they rightly see the WiMax as the death nail to their coffin.
Do you remember that not so long ago the various cities around the country (NY, Seattle, Portland, Phoenix,) and too many others to mention were trying to blanket their whole cities with Advertiser generated free wireless WiFi Internet access ??
They then gave it up as the cost of thousands of a signal repeater infrastructure was just to cost prohibitive as WiFi can only reach around 600 - 800 feet before requiring another repeater to boost the signal and WiFi is extremely sensitive to ANY obstructions right down to little leafs on a tree. It's signal spectrum at it's maximum range is significantly vulnerable to just the sun's place in the sky as oriented to the source and you.
BUT Now comes WiMax with NONE of these problems and a range between repeaters of 10 MILES and with a data transfer capability into the Gigabytes per second instead of WiFi's mere megabytes per second. Couple this with the VOIP Internet telephone availability and inexpensiveness and you begin to see the reason and level of fear the cell phone and land-line phone (for that matter) companies have for WiMax, AND ESPECIALLY for the public having the same awareness of WiMax as they do of WiFi. This is why they buried the knowledge that WiMax was a WiFi second generation breakthrough and instead have called it 4G etc as 4g or 4th generation is identifying it as a cell phone frequency technology breakthrough which it isn't.
Do you recall the FCC auctioning off blocks of the 700 frequency bands for BILLIONS of dollars to these cell phone companies just last year ?
WiMax made those Frequencies ALL OBSOLETE virtually before the ink was dry on their checks, this is why the FCC suddenly decided to sell these frequency blocks.
In very, SHORT order I see Cities blanketed with ad generated WiMax free High Speed Internet access and phone manufacturers making phones that automatically connect to the strongest WiMax signal and using VOIP calling anywhere, anytime, and any length of call time and ALL completely FREE.
Thanks for your reply Artvonne :) We're trying to decide what will work best for us at the best price break. Everytime we jump on free WiFi, we feel like we're stealing something and we'd just rather pay for what we use, Will
Quote from: PP on September 03, 2010, 07:24:32 PM
Everytime we jump on free WiFi, we feel like we're stealing something and we'd just rather pay for what we use, Will
In 1936, the people then in charge and who created the FCC, decreed there would be no scrambled signals, that the airwaves were free. You can thank HBO and their lobbying for scrambled communications and decoder boxes, they started the whole debacle. As far as im concerned, if you can pick it up free somewhere, go for it.
The technology is changing so fast, and so dynamically, no one can even guess where we'll be in 6 months. Actually its now less than that, sometimes weeks. Thats why the cell phone providers want 2 year contracts, they dont even know where its going. As soon as someone says they have it figured out, some unknown pops up with a new game, a new program, new software, new communications system, a better antenna, etc.. And the hardware is advancing, memory is getting smaller and faster, displays are becoming sharper, lighter and more power efficient. So use what you can, where you can, while you can. It might all dissapear next week and there will be a new game, device, smart phone, network in town.
First of all, I hope the moderators do not consider this to be OT. I don't go to that forum very often and I think this is a great thread about "talking" to the world when we are on the road.
XE1UFO: the antenna/amplifier I referenced is a dual band (most cell systems) and is a repeater type antenna. It has a broadcast antenna inside the bus that should broadcast the amplified cell signals for either cell phones or air cards. It should work for multiple "connections". At least that is my understanding and I am way over my head here.
Next, I really love to follow new technology -especially when I will benefit directly from it. However, I am getting more and more concerned that the new cell phone/air card technology is creating an even greater gap between rural and large city technology. Many (most) of us do not spend time in our buses in large cities. We are often in the toolies relying on very basic cell phone service - often with service provided by small phone companies with what is quickly becoming outdated technology. As this whis-bang technology is rolled out, the cell phone manufacturers respond with whis-bang phones/cards. I am really concerned that we could end up buying components that won't work on rural systems. Thoughts?
Jim
Hello Jim not much you can do about the new technology except roll with the punches.. We are in the boonies of dunnellon fl and the only catch is that we usually cant get what everybody else has.. I stopped at att yesterday and talked with the widget guy. He basically said watch the 2 gig limit because it may bother you if you download too much. The air card is 60 per month plus tax ; my millenium is 60 without tax.. both 5 gig per month.
The new internet computer is 200 with a 2 year contract built in air card + tax same benefit. We supposidly have real good 3g covrage here and so so cell phone the tower is about 1.5 mikes away .
My concern is getting roped into something untenable and having to break out of it.
Back to your concerns you always have a land line in the boonies if you choose to use it.. WE will keep the land line forever maybe not with all the bells and whistles because we want to have an alarm monitoring capability.. Dont use it yet but plan to in the future. The system i envision is a system that will be noisy if someone breaks in and calls my cellphone or send me an email message. Then I want to go online and check the camera in the house and call whoever. I want this part to work when we are away. Most systems wont give you coverage for part of the time only full time for 40+ per month..
I am trying to get away from monthly payments. the dollars are having to stretch more these days and have to go farther.
Regards and happy busssin mike
Here is our system except the roof mount antenna, it's raining right now. We use the inside antenna for both internet aircard and cell phones (especially in weak cell phone signal areas). Jack
I love my iPhone 3Gs. Tethering it to my computer would be nice but I have not looked into doing so. I ran across this article about "MiFi" today.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Your-Own-Hot-Spot-and-nytimes-362333608.html (http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Your-Own-Hot-Spot-and-nytimes-362333608.html)
Sounds promising.
John
@Mike & Jok
If you consult my earlier posts you will see what is going on here.
They are calling the technology breakthrough WiMax which came directly out of the WiFi research and development efforts conducted by various colleges and universities in hopes of devising means to be able to charge for what could very easily be completely free to the public.
When it becomes widely known to current WiFi hotspot providers (coffee shops etc) and Cities that all they need do is replace their current AP Bridges with ones that are WiMax capable (frequency wise) and only a matter of 30 or 40 of them to cover a whole City than you will see ALL these Cell business life saving gimmicks completely vanish practically over night.
ALL of these "whatevers" that provide data flow cheaper and faster IS WiMax being used and called something else. WiMax IS WiFi without the limitations of range or speed.
Clearwire INC has built up an infrastructure of these AP Bridges all over the country and is leasing access to the cell companies.
Anyone can buy these AP Bridges and create a blanket coverage over a very wide area.
You could put one on your roof and immediately provide high-speed Internet to anyone within 10 miles of your home.
This is why they have been pushing 2 yr contracts for data packages, the writing is on the wall and data packages as well as cell technology is already obsolete. They just don't want the public to get wise to it, but they will and when they do, land-line and cell phone companies are going the way of the dinosaurs along with their data packages.
All it takes is one city to jump on this and it will spread like wild fire and the cell phone manufacturers will follow suit and start providing phones that connect to the strongest WiMax signal and using VOIP will make unlimited calls to anywhere in the world totally free.
I would caution anyone considering signing a 2 yr contract to not do it. This Industry is perched on the edge of a cliff and WiMax put it there. It may take a year or two or 6 months but it is inevitable.
Exciting Times. :)
Hcklbery,
You keep mentioning cities, what about small towns and rural areas? We spend most of "coach time" in rural area near small towns of 300-4000 people. We have no problem connecting using aircard technology at the present time. Jack
That's actually a very good point Jack, I opinion that the WiMax will spread faster to the smaller towns after the initial ground breaking of a few large Cities successful implementation of the WiMax.
Although it could just as easily and the argument could better prevail that the beginnings could be with a smaller town first then spread to the larger cities.
The point being that the public is currently unaware of this technology due to a purposeful effort to hush it up after news of it first broke 2 years ago in many technical journals which is where I learned of it.
Can you imagine that today's WiFi actually was able to cover miles of area from one single router? With virtually limitless data load capabilities coupled with phones manufactured to connect to it and configured to use VOIP. OPPS I forgot three ? makes a DUH "face".
That is WiMax.
My personal opinion is that this is greatly why the stock market is stubbornly showing a lack of investor new business. cause when this actually hits the general public's awareness??
ALL these companies with stakes in the Cell industries is going to be losing it's entire customer base in very short order. That's why the Data contracts...
The only question is when and so those who rely on cell will need to continue to but I advise prepaid monthly arrangements if feasible and if not go with Virgin as they at least are responding to what they see as the inevitable and are adjusting accordingly.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Your-Own-Hot-Spot-and-nytimes-362333608.html (http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Your-Own-Hot-Spot-and-nytimes-362333608.html)
Copied From yahoo site
But three things about the Virgin MiFi are very, very different. First, Virgin's plan is unlimited. You don't have to sweat through the month, hoping you don't exceed the standard 5-gigabyte data limit, as you do with the cellular-modem products from Verizon, Sprint, AT&T and T-Mobile. (If you exceed 5 gigabytes, you pay steep per-megabyte overage charges, or in T-Mobile's case, you get your Internet speed slowed down for the rest of the month.)
If you hadn't noticed, unlimited-data plans are fast disappearing — but here's Virgin, offering up an unlimited Internet plan as if it never got the memo.
Second, Virgin requires no contract. You can sign up for service only when you need it. In other words, it's totally O.K. with Virgin if you leave the thing in your drawer all year, and activate it only for, say, the two summer months when you'll be away. That's a huge, huge deal in this era when every flavor of Internet service, portable or not, requires a two-year commitment.
http://www.novatelwireless.com/ (http://www.novatelwireless.com/)
check this out
Lonnie
The international Virgin Mobile businesses each act as independent entities, usually in a partnership between Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group and an existing phone company. Virgin Group provides the brand, and the phone company operates the network infrastructure.
Virgin Mobile was the UK's first Mobile Virtual Network Operator when it launched in the United Kingdom in 1999.[1] It does not maintain its own network but instead contracts to use the existing network(s) of other providers.
(Wikipedia)
Any investor or CEO will say the first rule is diversify, the second, diversify, the third, YEP :) So I am wondering if the major cell companies are playing it from both ends of the stick.
Pushing 2 yr contracts AND contracting with Virgin to provide what they see is the inevitable direction of the industry..
Just a thought...