[Fusion]

What are currently the best options in phones/cell carriers for doing a PowerBook internet connection syncing over bluetooth.

I'd like a phone and phone plan that allows for good bandwidth speeds and also allows you to use isync and sync the phone over bluetooth to update all the contacts, etc... on the phone with address book.

Cheers.

[iomatic]

It's going to depend on your area. You may want to check the Howard Forums first. I have great luck with the old Media--whatever-it's-called plan on Cingular. Faster than 56K speeds, near DSL speeds; bad latency.


US$.02

[Fusion]

This is for Washington State.

What phone do you use? Does it sync with address book, ical, etc...?

Does anyone know if the Sony Ericsson 810 will do this?

[Troll]

The phone needs to have a modem built in and bluetooth. Check for that on the specs of your phones.

I did this over an EDGE enabled network in South Africa and it was way faster than 56k modem.

[f1000]

Originally Posted by Fusion

What are currently the best options in phones/cell carriers for doing a PowerBook internet connection syncing over bluetooth.

I don't know about individual phones, but I'd go with Cingular and its upcoming UMTS/HSDPA network. Do a search for Cingular and tethering for my thread on EDGE.

[iomatic]

I use a Treo 650 with great results in the Northwest. Try and ask for the MediaNet 19.99 unlimited plan. I doubt they'll give it to you (they discontinued it), but you may as well try.

[Fusion]

Do you know why they discontinued it and what has taken it's place?

[iomatic]

Yes, it was too cheap!

They have new plans

Code:
Data Connect 5MB	$19.99	 5 MB	 $0.0080/KB	 $0.015	 $0.0195	
Data Connect 10MB	$29.99	 10 MB	 $0.0060/KB	 $0.015	 $0.0195	
Data Connect 20MB	$39.99	 20 MB	 $0.0040/KB	 $0.015	 $0.0195	
Data Connect Unlimited	$44.99	 Unlimited	 $0.0/KB	 $0.015	 $0.0195

The rates are Additional, Canadian, International $ amounts.

[f1000]

Originally Posted by iomatic

I use a Treo 650 with great results in the Northwest. Try and ask for the MediaNet 19.99 unlimited plan. I doubt they'll give it to you (they discontinued it), but you may as well try.

I don't think MediaNet was ever supposed to be available for PDA phones. I still see the $19.99 unlimited package on Cingular's website, though, and I haven't seen any service changes on my bill.

[iomatic]

I've heard (through the Treocentral forums) that they'll insist you use the laptop plans with the purchase of a Treo or some nonesense. Once you're independent of customer "service", Cingular is a good carrier.

[iomatic]

burp

[amazing]

Just be sure to check the faq from apple about what phones work with iSync. If the phone isn't listed then don't buy it...you probably won't be able to sync the address book etc.

http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/isync/devices.html

[Fusion]

I've heard that that list isn't updated as fast as it should be.

I'm looking at the Sony Ericsson 810 Walkman phone. Supposedly it is coming out soon. Does anyone know what carrier it will be for? Looks like a great phone, great features and I've heard that Sony's have good OS's.

[amazing]

I bought a Nokia 6230, thinking that Apple would add it to the list because it's so popular in many places (especially Europe.) Great phone, great battery life, great reception and great interface.

Unfortunately, the phone wasn't popular in California, so, no such luck. I send over bluetooth vcf cards for contacts, the rest is too cumbersome, though there is 3rd party software that will do address book and calendar--the deal is, it's their own 3rd party address book and calendar, etc. Wanna maintain 2 separate calendars and address books, just because you chose a mobile that's not popular in California?

my advice: Do you seriously think that Apple is going to support a "Walkman" phone, when you could have an iPod instead? Or an iPod phone, eventually? This comes under the heading "you-gotta-be-kidding-if-you-seriously-think-this-is-gonna-fly-in-AppleHQ!"

[iomatic]

It may work.

There are some hacks if you look around, that involve rewriting an iSync plist somewhere. That, or ask Mark/Space to support it in MissingSync (which is generally better, but craps out on smartphones like the Treo-- dupes, missing data, errors, etc.)


US$.02

[Fusion]

Originally Posted by amazing

my advice: Do you seriously think that Apple is going to support a "Walkman" phone, when you could have an iPod instead? Or an iPod phone, eventually? This comes under the heading "you-gotta-be-kidding-if-you-seriously-think-this-is-gonna-fly-in-AppleHQ!"

Um, they already do support all the walkman phones.

[Troll]

Hold on, the original question was whether you'd be able to connect to the Internet via a cellphone. iSync compatability is unrelated to that question.

[inkhead]

1) If you plan to use high-speed internet through your cellphone (Anything over a 14.4k phone modem) you positively absolutely do NOT use bluetooth. It has nowhere near the bandwidth to handle the connection, and you'll get about 20 minutes of bluetooth internet before your phone dies.


Go EVDO with Verizon. If you don't buy a pc card to put in your powerbook, then spend $12 and buy the USB cable to connect your phone to the computer.

With my LG8100 on verizon I download at well over 700k/sec almost everywhere in the state of california. Any phone that verizon sells with "vcast" support will have ev-do modem built in the phone.

[f1000]

Originally Posted by inkhead

It has nowhere near the bandwidth to handle the connection, and you'll get about 20 minutes of bluetooth internet before your phone dies.[/B]

Bullshit! I regularly get 140 kbps using a Motorola V551 Bluetooth EDGE phone and I can do so for several hours off of a single charge.

From the official Bluetooth website:

Data Rate
1 Mbps for Version 1.2; Up to 3 Mbps supported for Version 2.0 + EDR

http://www.bluetooth.com/Bluetooth/Learn/Basics/

[Troll]

Originally Posted by f1000

Bullshit! I regularly get 140 kbps using a Motorola V551 Bluetooth EDGE phone and I can do so for several hours off of a single charge.

+1 Me too with a Nokia Communicator with EDGE. In fact, my Powerbook's battery dies before the Communicator gives up the ghost.

I've tried the USB cable and it doesn't seem any faster than via bluetooth.

[Fusion]

Originally Posted by Troll

Hold on, the original question was whether you'd be able to connect to the Internet via a cellphone. iSync compatability is unrelated to that question.

My original question was about both.


So the more I research it, I am definitely sure that I want the SE 810. However, even with it's EDGE technology and everything, would I still get faster speeds if I just got a PC card?

[slugslugslug]

T-Mobile gives you unlimited internet access for $5.99/month, but I don't know if you can get speeds any faster than EDGE, whereas Cingular's UMTS and HSDPA are supposed to be a bit faster. OTOH, I don't know how much of a bottleneck the Bluetooth connection might create, and I don't know how many faster-than-EDGE phones out there work for tethering to a Mac.

At any rate, since I've gotten my k750i to connect my Mac to the internet via Bluetooth, I imagine it'll be possible with the w810, since it'll be a quite similar phone. Definitely do some searching on howardforums and esato.com as well as google to find the specifics.

P.S. Since the w810 is supposed to be quad-band, it should work on Cingular or T-Mobile, if you get an unlocked one (I haven't heard if any carriers will be selling them, but if you're getting a new contract, you can probably still get the phone at a discount if you find a mom-and-pop store that sells that phone + service)

[mduell]

Originally Posted by slugslugslug

T-Mobile gives you unlimited internet access for $5.99/month

ITYM $49.99.

[slugslugslug]

No, I think that's one of those plans for a laptop card or something. If you already have a phone plan with T-Mobile, you just add T-Mobile Internet to it for $5.99 a month. Granted, I don't use it with my Mac much (just tried it as proof of concept, since my main rig is an iMac, and the Bluetooth dongle I used to use with my TiBook broke). But I probably spend more time surfing the internet on my phone than actually talking, and I've never gotten any data charges beyond the $5.99. It seems pretty well-established elsewhere that you can get unlimited data with this plan. I suppose it might be wise to look into the details. There might be some kind of port blocking involved.

Maybe later tonight, I'll tether my iMac and try sending an e-mail to see if it cooperates..

[Troll]

Originally Posted by Fusion

My original question was about both.

Okay. Just to be clear though, you can connect via bluetooth and surf the Internet on any bluetooth and modem equipped mobile phone (afaik) even if the phone is not iSync-compatible.

iSync is only useful for keeping your computer's address book and your mobile phone's address book synchronised. I only find this function useful as a tool for entering the numbers into my phone using the keyboard. The list of phones that work with iSync is more limited. However, there is third party software that will allow you to do everything iSync can do and often more than iSync can do. For example, you can't use iSync to backup sms's which you can with some third party software.

Basically, my advice would be not to get too hung up on iSync compatibility. The choice of phones is much broader if you don't constrain yourself to the phones that work with iSync.

[Troll]

Do you guys have 3G broadband mobile services in the States yet? EDGE is 2.5G. Most people in Europe are going for 3G phones now, especially people wanting to use mobile broadband.

[iomatic]

Yes, EVDO and UMTS just rolled out.

[analogika]

Originally Posted by inkhead

1) If you plan to use high-speed internet through your cellphone (Anything over a 14.4k phone modem) you positively absolutely do NOT use bluetooth. It has nowhere near the bandwidth to handle the connection, and you'll get about 20 minutes of bluetooth internet before your phone dies.

Have you ever even USED a Bluetooth phone with your Mac?

I, too, call bullsh¡t.

I have plain-jane GPRS via Bluetooth on my Siemens mobile, and I get more around 50 or 60 kbps, not 14. And that's limited by my provider - Bluetooth data transfer average is quite a bit higher than that.



As for iSync: DO look for compatibility. Once you've had iSync integration, anything else is a pain in the ass.

[parsec_kadets]

Originally Posted by mduell

ITYM $49.99.

Originally Posted by slugslugslug

T-Mobile gives you unlimited internet access for $5.99/month, but I don't know if you can get speeds any faster than EDGE, whereas Cingular's UMTS and HSDPA are supposed to be a bit faster. OTOH, I don't know how much of a bottleneck the Bluetooth connection might create, and I don't know how many faster-than-EDGE phones out there work for tethering to a Mac.

At any rate, since I've gotten my k750i to connect my Mac to the internet via Bluetooth, I imagine it'll be possible with the w810, since it'll be a quite similar phone. Definitely do some searching on howardforums and esato.com as well as google to find the specifics.

P.S. Since the w810 is supposed to be quad-band, it should work on Cingular or T-Mobile, if you get an unlocked one (I haven't heard if any carriers will be selling them, but if you're getting a new contract, you can probably still get the phone at a discount if you find a mom-and-pop store that sells that phone + service)

You're both wrong. I have no idea what the $49.99 plan you linked is for, but it's a stand alone plan, which isn't what the OP is interested in anyway.

The $5.99 plan is called Unlimited T-Zones or whatever. That is supposed to be WAP only and port 80 is blocked, though you can get around it if you user a proxy server. T-Mobile may still be offering the $19.99 add on that gives you unlimited net, which is what you would need to surf with a notebook. However, they are phasing that plan out and switching to a $29.99 plan that includes unlimited net and unlimited access to T-Mobile Hot Spots (which is what Starbucks and Borders use). If you use the T-Mobile Hot Spots that's a good deal. Otherwise, do whatever you can now to get that $19.99 plan, because it won't be around much longer.

A word of caution, T-Mobile tends to be pretty slow when it comes to releasing new phones. They just the V330 a couple months ago, even though Cingular had the exact same thing (the V330 is a V551 in a different shell) for at least a year now. But when comes to rate plans, T-Mobile has the best deals. You have to ask yourself which is more important, cheaper rate plans or the most up to date phones.

Check out www.howardforums.com. That place has more info than you could ever dream of, and there are quite a few mac users there.

[Fusion]

Well if the price is that different, obviously the rate plan is more important since you can always just buy unlocked phones.

Question: So is the general consensus that internet over bluetooth to cell phone is slower than using a PC Card? I basically just want to be able to connect to the internet no matter where I am. I thought the cell phone would be the best way since I would probably always have it on me, but a PC Card would not be so bad either. I have never used the slot in my PowerBook so it's always been empty. If I do a PC Card, realistically what speeds can I expect?

[f1000]

Originally Posted by Fusion

Question: So is the general consensus that internet over bluetooth to cell phone is slower than using a PC Card?

For EDGE, I think the resounding answer is no. EDGE speeds don't come close to saturating BT bandwidth. For 3G that's faster than 500 kbps, I'd have to say maybe. For now, Cingular's UMTS network runs at rates below 1 Mbps, but that may change within another year or two. If you have an older PowerBook with BT v1.2, BT bandwidth may become an issue as speeds approach 1 Mbps.

You need to find out what service providers cover your stomping grounds of interest. UMTS and EV-DO are useless if you can't get good coverage in those areas.

PS: Posted from my PB tethered to my Moto V551 via BT in Rockville, MD. Speed = 114 kbps dl / 27 kbps ul

[Troll]

Originally Posted by Fusion

Question: So is the general consensus that internet over bluetooth to cell phone is slower than using a PC Card? I basically just want to be able to connect to the internet no matter where I am. I thought the cell phone would be the best way since I would probably always have it on me, but a PC Card would not be so bad either. I have never used the slot in my PowerBook so it's always been empty. If I do a PC Card, realistically what speeds can I expect?

Why not go for a 3G phone with bluetooth and EDGE compatibity and a USB connection. Plenty of those around. Best of all worlds.

[Dougmc]

I've learned a couple of things recently while at a Cingular store.

First, was that the $20 +/- plan is for unlimited data for your phone—text messaging and using MMS stuff. The more expensive solution is for connecting your computer to the network via either a phone or a card.

The $44 plan actually gives you an additional phone number for service—in addition to your exisiting cell service.

Which, as the sales person pointed out, at that point you might as well just use a card rather than work through your cell phone since you are paying for the additional line for data service.

At the time the 3G service wasn't launched. However it was due out any day. He thought the 3g card would be right around $100. But there also might be some rebates offered eventually.

[iomatic]

The problem with only having a card is that you can't have a conversation through it.

(VoIP notwithstanding.)

[Fusion]

What is this 3G that you all speak of? Is it faster than EDGE? Or are they different?

[yticolev]

Originally Posted by inkhead

1) If you plan to use high-speed internet through your cellphone (Anything over a 14.4k phone modem) you positively absolutely do NOT use bluetooth. It has nowhere near the bandwidth to handle the connection, and you'll get about 20 minutes of bluetooth internet before your phone dies.


Go EVDO with Verizon. If you don't buy a pc card to put in your powerbook, then spend $12 and buy the USB cable to connect your phone to the computer.

With my LG8100 on verizon I download at well over 700k/sec almost everywhere in the state of california. Any phone that verizon sells with "vcast" support will have ev-do modem built in the phone.

I have not read about anyone tethering a Verizon EVDO handset to a laptop with a cable anywhere. Have you done this? Most reports talk about bluetooth and having to edit the seem to do so. And as I understand it, linking it to a laptop without paying $60 a month extra would be a violation of TOS. If you could give me a resource, I would love to have EVDO from a handset to my laptop, especially if I can do minutes only used,

Thanks!

[Troll]

Originally Posted by Fusion

What is this 3G that you all speak of? Is it faster than EDGE? Or are they different?

They're different. As I said above, EDGE is 2.5G. It's slower than 3G.

[Fusion]

Well I just bought a phone last night, a Nokia 8801. It looks like it's not iSync compatible so that's a bummer, but it does work with another 3rd party program. It also supports bluetooth so hopefully I will be able to use it as a modem when I need to. Thanks for all your help.

[CMYKid]

I've a Sprint PPC 67700, which is absolutely killer. The EVDO speeds to the phone are between 500 and 850k and the surfing via Bluetooth on my Powerbook is flawless. You WOULD be a lot better off if you could surf via a USB cable since the Bluetooth is the big bottleneck here, however nobody has produced a driver yet since of course Windows Mobile doesnt have one.

The phone browser is pretty damn fast on its own though, and with a 1 or 2 gig MiniSD card I can download a LOT anyway.

EDGE has always sucked for me, I've installed it in more than a few mobile systems, like multi-PC networks in limos and cars, etc. Even with the compression its pretty crappy, especially latency, and the images look like ass.

[amazing]

Here's a snippet annoucement from macintouch.com and if they can release free iSync plugins, why can't Apple given that they own iSync:

Nova Media, developer of Mobile High Speed 3G, released free iSync plug-ins that provide synchronization support for 25 of the latest mobile phones by placing new phone definitions in the appropriate folder. The plug-ins support phones from Motorola (V3C, V3i, V3x, E1000, V188, SLVR, C350), Nokia (N70, N71, N80, N90, N91, N92, E60, E61, 9300, 9500), Siemens (M75, S75, SL75, SK65, SP65, S65, S6V, S66, S68, S88, EF81), and Sony Ericsson (W550i, W900i).

[sadpandas]

I agree with CMYKid, I am also on the sprint network and us the Samsung a900 to get online. I use the USB cable that came with it to get my powerbook online. There are a lot of people using powerbooks and iboooks with their sprint phones over at sprintusers.com and they have posted many threads on how to go about getting any mac in synch with their handsets.