More cell phones and internet connectivity ...

[Seth M. Landsman]

On Sat, Dec 04, 1999 at 11:26:36PM -0500, Seth M. Landsman wrote:
> 	Okay, so I think I found my personal "end-all-be-all" of getting
> wireless data to my laptop without a huge amount of money and getting
> something that isn't an unpleseant "antique on arrival" product.
> 
> 	BellAtlantic Mobile is selling the Qualcomm 860 thin phone.  For
> an extra 10$ a month it gets wireless internet connectivity.  There is a
> serial cable that you can buy which will make the phone look like a modem.
> 
> 	The question on hand is, is this a real and usable modem?
> According to qualcomm, they are selling a palm pilot connection kit.  This
> means it isn't a winmodem and probably an honest hays compatible modem.
> 
> 	Has anyone used this?  Does anyone have a clue if this will get me
> able to have both my pilot and my laptop on line on the road?

	Okay, due to my natural impatience, laziness and hubris, I went
out to answer my own questions.  I'm not the proud owner of the Qualcomm
860 phone, which, to my surprise, especially after dealing with the sales
clerk ("what's a palm pilot?"), does everything I want it to do, albeit
slowly.

	I've managed to connect with a decent PPP connection via my
oft-neglected windows partition on my laptop.  I've managed to compose and
surf via the phones (massively sucky) web browser.  I've gotten a decent
terminal and ppp connected via minicom and wvdial on my linux box (yay!).
I've managed to make my pilot dial, though I don't have the software or
scripts to make it connect.

	This is a real, honest 14.4k modem.  This makes me happy.  No
windows-only winmodem crap.  

	The one gotcha which I discovered is that you *MUST* set the
computer-to-modem speed at 19.2k, or else you can't talk to the modem.

	So the next question is, how does one go about getting the
protocols for this phone.  The windows utilities let you do all sorts of
nifty things like set the address book via the serial cable.  I want to
write the gnome equivilent.

	Hmm, now off to test PalmVNC ... :)

-Seth
--
"It is by will alone I set my mind in motion"
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