+jollybgood Posted May 30, 2003 Share Posted May 30, 2003 Hoody Hoo! Today I was driving a buddy around when he plugged in a USB cable to his cell phone and then his laptop and began checking his email and surfed the web. I was shocked. I'd heard of such things but never seen anyone do it. "Could I do that with my cell phone?" I asked. He said "Sure. Just buy the cable and check with your provider." "Doenst' it cost a fortune?:" "No. Just another phone call as far as Verizon is concerned. I have more minutes each month than I can possibly use." Well tha tdid it for me. I have a verizon account and I drove by their store on my way home explained I was on a MAC (OSX on a Tibook 550) and wanted a USB cable. The guy scratched his chin and said, "techincially it should only work on a PC. But I know a LOT of mac folks who have made it work. Just bring the cable back if you can't get it to work. Oh..., check google or Apple for the proper modem scripts." I checked a few websites and found what I was looking for immeidately. A script which makes OSX see my cell phone as a USB MODEM. I adjusted my settings. Launched AOL and signed on. Bingo! No problems at all. SO here I am. Posting remotely through my cell phone. I still can't quite believe it. This old man is amazed. Visions of filling out my cache logs from the field have filled my head. Looking up cache reports remotely. PUlling up MAPQUEST searches when I can't quite find the right way in.. (sigh). I'm in heaven. (I have so many minutes I don't use each month on my plan that I'm acutally glad I'll be using them now.). And before you ask, NO -- verizon doesn't charge extra for data transfers. I also have access to their I.P. as well. Anyway, just thought I'd mentioned it incase anyone else has been in the dark as I have. I've been lugging my phone and laptop around for 16 months. I NEVER knew what I'm now doing was possible. All I needed was a twenty dolllar USB cable. WHo knew? Jolly R. Blackburn http://kenzerco.com Quote Link to comment
+DustyJacket Posted May 30, 2003 Share Posted May 30, 2003 My wife has been testing cell phone software for Sprint. She brought home a few Palm OS phones and Pocket PC phones. Using them, you don't need a laptop. I just surfed geocaching.com, mapquest, weather underground, and the yellow pages right on the phone. You can even bookmark pages, like cache pages. My next purchase is going to be one of those phones. (The new ones come out inJuly for Sprint. Verizon already has one of them in service.) DustyJacket Not all those that wander are lost. But in my case... Quote Link to comment
+jollybgood Posted May 30, 2003 Author Share Posted May 30, 2003 <<The new ones come out inJuly for Sprint. Verizon already has one of them in service.)>> Do you know which Verizon phone exactly? I'm about ready to upgrade but have been waiting for them to release a bluetooth enabled phone/pda. Using the laptop and its huge 15" screen is nice since it's usually glued to my side. but I'm a sucker for new gadgets. Jolly R. Blackburn http://kenzerco.com Quote Link to comment
+DustyJacket Posted May 31, 2003 Share Posted May 31, 2003 I believe that Verizon is already using the Samsung I700 (Pocket PC). I don't know if they are using the G1000 (pocket PC w/integral keyboard). This will 'probably' replace the current Toshiba Pocket PC phone (the Toshiba is pretty good). It is a tad large. About the size of a Palm PDA, and then add more for the keyboard. For Palm users, the Samsung I500 will be really nice, as long as you don't need a large screen. I surfed some cache pages with that one too. DustyJacket Not all those that wander are lost. But in my case... Quote Link to comment
+Rubberhead Posted May 31, 2003 Share Posted May 31, 2003 I've been using a Bluetooth-enabled Ericsson T68 with my HP iPAQ 5450 to get my e-mail and access the internet. The T68 has a rather weak internal antenna but is available through Cingular and AT&T. I like the Nokia 6310i better for coverage but it's only available through AT&T. Our Verizon rep. does not know when or if Verizon will ever come out with a Bluetooth phone. Quote Link to comment
+jollybgood Posted May 31, 2003 Author Share Posted May 31, 2003 Well, geek that I am I logged my first Find from the field today. (in the parking lot after finding the "Blue Tube". Very kewl. It was just nice being able to do it. I doubt I'll ever do it again. Jolly R. Blackburn http://kenzerco.com Quote Link to comment
latvija Posted May 31, 2003 Share Posted May 31, 2003 Verizon's also got the Kyocera 7135. Color PalmOS unit. Has graphical web browser with Java as well as a text-only (much quicker) and WAP browsers. Email and SMS too. Will also work as an external modem for a laptop with speeds purportedly up to 56K. Was at a stop on Memorial Day I "felt" would be a good cache site. Used the Kyo to search and found the page (and the cache). If they had a way to access the GPS in it, I'd have no real reason to carry any other device. Quote Link to comment
+leatherman Posted May 31, 2003 Share Posted May 31, 2003 I've been using a cable with my Star Tac for a year. I wouldn't use a PDA phone or the internet phones. The browsers are way to slow, and limited. You end up using far more minutes with a PDA or phone browser. You also can't use the programs that a lap top can. All the use group IM and email. The PDA phones and the lap tops both connect at 14.4 baud. You use the air time that you would on a regular call. I have unlimited nights and weekends. I've spent 6 to eight hours a day on the internet before. Nothing appears on the bill. I have an ultra thin 12" lap top. I like the 8 1/2" road warriors from Sony too. If you get a different phone you will have to get a different lap top cable, if you want to continue using your lap top.p Pepper playing nice! Mokita! Quote Link to comment
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