Cell-Capable Modems

[Duane Attaway]

On Thu, 15 Aug 2002 KRFinch at dstsystems.com wrote:

> Hello all!
> 
> Kinda off-topic, but I figured I would ask to see if anyone out there had
> some insights.  The idea got kicked around that my team might get a
> cell-capable modem to go with our new Nextel phone for the person on call.
> That way, whenever we get a support call, even if we are at the ballpark,
> we could go ahead and dial in.
> 
> Any anecdotes anyone has on dialing in through a cell phone, I'm all ears.

I used to do this with a Nokia analog phone with a cell capable pcmcia 
modem.  It worked at 9600 baud and ppp compression worked on top of that.  
For ssh'ing, it was very fast.  Browsing the internet through a text 
terminal was fast as a blink of an eye.  The experience with mozilla and 
google searching was like a typical dialup on a slower day.  Not too bad.  
The only problem was orientating the antenna away from the dead spots in 
weak areas that happen to be every half wavelength of its 900MHz 
frequency.  I have one or two of these modems if you want them.  One 
dollar and they are yours.  I have the cable for an old analog Nokia.

The pcmcia card I saw yesterday at compusa had the cell phone built in.  
It was promoted by Voicestream, so I don't know if it was tied into their 
proprietary service.  That would be bad if you wanted a choice of 
services.  I have heard of wireless subscriptions that don't need any 
dialup.  This may be it, but I just glanced at what it was and didn't see 
the details.