Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Talk is cheap, but the extras aren't.html

From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 06 Nov 2002 03:07:46 -0500

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Posted on Mon, Nov. 04, 2002

Talk is cheap, but the extras aren't

LESLIE BROOKS SUZUKAMO
Pioneer Press

Talk is cheap. That's why mobile-phone carriers want you to use your handset for much more than just yakking.

Snap and send pictures. Do e-mail. Play games.

Get the latest news headlines, weather forecasts and sports scores.

Download color wallpaper and musical ring tones, perhaps to the annoyance of bystanders.

All these goodies don't come cheap.

And shopping for so-called called "next generation" mobile-phone services can be a time-consuming, migraine-inducing chore.

You no longer just add up minutes of talk time. You must also figure out how many megabytes of data you'll chew through.

Additional considerations include e-mail services, both the business kind and personal kind.

We sort out your data-access options.

SPRINT

Service: PCS Vision

Audience: "Sprint is for everyone," spokesman Mark Elliot says.

When: nationwide as of August

Where: Sprint's voice service works nationwide, but digital-data service is not available everywhere. You're covered in hundreds of cities such as the Twin Cities, though.

Speed: Average 50 to 70 kilobits per second

The best deal: $30 a month for unlimited Sprint PCS Vision access to the Internet for the first three months. The plan also includes free long distance, 300 anytime talk minutes and unlimited night and weekend minutes. After three months, you pay $10 a month for PCSVision.

The works: $100 a month for unlimited PCS Vision data access, plus free long distance and 2,500 anytime minutes. Unlimited night and weekend minutes are an extra $10 a month.

Standard features: News, weather, games, ring tones, screen savers, America Online instant messaging, chat and text-messaging service to other data-enabled phones. Not all features available with all Sprint phones.

Extra features: Additional ring tones, games and screen savers, which last three months. Screen savers typically cost $1 each, ring tones are $2 and games $3 to $5 apiece.

Standout feature: Photos. Sprint sells a $70 digital camera that plugs into certain handsets. You can send pictures to computers or other PCSVision phones.

Coolest handsets: Samsung A500 for $300 or the $200 N400, which use the digital-camera attachment. A Sanyo 5300 with a built-in camera is due for the holidays.

The $500 Handspring Treo 300 combines a mobile phone and Palm-based electronic organizer that stores all dates, addresses, phone numbers and other data.

Work e-mail: Business Connection software allows firms to connect their workers to their e-mail at $5 a head per month, but it must be set up through your IT department.

Personal e-mail: America Online and many other Internet service providers appear on a list provided by PCS Vision. Pick your ISP and you're good to go. Or use PCS Mail to access a POP3 provider.

Laptop option: A wireless-networking card plugs into computers

More info: www.sprintpcs.com

AT&T WIRELESS

Service: mMode

Audience: Primarily corporate road warriors and cutting-edge consumers. AT&T's prominent ads have consumer appeal.

When: mMode hit the Twin Cities in July. AT&T has been rolling out its network gradually nationwide this year, completing the last link of its major cities in October.

Where: Major metro areas, including the Twin Cities. Like other services, you should ask about other cities if you're traveling.

Speed: Average of 56 kilobits per second, about the same as a home dial-up connection

The best deal: $3 a month for a basic data package, plus 2 cents per kilobyte used, as an add-on to voice plans. Just to give you a feel, the average three-paragraph e-mail without an attachment is 25 kilobytes.

The works: $200 a month for 200 megabytes via a wireless-networking card plugged into a laptop computer. For handsets only, a $19-a-month package provides 8 megabytes of data.

Standard features: News, games, sports, weather, e-mail, ring tones, screen savers, text messaging

Extra features: Additional ring tones and screen savers, which are deducted from your data allotment

Standout feature: Find Friends, a locator service. It allows you to find other mMode users who sign up and give permission for you to find them. The service can place them within 10 miles of the nearest transmitter tower. Techies jokingly call it "the stalker feature."

Coolest phones: Sony-Ericsson T68i, which doubles as a Bluetooth wireless computer modem and works with a digital-camera attachment. Photos can be e-mailed or sent to another phone via Bluetooth or infrared.

The Siemens SX56, a combination phone and handheld computer using a Microsoft operating system, provides an all-in-one option for power users.

Work e-mail: Office Online allows you to get your work e-mail for an extra $3 a month unless you're buying a $60 monthly voice package.

Personal e-mail: Access to any POP3 provider as well as America Online

Laptop options: $200 a month for 200 megabytes via a wireless-networking card, or use a phone as a computer modem via a tethered or Bluetooth wireless connection.

More info: www.attws.com

T-MOBILE

Service: T-Zone

Audience: Everyone

When: Since Nov. 2001, but T-Zone marketing campaign began last month.

Where: T-Mobile covers 45 of the top 50 metropolitan areas, including the Twin Cities, along with Europe.

Speed: About 40 kilobits per second

The best deal: $3 a month for 1 megabyte of data

The works: $10 a month for 10 megabytes

Standard features: Ring tones, screen savers, wallpaper, Internet browsing, AOL instant messaging

Extra features: Additional ring tones, screen savers and games at about $1 each

Standout feature: Sending pictures from handset to handset (newer handsets)

Coolest phones: The Samsung S105 or the Sony Ericsson T300, which works with a digital-camera attachment. A Samsung V205 model with a built-in camera is due soon.

Perhaps the hottest device is the T-Mobile Sidekick, a $200 combination phone and data device with a flip-open keyboard. It makes sending e-mail and instant messaging easier, and it stores contacts just like a PDA.

Service pricing for the Sidekick differs from that for regular handsets — $40 a month for unlimited data use, plus 200 anytime minutes and 1,000 weekend minutes.

Work e-mail: Download T-Zone Pro software to your PC, or get your firm to get you a T-Mobile-enabled RIM Blackberry 5810.

Personal e-mail: Access to standared e-mail accounts available with $10-a-month data plan but not basic $3-a-month plan.

Laptop option: Wireless computer card, or use your phone as a tethered modem. T-Mobile recommends laptop-specific plans with more generous data allotments.

More info: www.t-mobile.com

NEXTEL COMMUNICATIONS

Service: Nextel Online

Audience: Primarily businesses. Nextelhasn't pushed Web services as hard as its competitors.

When: Since 2000. Nextel began offering a wireless-networking card for laptops in June.

Where: About 200 top U.S. cities, such as the Twin Cities, along with coverage in other areas. Check before you travel.

Speed: Average data speed of 30 to 35 kilobits per second

The best deal: $5-a-month data access as an add-on to voice service

The works: $55 a month for unlimited Web access. An add-on to voice service

Standard features: Ring tones, e-mail, Web access, two-way messaging and AOL instant messaging

Extra features: Additional ring tones at about $2 each and games for about $5 each. The company emphasizes business-specific wireless applications for corporate clients.

Standout feature: DirectConnect walkie-talkie feature that allows two Nextel subscribers in, say, St. Paul to communicate with each other without placing conventional voice calls. The localized service is set to acquire nationwide reach this month.

Coolest phone: Motorola i95cl color-screen handset, about $400

Work e-mail: Mobile e-mail service will allow you to retrieve your e-mail from your desk, but you have to be logged in. Wireless Knowledge will allow you to retrieve your e-mail through a corporate firewall even if you're not logged on. Your company needs to subscribe to the latter.

Personal e-mail: Access to any standard POP3 e-mail provider

Laptop option: Phones can be tethered to computers and used as modems.

More info: www.nextel.com

VERIZON WIRELESS

High-speed data service: Express Network (not yet available in the Twin Cities)

Audience: The 30-and-under set who are early adopters of digital technology and corporate users

When: Verizon launched Express Network in January on the coasts and in Salt Lake City for the Winter Olympics. Scheduled to hit the Twin Cities before June 2003.

Speed: About 40 to 60 kilobits per second. Current Twin Cities network only operates at about 14.4K. All data features are available. They're just slower.

Best deal: For Express Network users, $35 a month for 10 megabytes of data. A combo voice-and-data plan provides 150 voice or data minutes for the same price. Either plan is suitable for those using their phones as computer modems or accessing the Internet via a wireless-networking laptop card.

In the Twin Cities, Digital Choice charges $25 for 125 anytime voice or data minutes and 1,000 night and weekend minutes.

The works: For Express Network, $99 for unlimited data. A voice-and-data plan is $300 for 3,000 anytime voice or data minutes.

In the Twin Cities, the America's Choice nationwide plan charges $200 a month for 3,500 anytime data or voice minutes.

Standard features: Text messaging, but you pay extra by the message or for a text-messaging plan. Pay additional fees to layer on more features, such as voice-activated dialing or Web access via Microsoft's MSN Mobile Web.

Extra features: Newer handsets support Get It Now, a data service that allows users to download games, ring tones and programs for accessing e-mail as well as looking up stock quotes or flight schedules, among other things.

Standout feature: Get It Now, which is being heavily advertised on TV for the under-30 crowd as a way to kill boredom with games, ring tones and screen savers.

Coolest phones: For the business user, a $600 Thera Pocket PC, which runs a Microsoft operating system for handheld computers

For consumers, the Motorola T720, selling for $250 with a two-year contract

Work e-mail: Verizon works with companies to set up access to e-mail, contacts and calendars through corporate firewalls.

Personal e-mail: Top Web-mail providers available via MSN Mobile Web. Get It Now downloadable software includes e-mail applications for accessing POP3 accounts.

Laptop option: $80 Mobile Office kit lets you to plug your phone into your laptop via cable. Or use a $300 wireless-networking card for direct access to the data network.

More info: www.verizonwireless.com.

© 2001 pioneerpress and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.

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