[rescue] Wireless (GPRS) connection speeds

[N.Miller]

On Tuesday, August 12, 2003, at 08:58 AM, Joshua D. Boyd wrote:
> that business service is far cheaper in this case).  Verizon wireless 
> is
> also available.  The speed on that ranges from 40k to 144k.  They won't
> say what I'd actually get from my apartment.  They aren't even clear on
> what model phone would be best.  Both ISDN and Verizon Wireless require
> a 2 year contract, and I don't know that I'm really all that likely to
> stay longer than a year.

LOL.  Don't believe that 40k to 144k story.  144k is the
*theoretical* maximum of the GPRS network *if* you get all
the cell tracks supporting your GRPS call.  In reality, your
maximum will be 19.2k, and even that is unlikely, because
Verizon's network puts voice and data on the same layer, and
voice has priority.

If you end up going with wireless GPRS, look into Nextel.
You are guaranteed 19.2, and with the unlimited plan (assuming
you do not need a routable IP), you can get perceived speed of
up to 56k because of compression.  And you won't have to sign a
2yr contract to get that.  Nextel has two different channels on
their network, one for voice and the other for data (GPRS), which
is how they can guarantee the 19.2k.

If you use voice minutes for dial-up, the maximum speed you can
get is 9.6k.  Which perhaps explains a lot as to why voice quality
on cell seems generally poorer than land lines.

I know all these fancy details now after spending about 2 hours
with the data gurus yesterday in Nextel training.

I've decided when I get some $ that I'll be using a Clie UX with
an i95cl and a bluetooth adaptor for my PDA connectivity.  It
makes more sense than trying to figure out how to use a PCMCIA
GPRS modem in the Clie or importing the memory stick GPRS modem.

=Nadine=