On Tue, 31 Oct 2006, Sidney Cammeresi wrote:

> On Tue, 31 Oct 2006 at 10.31.12 -0600, Mike Miller wrote:
>> On Tue, 31 Oct 2006, Sidney Cammeresi wrote:
>>> On Tue, 31 Oct 2006 at 08.25.33 -0600, Mike Miller wrote:
>>>> Treo 650 came out two years ago with Bluetooth (10/24/2004).  Of
>>>> course, 700p and 700w also have Bluetooth.  If they'll just add WiFi,
>>>> I'll buy one!  Cellular service that includes a WiFi option is the
>>>> latest craze (see snippet of NY Times article about T-Mobile below).
>>>
>>> Are not T-Mobile in the business of maintaining their own network?
>>>
>>> Count me out.  I'm not subleasing my network to T-Mobile unless they're
>>> going to pay me for providing Internet service to their company.
>>
>> Can you explain this?  I don't know what you mean.  The WiFi phone is
>> supposed to work in Starbucks, some other places, and on your home WiFi
>> network.
>
> Well there are two parts you get from a cellular operator:  network 
> access and PSTN origination/termination.  If I'm providing my own 
> network connection into T-Mobile and am not using T-Mobile's expensive 
> GSM network to carry my phone calls (of course, coming in over the 
> Internet has a non-zero cost), I should get a discount.

You do get a discount:  It is free to make wi-fi calls.  This is what 
people like about it:  You have so many anytime minutes but you can save 
on them by using wi-fi during business hours.  You can also use it to get 
a better signal than cellular provides (e.g., in your basement).  Here's 
some info:

http://www.theonlyphoneyouneed.com/


>>> T-Mobile subscriber (again) even though GPRS sucks
>>
>> What problems do you have with GPRS?
>
> Low bandwidth[1] (c 60 Kbps), high latency[2] (c 500-1000 ms) compared 
> to other technologies like EV-DO.

I sometimes confuse GPRS with GSM.  Now I remember the difference.


> The main good thing about GPRS is that T-Mobile are not totally and 
> utterly brain damaged when it comes to selling data services.

That's too bad.  No ev-do or 3G yet?  Looks like it's in the works:

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/ZDM/story?id=2537247

Thanks for the update.  I'll hold off on switching to t-mobile for another 
year or more.

Mike