[RLENT]

Originally Posted by Turtle

Well, when I said "unless you have a data plan to use with the phone..." it covers the EDGE cellular network, since that's a data plan.

True - I wanted to ensure that it was clear that the 802.x connection was only really being used to provide a connection between the laptop and the iPhone - and that the iPhone was providing access to internet via EDGE.

Not being intimate with the iPhone or AT&T's plans, I wasn't aware that the iPhone's plans included the data plan.

Fair enough - I just wanted to make it clear that even the base plan included unlimited data usage - which is a great deal, IMNSHO. I haven't used the EDGE network myself for email or browsing the web so I have no idea whether I'd find it tolerable. We have 6Mb DSL here at the house so I'm a bit spoiled by that. On otherhand I survived 128Kb ISDN for years before the DSL was available .... so I'm probably fairly tolerant of slower speeds.

The appeal of the iPhone (besides the fact that it's a wicked kewl device) is the relatively cheap cost of the plan which includes cell phone service and unlimited data usage - and a much broader data coverage area than the parking lot of the J or one of their affiliates. Getting decent WiFi access at the J is often a crapshoot - sometimes it's where you're parked - other times it seems no matter where I go on the lot the signal isn't worth dog dookie.

The iPhone becomes the Aircard. Right?

That's functionally correct, yes.

Yeah, for some people T-Mobile is the best carrier. Of course, those people never leave the city.

LOL !!! Well, I do leave the city - and don't really have much of a problem (and it's basically the same network) - yeah, I have dropped calls - but generally speaking it only happens while I'm rolling - and the problem is of short duration. So if a call gets interrupted I have to call back in a minute or so when I'm closer to the next tower. Usually when I am stopped and not moving I have signal and have no problems making or receiving calls - at least at the places I end up at.

hehe very true. A lot of it is phone specific, too. One phone doesn't drop calls, another one will.

I have no doubt that that is true - and probably for all carriers.

I keep up with the results of JD Power and Associates and a couple of industry watch dogs and their tracking of dropped calls and coverage areas, and Verizon does have the best coverage and fewest dropped calls,

Right - could very well be true. Like I said we had numerous problems with dropped calls with Verizon which caused us to switch. It was likely due to the fact that we were spending alot of time in one of their problem areas (northern VA) - we switched and fairly shortly after that we were no longer spending as much time in that area ... and so it goes.

Another motivation for switching was that we had our local phone service thru SBC - when they all combined (SBC, ATT, Cingular) we were able to bundle all our services (local phone, long distance, internet, and cell service) thru one entity and get some decent savings as a result - so I can't say that we were solely motivated by the dropped calls issue with Verizon.

We still have dropped calls (as you well know )

but, man they do have a few really problematic spots.

As does Cingular (and probably all the others) - there's a spot on OH-21, just south of Minor Road, out around Copley, where the call will drop every time - and since the wife drives that one daily to and from work (we often talk when she's on the way home) it's PITA.

But, I also know that they are more problematic with my phone than with other phones. I had to force my phone off the EVDO network and to CDMA-only to get the Georgetown problem fixed. (Yeah, it's working fine now. It rang when you called earlier, and didn't want to wake up hehe)

Heheheh - sorry about that.