[NCLUG] Data Through Cellular Technology?

[John L. Bass]

	Where can I find some information decent information about wireless cellular 
	technology? AT&T's page (http://attws.com/) is overhyped and doesn't contain 
	useful information. I was able to glean some good information about the 
	various technologies from "wikipedia.com," but I'm not sure how it all 
	relates to AT&Ts royal mess of tradenames.

There are several different non-interoperable standards, each hyped by a major
service provider.

AT&T uses TDMA to support both audio phones and CDPD wireless data. The buildout
is primarily high building and mountain top/ridge sites with large cells.

Verizon uses CDMA and currently offers only voice service in this area (CDPD in
other markets), but also has been field testing a 56-128kbps data service (no
release date last I heard). The build out is small cells deployed fairly low
with strict power managment to control bleadover between cells.

GSM is used by Voicestream in the US ... phones feature smartcard security that is
portable between phones ... the phones are very expensive, and in order to be
competitive, the carriers released them into their respective markets "locked"
to their market. GSM is deployed world wide, on frequently incompatable frequencies,
but you can take your smart card, and use it in a rented phone in many markets.

A wide collection of smaller providers also use these three standards
in their networks ... many are partnered with a major carrier in some sense.

	Many years back I recall you could buy little PCMCIA cards that could 
	send/receive e-mail messages on a HP100LX palmtop. I believe this was based 
	on CPDP technology. Does this sort of service still exist?

CDPD is still around on - in this area on AT&T's TDMA digital systems ... wide
coverage area thru out the front range.

See http://www.sierrawireless.com/SupportDownload/coverage.asp for coverage maps

Usable performance is between 4800-19.2K baud, not great for web surfing - but
usable. Mostly useful for email and remote business applications supporting sale
and technical support professionals in the field.  I've been using it for a while,
and other than being slow, it really works in a lot of major cities for those that
travel frequently.

	On a similar note, suppose I have an existing cellular phone (an AT&T prepaid 
	plan). This already has built-in text messaging, but is a pain to use on the 
	cell phone. Is there anyway I could pop a cellular PCMCIA card into a 
	computer and have it send/receive text messages via my existing pre-paid 
	plan?

NO - it's tied to the phones EIN.

Text messaging is part of the feature set in all three voice wireless standards, as
an optional add on feature.  Each provider uses an internet gateway mail server where
all you need to do us use the 10 digit phone number as the user field.

	Any ideas or links to sites containing information would be appreciated.

Depends on what you are really looking for - tons of search hits on most topics
from Dogpile:

    http://www.dogpile.com/index.gsp

.... just type in wireless and the technology for the search field.

	Marcio Luis Teixeira

Have fun,
John