ok, boys and girls, heres this weeks hack,,

This is the place for any magazine-related discussions that don't fit in any of the column discussion boards below.
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Chris Smith
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Location: Bieber Ca.

Post by Chris Smith »

In my area Cell phones are quirky.

Some places work, others cut out,.... measured in feet from what used to work.

Turn a corner at the main road and the cell phones dies within 50 yards of working with no reason or obstructions.

My place is up and down depending on the equipment but I live in a cove surrounded by knolls?

We do have a Verizon plan that sort of works but the cost VS the speed is atrocious.

$150 and up for the equipment, minus the rebate, but 60 bucks a month for the service fee and its limited to both time and speed.

The data rate is just below 200 but that is six times faster then dial up.

Im not ready for that and I am signing up to be the local T2/3 "Dish" installer for our area because the others here have no basic electronic knowledge and they even guess the line of sight when aiming the dish.

Every one I have visited says "dont let that kid back here, were not dealing with him any more? Aparently he has no communication skills?

Most of the kids say,...I see the tower, so lets visually aim the dish?

And some have actually aimed it at a tree that almost blocked the view right now, only for the tree to grow up and completely block the view later.

I should be able to get set up with the dish which is half the cost of wireless and Even If I fork out for the dish its still cheaper than Wireless. And the speed is a little faster.
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haklesup
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Post by haklesup »

I'm familiar with Verizon. If you go into the store and ask for the USB cable and the mobile web software, the sales guy will automatically go into the "sell the data plan" or "sell the Mobile Web option" mode and virtually deny any other plan exists. I think this is where the radio shack guys go when they climb the ladder of success.

What I was talking about is is called VZAccess which uses what they call NationalAccess. This is included in your plan assuming you have a compatible phone (click the support link to your model to find out or call 611). In fact, skip the store, the tech support guy at 611 will confirm compatibility and sell/ship it to you. Its like $15 (cheaper on ebay) one time for the cable and CDROM and uses normal minutes like a voice call under the same rules. If you can make a phone call, you can use this. In practice it works slower then the data rates would imply but its still much faster than dialup.

This is a beef (really the only one) I have with Verizon. At least 4X I have advised people on this only to have them tell me they went to the store and were told they need to sign up for another service, upgrade their phone or buy another plan with a modem card. After following up, each one has had a compatible phone afterall.

If you are already a Verizon customer, IMO it's worth $15-$20 to find out. First month it causes you to go over on minutes tho- will be a shocker. Its sure nice to be able to login at an airport or hotel without buying some lousy hotspot card. Also try dialing *228 to update the software on your phone, it occasionally helps reception if a tower went up since the last time it was updated.
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Chris Smith
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Location: Bieber Ca.

Post by Chris Smith »

We have piss poor reception up here, 2 towers and 1000 square miles.

Most brands simply don’t work up here but we are moving towards the horse and carriage ways, soon?

Most reliable means ever mentioned from folks is the "roaming" satellites up in the sky?

We will eventually reach the 19th century, but Im not holding my breath?

I have tried to get in three more towers, but all I hear is silence.

I have the land lords permission in all cases, and no takers.
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jollyrgr
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Post by jollyrgr »

haklesup wrote: {SNIP}
What I was talking about is is called VZAccess which uses what they call NationalAccess. This is included in your plan assuming you have a compatible phone (click the support link to your model to find out or call 611). In fact, skip the store, the tech support guy at 611 will confirm compatibility and sell/ship it to you. Its like $15 (cheaper on ebay) one time for the cable and CDROM and uses normal minutes like a voice call under the same rules. If you can make a phone call, you can use this. In practice it works slower then the data rates would imply but its still much faster than dialup.
{SNIP}
haklesup,

Quite some time ago I saw a posting stating almost exactly what you stated. (They didn't give names of services, just that it existed for Verizon customers.) I though this was some sort of "joke" posting (like the cell phone mod, the generator video, the floating quarter, etc. that we're all posting). That was until I saw some guys sitting in a restaurant with USB cables going to their phones and they were surfing the 'net. So I looked into it further.

I am a Verizon cell customer so I called them up and asked about their service. I suggested the "modem" and "high speed". The woman was very knowledgable about this (as opposed to someone reading things off the screen) and explained everything better than the guys in the stores. Specifically here is what I found out:

There are two types of MODEM services. One is a "universal" modem that plugs into the ear piece jack. You must MANUALLY dial the phone then MANUALLY dial the DUN in Windows. The little USB modem device uses the analog jack as a crude "accoustic coupler". For my phone there is a specific setting for FAX machine. This service is at 14.4KBs. I have not seen these in years. I DO see the setting for this in my phone and have seen this in other phones. You must have a dialup service you subscribe to (Earthlink etc.).

Then there is a USB modem that plugs into the phone "accessory" jack and will even dial the cell phone for you. These are EXTREMELY rare and difficult to find. Again expect 14.4KBs but you don't have to dial the phone then initiate the DUN; the computer does it for you. (Again normal dialup account is required.)

Then there is the one that surprised me when I asked about it. This is the one you wrote about. This had TWO levels of service. The "normal" one that is/was "Everywhere" and then the "high speed" version, which is/was in big cities. Both of these require a USB cable with a "fat part" in the middle (real circuitry) as opposed to a "Data Transfer Cable" which is used only for moving things like address books, e-mail, photos, etc to and from the phone. The cable has some special circuitry and is not just a USB cable.

The "Everywhere" version works as follows: You connect this "pregnant" USB cable to the phone and computer. You install software and drivers (you need both!) to perform the communications. The drivers are phone specific. The software is "network" (i.e. Verizon) specific. Under the "Everywhere" service you get a maximum of 128K or ISDN speed Internet service. The phone acts as an ACCESS POINT in a wireless network where the cell system is the wireless medium as opposed to something like 802.11? wireless. With this you used minutes off your service during the transfer. If you streamed something, you'd use up a lot of minutes. So my next question was "My account has free nights and weekends. What does this do to my minutes?" She tells me that all Internet connectivity follows my plan, thus I could surf during all my night minutes and from basically 9:01PM Friday to 5:59AM Monday and it would not cost me ONE MINUTE off my plan! She says this works anywhere you can make a call on Verizon's network. (It won't work on roaming networks.) Verizon IS the ISP.

So I ask about the "HIGH SPEED" version. This works exactly the same way but only in select cities and areas. The speed was better than most DSL but not nearly as good as high end cable or many of the fixed wireless services. Much better than satellite as the lag was low.

So my quest was on to find one of these cables. I checked many eBay auctions but the BIG problem was getting a cable, drivers, and software in ONE auction. Several months go by. A Verizon store opens up along my journey to and from work. I stop in. They guy knows EXACTLY what software I need and EXACTLY what cable (with drivers) I need. He has both ($30 EACH). But he also has bad news. The Verizon system USED to work the way I expected. But so many people started doing this that they decided to sell this as a separate service. Apparently the high speed signal IS now in my area BUT it is now a separate billed service.

Back to square one. About this time an on-line game, World of Warcraft, hits. A number of my coworkers start playing this. One has a cousin that wants to play as well. In his area there is no cable modems, DSL, or fixed wireless. Satellite is out as there is too much lag. This cousin works for Radio Shack. He gets a Sprint phone and they have the same thing Verizon supposedly has (or had???) for high speed. His phone DOES work on the Internet and he has the same "problem" minute wise. Thus he could only play nights and weekends. His big problem was one hour battery life and only two batteries. The phone could only be charged through the same port as the USB cable. And the USB cable would not charge or power the phone. OOPS!

Fast forward to last spring. The Emergency Response Team at work got a deal with Sprint/NexTel (after the merger). They got PCMCIA cards for their laptops. (The Sprint guys also sell a similar device that works on USB cables for desktops.) The "digital" card is its own cell phone. The service is $50 a month REGARDLESS OF AIR TIME! They got a "special deal" that the cards were "Free" instead of $150. (This year they are giving away the cards for free to anyone, so I'm told.)

I got to test one of these cards. It works. It beats dial up no problem. I can watch certain videos without too much trouble. It does NOT beat my fixed wireless or the multiple T1s at work. I put this card in an employee's computer for testing at his home. (There is not even cable TV where he is at.) He gets full scale Sprint service (only a quater mile from a major highway) and absolutely no drops. Again MUCH better than his dialup. Now he has to decide if he will go with the USB version, so he can put it on his desktop and "share" the Internet with the laptop, or just get it for his laptop. His daughter is begging for the former.
No trees were harmed in the creation of this message. But billions of electrons, photons, and electromagnetic waves were terribly inconvenienced!
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haklesup
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Post by haklesup »

Jollyrgr, your info is just a tiny bit dated. The "Fat" usb cable was actually a bastard RS232/USB cable. The older phones used an RS232 standard and there were serial 9 pin cables prior to that. When USB became popular some vendors patched the problem with a modified cable dongle but now the cables for current phones are true blue USB and if anything makes it fat its just a ferrite bead EMI filer. I didn't know about the acoustic modems for the headset but that makes sense. Also they have expanded their 3G network and it is available in most areas where you don't see roaming or analog on the display.

The newest and easily confused product is the one available mainly in cities. Thats the one where you can watch videos and download music on the phone called BroadbandAccess, Anyway thats a paid option for unlimited access and only for the fancier phones like the Chocolate.

I have and use the Verizon VZAccess, have for 5+ years on two different phones by now. Not hard to find the cable you just order it on the phone at 611. Heck, radio shack sells the cables without the software (3rd party S/W for phone book and calendar functions usually) I got mine in a VZW store but only after convincing the sales guy he really did have one and I didn't want to use the internet on the phone only through it. My phone has basic web capabilities but I don't own that option so It doesn't come through on the phone.

However, there are hacks where you program the phone's DNS to a free server instead of Verizon's paid server. You get spotty web services on the phone's browser but I haven't tried it since my last phone over 2 years ago, it might be even better now. Just change some settings in the service menu on the phone. I think you can direct it to your own webpage and customize that through normal internet connection etc.

Another benefit of the USB cable is the ability to manage the file system on the phone. You can generally backup and edit the phone book, calendar, add wallpapar, offload JPGs, and even install unlimited use games downloaded free off the internet (believe it or not but the user agreement does not prohibit this, however the game makers may). This kind of support is very good on the LG phones, not sure about other makes. Yeah battery life is an issue even though my phone says battery charging when plugged into the laptop, it really isn't. Maybe if I used a powered hub, I don't use it that often anyway, its just a backup while traveling.

The cellular modem cards are really the best option if you want full access and flat rate like wired services. Can replace DSL in many cases.

CS, the satellite sounds like a good fit for you until the world catches up to your town. Either that or strap a bunch or routers and batteries on some sheep and start your own "Roaming" network. THe reception might be a little "Wooley" at times though :wink: .
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Chris Smith
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Location: Bieber Ca.

Post by Chris Smith »

6 of one, ½ dozen of the other.

WE are with out a doubt the only place in California, not bombarded by RF, to our detriment and often a benifit.

The county next [modoc] to us has the lowest population in the entire state, as well as money wise. [tiny]

So while we want to stay "isolated" we also want simple technology with out the detrements of population or the garbage that comes with the build ups of any neighbor, closer than a mile.

We do prefer 10 cows to every person or neighbor.
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