What's the best boat phone then?

[John B 106]

Telecom informed me yesterday that they're shutting down the cdma data network in November. I still have and have kept going an old Sierra aircard rather than the newer USB T stick things because I have an extended aerial for use on the boat, and that worked fairly well at getting a web forecast or two in spots where there was no cellphone coverage. I only really use the thing in summer on the boat.

I had an interesting conversation with Fusion a while back and he enlightened me as to a couple of T stick tricks to improve coverage .However , I'm wondering about ditching the dedicated laptop card/ stick idea and just going to a modern phone . I'd hook that up to an aerial, and use it as a modem for when I want the laptop connection. Only one bill that way, no holding bill over winter for the data card/ stick, and a modern phone screen might be good enough to look at metvuw and the aussie sites for the cyclone hints over summer.

 

Opinions on a good phone ? comments on the above?

android? Garmin , Motorola?

 

 

another aspect I'd be interested in is I'm told the 'new' phones are all going to a universal charge port , Mini usb. Is that true? ( because multiple chargers for the 4 different family phones is a PIA)..

[Guest]

I just got a new cell that has a "micro" USB charger/comms port. This may be the new standard.

I can plug it into the USB port on my car stereo and it charges while playing tunes. Other phones I've had would not charge this way. They needed to synch to device to be able to charge.

Only problem with the phone is that there is no USB software adaptor available to talk to it with my laptop.

No wonder they gave the company a pile of them when we re-signed.

LG GT400 is the phone, "life isn't good" at the mo!!

There is chatter on forums about this problem , but I'm going to dump laptop and phone on the counter at my local vodafone shop and go for lunch while they fix it.

[John B 106]

Ahh, right , its Micro USB which is to be the new standard for charging ports . I didn't realise there was a distinction.

 

So thats important.

[tuffyluffy 76]

Have a look at these

 

http://www.sonyericsson.com/cws/product ... /xperiax10

 

We're trialing them at the moment and they look to be the ducks nuts. Im an iApple hater but wanted something like an iphone but with openish software, a big screen and GPS.

 

So far so good

[rigger 47]

my old Nokia 6020 was what I used overseas when in cell range

- pop a local sim card in

- use the ir connection between laptop and cell

- use the nokia pc suite loaded on the laptop and all good, With the pc suite you had to select the country you are in and the network you are on and it sorted it all out - no stress

 

worked very well and as the sim card was a prepay I had no worries about running up a massive bill

[Fogg 427]

My friend uses his Nokia linked to his laptop via IR and mounted in a cradle (like in a car) that gives it power and connects to a masthead antenna. He can use voice, txt, data in places that I have no signal showing at deck level e.g. parts of Barrier. As you suggested at the outset, using one handset and account makes life very simple.

[wheels 543]

Strangly enough, I wish I could have stayed with Telecom, even with the initial teathing issues they had. I settled on the Vodaphone Tstick because their 3G has a 900Mhz freq along with thier 2100Mhz freq (same as Telecom). This 900 is better at getting into area's the 2100 simply won't.

What I don't understand is why is it so expensive to use the cell phone as a Data unit just like a Tstick.I mean, at the end of it all, it is just data, so what does it matter. Is there a technical issue that is the problem or what?????

[Guest]

What's the best boat phone then?

The one that is turned OFF.

[John B 106]

I was waiting for a reply like that Knots.

 

For those who were there in 96? when Metservice deliberately withheld information of the 2 impending cyclones dropping on us ( Fergus and Drena? IIRC)

 

read this thread

 

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=15301

 

I just like to keep an eye on the TC's forming up Darwin way.

[Mothership 6]

Ahh, right , its Micro USB which is to be the new standard for charging ports . I didn't realise there was a distinction.

 

So thats important.

 

Yup. Next year all phones are moving to the micro-USB connection for data and power, however the agreement doesn't include smart phones as of yet.

[John B 106]

You know the guy on the holden ad,, " stop talking now, brain's full"

 

FFFFFFF....!!!

 

Question , do vodafone stores/ kiosks only have young arrogant bunnies who have no idea of what marine coverage is working in them?

 

I finally have found one Telecom guy willing to spend a little time and run through their new phones and the card / t stick dilemma.

The Orb guy who rang me and told me telecom were shutting down the cdma data coverage was also an uninformed bunny.

Telecom are actually detuning or winding down the speed of the cdma data connection, not shutting it down. My old sierra data card will just carry on at the speed it always was.

 

Tuffy luffy, One little gem did come up about the xperia and that was they'd had a few coverage issues with it. IE they'd had to revert some guys to nokias to get coverage in the specific areas they work in.

[Pink Caddy 0]

The easy way to extend data range might be to get a 3G phone with bluetooth and hoist the phone on a halyard for height and range, and use the bluetooth connection to the notebook.

 

My own vodafone connection to my notebook is via bluetooth to a Nokia 3120C - works well.

 

From what I can make out, Vodafone offers better data coverage with their Extended Range rural service on 850GHz installed in rural areas - you need a quad band phone.