Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Nextel Data- Theoretically Faster Than CDPD But Slower Than Sprint??

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2003 11:01:16 -0500

"Nextel's data network is theoretically faster than CDPD but I've heard that it's
not as fast as Sprint's PCS."

Can tech toys buy me more time?
By David Berlind, Tech Update
January 2, 2003 5:21 PM PT

Looking over my list of New Year's resolutions, I'm noticing a pattern. The list looks a
lot like my
2002 resolutions, which looked a lot like my 2001 resolutions. Work out more. Do more with

my wife and kids. Do volunteer work. Read books. (Any books.) Respond to reader e-mails
on a timelier basis.

My problem is time. I don't have enough of it. So, this year, in an effort to break my
chain of failed
resolutions, I want to do what many think I would have done by now: better leverage
technology
to help me find more time. Sure, I've got all the toys. But, when you consider the fact
that I haven't
even bothered to manage my to-do list with something as simple as the task management
features
found in Outlook or the dozen or so PDAs I have lying around, you can imagine where else I
have
failed to take advantage of technology. This year, in the interests of time, I'm vowing to
do better.
I spent some of my holiday vacation getting a head start.

My biggest time sink is e-mail. Better management of my inbox alone could find me extra
minutes
-- if not hours -- every week. This year, I resolve not to leave my BlackBerry behind (as
I did so
often last year). When I use it religiously, nothing helps me manage my e-mail as well as
my
BlackBerry. But I could do better. All too often, I open an e-mail, read it, and close it,
only to
deal with it later. Today, my inbox is filled with hundreds of messages that I was
supposed to deal
with later, but never did.

One reason that messages sit in my inbox is that I've been unable to view attachments with
my
BlackBerry -- and a lot of my e-mail comes with attachments. So, over the holidays, I
started
working with a BlackBerry attachment-viewing solution from Onset Technology. (BlackBerry
manufacturer RIM and Itrezzo also offer such solutions.) I'll report on my experiences
later this
month.

Another reason I return opened mail to my inbox for "delayed processing" is because, as
good as
my BlackBerry's thumbboard is, it can be laborious for replies that demand an extended
response.
For that, I want a foldable, external keyboard like the ones you can get from ThinkOutside
for
Pocket PCs and Palm devices. If I had such a keyboard, I might even be able to do all my
computing on my BlackBerry --including writing my columns! The folks at RIM suggested that
I
contact Man & Machine Inc., the Landover, MD-based distributor for Flexis' FX100 flexible
BlackBerry keyboard. It's a water-resistant keyboard that, when not in use, can be rolled
up and
stored in a pocket-sized pouch. More to come on that, too.

I managed to process some e-mail on my notebook over the holidays. However, given the
number
of reader messages I receive and the time it takes to acknowledge those messages (even
with
something as simple as a canned "thank you"), I started thinking that there must be a
better way.
Perhaps I could modify Outlook (my company's officially supported e-mail client) to pick
from a
list of canned responses that I'm storing in text files on my hard drive. I also want to
be able to
include a salutation (when I know the reader's first name) as well as an optional
postscript
message. Finally, after my custom responder is done replying, it should clean up the
original
message by filing it in the shared folder where we store reader e-mail and delete the
original
message from my inbox.

There was enough instructional material and examples on the Web for me to get a quick and
dirty
version of this, my first Visual Basic application, up and running. Even in its current
raw form, this
one investment looks to end up saving me about two hours per day. Once I put the finishing

touches on it, I'll report on the entire experience. Those of you who take the time to
write to me
will most certainly see its results.

Working on that VBA project required me to be connected to the Internet in order to find
examples and help with coding. I tried to maintain that connection from the back of my
Jeep
Cherokee while my wife drove. I kept my notebook powered up with iGo's PowerXtender
universal auto/air power adapter, but I'm looking forward to testing the more flexible iGo
Juice,
which can simultaneously charge a cell phone or PDA while also charging a notebook. To
stay
connected to the Net, I used my trusty Sierra Wireless AirCard 300 CDPD card, which
connects
me to Earthlink's wireless Internet service. But, whereas that card gets the job done
(albeit slowly)
when I'm sitting still, it hardly worked while we were speeding up the Eastern seaboard.
It was
good enough, though, to carry on a few short instant messaging sessions with my colleague
Dan
Farber.

This year, I will begin testing some of the higher speed wide area networks, including the
emerging
2.5G and 3G networks from companies like Sprint, for connecting my notebooks and PDAs to
the Internet. Ositech has sent me an adapter for connecting my computer to the Internet
through
my Nextel phone. Nextel's data network is theoretically faster than CDPD but I've heard
that it's
not as fast as Sprint's PCS.

But, after doing a few e-mails via that phone's built-in Internet capabilities, and seeing
the
subsequent bill per byte, I worry that using that phone (or any 2.5G/3G service) for any
serious
data transmission will break my bank. I also worry about the coverage maps of the emerging
high
speed networks. But if they work, the next question is whether the time savings (thanks to
faster
transmission speeds) will be worth the investment. After all, if I can't make time, maybe
I can buy
some.

Have your tech toys helped to find you more time? Share your personal technology
resolutions
with other ZDNet readers. Leave a message in our TalkBack forum, or e-mail David at
[email-masked].

http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/main/0,14179,2907718,00.html

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/