Which to choose?

The topic of which wireless carrier is best has been discussed to death on comp.sys.palmtops.pilot. Enough that I feel compelled to offer my opinions on the matter. As a disclosure of possible bias, I am a reasonable pleased Minstrel user who subscribes with Go.America for CDPD service.

One of the longer threads on the subject may be retrieved from DejaNews. Also worth examining would be a search on (ricochet or cdpd or "palm vii" or minstrel") and wireless.

Technical background

The Minstrel is a CDPD (Cellular Digital Packet Data) device that uses the CDPD network piggybacked on the AMPS cell phone sites. The Palm VII is a Mobitex device that uses the two-way pager networks in most cities. I do not know how the Ricochet devices are networked.

What else to say?

Features

I feel that CDPD is the better choice for my use for these reasons:

• Unlimited service plans available
  With Go.America I pay $60/month for unlimited data traffic. No air time fees, no per-byte fees, no extra costs. They do offer metered service plans, but for my usage patterns (~1 megabyte/day), I would hit the limits quite soon. The Mobitex service plans are usually cheaper for the base rate, but only offer metered service above that. Most two way pagers are $0.15/kB, while the Palm VII is $0.30/kB over the monthly allotment (usually 150kB). A minor complaint about Go.America -- they changed their pricing structure from $50/month for unlimited service for Minstrel type devices to $60/month for unlimited service for any device.

  One early Palm VII user reports that he expects a $200 bill for his first month. Ouch.

  Nick Leyendecker points out that Go.America offers an unlimited service plan for BellSouth Wireless Data network devices, the same network used by the Palm VII. Perhaps it is possible to get unlimited service with a VII?

• Bandwidth
  The Minstrel has two CDPD modems internally that are each capable of 9600 baud throughput. If the device is able to allocate two channels it can achieve 19,200 baud. My personal experience is to expect about 600 bytes/sec observed bandwidth. I have read that the Palm VII's modem is a single 2400 baud device, but others have claimed 8000 baud. The Ricochet offers 28,800 now and soon should have 128k spread spectrum available.

• Coverage Areas
  Mobitex has slightly better coverage than CDPD right now, although most every major area in the US has CDPD (Los Angelos and New Orleans are two major exceptions). Ricochet loses horribly here -- only a few cities with any wide area service at all and a few airports with coverage. If you are in the Bay Area, great, otherwise too bad...

• Usage in moving vehicles
  My CDPD modem works flawlessly in a moving vehicle, even at interstate speeds while zipping through the cells. I have heard that the Ricochet does not work at speeds above 8 km/hour and have no information on the Palm VII.

• Applications
  Since CDPD runs TCP/IP natively, it works with any of the many shareware apps and the built in Palm networking stack. I use ProxiWeb and TopGun postman and other applications to access the full Internet. Other people use IRC clients, database packages and assorted random packages to do whatever they want. This also applies to the Ricochet.

  The Mobitex network does not do TCP/IP, so all applications must be written for its proprietary network protocols. The Palm VII includes several packages to browse special web sites, fetch email and other such tasks. The "Web Clippings" must be produced by the sites specifically for the Palm VII and its applications -- this is both a good feature and its major failing. While the content is tailored for a low bandwidth connection to be displayed on a smaller screen, that is the only content available. Additionally, the email client is the only one available, compared to the at least five for TCP.

• Adaptability
  The Palm VII includes the modem and does not provide any other way to interface to it. Writing long messages on the Palm is not very efficient, nor is web browsing at 160x160x2 very pleasant. It works for brief sessions when you need the information right now, but for real use a laptop is a better choice. With the Minstrel, Sage or Ricochet it is possible to interface your laptop to the device and go wireless with it.

  I use my Minstrel with my laptop and desktop machine all the time via a special cable that I made. http://www.swcp.com/~hudson/pilot/minstrel.html has more details on building the custom cable. I telecomute with my Minstrel on a regular basis, writing code and answering technical questions from my laptop.

  Lastly, you can remove the Minstrel or Ricochet modems when you do not require them and not carry the extra weight. While the Palm VII is smaller and lighter than either of the other options, it is heavier than the plain Pilots. Not really important to some of us...

• Cost
  Cost of a Palm VII as of May 1999: $600. Cost of a Palm III plus a Minstrel: $250 + $199 = $450. That is a hefty step up in price for a slower network connection, less applications and a nice package.

Please feel free to contact me hudson@swcp.com if you have any comments on this document. I would like more information on Ricochet and users of the Palm VII.

Changes:

• Price of a Palm VII corrected, BellSouth WD unlimited plan noted and positive side of Web Clipping mentioned (thanks to Nick Leyendecker)

Home | Mail | Lynx enhanced |