PAYG GPRS anyone?

[Psychobert]

Given up trying to connect my PDA to my mobile on the existing mobile account; despite being told when I signed up that it would work, I now discover that all GPRS services are done through blackberries rather than any other type of kit.

Since I don't want to throw away the PDA, or buy another bit of kit, my only option is another sim card. I wondered about a PAYG set-up since I'm not going to use it a lot, but can't find coherent info on the old interweb thingy about it. Any suggestions of who to use?

[Podie]

Not sure if anyone is doing GPRS on PAYG….

Check out Orange, they're pretty good on these sorts of things...

[arcturus]

Psychobert said:

...that all GPRS services are done through blackberries rather than any other type of kit.

Not quite sure what your getting at here. I use GPRS quite happily and have never seen a Blackberry.

[KITT]

Haven't used the GPRS side of things but Virgin Mobile do PAYG 0.5p per Kb:

www.virginmobile.com/mobile/services/tariff/tariff.html

[Psychobert]

arcturus said:

Psychobert said: ...that all GPRS services are done through blackberries rather than any other type of kit. Not quite sure what your getting at here. I use GPRS quite happily and have never seen a Blackberry.

Should have made myself clear, T-Mobile only uses their own locked handsets or blackberries for GPRS; they don't seem to want me to connect my PDA through the phone to their GPRS services. Makes browsing the web and answereing emails on my pda difficult..

Thanks for the link, will check it out..

[bigtone]

One of the guys I work with is in the middle of a project to get HP iPaq's dialled into our network for service calls etc. The only networks that AT&T (our ISP) support are Vodafone and O2, if you use a PAYG Sim, which he is for testing and setup purposes, you'll need to pay and get it enabled, which takes a few working days. Saying that, he's been trying to get it sorted for a good few weeks now, and keeps getting caught up with the networks endlessly looping 'support' phone system, so hasn't got it going yet!

[simonrockman]

I'm happily logged in here over GPRS. A bit slow but it works.

I'm rather surprised at how well PH works at slow speed I usually use it over DSL.

Simon

[stoker]

bigtone said:

One of the guys I work with is in the middle of a project to get HP iPaq's dialled into our network for service calls etc. The only networks that AT&T (our ISP) support are Vodafone and O2, if you use a PAYG Sim, which he is for testing and setup purposes, you'll need to pay and get it enabled, which takes a few working days. Saying that, he's been trying to get it sorted for a good few weeks now, and keeps getting caught up with the networks endlessly looping 'support' phone system, so hasn't got it going yet!

Surely if the phone is GPRS enabled then you don't need to dial up via an ISP? Effectively your mobile company is the ISP. I use an ipaq over Orange GPRS and it works fine - I can take over PCs using terminal services... A bit slow over GPRS but useable in an emergency!

[annodomini2]

I believe the mobile needs to have a built in modem with external interface inorder to allow you to connect a pc/pda to the network. E.g. Nokia 6600.

[Psychobert]

stoker said:

Surely if the phone is GPRS enabled then you don't need to dial up via an ISP? Effectively your mobile company is the ISP. I use an ipaq over Orange GPRS and it works fine - I can take over PCs using terminal services... A bit slow over GPRS but useable in an emergency!

Close.. To use the GPRS function of the phone, the mobile co is indeed the ISP, but I need to get my phone to use its modem to dial out while it talks to thge PDA, (thats as technical as I get). My phone has the number it uses for GPRS on the handset hard wired in and I can't get to the settings to work out what number it is, nor will the phone co tell me. They want me to buy a blackberry which they will set up with all the settings..

I've used the ipaq with both organge and O2 when I had contracts with them, but I'm no longer with them and can't swap back for 8 or 9 months.. I need a PAYG sim just for GPRS so I can check email and PH when out and about..

Edited to add - I could just use the phone, and do once in a while for surfing, but I'd rather use the PDA - bigger, more usable screen..

>> Edited by Psychobert on Thursday 15th July 20:15

[chim_girl]

I could be waaaaaaaaay off track here.... My PDA is set up with a (non-subscription) ISP allowing me to use any phone on any network, providing the handset is Bluetooth. The phone simply makes a data call to an 0845 number and I then connect through my PDA. As the Martini girl would say... anytime, anyplace, anywhere.


PS - Simon, let me know when you want to try out my sat nav kit, I'm not using much at the moment.

PPS - Adam said feel free to drop in tomorrow after work, he'll try and help and I'll provide !

[Psychobert]

Thanks Jo, that might be the sort of thing I need..

Not in Leeds today, but will be Tues and Thurs. Either of them any good for you for the sat nav?

[Psychobert]

Quick update on the GPRS thing.. It seems that there is a standard number to dial to connect to gprs *99#, then depending on your network a username and password. My network uses user and pass respectively so I guess thats not all that critical then.. All this is hardwired into my phone, but if you link the phone to the pda, its that simple. Got mine running on gprs through bluetooth and it seems at least as fast as a 56k modem.

Ok, it probably isn't, but this is useful for those stuck in an hotel/broken down by the side of the road/just plain bored moments when I need a PH fix..

[chim_girl]

Whoops, just seen this, we will be home tomorrow evening if you want to drop in.