Ah, Crud! RE: PdaNet, Sprint

Archived from groups: comp.sys.palmtops (More info?)

I started using a Treo 300, liked it, saw a mention of PdaNet and thought
"this is the bee's knees." So we got hold of Sprint, signed up for the
Vision service, downloaded the PdaNet software and voila' were on the
Internet via "wireless modem." $15 a month for Vision's *Unlimited* plan
-- bye bye Earthlink.

You've got to understand, we live in the boonies -- about as far from the
Central Office as phone service will go. There is no DSL available, no
cable, and the wireless "cable" company doesn't foresee offering their
broadband internet service in this particular corner of the world any
time soon. (1/2 a mile down the road, no problem.) So we get by with our
26.4 mhz modem connection speed. Once I got it all the way up to 33.666!
But 99.9% of the time we get 26.4.

With PdaNet I get up to 145 mhz (I think it's mhz). Not our old house's
cable internet speed but one heck of an improvement. Too good to be true?
....Yep. Turns out that SprintPCS is pretty clear in the fine print about
not using their Vision Premium *unlimited* service with anything that can
connect to a regular computer. &*^)*)(&!

So now, edging a little bit away from the fine print... I know folks use
their Treo's on Sprint's Vision plan as wireless modems. Their
testimonials are up on PdaNet's site. Some seem to be doing with the
"unofficial" blessing of their local Sprint reps who tell them that if
they keep their usage below 150 Meg or (one person said) 200 Meg a month
they might be able to get away with it. If I decided to slink around the
fine print -- and I'm not saying I will, I'm still using a trial version
of PdaNet and the Vision service is free for the first two months -- but
*if* I decided to get stupid about the fine print (which no one
instructed me to read) what does 150 meg mean? An hour a day (without
downloads)? More? Less? What does "unlimited" mean, as in "unlimited
Internet access?" Does this mean I could use my Treo 300 on the Vision
service twenty-four hours a day, but if I hook it up to my laptop for 1
hour a day I've used a lot more of the "unlimited" service?

I'm honestly ignorant about this question of bandwidth. Does a computer
use that much more bandwidth than the Treo? (I'm guessing it must.)

(Sorry to ramble.)

BTW, does anyone use an add-on keyboard with their Treo 300?

--
RonB
"There's a story there...somewhere"