[Ti] Wireless internet for Titanium PB

[Sherman Gregory]

At 9:33 PM -0500 3/3/03, Mark O'Brien wrote:
>On Monday, March 3, 2003, at 06:58  PM, Tom Fortis wrote:
>
>>Has anyone found a solution for Wireless internet via PCMCIA card 
>>for the Tibook?
>>I thought Sierra Wireless was supposed to be coming out with something, but I
>>haven't seen any developments in that area. Any info would be much 
>>appreciated!
>>
>
>I don't know about Sierra Wireless, but there's been a thread on the 
>PowerList over the past week about the Novatel Merlin C201 card and 
>SprintPCS on TiBooks. That thread referenced a link on powerpage.org 
>from November, and a more recent one from the past couple of weeks.
>
>I bought the Merlin card on Saturday, for $179. I selected the PCS 
>Vision (1XRTT) unlimited data plan for $100/month, and they 
>instantly rebated me the cost of the card. I only had to pay about 
>$10 in sales tax. Other plans are $40 for 20MB, $60 for 40MB, and 
>$80 for 70MB. I downloaded ~35MB and uploaded ~5MB today, using a 
>custom business app while testing reception and performance at my 
>job site.
>
>You have to "provision" the card in a Windows 98 (or newer) laptop - 
>VPC doesn't support the PC card slot. "Provisioning" entails loading 
>some of your account settings into the card itself, and you have to 
>connect successfully at least once from the Windows laptop. I did 
>this on a display laptop yesterday at Circuit City (with permission).
>
>After that, there's a Novatel modem script you can install on the 
>TiBook (10.2 and up) and then use Internet Connect to log on. I 
>spent most of the day at work today connected via SprintPCS, using 
>the connection as described above.
>
>Unlike the Aircard's pictured at the Sierra Wireless site, the 
>Merlin doesn't have a little folding antenna. It looks just like 
>some of the 802.11b PC cards, with just a little black stub sticking 
>out the side of PC card slot.
>
>Email me if you want any of the links.
>
>Mark
>

I have been using the Novatel Merlin C201 card for a couple of months 
and agree with everything Mark said.  The Modem script needs a little 
tweaking to get the call set up time faster, but other than that it 
works.  Maybe I will get around to fixing the script and make it 
available soon.

      Sherman