[P1] Cell Phone Connectivity

[Andrew Rodger]

On 6 Mar 2004, at 04:21, Meg St. Clair wrote:

>> I am looking to change cell phones this Spring and get a GPRS phone to
>> use with my Powerbook G4 12 in. Are there any recommendations for 
>> models
>> and capabilities?
>
> Before picking out a phone, you may want to find out which cell phone
> provider in your area offers the best quality of service, best signal
> strength, etc. It won't really matter how nifty the phone is if you 
> can't
> get a signal.
>
> Meg
>

Indeed good advice but I think there is reason to wonder if you get a 
straight answer from some providers. We changed from Nokia phones to 
the SE T68is for everyone because, at the time, this seemed to be 
endorsed as a very compatible phone for Apple and Bluetooth and Nokia 
seemed to be firmly in the Windows camp. The usability of the T68i was 
a bit of a disappointment but not nearly as disappointing as the drop 
in sensitivity for reception in marginal areas, which is most areas in 
rural Scotland! We are now approaching the end of our contract and we 
want to change phones again and are looking at the T610 and T616 but 
want to make sure that the most important criteria is satisfied first 
i.e. the ability to receive a signal.  I can swap the sim card from my 
T68 back into a Nokia and go from zero reception to good reception in 
some areas, that is the degree of a difference yet when I spoke to BT 
mobile about this they said all phones these days have the same 
sensitivity and there is no difference and I must have damaged the T68. 
We now have four T68is and it would seem they are all damaged, 
according to BT mobile.  So I am none the wiser.  It would be very 
useful to hear other peoples' experience with sensitivity of phone 
reception if they can offer a comparison. Also to know what people can 
do with Bluetooth on their computers.  That is, can they sync with the 
their phone without ruining all the fields in their address book and 
ending up with a phone full of names beginning with a series of dots. 
Whether people can actually look at the contents of their phone from 
their computer and manage the contents therein, perhaps saving some 
items and disposing of others.  That kind of thing.

Thanks

Drew