In a message dated 2/19/99 4:55:12 PM Eastern Standard Time, tom@tompatterson.com writes:

<< How about sharing details. >>

Happy to. (c:

Started out on this web site for basics and to make comparisons.........

http://www.wirelessdimension.com/

Then I wrote to a guy on the rv newsgroup who has the same laptop as I do..

His post said:

>>I'm using a Nokia 6160 with the AT&T DIgital One Plus nationwide service,
a Dell laptop, a Viking Component 56K cellular modem, and the DAR3/NOK3
cable ensemble.>>

So I wrote him this:

>As I have Dell laptop I need to know more. If it works for you it
>should work for me. How much does the AT & T Digital One Plus cost a
>month? I assume it has so many free minutes and free long distance right?
>The Viking modem can be bought where? Best Buy? Did you get the Nokia phone
>at the AT & T store? A DAR3/NOK3 specifically... that's the only thing I don't understand.
>How exactly do you hook up from the cell phone?>>

He replied...........

<<Digital One Plus is $70 for 600 minutes -- plans also exist for 1000 and 1400 minutes. No roaming, no long distance, nation-wide. More detail on the http://www.att.com page. There are plans for less minutes, less monthly charges, and less coverage. To use this service you must buy one of 3
phones that are analog/digital capable. an Erricson or one of two Nokias -- the 6160 or 6162 (same phone, except one of them is a flip); I got the Viking from mcglen.com -- best buy I could find and had it within a week (Best Buy and CompUSA probably have it) it is model RFM56KSTARA and
has a Motorola cable you can mail in to exchange for the Nokia cable. One cable goes from the cell phone -- the other goes (the DAR3) from the modem -- and two hook up together.

Go to http://home.earthlink.net/~churchpt/nokia/nokia6160.html and you will find a wonderful step-by-step solution to hook up the Nokia 6160 to a laptop.>>

That last URL explains the modem perfectly....

I feel like this is the way to go. I am a little concerned about dead areas out west and my phone I have now is 3 watt..... those hand held ones are .06 watt so no where near as powerful.... but I think there's some kind of gadget you can get that you hook the .06 watt phones into to make them 3 watt when
they are plugged in..... that's my next question to research...............

I put Sprint PCS (Radio Shack?) in my web browser and found a site devoted to how bad they are. I did ask about them and a few people wrote that they were happy with them.

That's all I know so far, but it's a whole lot more than I knew a few days ago.

Hunter