Re: [VAL] On Road Computer/E-Maill

["Rick Kunath" <k9ao@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Gerald wrote:

> A pocket cell phone has minimal power and antenna which makes long
> distances out in the boonies difficult or impossible. A cell phone part
> of the tow vehicle with and outside antenna should give far better
> coverage as would one mounted in the Airstream with an outside antenna.
> One of the characteristics of the aluminum skin of the airstream is that
> it shields the interior from radio waves even better than it keeps light
> out so even broadcast radios with self contained antenna work poorly if
> at all. And that includes cell phones.
> 

One other thing to keep in mind is the digital Internet packages offered 
by most of the big players. Cingular and Verizon are two of the best. 
With these, you don't dial any ISP number, but use the call carrier as 
an ISP. With some of these plans, you can get phone calls while you are 
online. One thing though is that most of these plans don't work while 
roaming, so you'd need to make sure you had the digital coverage where 
you needed it.

Taking the signal issue a step farther, there are dedicated cellular 
modems available for most of the big carriers that run 3 watts or more 
and are designed for use with external antennas. These work many 
magnitudes better than either cell phones used as modems or "air cards" 
plugged into PCMCIA slots on laptops. These modems are typically cigar 
box sized and can be mounted out of sight. Some have Ethernet ports, all 
have either serial or USB ports (usually both). They're easy to set up 
and easy to use. All can be used with omnidirectional outside antennas 
as well as directional antennas for additional range.

The difference in coverage using these is astonishing compared to the 
typical hand-held cellphone. They don't however do phone calls (most 
don't anyway.)

I am in the process of rolling out about 1500 public safety units right 
now using a modem from Sierra Wireless on the Cingular high-speed GPRS 
EDGE network.

The cost of a dedicated modem is lots higher than using a hand-held 
cellphone either in dial-up or digital ISP mode, so you'd have to make 
sure that you could justify the additional cost. But the performance is 
really something.

Rick Kunath
WBCCI #3060