i know for a fact that a pc card would be available for the widen upgrade, but i havnt followed up with others about what devices and things would work with widen. (like phones) i am sure they will release a patch that will allow all phones and devices will use widen, but we will see.

it depends where you live but widen speeds are near 100kb/s sometimes you might get a lot less with that due to how much bandwidth they let loose on those towers and how many users use it. etc..

i think you should get sprint's ev-do system. i can say that the price of widen would be around the 50 dollar mark per month, and i am sure sprint's would be around 70-80 per month. for more speeds you pay for sprint's system.

its up to you. i would just wa...
(continues)

Well I'm paying $54 a month now for the full data plan. I'm getting around 19.2kb/s

My bottleneck: I have an i730 known for it's lack of signal.

But I don't complain.

I'd be buying the PCMCIA card. Avail (I was told) May 2. That way my phone can still be a phone. As well there wouldn't be any plugging/unplugging of the data cable.

yea, 54 for 19kb/s is a waste of money, in my opinion. but its still access i guess. i suggest again just wait for DO. its faster and its better.

i cant really mention exactly when the pc card will come out, but yea, you will be paying for the widen and for your cell phone obvoiusly.

just be patient. 🙂

get rid of the 730 🙂

I like my 730. A friend had the 830 and it didn't impress me. And when I signed back up I couldn't justify spending the extra cash on the 860.

And I'll probably get DO when it hits as well. But in the meantime. I'll get my hands on what I can.

Besides it's kind of a neat though to know I can buy an inverter at Radio Shack. Drive to a picnic or cookout. Plug my computer into the inverter and browse the web in the great outdoors.

well you do that the i730. so what you should do is perhaps to do the nextelbuyback program with the i730 and get the i860.

i think the i860 is worth the extra money becuase the signal quality, bigger screen, and just better overall value then the 730.

I've only had the phone for just over a month. Only "selling points" the reps had were the MP3 ringtones. Oh and the cool "push a button to flip open" 🙄

I live just off a major highway so I don't have signal issues. Other than in a few buildings. But they are buildings I shut my phone off in anyway.

but the signal drivers are better. just becuase you live right near a tower doesnt mean you will always receive great signal. it could be a problem with the phone. i mean i live close to a few towers when i had the i730's and i still had problems. with the i860 i dont what-so-ever. just trying to help.

And I appreciate it. I just have no complaints. So to *me* the 860 was just additional expence.

Not saying everyone is the same. I could just be lucky and have a freak 730 that doesn't have the same problems. Then again I'm sure I gave my phone a complex with the odd assortment of ringtones I make it play for various folks.

yea, i guess so. its up to you my friend.

*coddles his i730 to protect it from all the bad mouthing it's brothers and sisters recieve on here.*


Yes.. I am in fact full of $h*t

hahahahah. lol

Yeah. I wanted to set it off from the rest of the discussion. Didn't want it to "get lost"

haahha ok... so you asked about wimax? well wimax is another technology that nextel and sprint are exploring. as you know sprint is trying the wimax system over their DO system, just in a trial. i think we will either see wimax, flarion, or td-cdma to be used with the mmds spectrum that the combined companies have PLENTY of.

Actually my question was more is WiDEN an actual WiMAX device or a seperate technology.

I know what WiMAX is. Good lord I did more research on that than I did the first time I edited the hex of my Diablo 2 character. If the DO system is WiMax sign me up. I would love to be a part of WiMAX. The signal strength and NLOS is just... it gets me feelin all warm and fuzzy

is Widen an actual Wimax device? no its a seperate technology.

yea, wimax should be fun.

no, you arent understanding me i guess. the DO system wont be Wimax, but as an overlap in some areas such as in rural areas and some metropolitan areas where signals/capacity is not the best they will use wimax and mmds spectrum to increase speeds, signals and capacity.

hope that helps.

Got it.

Absurd thought:
Does that mean a phone hooked to a VoIP service like Vonage, accessed via WiMAX... is that technically then a cellular phone?

well a cell phone means you can bring it everywhere, i dont think that would be technically a cell phone though.