On several occasions, I've recounted the experiences of users who've enjoyed the benefits of what I like to call W2 (aka, wireless squared). This is where you're operating a desktop or handheld device that connects wirelessly to another device (like a phone), which in turn connects wirelessly to the Internet.
The first device gets Internet access by using the second devicein the same way a computer uses a modem or router that connects to the Internet via an Internet Service Provider. Only, with W2, no cables are involved.
I finally tried a W2 configuration and the results were not very promising. (In fact, the experience was every bit as frustrating as my previous wireless experiment.)
Why would you want to do this, anyway? Maybe you're one of those people who prefer taking the distributed approach to mobility rather than the converged approach. Instead of owning one big, honking device that is both a PDA and a cell phone, you can keep them separate. This way, when all you want to take along is the phone, you're not forced to lug a device that will rip your shirt pocket off.
Another benefit of W2 is cost savings. Conducting all of your wireless activities through one wireless service provider (WSP) rather than several will reduce your monthly communications bill.
Today, I have three separate wireless services: one for my phone (which is Internet-enabled), one for my BlackBerry, and one for my PDA. If all of my devices, and even my notebook computer or digital camera, could share just one connection (which they can't, yet), I could save about $80 in monthly WSP costs-- and I'd be closer to the proverbial utopia of anytime, anywhere, any-this-that-and-the-other-thing. (The market-speak keeps changing.) Better yet, all those devices could share that connection without wires or cables.
The most common approach to W2 is to use Bluetooth to facilitate the connection between the devices that need network access, and the device (such as a cell phone) that gives it to them. The cell phone would then connect to the Internet through one of the higher speed data networks.
The three most popular technologies for doing this are GPRS, CDMA 1xRTT, and Motorola's iDen. But that shouldn't really matter to you because the WSP you buy your cell phone from should insulate you from these gory details. For the most part, each WSP is married to one of these technologies.
Regardless of who your WSP is, in order for a Bluetooth-enabled W2 setup to work, the phone you buy has to support Bluetooth. Since few if any dedicated phones offer expansion capability to add Bluetooth, you'll have to shop for one that has it built-in. For my test, I used an Ericsson T68i phone, which simultaneously supports GPRS and Bluetooth. I used T-Mobile as the WSP.
Slightly longer and wider than a credit card, the T68i is the epitome of the distributed approach. It's tiny compared to converged devices such Handspring's Treo or Nokia's 9290 Personal Communicator. If you're heading out and all you need is the phone (without the PDA functionality), T68i's dimensions are highly desirable.
On the cool-factor list, the T68i has a couple of indicator lights --- green for GPRS, blue for Bluetooth --- that blink according to the network activity over either connection.
Bluetooth-enabled PDA
To test the T68i's routing Bluetooth/GPRS capability, I needed to Bluetooth-enable another device. From my pile of PDAs, I picked Hewlett-Packard's PocketPC 2002-based 560-series Jornada. The Jornada has a compact flash (CF) expansion slot that makes it possible to add things like more storage, a digital camera, or connectivity devices like Ethernet, WiFi or Bluetooth cards. To enhance the Jornada with Bluetooth connectivity, I went with Socket Communications' CF-based Bluetooth card.
In order for the Jornada to work with Socket's CF card, some software must first be loaded into the handheld device. . Socket's installation process was better than many that I've seen for PocketPC devices. It identified the various communications ports that the Jornada had available to it, and even suggested disabling some if I wanted to take full advantage of the different types of Bluetooth connections.
I only wanted to connect to the T68i phone, but I was also given options for access to a LAN, Fax machine, PC, printer, and generic serial communications-based devices. Socket's documentation walked me through the step-by-step process that's necessary to pair the handheld with the phone. While this process differs from one phone to the next, Socket includes instructions specific to the various Bluetooth-enabled phones on the market.
After getting the phone ready for the pairing process, Socket's software began to scan the airwaves for any available Bluetooth devices. After it found and listed the T68i on a menu, I selected the phone for pairing and was asked to enter a matching security code on each device. Presumably, this step in the process should keep other people from pairing their devices with yours. A word of caution: This does not mean that data sent through the air between two Bluetooth devices is 100 percent secure.
Once the devices were paired, I attempted to browse the Internet through the Jornada's version of Internet Explorer. While things had run smoothly up to this point, they were about to take a turn for the worse. For starters, as I have reported several times before, T-Mobile's network isn't exactly prevalent everywhere I go. To complete my testing, I had to go sit on top of a bridge that crosses Interstate 95. Once there and after several attempts failed, I called T-Mobile.
We discovered that the phone was not correctly configured. This was undoubtedly because the phone was delivered to me without having previously been provisioned for T-Mobile access. To provision it, I simply removed the SIM card from another T-Mobile phone and inserted it into this one. Theoretically, that's the advantage of SIM cards. But given that different devices manage their GPRS connectivity in different ways, the GPRS settings aren't portable from one device to the next. If you change devices, the settings must be re-entered manually.
T-Mobile's technical support walked me through this process, which also included changing a couple of settings on the Jornada. Once the phone configured correctly, they stayed on the line with me as I attempted to connect. I launched Internet Explorer and attempted to go to www.google.com. The T68i's blue indicator light started blinking a bit more rapidly than normal and the phone's screen indicated that it was attempting to connect to the data network. When both the phone and Jornada indicated that the connection had completed, I waited for Google's home page to show up in Internet Explorer. Nothing.
The source of my problems
After numerous failed attempts, T-Mobile's support team said I had one of two problems. First, they said, Socket's Bluetooth card was probably the source of my problems. Second, they conceded (much to my amazement) that while my perch on the bridge offered me a strong enough signal to make a voice connection, it might not be enough for a data connection. After hanging up the phone with T-Mobile, I called Socket Communications.
Like T-Mobile's staff, Socket's tech support walked me through myriad configurations and reconfigurations of both the phone and Jornada - but to no avail. To prove that this problem wasn't Socket's fault (which, by default, would mean it's the fault of either the PocketPC operating system or T-Mobile), Socket walked me through the process of connecting to the Internet as though I were making a voice call. In other words, I used the phone as simply a phone, and dialed into an ISP's modem. That worked. Not only did that work, but another cool feature called the Socket dialer worked as well. Using the Socket dialer, I could call up any name in my Jornada's contact manager and tap a menu choice for "Dial contact." Doing so automatically sent the necessary instructions to the phone (via Bluetooth) to establish a voice connection with that contact's phone number. This worked flawlessly.
But these small successes and proofs of Bluetooth's viability weren't enough to overcome my disappointment over failing to connect to the Web.
I'm relatively certain that I'll get this mess worked out. A lot of people are telling me that they've never experienced this sort of difficulty. I guess I must be jinxed. My next call will be to Microsoft tech support. I'm hoping they can help. But, considering what I've gone through so far, this to be more plug n' pray proof that wireless simply isn't ready for primetime.
Have a wireless horror story you'd like to share? TalkBack to me! Or send it to me at david.berlind@cnet.com.
