Wireless Internet Access from a Handheld PC Pro

Since obtaining my HP Jornada 680 Handheld PC Pro I've been delighted to be able to access my email while away from my office. Before this, I felt tethered to my office so that I could check email. The Jornada 680 was extremely convenient, allowing me to plug into the nearest phone line, download waiting email and upload responses. At the time, the need to find a phone line only seemed like a minor inconvenience compared with the total lack of email capability.

But with the advent of wireless Internet service, I kept hearing about people checking their email through their cellular phones and reading about the Internet-ready features of the new Pocket PCs. And having recently upgraded my Sprint PCS service to 1000 minutes a month (at 7.5 cents a minute), I decided that I wanted to cut the next tether and go wireless!

The phone and modem

The mobile phone I use is a Qualcomm 2700 (Qualcomm's cellular phone business was recently acquired by Kyocera). Kyocera offers a wireless PC Card (type II) modem that retails for around $300 called "Data-on-the-Go" PC fax/modem (see www.kyocera-wireless.com). The modem fits into the card slot in the Jornada and comes with a cable that can be connected to the Qualcomm 2700 phone.

The modem/phone combination succeeds in providing a wireless connection to an ISP. The Qualcomm 2700 itself is not Internet-ready, but combined with the Data-on-the-Go modem, you can connect a Handheld PC (or laptop) to Sprint's Wireless Web. There is an additional per minute charge to send data through Sprint's network, but for a $10 monthly subscription to Sprint's Wireless Web service all digital data minutes are included with the regular monthly service charge. A customer can also just pay $.39 per minute instead of subscribing to the service. Sprint has quite a bit of flexibility in its various service plans.

Getting it all to work

I had some difficulty setting up the modem to work. Part of the problem is that most companies create software, hardware, connections, etc., for laptops. I inserted a Kyocera Data-on-the-Go modem into the Jornada's PC Card slot and the 680 immediately recognized the modem.

I discovered that to connect to the Internet using the Data-on-the-Go modem I had to select the modem when dialing up an Internet connection. This modem must be selected each time a dial-up connection is desired because the dial-up software selects the internal modem by default. However, I did create a script using bUseful Script to automatically launch HP dial-up and scroll down to the Qualcomm modem and then begin the dial-up connection. (bUseful Script is part of the bUseful Utilities suite; more at www.bsquare.com).

From Kyocera tech support, I determined that my Qualcomm 2700 mobile phone needed a software upgrade that would be provided at a Sprint PCS store at no cost.

After I upgraded the phone's software, I tried again. This time I could connect to my ISP, but I could only contact my ISP in analog mode in order to upload or download email. But I could not access Sprint's digital network, a less expensive solution. Analog transmission provided an adequate backup system for checking email when a landline is not available, but its usefulness would have been limited by its cost, anywhere from $0.39 to $0.69 a minute plus long distance charges when dialing from outside of the local area. (Sprint does not charge long distance charges when dialing anywhere in the country from anywhere in the country while using the Sprint PCS network.)

After going back and forth between Kyocera and Sprint, finally Kyocera guided me through a connection to their own dial-in bulletin board. This time I achieved a digital connection. After terminating that connection I successfully dialed in to my own ISP using a digital connection.

Why did it work this time and not before? Who really knows? But according to the Kyocera technical assistant's conjecture, Sprint's own digital data network may have had some temporary connection problems. In fact, from time to time when dialing into my ISP, the modem seeks an analog connection when it fails to connect using a digital connection. Sometimes trying it again from the same location only minutes later provides a digital connection.

Exactly what I was looking for!