I know I have written about the Clearwire PC cards before, but it was when they were only available in certain markets.  I was fortunate enough to be able to test drive one of these because Boise, Idaho was a test market along with Maui, Hawaii. 

Today, the PC cards launched in all markets and I am sure you will be hearing or seeing the promotions in the near future if you haven’t already.  One thing that Clearwire changed due to some great input from these test markets is the leasing of the PC cards!  At $6.99 a month, it’s a great deal and you won’t have to put $200 into the equipment.  Another change is their promotion.  For the first three months, you will be able to get the PC card service for $26 a month instead of the $59.99.  Of course, after the promotion ends, you will be paying the regular price…

Another aspect of the PC card that I think is so great is the fact that the speeds are just tremendous.  I recently wrote about how the wireless carriers rank voice over data since that is their core competency and will “bump” data users off the network when it’s being used heavily by voice users.  Clearwire is data centric and so you will always get the fastest rates when compared to the wireless carriers. 

Here in Boise, Idaho, Verizon Wireless has some pretty darn good speeds.  All across Idaho, we are on the EVDO Rev A which can reach speeds of 1.5 MB!  So if you are headed to Sun Valley, McCall, Donnelly, and anywhere else in Idaho, you will get the fastest of speeds if you subscribe to the Verizon Wireless network.  This is where Clearwire falls short.  In order to use your PC card, the service has to be available.  If you don’t travel much and use the internet mostly around town, you are better off using the Clearwire service.  If you do travel, it’s a much better deal to get on one of the wireless carriers such as Verizon Wireless or Sprint. 

Got yourself a cool music phone?  Now how do you go about transferring music to it? 

Most music centric phones will have a microSD slot that allows you to add external storage.  You can find microSD cards in many sizes…512kb to 4gb.  Make sure you know the capacity of your phone before going with the 4gb size.  Only some phones have the capability to read that size of a card!

Data cables are handy for transferring music, photos, documents and such, but are not necessary.  If you have gone into a wireless store, they will try to up sale you on the data cable.  If you don’t have a microSD or miniSD slot, then you obviously need the data cable to transfer files to your phone.

If you are cool enough to have a phone that does have the microSD card slot, then you are golden!  It’s a simple process of using the adapter that comes with the card and placing them into your computer.  Your computer will now “see” the card as an external storage device.  Now all there is to do is to drag and drop your music onto the card, pull it out and place it into your phone……..now you got your fill of MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice!  Ice Ice Baby.

The cell phone has definitely enabled us to capture spontaneous moments in our lives that we probably would not have been able to before.  Everyone has a picture or two that is so funny or important that we need or want to download them onto our computers for later use.  Not that the quality is so good that it will allow us to print them out and use them in a picture frame for instance.  But how about pictures we took of the leaky roof, or the fender bender, or even just a silly picture we would like to share with others? 

The norm used to be 1.3 megapixels, but is slowly becoming 2 megapixels.  Now, I was a bit skeptical that .7 megapixels would not make a difference, but after seeing some pictures taken with my wife’s LG VX9900 “Envy”, I was pleasantly suprised.  Obviously, it’s not your 5 megapixel digital camera, but good enough to download and print a 4×6.

So how do you go about downloading these off your phone?  There are several methods that you can follow.  The easiest is to use your wireless carriers download service.  You create an online account which allows you to download your pictures straight from your cell phone!  You can edit your pictures and then pick the ones you want to print out.  With Verizon Wireless’ service, you can have them sent to the closest Verizon Wireless store and can pick them up on a later date.  Pretty convienent, but you must pay a monthly service fee and pay for the pictures you print out. 

Most cell phones allow you to send them via email.  This is great if you have one or two pictures you want to print out, but a pain in the rear if you have more than that to print out.  The process is very tedious and doesn’t allow you to send all of them at once. 

What I have recommended to customers is to purchase a data cable.  You can purchase them at any wireless store and range from $35 to $50.  Yes, a bit spendy to download poor quality pictures, but you can also use the data cable to transfer music or ringtones on your phone.  So a good investment if you are a gadget freak and need to do this sort of thing from time to time.  The process is pretty simple if you are somewhat knowledgeable with computers.  You must download the specific driver for your phone so your computer recognizes your cell phone.  After that, your computer treats the cell phone as an external hard drive.  Drag and drop pictures, music, data, and other goodies from your phone to your computer and visa versa. 

The last method would be to take your cell phone into a wireless store and have them download your pictures for you.  Most stores have data transfer machines used to move your contact information when you purchase a new phone.  Some charge a fee but some do it for free as long as your not in there every week getting those pesky cell phone pictures from cell phone prison!

People across the country have been getting emails detailing how telemarketers are obtaining cell phone numbers to start cold calling them.  This email has been in circulation before and is not true.

 Another Urban Legend; and that’s great news for all you cell phone toting consumers out there.  The Federal Trade Commission has said that it is illegal for most companies to call cell phone numbers to push their service or products.  This of course has not alleviated the fact that thousands of people are calling the FTC to see what they can do to stay off telemarketers hit lists.

The FTC says consumers can add their cell phone numbers to the Do Not Call list, but that’s unnecessary.  If you would like to add your cell phone number to the National Do Not Call list, you can call 1.888.382.1222 or sign up via web page www.donotcall.gov.
 

Clearwire has introduced a pc card for it’s expedience network!  The card itself is nothing new or fancy, but the speeds in which you connect are just tremendous.  I got one the other day and it took less than five minutes to install the software, add the hardware, and get going on the Internet. 

There are several websites where you can test the speed of your connection but I tend to use www.speedtest.net because I like their user interface.  Simple, easy, and nice to look at.  Any ways, I decided to test the speed of the pc card and it clocked in at 1.7 mbps!  Of course I was pretty close to a Clearwire tower, but still……it’s pretty fast! 

One way I like to test the network is to check out espn.com…the site is just loaded with streaming videos, pod-casts, and huge graphics.  For those of you who don’t know what latency means in terms of Internet connections, it’s basically the amount of time it takes a packet to travel from source to destination. Together, latency and bandwidth define the speed and capacity of a network. 

Clearwire provides Internet service in many markets in the United States and just partnered up with Sprint to expand their Wi-Max technology.  Sprint is calling their Wi-Max service Zohm (zoam) and is starting to ramp up with their service on the east coast.  Clearwire can be found in smaller markets such as my home town Boise, Idaho!  Shout out, yay.

Go test drive this thing!  Currently, the pc cards are only available in certain markets such as Maui and Boise.  The pricing of the pc card started at $125 after instant and mail in rebates, but looks like they are going to move to a lease option similar to their home modem lease option.  It will be $6.99 a month to lease the modem and cost $59.99 a month for the service!  This is in line with the other options out there from the wireless carriers such as Verizon Wireless and Sprint, but without voice hogging up bandwidth.

One thing that I don’t like about the pc card is that it only comes in the pcmcia format which is heading out the door making newer laptops not compatible with the card.  Most laptops now ship with Express II slots which allows faster data transfers and comes in a smaller package.  I assume Clearwire will come out with the newer cards sooner or later though.

Verizon Wireless has announced today that customers will have the ability to change calling plans without extending their current contracts! 

Starting on October 7th, new and existing customers will have the option to change their voice and data plans which will become part of the company’s industry leading customer promise, the Verizon Wireless Worry Free Guarantee (R).

 Now only if we can get them to stop disabling phone features!

Disney announced today that they are shutting down their Disney Mobile phone service.  According to Disney, current Disney Mobile customers will receive service and support until Dec. 31, 2007.   Current customers may qualify for a reimbursement program but details of the reimbursement program were not immediately available. Customers should check on the Disney Mobile Web and that they will announce the programs details no later than October 8th.  Also something to note is that if you plan on moving your service to another provider and you want to port (keep your Disney number) then you should do it before November 30th to insure number portability.

What Disney brought to the table was not a bad feature to have if you are a parent with younger children.  I assume that the service will eventually make it to one of the major carriers (probably Sprint; because Disney Mobile used their networks) as an add on service much like the ESPN service now on Verizon Wireless. 

The service that Disney provided was a family oriented GPS tracking system that allowed parents to “see” where their children are through a web based portal or on their cell phones GPS system.  All in all, the idea is a great one for families who are always on the go.  With the hectic schedules that Americans have these days, it is a great feature to calm worried parents who want to know where their children are. 

So, any questions out there? 

Recently, I had a customer come in the store with a text messaging problem.  Maybe someone out there knows the answer to this, but I am currently researching it for the customer. 

Not much detail as of now, but she has a Motorola Razr v3M with Verizon Wireless.  For some reason, when she tries to text message someone or someone tries to send a message to her, it does not work.  I have talked to Verizon Wireless and they state “it should work”.  Obviously not the answer I was quite looking for, but for the most part it’s true.  It should work.  For some reason it does not. 

Later on this when I find out what’s really going on!

Looks like cell phone manufacturers are starting to actually LISTEN to their customers!  It was announced that Samsung, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, LG, and Nokia are all going to standardize their cables for charging cell phones.  

 How many cables do you own around your household?  If you are a gadget freak, then I don’t want to know.  But for the most part, people do have a ton of cables lying around their house to charge their phones, iPods, laptops, etc….So this is definitely a change in the right direction.

I know that Motorola has done a great job standardizing their cable ports to use the mini USB port, but other manufacturers have been slow to adapt.  This will mean that you and your wife can buy one car charger for those road trips, one cable for hooking up your phone to your computer to download music, pictures, and data files. 

 T-Mobile annouced today that they will be releasing the Blackberry Curve with wi-fi!  It should be compatible with T-Mobile’s HotSpot@home service but it was not confirmed on the press release.  The phone will come in two colors; pale gold and titanium (gold shown).  

AT&T has had the phone in it’s lineup for a couple of months, but T-Mobile’s offering has a 2 megapixel camera, broader keyboard layout, and with a two year contract can be yours for $249.99.

 Remember you can trade in your phones at Yakety Yak and use it towards the purchase of your new phone!