Most Advanced,Business Provider, ON TOP!!!!!!!!!

Is it possible that it is really that clear cut?

• Yesterday I saw an ad by Cingular (West Coast) indicating that nationally, they are the data services for Blackberry devices and one other data-centric device.
  
• Verizon is touting their 1X-whatever 3G network.
  
• Sprint is selling PCMCIA Wi Fi and wireless modems from their website.

And through all of this struting and posturing (envision ____ fights) I'm not really sure anyone has it as "together" as they want to public to believe.

 

Ah but don't forget about the following recent press release from AT&T Wireless...

"New GSM/GPRS BlackBerry handheld to operate on AT&T Wireless' high speed network

Redmond, WA and Waterloo, ON - AT&T Wireless and Research In Motion Limited (RIM) today announced that their corporate customers will soon be able to manage their emails and their phone calls through one, easy-to-use device. Under terms of the agreement, AT&T Wireless will offer its corporate customers a new model of the popular BlackBerry Wireless Handheld™ that provides the ability to place phone calls over AT&T Wireless' advanced GSM/GPRS network. The new handheld will include an earpiece and microphone that easily attaches to the device for convenient, hands-free conversation."

Yeah, that question about the "most tech for a business" is just too difficult to answer because of varying implementations and services being offered out there. And everyone is still in the infancy stage of trying to implement some wireless services such as Wi Fi and i-mode, etc, etc.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wireless Cellutions Is My Game

 

This is subjective.

In some areas sprint could be the best, other verizion etc. It is all where you live and travel

Jack

 

It depends on what you need.

VoiceStream/T-Mobile owns the MobileStar 802.11b network - that is surely business related. The service relaunches on 27 April, and by 2003 there will be integrated voice/GPRS/WiFi devices and plans. Nokia already announced a PC card for GPRS/WiFi

T-Mobile Wireless Broadband

WLAN and GPRS data is now in the cards for on-the-go connectivity

Perhaps it's a bit of vaporware since you can't integrate all of it today but both services are available, just not integrated yet, from one provider....

And as Kenny said the BlackBerry 5810 is out for GSM, and it will support GPRS this summer.

Kevin - Sprint is selling WiFi? I hadn't heard that.

 

opps, my mistake. They are selling two wireless modems. That's what happens when you read a lot but only retain 10%.

 

I have to agree, Verizon is by far the biggest network in this wonderfull country. No matter were i go i can make and receive calls. Thats more then i can say for Cingular or Sprint when i had them. Even under a reinforced concreate building in thier basement i could make and recive calls. And i Know for a fact verizons closest tower was a LONG way away in wireless terms. I would have to sureley say that if anyone wants exceptional coverage and clarity and outstanding customer service, then call Verizon Wireless.

Verizon Wireless Truely never stops working for you!

 

Sprint also offers a variety of business services....Voice Command with a huge address book, ability to link up to corporate email; sprint is also turning on its 1Rxtt network this summer....all plans offer no roaming anywhere on sprint's digital network. also with voice command u can reply to emails(from a variety of email accounts) by recording ure voice on ure phone and it is sent as a .wav file, a nice personal touch.

voice command has a plethora of services available including many business features like instant access to airlines, reservations, hotels, and rental car companies; also weather and driving directions via voice.
also sprint is coming out with its own Push To Talk feature soon which appeals to the business sector.

sprint phones are also very advanced and offer many features for business users. the samsung i300 is currently the best palm/phone hybrid out there. virtually all of its phones are WAP enabled.

their network is also very hi tech being all 1900mhz PCS. HIGH TECH=Business a lot of people say. 3G may be hype right now but that is where the business market will be headed; it is all a matter of time. Sprint has the easiest migration path to 3G 1x EV-DO.

while true that sprint's network does not extend into rural areas I would say the large majority of business takes place in bustling metropolitan areas. So unless you sell feed to cattle farmers you dont need your phone to work in the farmland. being on a digital network all the time also promotes longer battery life and clearer more secure calls which one can factor in as well.

for personal use i wish i had more money and more time to go visit the less populated, less congested and naturally beautiful rural areas of this country but I dont so I have no need for cell service there.

Nobody mentioned Nextel. Nextel has a huge business footprint. while some people dont like DC a lot of businesses do; and they all cant be wrong. I personally worked briefly in an MIS department for a nj state university and they utilized DC often and it worked better for them than making cell calls each time. I for one have seen the pros of DC firsthand. also all their phones are Java enabled which is business helpful.

however the fact that Nextel went with iDEN technology was a business faux pas for a company that is geared towards the smart businessperson.

voicestream has a good thing going with its combination of WI-FI networks and its cellular service. however voicestream is too small and when other carriers link up their service with WI-FI this advantage will be erased.


for international business users right now having a GSM phone is a must so going with any GSM carrier would be nice. however when GSM-cdma phones come out shortly for this niche market then the playing field will be even.

EDIT: also when getting a Sprint PCS phone you also get a "MyManage" section on the web. It is by far the most advanced of any carrier with a myriad of ways to edit your account, pay your invoice, check your usage, and customize all your services; and includes a sprintpcs email account. Some people say they have problems logging onto it I have a 95% success rate and get on with no problem. Some Carriers like AT&T have problems even letting you check your minutes, period.

 

i would like to say a little more about voice command. as a regular consumer i just use it to dial my friends and family. its most basic feature.

but it has many features. for example i can say 'my weather' and then speak the city and state (or even international cities) and get the current weather and extended forecast. i have used this and it works great; even has a little thunderstorm sound effect when thunderstorms are in the forecast lol

a business user has instant access to all the phone numbers for airlines, travel agencies, hotel and motel chains, and car reservations but to name a few simply by speaking a few words. sprint already has them programmed into its voice command and you can access them at any time from ure phone; and u can customize sprint's lists from ure website if u wish.

also if u are on the road you can say 'driving directions' and you can get spoken directions. i havent used this feature yet but plan on testing it out soon to see how it works. I am sure with GPS coming soon all these features will be enhanced.

you can also get stock quotes read back to u.
flight information.
package tracking.
traffic reports.
news reports.
and stupid stuff like horoscopes and lottery results etc


i can set up my earthlink or yahoo account (others are available as well) and can say 'my email' and voice command will tell me what emails i have and will read them back to me if i wish. then i can delete, save or reply. so far it has read all of them back with great accuracy and pronunciation. I also replied to my friend by speaking my thoughts and it was sent to him as a .wav file.

the sprint WW is chock full of features and even at todays slow speeds is useful for many business uses; all this can only get better with faster networks coming out. it is all easily customisable from ure internet account site u get when signing up from sprint.

 

I assume there have been no replies because you are all in a stunned silence wondering "why cant my phone do that?"

j/k lol


seriously; do you all think that these are useful business features? or just gimmicks........

 

yes i know most phones nowadays come with voice dial on the phone itself. all my friends' nextel phones hold i think 50 of them. my sanyo does 30, my old samsung 20.

voice command is a feature totally independent of the phone. u simply dial * TALK and u r there. it holds an indepedent 300 or 500?? name/multiple number address book along with the other features it contains that i mentioned earlier. i dont have much use for the airline feature but i browsed through that list and it did contain any carrier i could think of and more. also offers taxi-limousine service for anywhere in the country as well.

i looked around on the verizon site but did not find anything similar; but i could have missed it. ditto on at&t's site.

most probably all carriers will come out with features that are similar; like most things, one carrier may be first to provide one small niche feature then they all catch up.

 

As Matt said, Voicestream has all the stuff they need, they just need to intergrate it all. As for the Blackberry, the 5810 is on the Voicestream website right now. They have it in their list of regular phones & devices.
It does everything that Kenny said the one for AT&T will do.

Here is a link to everything about it on Voicestream website:
Voicestream Wireless (Blackberry 5810)

 

Something really cool I got to help a friend with recently was voice activated voicemail.

I am sorry idiot..my eyes glazed over about half way thru your multiple post...lol. I'll have to reread it later when I am more condusive to absorbing information. Kids here and all taking my attention.

I have a friend in R&D of a major technology player and the needed testing of voice command voicemail. you say voicemail and give commands like skip...next...delete...etc, etc. Kind of neat to do that with out pressing a button. I haven't seen where it has been released yet.

 

Just a question:

why does anybody try to diss voicestream?

- they have a similar coverage (including roaming) to Spring (digital) - just my opinion and visual comparisons of GSM/Sprint coverage in the US

- they had their data network (GPRS) running a long time before Cingular

- they actually do have their whole (!) network upgraded with data since last november (unlike almost all other carriers)

- they started integrating WiFi

- they have all the (data) devices you need

- they have by far the best international roaming agreements

- they have one of the best international dialing rates

I would say if you want to do business and your business is not a truck driver or forest worker but somehow in a metropolitan area you should be pretty fine with them...

C.

 

ive been a bit harsh on voicestream. perhaps because some of the voicestream posting on here is less than posting and more like selling.
also because on many other forums GSM users have this inherent superiority complex over any carrier who uses another technology...and I happen to think cdma is a superior technology (more efficient amongst other things-and the fact that all carriers including gsm are upgrading to a form of cdma in wcdma) and that just ticks me off that they say cdma sucks. the fact that you can roam overseas is nice but that is for a very niche market the average consumer would not even want to pay overseas roaming rates even if they could; also shortly that point will be moot since cdma2000/gsm phones are in the works.

i agree that voicestream has the best international roaming. other carriers like AT&T are a close 2nd. sprint also offers international roaming for its business users but it is expensive.

i dont like voicestreams plans that do not offer nighttime minutes but for the business user that may not be as big of an issue as with consumers.

they are just getting into markets like california; and for now the majority of business users are still domestic ones.

also the fact of no analog roaming is not an issue for many business people; but for any roadwarriors the ability to get an analog signal can be key in emergency situations that no business or consumer traveller wants to be in without a workable phone.

for gsm carriers in the usa they will be able to upgrade to EDGE fairly quickly with speeds of 344kbs but cdma carriers should be at 1xEV-DO with 2.2mbs speeds at about the same time as EDGE or sooner-and business users will more likely prefer that significant speed advantage.

cdma2000/wi-fi cards are in the works and soon to be launched and operational shortly.

 

Hi IdiOTeQnoLogY

nice post

I was just a little tired of these "my carrier is better than yours" and "everybody should buy... link rateplan, link coverage..." battles. In the end this forum is supposed to be a discussion cuz when I wanna watch commercials I switch on the TV

And I think in the discussion every aspect should be regarded.


Re your post:

I agree that CDMA is the better technology and I guess that is why 100% of the carriers are migrating towards code division... However, that does not mean that you cannot use any other technology for the next few years and that all other networks are useless - esp. as also the CDMA networks have to undergo solid upgrades to be super-fast data capable (what are actually the differences of wcdma - cdma2000, perhaps this is worth another post)

I actually almost prefer the voicestream idea of much more peak minutes instead of many minutes after 9:00pm and before 7:00am... gives me greater flexibility and honestly my minutes after 9:00 are not that many or in other words most calls are pretty short.


Again: All I wanted to do with my post was to add a little discussion part in the thread. And then, frankly, I think for the business user and also for consumers voicestream is a real option and these guys should not be underestimated

C.

 

I have to agree with Jack in an earlier post to this discussion when he stated that "it is all in wher you live and travel" and later Matt said it "is what you need." I like to travel and I drive a lot. I feel safer using a carrier with the largest, most dependabe network (ie...I like to talk while I drive too!).

I spent some time online today at VerizonWireless.com setting up messeging at vtext.com and my mobile web at myvzw.com. They were rather business oriented with ackendars and alerts. These are probably pretty normal functions (I imagine), but I had a good time setting these systems up today. I noticed Express Network that Verizon Wireless offers looks kind of interesting. Faster downloads...144 kbps..etc, faster browsing, voice capability connection.

There is something new called Thera...looked kinda interesting. Maybe Wayne knows more about it, since he is a techie with VZW.

 

Thank you everyone, you are finally starting to give Voicestream respect (their props). I have only been doing what Larry has been doing, and that is defending the company that I like and use.

 

"I agree that CDMA is the better technology and I guess that is why 100% of the carriers are migrating towards code division... However, that does not mean that you cannot use any other technology for the next few years and that all other networks are useless - esp. as also the CDMA networks have to undergo solid upgrades to be super-fast data capable (what are actually the differences of wcdma - cdma2000, perhaps this is worth another post)"

that was exactly my point.....that i didnt think GSM carriers sucked just for the fact they were GSM and that is the attitude they were giving me. i never badmouthed a GSM carrier because of the technology they used. ever. in fact i always gave admiration to the world for agreeing on ONE standard and going by it. i just gave comebacks to those who said oh gsm is the best you cdma carriers just suck cause you cant make a call in germany. that ticked me off especially considering cdma of one sort of another was in everyones future. and also i said it was limited that all VS phones were only GSM no roaming off a GSM network and that left a lot of areas uncovered. though now with so many carriers going GSM it will get better but at least offer analog roaming.

the only technologies i have kind of badmouthed as a bad choice is iDEN cause it is compatible with nothing but itself and that is a bad place to be in the industry today i think....especially when you are losing money....nobody to roam with nobody to make money roaming off your network with. its lonely in iDEN land.

 

Theres an upside to iDEN in terms of roaming. No you cant roam out of Nextel, true. And you wont be able to use any of the features outside of the network.
But with the other carriers, are you able to log on to the internet if you're roaming off another carrier? Verizon has a great 'network'. But try sending an SMS on anolog roam.
Nextel's footprint allows the customer to use all features and services at anytime as long as they get a signal. They are a company targeting businesses. All others target consumers mostly. It seems to me after skimming through these threads that all providers are offering something. Sprints Voice Command is great, but Voicestreams GPRS is cool too. Then again, people like DC. But what about Verizons new phone??? Hard to say whos the best. Each provider is good enough. The consumer chooses whats best for HIM/MER

 

i totally agree with that. one should pick a carrier tailored to your needs.

i am just saying from a business point of view and as a base for the future iDen turned out not to be the best platform as they are left out in the cold with a proprietary type network and the fact it is so stand alone. even a nextel fan has to admit that is a drawback.

i am by no means saying that the nextel service and features are a drawback by any means. i am one who strongly thinks DC can be a very useful feature. nextel rounding up to the minute is a practice i admire as well as not charging airtime for WW access. i like lots of what nextel has to offer. i was speaking of the fact they are using iDEN and that they are the only network in the world doing so.

 

Uhh -- Nextel is NOT the only carrier in the world using iDEN. Southern Linc in the Southeast US (they have a one-way roaming agreement with Nextel -- SL customers can roam on Nextel but not the other way around) and Telus (Mike) in Canada (two-way roaming with Nextel) also use iDEN.

That said, iDEN is nice and consistent feature-wise -- but so are GSM carriers (for the most part; SMS can still be troublesome because of quirky SMSCs) and SPCS (when on-network.) (Verizon is getting closer to the ideal on its own network, but the "extended network" with ALLTEL and SPCS is ruining that progress; AT&T has severe issues with data on the IS-136 side; Cingular can't even run the same technology in all its markets.)

-SC

 

I am going to say VZW and SPCS they have great customer base oriented!

 

I am going to have to reccomend Voicestream

 

NexTel is losing it's appeal, becoming one of the pack...
1. They no long do one-second billing.
2. They moved their Nights to start at 9PM.
3. Increased 411 calls to $1.19
4. Lowered the quality of Customer Care

Nextel MINUSES:
1. They still have the worse coverage, especially in the downtown core of Seattle, where I do my primary business.
2. Because their Network is all-digital, they have the worse coverage outside the major Metro areas.

I have used Nextel (innovative service packages), Cellular One (best analog coverage), ATT, SprintPCS (clearest sound quality) and Qwest (cheapest rates).

I am shopping! If for the use of my cell number on all my business & marketing materials, I'd be GONE by now!

RAN

 

roamer1- Isn't southernlink is partly owned by nextel????

Jack