Monday, March 24, 2008

AT&T Tilt

I have been using a Treo 700p for almost two years now. Verizon replaced my motorola e815 flip phone with the 700p when their forced-upgrade killed bluetooth dialup networking.

My Verizon contract is up and I'm ready for a change. I had considered Sprint for the cheaper data and the possibility of wimax in the next year or so. I decided to go with AT&T for a few reasons...
  • GSM is handy for traveling, use in a laptop, experimenting with my neo1973
  • Using GSM 3G, some phones can do voice and data simultaneously
  • Verizon wireless has been very heavy-handed (It was not fun when they started having billing errors and sending me bills for $2000+)
  • It'll be fun to have a phone with a GPS.
  • I would love to use an iPhone 3G instead, but the SDK can't support background processes and the iPhone won't do DUN or PAN
The tilt is able to do DUN with my n810 and my ubuntu laptop, but it can be tricky.
  • Simultaneous voice and 3G data doesn't work with DUN. This reveals that MS sends the DUN client direct to the GSM chip instead of creating a virtual modem like we have with the bluez dund.
  • I followed the tip to reset the phone when it was counting down to install some extra software. Apparently the extra software disables features.
  • In Ubuntu, I had to log out and run a command like "passkey-agent --default 9876" before firing up DUN. The phone & laptop kept failing to pair when entering a pin using the gnome gui.
  • The internet sharing app DOES allow for simultaneous data and voice (using PAN).
  • The phone delivers data rates up to about 580kbps. *Much* better than the older ppc devices I tried.
  • My neo1973 with original gsm firmware can use this new sim card. It's the first sim I have had success with.

No comments: