Gentle HP3000 List members,

I thought I would take a few minutes and some of the bandwidth on this
listserver to share with you my experiences with wireless connectivity.
 This subject has only somewhat to do with the HP3000, but bear with me.

A few months ago, I acquired a PocketPC.  I got the one from the company HP
is buying.  :)   The iPAQ has excellent expansion capabilities, you can add
CF-cards and PC-card devices.  One of the services Compaq is pushing very
hard is wireless connectivity.  They offer several packages based on what
they call iPAQnet.  I travel some and I was looking for the network with
the widest coverage.  I looked at Metricom (Ricochet,) as the network was
fast (128Kbps.)  The coverage was minimal, however.  I was going to
subscribe to it, but they went under.

So, I looked again at iPAQnet.  This is a subscription to a service that
runs on CDPD.  (Cellular Digital Packet Data) uses the existing Cellular
Network so it will allow access to the Internet virtually anywhere there is
cellular coverage.

CDPD and the current cellular voice network are essentially two discrete
networks, which share the same cellular bandwidth.  The cellular voice
channels are statistically idle about 30% even during peak utilization
time.  CDPD thus uses this idle time, which makes the cellular network more
efficient (used more for the same finite time,) and still does not impact
the cellular voice network.

When I purchased the iPAQnet subscription, I received a PC-card from Sierra
Wireless, an Aircard A-300.  I downloaded the software for the iPAQ
PocketPC and my laptop, a Compaq Armada.  At first, I installed the
software solely on the iPAQ and was surfing the web and accessing my email
wirelessly.  A few weeks ago, I flew to Boston and was able to access the
Internet and email on the plane, before take-off and driving around Boston.
 I did lose contact to CDPD on the coast of Maine, however.

I have been bouncing around the country since Monday and I have been able
to communicate exclusively via CDPD.  Yesterday, I loaded the software on
my laptop and pulled the card out of the iPAQ and put it in the Armada.
 Now, I have wireless access on the laptop also.

Here are a few observations.  GO America, the actual suppliers of the
service, provide you with software, a special browser and e-mail client.  I
discovered these pieces of software are worthless.  I do not use them, I
simply stay with my standard Lookout 97 and Internet Explorer 5.5 on the
laptop and the regular Inbox and Internet Explorer on the iPAQ.
 Essentially, the CDPD access provides a connection to the Internet.  When
you get the subscription, they supply you with an IP address, which is
exclusively reserved for the Aircard's MAC address.

The connection is slow, 19.2 Kbps.  Just like cell phones, the signal
varies by the location.  Most times you can get a good signal, sometimes
you do not.  Also, every once in a while, the network does not respond and
I have to call the provider to reset the address.  I am still learning
about all this.

Having an always-on wireless Internet connection, wherever I am, is really
neat.  The PocketPC and the Windows 2000 laptop work seamlessly with the
aircard and manage the connection perfectly, when it is available.

What is really neat is I can access wirelessly from anywhere, the HP 3000
at the office with Telnet on the PocketPC or the laptop.

All this for about $40/month and unlimited, albeit slow, access.


Kind regards,

Denys. . .

Denys Beauchemin
HICOMP
(800) 323-8863  (281) 288-7438         Fax: (281) 288-7438
denys at hicomp.com                             www.hicomp.com

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