GPRS / Internet in the USA FL area

[coodem]

I hope it is OK posting such a question here.

I am from the UK and am going to Florida for 3 weeks to do my PPL, I will be taking my Nokia 6230i and my laptop with. I can currently use my mobiles modem to make a GPRS connection, via my laptop. No probs at all.

But when I get to Florida my paln is to buy a Prepay/Pay as you go sim card, insert it into my Nokia, which is Triband and use GPRS on the local Sim, as it would be a lot cheaper. Apart from setting the connections on the phone and PC. can anyone see any problems?

Is the US GPRS the same, will I have any hardware problems. Do pay as you go sim cards support GPRS. Are they enabled by default?

Any advise will be welcome

[SyllogismCheck]

I don't know the answer to your question re. GPRS on pay-as-you-go, but you need to be sure your phone isn't restricted only to accepting its supplying networks SIMs, as most are, or you won't even get that far.

[slim_slag]

GPRS is available in most populated areas and it's generally faster than in the UK I have found, but I don't know of any PAYG providers. PAYG is quite expensive in the States, not like in the UK where it can be a good deal. I'd not bother as there are loads of wireless access point in the States right now. Find the best provider for where you hang out and get a months pass. To give you an idea, TMobile Hotspot will cost around $40 + tax a month for a non contract for all their US locations. Probably a lot cheaper than any GPRS you will find.

[coodem]

Thanks for the replys
I have checked my mobile and it is not locked to specific network. I did investigate the "hotspot" option but there is no cover in the area Im gonna be spending most my time, so that is going to be out the question. I have checked on the T-mobile USA website and can confirm that there is GPRS coverage, but what I can't find out is if I was to purchase a Pay as you go package weather it supports GPRS. Now in the UK I know it does. But I have a feeling things are a lot tighter in the states.

As I believe the Americans want to be able to track all their internet traffic/usage/abuse. I think that the Pay as you go will be blocked, as anyone could walk into Walmart, purchase a simand pone pay as you go deal for $30 and have the ability to access the web. Where as if they tied it down to contracts only, they would have all the users details and all internet activity would be trackable.

This is only a guess, just wondered if anyone could confirm.

So the 1st thing I would parobably need to know is if a US Pay as you go Sim will support GPRS.

[slim_slag]

Wireless access points are everywhere, I'd wait until you got there before saying there aren't any around. Anyway, I looked at "T-mobile to go" and the prices are a lot better than last time I looked, which is nice, but they have something called a SideKick deal where you pay $1 per day for unlimited browsing. That means browsing on their PDA like device, so maybe you can use your GPRS phone to make the connection to the network, then bluetooth the phone to your laptop. Maybe the flying school will let you connect, who knows until you ask.

[IO540]

I have just been to Phoenix, Arizona and found:

Very few wifi access points, except in the more expensive hotels ($600+/week) and in Starbucks etc (T-Mobile, $10/few hours, other apparently much cheaper longer-term options involve recurring CC debits until you explicitly tell them to stop billing)

Loads of open access points (if you like loitering outside houses :O ) as usual.

GPRS is about 2x faster than in Europe.

Vodafone PAYG works with GSM, SMS, GPRS. But fax doesn't work (works OK in most of Europe). Roaming via the one GSM network whose name I don't recall ("Cerious"?).

Orange PAYG works with GSM, SMS, didn't test GPRS. Roaming as above.

I don't know if 9.6k data over GSM (as used for WAP) works.

The T-Mobile wifi is capped to 10k bytes/sec but allows a VPN.

VPN is blocked on GPRS (works OK in Europe).

I got internet access at a particular establishment with a T1 which solved the problem for me.

It was an interesting exercise. Presumably, heavy corporate travelling users who need a reliable mobile connection do something else to sort this out. I guess corporate GPRS contracts are better on the connectivity.

America is relatively new to GSM. There are some fantastic Motorola phones on sale, waterproof/ruggedised models which I have not seen before, but none were GSM.

Obviously, make sure your phone is tri-band (900/1800/1900MHz). I was using a Nokia 6310i for the phone, and a Sierra 750 PCMCIA GSM/GPRS card for the data.

[Tinstaafl]

For best coverage you need a quad-band phone. US GSM uses both 850 & 1900 MHz, similarly to Europe's 900 & 1800 MHz frequencies. I had a nice tri-band phone that I would still be using several years later except the coverage is inadequate so I had to buy a quad band.

There's a range of quads available, including several that have been superceded & can be bought cheap. Motorola seem to have the largest range but there are other manufacturers who have them as well.

As for WiFi access quite a few hotel chains offer access as a courtesy. Hampton Inn & Holiday Inn Select chains both do this.

[Jinkster]

Does anyone know how much T-mobile in the USA charge for BT openzone customers using a wifi system?