WiFi PDAs

[rattlsnak]

OK, I am new to all the WiFi PDA stuff. I am trying to find out if you can hook up to free public WiFi using a Pocket PC (or Blackberry, or Tungsten) that does not have phone capabilities? (like at Starbucks) The people at the phone store said you either had to have a Smart phone, or P PC with phone and have to pay extra for that service. That would make sense if had to use the phone service to connect , but not the WiFi (or use the non phone type, through a bluetooth phone, but still pay for the access). The guy at the Comp store, said you simply search and connect for free. I realize that if I am out of range of a WiFi, then the only way to connect would be through the phone service.
Also do these devices have a way to connect through either a hard phone line or a hardwire LAN connection if Im somewhere that doesnt have WiFi?

[nostatic]

you can do 802.11 on certain PDAs (my various HP devices have it). Works fine...I use it with my Airport base stations all the time. No GPRS phone/radio necessary.

As for using a hardwired ethernet connnection, I seem to recall using PCMCIA cards to do that with my Newton many years back, but most PDAs don't have those. Not sure if you can get a CF or SDIO ethernet card.

[rattlsnak]

Thats what I thought, but the guy at the phone store, said you cant connect without paying extra for the service. I know you can do it with a Laptop, so i figured you could with a PDA. The interesting thing is that the brochure on the HP, or Palms say you *might* have to have a paying service to connect. Thats where the confusion comes in.

[nostatic]

if you're at Starbucks and want to use a T-Mobile hotspot, you gotta pay. Of course odds are there will be an open wifi network within spittin' distance so maybe you won't. When I moved into my apartment I had to wait 3 weeks for my DSL line. Luckily one of my neighbors was nice enough to have an open network I could hop on. I have since returned the favor.

[rattlsnak]

>if you're at Starbucks and want to use a T-Mobile hotspot, you gotta pay<

Pay who? Thats the issue. Pay your own provider, or pay theirs when you hook up?

On a side note, when I hooked up a wireless network at home, when i first searched for it, i found 5! open connections i could have used. Geez, I used WEP to secure mine as fast as i could!

[bryanthompson]

Pay who? Thats the issue. Pay your own provider, or pay theirs when you hook up?

Usually what happens is your device sniffs the network and gets connected to whatever gateway they offer. When I was at the airport in Lincoln, it popped up, asked if I wanted to join the network, then went to browse the net. When I opened up a site, the first thing I got was an agreement page from whoever owned the hotspot, in this case I think it was T-Mobile. I put my credit card # in there, checked the "I promise not to do naughty things on your network" box, and was on. You basically rent an IP for however long you pay.

Usually, if you're at one of these rentable hotspots, there are brochures around that tell you how to connect.

[rattlsnak]

OK sounds good, and i have no problem with that, As usual the phone store guys were wrong..

[red-beard]

If you have T-Mobil, Starbucks is $20/month.

The Treo600/650 has had a WIFI sled developed and is presently in it's pre-order phase. There is a distinct possibility that you'll be able to use it to connect to Vonage type service when inside WiFi coverage.

The future is here....Phones with WiFi