The PhoneBoy Blog » travel

Why I Still Love the Nokia E71

PhoneBoy — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 13:38:41 +0000

From When a Smartphone Is Too Much for Travel – NYTimes.com:

With the rise of the iPhone and the Blackberry, it’s hard to imagine hitting the road without a phone that can’t download music, serve up maps or send and receive e-mail. But sometimes a body just needs to make a few calls from the road. Sometimes a body needs a featureless phone.

Or you can use an older Symbian device like the Nokia E71 and get the best of both worlds–the ability to make calls, long battery life and some Smartphone niceties like maps and social networking.

Some of the annoyances of Symbian phones of this vintage, namely the incessant prompts to connect, are actually a benefit. When I’m traveling and using one of my roaming SIMs (e.g. Truphone, Maxroam), I can certainly use data, but even at their lower rates, I don’t want to use very much data. Just enough to, say, update my Twitter feed.

Using Opera Mini on a late-model Symbian device like the Nokia E71, which compresses web pages by up to 90% by routing requests through Opera’s servers, you can do that and more without breaking the bank.

This work originally came from The PhoneBoy Blog and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Fingerprint: e37ac627f3d973694c212ff9430d215a

My Review of the Hidden Stuffle from Timbuk2

PhoneBoy — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 14:49:20 +0000

Originally submitted at Timbuk2

A super-compressible duffle that folds up teeny.

Hidden Stuffle

Amazing Roomly, but Pack It Lightly

By PhoineBoy from Gig Harbor, WA on 6/29/2011

Pros: Lightweight

Best Uses: Traveling

Describe Yourself: Practical, Career

Primary use: Business

Was this a gift?: No

Keep in mind this is a makeshift bag, so it is lighter than an ordinary suitcase. That said, once unfolded from its relatively small pouch, it makes a nice-sized duffle bag that can easily be used to offload lighter items. If you’re going to use it to store items with sharp edges and check the bag, you will want to wrap the items in something softer (e.g. clothing) so as not to accidentally puncture the bag when subjected to mishandling by airline luggage folks.

(legalese)

My Review of the Hidden Messenger from Timbuk2

PhoneBoy — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 14:37:36 +0000

Originally submitted at Timbuk2

A messenger that hides inside your messenger.

Hidden Messenger

Does Job, Albeit with Some Limitations

By PhoneBoy from Gig Harbor, WA on 6/29/2011

Pros: Lightweight , Comfortable

Cons: Too small

Best Uses: Airplane travel , Day Trips

Describe Yourself: Career, Practical

Was this a gift?: No

For what the bag is, it does the job, but you have to be aware of some of the limitations.

1. Since this bag is meant to be a makeshift bag that folds into a pouch, it lacks any sort of structure or padding. If you, say, use it for a small laptop (or an iPad), you may want to add your own padding (e.g. a towel or something else).

2. Since the bag is a messenger, smaller items can leak out the top of the bag if you’re not careful.

3. The unit I received (a menthol colored one) already had some stains on it. The bag is also, due to its light color, relatively transparent. I didn’t think it was problematic enough to return, but clearly there were some quality issues in the manufacture of these bags.

4. One should be careful not to store heavy, pointy items in this bag long-term given that it is relatively thin.

That said, I found the bag to be very useful on my last trip. I can put all of the things I am likely to need on a flight in there and not have to break into my larger carryon bag.

(legalese)

Inbox Liquidation, Part 56: A Mobile Phone Bonanza!

PhoneBoy — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 07:11:09 +0000

My personal inbox is getting bigger than my work inbox, so it must be time for an Inbox Liquidation Post.

Truph0ne News: Having made use of Truphone Local Anywhere on my last trip abroad, I’m certainly interested in seeing it expand to other markets. They recently announced planned expansions of their “local markets” to The Netherlands and Spain (i.e. markets where you can get “local” numbers and pay “local” rates). Unfortunately, it’s not immediately, it’s “months.” On a more positive note, their iPhone app now supports iPhone OS 4.0 multitasking, so you can receive Truphone calls on your iPhone 3GS or iPhone 4 while running other apps.

iOS4 (or rather iPhone OS 4): I’ve actually been playing with iPhone OS 4.0 for the past few months. I had the “golden master” release on my phone for nearly two weeks now and I’ve been fairly happy with it. Unfortunately, to take advantage of the multitasking feature, your apps need to be updated to support it. Why Skype did not launch their updated app the day iOS 4 became generally available, I’ll never know. My prediction: we won’t see it until after my kids get back into school in September.

Tomi Ahonen Takes on the US Wireless Industry: I am reminded of what my tour guide in Jerusalem told us: never let the facts get in the way of a good story. Former Nokia executive Tomi Ahonen gets a couple of facts wrong in this epic rant about the state of the US mobile phone industry, but most of what he has to say is spot on.

Unlimited Mobile Data in 25 Countries: I’ve gotten a couple of press releases from XCom Global about their offering where they will rent you either a wireless USB modem or a MiFi like device on a per-day basis. The pricing is pretty good, given what I paid for WiFi in Europe. Unfortunately, it only works if you’re traveling to one country. Wonder how they’d handle that situation?

MAXroam Goes Global: I had a press release in my inbox about MAXroam’s special plan for people going to the World Cup. I figured it might be a bit dated by now, so I went to see if it was still being offered. To my surprise, their website had changed and they have launched their “Global SIM” cards. This was the “Holy Grail” SIM card I used on my last International trip . You can buy reasonably-priced bundles of minutes and/or megabytes of data to use in 41 European countries. These SIMs “just work” without the usual trickery involved with global SIMs.

Positioning Without GPS or WLAN: I like the idea of not having to fire up the GPS or WLAN to get location. The mobile phone is already talking to multiple cell phone towers and it is possible to use the information from those towers to triangulate your location. It may not get as pinpoint as a GPS can, but it can certainly get close enough (does 7-12 meters work–indoors no less?) where a regular GPS can’t easily. I really hope GloPos and the technology they are building around this gets some traction because it sounds like the right idea for a lot of reasons.

Comments

24 June 2010, Jake writes: MAXroam Global SIM the Holy Grail? You must be kidding. The price per minute is 3 to 4 times higher and there are fewer roaming partners than before. I may be trying to get one of their old classic SIMs, but this new service is completely useless for me.

The Aluratek 3G Portable Wireless USB Cellular Router: 3G Not Included

PhoneBoy — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 05:41:43 +0000

It’s rare that I obtain a consumer grade router that I am generally happy with “out of the box.” The only reason I ever buy a Linksys router is so I can lobotomize it and run DD-WRT on it. Otherwise, I find myself pulling out my hair due to instability issues and lack of functionality. This goes even double for travel-routers.

While this 3G travel router from Aluratek (sent to me for review) does not have everything I’d want to see in a router–I’ll get into the shortcomings later–it has enough features and is stable enough that I’m recommending it. It’s a cross between your typical travel router and a MiFi–actually more like a Cradlepoint device. You have to provide the 3G or 4G dongle. The good news is you can use it with any provider you can get a USB dongle for, assuming the modem is on the compatibility list. A large list of modems is supported, so it’s pretty likely yours is.

Like the MiFi, it’s battery powered. Unlike the MiFi and similar routers, it charges with a wall wort. I asked the PR firm that sent me this router for review about charging over USB, this is not supported. It does allow you to use the device plugged in, though, which is handy.

The router comes with a setup disk for Windows, which being a Mac user I ignored. Of course, the router works with a Mac just fine (it speaks IP, after all), there were no instructions provided in the box for how to configure the router for a Mac. I was able to figure it out pretty easily, being someone quite familiar with networking.

As I stated before, the router supports 3G/4G dongles from the major vendors. Unfortunately, unless you know the dial string and username/password from your 3G/4G provider, you will have a difficult time getting this working. Having done this numerous times on AT&T for various devices, I remembered the magic incantations needed (namely the APN to use, dial string, account and password). It would be nice if they provided the information for the most common providers or, better yet, let you choose from a menu in the firmware of known provider configurations.

The router itself can be used for making your 3G/4G dongle accessible from multiple computers (of course), but the device also has a LAN port. This LAN port can either be used to provide a wired host access to your 3G OR you can use it as a WAN port, allowing you to make a wired hotel connection wireless.

The router also has a removable battery, which means it can be used like a MiFi. The battery gets roughly 4 hours of battery life. I did not test that claim, but I did keep it in my bag for several weeks and didn’t bother to charge it. I used it periodically and did not run out of power during that time.

To field test this router, I took an AT&T 3G card I had, took out my SIM card from my iPhone and put it in. I used it in a few unusual places to test how well the device works. This includes: a Starbucks, a Virgin Mobile airplane (on the ground of course), a hotel room in the middle of Silicon Valley, and of course here at home. All of these places had their own WiFi that was suboptimal. (Starbucks usually has ok WiFi, but the day I tested this, it was particularly problematic)

I’m not sure if the router is to blame for this or not, but sometimes when I power on the router with the 3G dongle attached, it does not connect to the Internet properly. I find if I power cycle the router again and restart, the 3G connection comes up in roughly a minute. Once connected, I have relatively fast Internet through AT&T’s 3G network.

The router itself has fairly typical configuration options: DHCP Server (can set static DHCP reservations and/or disable), Port Forwarding (for allowing connections inbound on specific services to specific hosts), outbound packet, domain, and URL Filtering (manual), MAC-level filtering, Dynamic DNS support, routing (including support for RIPv1 and RIPv2), SNMP and even “scheduled rules” (rules enabled at specific times). The web interface is not terribly cluttered, provides context sensitive help, and is easy to use.

The router along with a short Ethernet cable is provided in a travel bag. It would be nice if the wall wort also fit into this bag. Either the wall wort needs to be a little smaller or the bag needs to be a little bigger. Bonus points if it can also fit a typical 3G dongle as well.

All in all, there’s a lot to like about this router. It provides an above-average set of functionality out-of-the-box. The documentation needs to be better for non-Windows users and they need to provide information on how to configure the router to work with different 3G networks. If you can get past those hurdles, it’s a good deal at ~$80 on amazon.com.

Cisco Tries to Make Wi-Fi Drop-Dead Easy (technologizer.com)
iPad Hits a Bump: Wi-Fi Woes Point to Apple Bug (readwriteweb.com)
Netflix Reviewed: The iPad’s First “Killer App?” (gigaom.com)
Franklin Wireless intros U600 WiMAX modem, R526 and R536 mobile routers (engadget.com)
Sprint 4G: going into Overdrive (blogs.chron.com)

My Review of The Swig Backpack from Timbuk2

PhoneBoy — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 09:20:51 +0000

Originally submitted at Timbuk2

A pack that fits girls (!) and guys AND protects your laptop.

Swig Backpack

Solid Pack for Business Trips

By PhoneBoy from Gig Harbor, WA on 2/20/2010

Pros: Roomy, Lightweight, Comfortable

Cons: Not Enough Pockets

Best Uses: Travel

Describe Yourself: Practical, Career

Primary use: Business

I have used this pack on both business and personal trips. It comfortably fits my 17 inch MacBook Pro and 4-5 days worth of clothing, yet fits the airline definition of a carryon and is easy to carry.

If you need lots of pockets for your various electronics, however, this may not be a bag for you as it is woefully short in that department. It works for me, however, as it forces me to economize and take only what I need.

(legalese)

Comments

27 February 2010, CouponWebz | UPrinting Coupons writes: Maybe because there are not enough pockets, the various electronics and other small things also go to the main storage where you also put your laptop. It can be a hassle, though. It does look like it's easy to carry even with a full load, which is a good thing.

Keeping the iPhone Charged

PhoneBoy — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 15:30:21 +0000

While I was in San Diego for the past few days, perhaps the biggest challenge–aside from never having more than 10 minutes to myself at a stretch–was keeping my iPhone’s battery charged. The Sales Kick Off meeting we had for Check Point had us anywhere but near an easily accessible AC port. I attempted to plan for this, and I normally have an external iPhone battery for this purpose.

Unfortunately, on my recent trip to Israel, the connector on my latest battery acquisition from eBay broke. That’s what happens when you get the cheap ones made in China. Either way, I did not have time to acquire something better before I left for this trip to San Diego.

I searched through my gadget stash and found an old Solio charger. While I wasn’t counting on it’s ability to get juice from the sun, it was able to receive a charge from USB. When fully charged, it was able to provide some extra juice to my iPhone. It certainly didn’t give the battery more than an extra 25-30% or so, but it was enough. It also fit in my pocket (albeit not comfortably) along with the iPhone.

I also took some other measures to conserve battery power as well: I dropped WiFi and Bluetooth. While there was plenty of WiFi around, I could not always use it nor did I necessarily want to. I only enabled it when I know I wanted to use it. That alone cut my battery drain to a fairly managable level.

The other thing: I forgot my iPhone’s AC adapter. This meant I need to plug into a Mac/PC to charge. It also meant that I was not able to easily charge my iPhone the night before I left San Diego. I had a very early morning flight and made the mistake of not leaving my MacBook turned on but not logged in. This meant my iPhone barely got a charge overnight.

The Solio came to my rescue again. I had wisely charged it the day before, so I was able to use it to provide a boost on the flight back to Seattle. The Solio did require some significant fiddling to get it to charge the iPhone without receiving the dreaded “charging with this accessory is not supported” message on my iPhone.

Meanwhile, I’m in the market for a mobile charging solution for my iPhone. Preferably something that will fit comfortably in my pocket with my iPhone 3GS, is durable, easily rechargable, but not insanely expensive. I realize that’s a bit much to ask, but any suggestions from the peanut gallery on this?

Comments

28 January 2010, bostonphoneguy writes: Duracell Instant USB charger or Mophie Juicepak Air are two solutions that I own.
28 January 2010, asd writes: PowerMonkey or PowerMonkey Explorer - https://powertraveller.com/
28 January 2010, Lonnie writes: MiLi Power Pack; and don't forget your AC adapter next time.
31 January 2010, Hamish MacEwan writes: This might fill the bill: http://www.powerstick.com/new/home.php Hamish

Airports: Neither Secure Nor Convenient

PhoneBoy — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 09:42:46 +0000

When discussing computer security with people, something I often bring up is this very simple equation:

What this means is that “secure” things tend not be convenient to use. For example, a powered down computer in a metal box secured by locks, and put in a safe protected by armed guards 24×7 might be relatively safe from theft, but it’s not very usable, is it?

Conversely, convenient things aren’t secure. For example, not having a lock on your house might make it easier for you to come and go as you please, but it sure makes it easy for would-be thieves to get into your house and take whatever they’d like.

Something else to note about this equation. Assuming security and convenience are expressed in terms of real numbers greater than or equal to zero, As convenience decreases towards zero, security increases towards infinity. If security is zero, conveniences doesn’t matter (because both inconvenient and convenient things can be insecure). However, if convenience hits zero, then security is undefined. You can’t divide by zero. You also can’t make something absolutely secure

Another thing that comes up in security–computer or otherwise–cost. What is it we are trying to secure? What does it cost to reduce that risk? What is the likelihood that a “loss” will occur and how much will that lost cost? It seems silly, for instance, to spend $100 to secure a $10 item, unless that $10 item has $1,000 (or more) worth of data on it

Anyway, this article is not about computer security. It’s really about airport security, or rather insecurity. This topic entered my consciousness again when I found out about the idiot who tried to explode something on an international flight landing in Detroit on Christmas Day. My immediate response was “oh crap, they’re going to make it more painful to travel again.”

And yes, they are. While the TSA hasn’t said anything officially yet, there are a number of reports from many sources, including the New York Times, that suggests measures similar to the following will be taking place on all flights inbound to the US:

Passengers will have to remain in their seats one hour before landing with no access to anything they may have brought on board or have access to on the airplane (e.g. inflight magazine, pillows, blankets, etc).
Passengers will not be told when they will land or be given any clue where they are.
Passengers will be subject to extra screening at the boarding gate.
Only one carryon item will be permitted to be brought onboard per passenger.

I question how many of these security measures will actually be effective at either deterring or preventing a real security event, which for the purposes of this discussion are a loss of life by one or more passengers caused by the actions of one or more passengers on the plane (e.g. because of a terrorist-type event).

Let’s look at what the folks from the TSA have done since September 11, 2001 in order to “improve security” at our nation’s airports (notwithstanding the “new rules” being implemented since Friday):

Liquid Restrictions: Considering the 3.2oz/100ml or less bottles of liquids in a quart-size plastic bag are subjected to a simple Xray scan and not anything more, one could easily slip in a relatively dangerous liquid past security. Several passengers could, in concert, do this together.
Shoes Off: We can thank Richard Reid, the infamous Shoe Bomber for this stupid rule. Again, all they are doing is Xraying the shoes. I’m sure the bad guys can find ways to hide explosives in shoes without getting caught by the Xray.
Laptops Out: Don’t understand the rationale behind this one at all. I suppose it’s to get a better look at everything. I would be more concerned about smaller devices.
Need Photo ID: How easy is it to fake an ID or a passport?
The No Fly List: How easy is it to fake an ID or a passport and use a name that isn’t on the list? Seems like all it does is inconveniences people with names similar to suspected terrorists.
Barking The Rules: I’ve heard a number of personal accounts of TSA agents yelling at everyone in line about what the rules are going through the security line. I’ve also experienced this myself. They don’t exactly do this in a friendly, courteous way.
More Secure Cockpit Doors: This is, perhaps, one of the few “good” things that came from the last round of major changes to airport security. This probably did not cost that much in the grand scheme of things and has a measurable impact on the safety of the people of the pilots. It’s debatable how much this does for the passengers safety, of course.

This is all, as Bruce Schneier calls it, Security Theater. Stuff that’s designed to make us “feel” more secure without actually making us more secure. These measures made traveling inconvenient. The new ones they are implementing are going to make it that much worse. I can think of many ways around all these “restrictions” without a lot of thought. I’m sure a real bad guy could come up with even more, especially given lots of time and motivation!

Having been through Israeli airport security twice in the past 6 months, I can tell you that “better” security (or at least better security theater) is both time-consuming and costly, both in terms of machines and people-power. Persons and belongings are throughly screened before getting anywhere near an airplane, and you don’t have to take off your shoes in the process. The TSA screening that comes after my Tel Aviv flight but before my connecting flight home is almost insulting in comparison.

So now what? How do we make our flights more secure, yet not so inconvenient that people don’t want to fly?While we can argue about different screening procedures ad-infinitum, the best defense is an aware, active traveling public. As long as passengers remain watchful of suspicious activity and act accordingly, situations that do break out on planes can easily be neutralized before they become serious threats. It certainly happened with this most recent threat.

Comments

27 December 2009, howdy writes: Regarding your penultimate statement, the one draw back to this is people are so distrusting of anything 'different' that kneejerk reactions are going to be high especially when you consider nations are being groomed to fear the unknown. We've already seen it since 9/11 where people have reported passengers for praying or reading certain books.
27 December 2009, tom writes: we have been taking off our shoes in the security line since the Richard Reid incident. in this latest incident the perpetrator attempt to set off a bomb sown into his underwear. the security lines will get interesting. all logic says that we will all be required to remove our underwear and pass it through the x-ray for screening. right?
27 December 2009, tndaisy1960 writes: I'll stick to Greyhound, thanks...until they start screwing with that, too.
28 December 2009, anim8ed writes: You mentioned many of the reasons I left the TSA after 2 years. I was on the initial roll-out of TSA back in 2002. I later found out that a screener I worked with for 2 years was using a false ID and was a convicted felon. What happened to background screening and how did this slip through that process?
28 December 2009, PhoneBoy writes: @tom I expect we'll be flying naked soon, sort of like the way they time travel in The Terminator. @anim8ed I assume that a background check is not 100% perfect, which can be said for most so-called security measures. My experience is that the good guys get caught up in these measures far more often than the bad ones. @howdy I'll take the wisdom of the crowds over the current system. :)

PhoneBoy’s Travel Toolbox

PhoneBoy — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:02:18 +0000

Since I’ve joined Check Point Software, I’ve done a fair bit of traveling–moreso than I’ve done in quite some time. Since I am ending up more random places, and have had the joy of going through airport security in Tel Aviv on two occasions so far (which makes the TSA experience seem relatively painless by comparison), it has forced me to refine my travel toolbox–things that come with me on every trip I make. Lighter traveling makes for easier traveling, and the following items have earned a more or less permanent place in my travel bag.

The Apple iPhone: As much as I have liked the Nokia phones over the years, thanks to the breadth of applications on the iPhone, not to mention the iPhone’s multimedia capabilities, the iPhone has been a welcome travel companion. TripIt and iXpenseIt have become absolutely indispensable applications while traveling.

Portable iPhone Battery Charger: Written about this in the past, of course, but it bares mentioning again, especially when using the iPhone in airplane mode on a plane where they don’t provide a USB or power jack. It keeps my phone charged so that when I land, my iPhone and I are ready to go.

The Nokia E71: This comes in handy, particularly on those trips to Israel where I can’t use my iPhone as anything more than an iPod Touch thanks to AT&T’s roaming rates being so expensive. Prior to my purchasing an iPhone, the Nokia E71 was my primary phone and it is still quite capable in a pinch. It is also a failsafe in case I completely drain the battery in the iPhone

MaxRoam: One thing I have to admit missing from my days at Nokia was not having to worry about my mobile phone charges when traveling abroad. 500 – 1000 EUR phone bills were not all that uncommon for travelers abroad. Even though I was a responsible chap and asked how one might reduce that cost while abroad, I was often told “not to worry” by managers. Meanwhile, Check Point has a different opinion about these things, so I carry a MaxRoam SIM in that Nokia E71 to keep the roaming costs a bit more reasonable. That and I get a local SIM card if I’m going to be someplace more than a few days.

Skype: Assuming I have a good Internet connection, Skype is a lifesaver, especially for making reasonable calls to the US while I am abroad. Actually, the calls are included in the ~$30/year Skype North America plan, making it an excellent value.

Monster Outlets To Go: Given the relative lack of plugs I have found in hotel rooms, having a power strip with me has proven to be a wise investment. Abroad, it is even better because I can make more efficient use of the relatively scarce plug adapters. The Outlets To Go by Monster has been fantastic. It’s compact, the plug lights up when connected to power, and it’s relatively inexpensive. Can’t ask for much more than that.

iPass: As much as I’ve used (and loved) Boingo in the past, I have had numerous issues with their software on the iPhone and on the Mac. Also, I frequently find their “mobile” software doesn’t allow me to log into hotspots I use frequently. Enter iPass, who has been at this remote access game longer. They still provide dialup Internet access on the road, but also provide Internet access through a number of other mechanisms, including many of the same WiFi hotspots Boingo does. Their iPhone app works pretty well. More options is good, and when providing reliable remote access solutions, experience counts.

A Travel Router: Because one never knows exactly what kind of broadband connectivity one will find at a hotel, and I have multiple devices that might need to use that Internet access, a travel router has a place in my bag. I can plug it into the hotel Ethernet and make it WiFi so my laptop and my mobile phones can connect to it. I currently use a first-generation WTR54GS from Linksys, which I have flashed with the flexible DD-WRT firmware.

The EVERYMAN Headset: Yes, with Skype, one needs a quality headset for an optimal experience. The EVERYMAN delivers in terms of cost and compactness in my travel bag. Yes, they gave me a review unit a few months ago, but at $23 shipped to my door, I’d happily buy another one!

An Extra Change of Clothes: One thing I learned from a professional services guy I worked with early in my career is that you never know when you will get stuck someplace on the road. Flights get canceled or severely delayed. Any number of accidents can happen involving your clothing, as well. As a result, I always–even on short trips–bring an extra change of clothes with me. I have never had to use them, thankfully, but it’s nice to know they’re there if I need them.

An Extra Bag: Yes, I actually pack an extra bag in my carryon. It’s one of those nylon “recyclable” bags you might get at a grocery store. This particular one folds up nicely with a velcro flap to keep it a nice, tidy bundle. However, if I end up picking up a few extra things on my travels, having a way to carry that stuff home is important.

Comments

21 October 2009, SuzanneC writes: Another item that you and your readers might want to consider for your "Travel Tool Box" is a new up-and-coming VoIP service called www.friendcaller.com, a browser-based P2P VoIP application based on the Java platform. I'm representing FriendCaller, and we've gotten some great feedback from travelers who like having the ability to talk with their friends back home, for free, via their Web browsers through the FriendCaller platform. Not only do they find it simple to use, but it also saves a lot of money on calling plans. FriendCaller just released its new iPhone/iPod app, FriendCaller 3 Pro, which enables users to send a CallMe link from their iPhone/iPod to anyone on the Internet, and they can talk for free, over WiFi, to their friends.

Business Idea: iPhone + Global SIM == PROFIT

PhoneBoy — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 08:19:47 +0000

Pat Phelan and others gotta be thinking about this: how to pair up their global SIM with the iPhone without, say, encouraging people to unlock their handset or using SIM hacking tools. My answer: become an authorized “carrier” partner with Apple. Sell the iPhone with your SIM. Make it easy for people to go iPhone and not be ripped off for global roaming.

My guess is that the price would have to be unsubsidized, since there’s no proper monthly fee charged by these service providers. You might also consider disabling GPRS data by default since many of these “global SIMs” don’t offer data, or don’t do it at an affordable enough rate to use for anything more than a small amount of data.

Or do one better. Does Apple allow you to use, say, an iPhone you bought through AT&T with an O2 SIM? O2 is Apple’s carrier partner in the UK? If it does, then provided Apple “authorizes” the MaxRoam (or other global) SIM for use in the Apple iPhone, they don’t even need to sell the phone!

Of course, this will probably never happen. But it’s a nice idea.

Comments

8 December 2008, unlock iphone writes: Love your weblog. I have bookmarked it!
8 December 2008, dziny writes: Daemon, in many European countries iPhone is sold unlocked or even has to be sold unlocked by law. So this issue never arises, you can pop in and out any SIM card you have such as MAXROAM. I guess the real issue is that in the US AT&T will not provide unlock even after staying a while with them as is the practice will all other models.
2 January 2009, PhoneBoy writes: The problem I experience is a US one for sure. Some countries have more enlightened laws related to this.

GorillaPod Focus: Flexible Tripods For The Professionals

PhoneBoy — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 04:33:04 +0000

The Gorillapod Focus is a tripod designed for professional-grade cameras. Unlike most tripods that have rigid legs, the Gorillapod has flexible, yet sturdy legs, allowing you to, for instance, wrap the tripod around a post, or fold it up into an interesting shape. The camera attaches to the tripod with either a 1/4″ or 3/8″ screws (adapter included).

I don’t think I have a camera that weighs even close to 11 pounds–which is how much this little tripod will hold. If I did, this might be one of the tripods I would carry. It’d be cool if the tripod were longer, but even at 11 inches, you should be able to wrap this thing around something taller, if you need to!

At $149, it’s a bit pricey, but you have to remember where this is aimed at: people with several thousand dollar cameras. If your needs are a bit more modest and you have a smaller, lighter (up to 7 ounce) point-and-shoot camera, you can try the original Gorillapod for $24.95, including free ground shipping!

A Man Can Love A Snowflake!

PhoneBoy — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 04:01:45 +0000

No, not a snowflake snowflake, the Snowflake from Blue Microphones!

This little USB microphone is about the size of a deck of card, when folded up. When you separate the white plastic from the aluminum base with the microphone–they pull apart easily–you can either put the microphone on top of your monitor–it hooks on an LCD monitor, or you can set it on your desk. An included USB cable is hooked to the back of the microphone.

The sound quality? Pretty good! I used the Skype test call plus a call with a friend of mine to verify the audio quality. It will be a worthy addition to my laptop bag for travel.

I’ve heard Andy Abramson use this microphone with Ken Rutkowski on KenRadio and have heard the recordings over Skype, it sounds great. That is, when Andy has a good Internet connection

You can get the Blue Snowflake for $69 (or less) from a local Blue Microphones dealer or through the Internet, of course. Well worth it if you want your voice to sound good on the go!

Pondering The Data Roaming Question

PhoneBoy — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 08:16:48 +0000

Image via Wikipedia

I got my last mobile phone bill from work. Ok, we really don’t get bills like you might get for your personal line, but we can certainly find out what it costs. I about hit the floor when I saw the amount of my last bill.

See, in June, I was in Ottawa for 5 days. That made my bill a bit on the insane side. I was curious what exactly caused the massive jump, so I ordered detailed billing records for my AT&T line.

As I expected, it was my 5 days in Ottawa that did it. While voice roaming was high, I didn’t make a whole lot of calls, so it was a relatively small amount. Text messaging gets expensive at $0.50 an outgoing message, but there wasn’t too many of those.

Data was the culprit. Big time. Approximately $12.50 a megabyte. I did not use an excessive amount of data–just had email going. That was enough to account for a large jump in my bill.

As I periodically go to Ottawa, it’d be nice to have a SIM to stick in my phone that gives me something resembling a fair price on data and calls. It’s (obviously) not something I’d use except when in Ottawa. Aside from getting a prepaid Rogers SIM (or ordering a Rogers SIM internally), what other suggestions do you have?

Comments

23 September 2008, spg writes: on blackberry and other BES enabled devices it is possible to get AT&T plans with unlimited international usage for email only. can not quite recall where but i do believe i have heard of a blackberry enterprise server(BES) plugin for symbian devices.
23 September 2008, PhoneBoy writes: Blackberry isn't corporate dogfood, so it's unlikely I will be able to get a BES plan. AT&T has international data roaming plans, but they aren't fantastic and not something I want to keep paying month after month for.

MAXroam Goes v2, Adds Cheaper US Roaming and Data!

PhoneBoy — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 08:55:36 +0000

Pat Phelan, admist the hullabaloo of DEMO and TC50 lauched MAXroam v2. What’s new?

USA Roaming rate now starting at 0.39 EUR a minute
Data now available starting at 0.005 EUR per KB
New, easier-to-use website
Some other behind-the-scenes improvements.

Cool stuff. I’d like to see the U.S. roaming rates lower, but I understand why it’s not. It’s still better than what your local operator is likely to charge to roam here.

I was unable to find the data rate quoted anywhere on the official, public site, but I know Pat’s an upstanding fellow and that detail probably got overlooked. Meanwhile, it’s a victory for the little guy who has to use his mobile phone in foreign lands.

Comments

10 September 2008, spg writes: this not not meant to criticize maxroam but rather the cost of mobile data in general when not an unlimited bundle. if my calculation are right a single 4.5GB DVD download would cost 22,500 euros(about $35,000.00). there has got to be a better way.
11 September 2008, PhoneBoy writes: No doubt that's correct. Unfortunately, the carriers are only going to sell "unlimited" data packages to their own customers, not via wholesale. Roaming--particularly international roaming--is a cash cow for these carriers.

Aircell Isn’t Blocking all Forms of VoIP

PhoneBoy — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 08:36:35 +0000

Andy made a big splash on Twitter (and throughout the blogosphere) when he announced that he had a call on an airplane thanks to Phweet. I, of course, don’t deny it happened, but I want to warn everyone that this could easily be blocked in the future.

This probably won’t make a lot of sense without knowing what Aircell and Phweet are. Aircell is American Airlines new WiFi in the sky service that recently launched. The reported restrictions on this service are that VoIP applications are disallowed. Skype, interestingly enough, can be used without using the voice calling.

Phweet is Stuart Henshall and David Beckemeyer’s latest brainchild, making it possible for two (or more) people to set up a voice call using only your twitter credentials. No phone numbers needed. One of the ways you can connect into Phweet is through a flash widget provided by TringMe, which uses standard HTTP to communicate.

And therein lies the hole. Unlike with SIP-based solutions like SightSpeed, which reportedly failed after about 10 seconds, TringMe’s widget was able to bust through whatever Aircell is doing to block VoIP calls on the planes. The reason? The traffic looks like normal web traffic.

In some sense, that’s correct. However, if you were to look at that HTTP traffic more closely, you can figure out that something doesn’t look right about that HTTP traffic. An HTTP proxy seems to thwart the TringMe widget. Forcing the traffic through a proxy–or looking for the “signature” of this TringMe widget–is all you need to be able to block thhis flash widget without impacting other widgets (e.g. YouTube, Hulu).

Of course, like porn finds its way around the filters, you can likely find ways around this blockage. That being said, voice traffic has a certain fingerprint that is hard to mask, even if you were to encrypt the traffic. I have no doubt that Aircell, if it so chooses, could make it very difficult for this traffic to get through. I wouldn’t count on this “hole” working for long.

Comments

22 August 2008, Andy’s Phweet Aircell call — Alec Saunders SquawkBox writes: [...] Aircell Isn’t Blocking all Forms of VoIP [...]
22 August 2008, VoIP Blogging writes: t work we tried a Flash based solution through Phweet (you use your Twitter account to sign in). Some related posts from Technorati and Google. [The PhoneBoy Blog]Aircell Isn’t Blocking all Forms of VoIP: Unlike with SIP-based solutions like SightSpeed, which reportedly failed after about 10 seconds, TringMe’s widget was able to bust through whatever Aircell is doing to block VoIP calls on the planes. The reason?
23 August 2008, links for 2008-08-23 | stuart henshall writes: [...] Aircell Isn’t Blocking all Forms of VoIP on One Phweet Conversation Over AirCell": made a big splash on Twitter (and throughout the blogosphere) when... [...]
25 August 2008, JimAtJaxtr writes: Perhaps they haven't moved to block that loophole yet because there aren't enough people using it yet to really impact revenue. Could be a cost thing that it's more costly to figure out how to fix it currently than to let the small number of people using that route do it. It'll be interesting to see what they do.
31 August 2008, Communications and Technology Blog - Tehrani.com writes: blocking on planes and the associated ways of getting around said blocking. Long story short -- SIP was being blocked on American Airline flights but Flash widgets were not blocked. Andy Abramson has an original post on the matter and PhoneBoy hasthoughtson why airplane broadband providers can likely block anything thrown at them. Like I said a while back -- isn't it amazing how much effort airlines throw at stopping passengers from talking on phones when they don't get paid by the minute? I remember
6 November 2008, TringMe - In New and Blogs writes: [...] Aircell Isn’t Blocking all Forms of VoIP | Aug 22, 2008 [...]

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