Best cell phone/plan for pilots

Ben Hallert wrote:

Followup, I've got a corporate pilot friend who's looking for a phone
rec (any service provider) that he can get good weather maps on. I
think he wants more than the tiny radar GIFs, any suggestions? He's
not rich, so no $800 phones.

Treo? Blackberry? What're you guys using?

I have a Treo 600 right now. The resolution of the screen isn't good
enough for weather maps. The 650 has twice the resolution and would be
really good for that. My next phone will be Windows based. I like the
Treo's but the screen is too small. I have decided on the Verizon
XV6700. It has the bigger screen and runs Windows Mobile 5. I have WM5
on my Dell Axim and like it.

The best bet in the boonies is analog. The digital service is taking
over the high population areas, but analog still rules in the sticks.
The best cheap phone for boonies is an old fashioned bag phone.
Instead of .6 watts power, they have 3 watts power. This makes a
considerable difference in area of reception. I've been able to get
them at Goodwill for about $10. The only trick is to find someone who
can program it to work with your provider. I searched internet for the
"Motorola Bible" and in it are instructions on how to program the
phone. You need to get some setting stuff from Verizon and program
that into the phone. You need to call back Verizon and tell them you
have a new phone and give them the electronic serial number. In a
minute you are good to go.

I've been using a bag phone for the boonies for the last five years.
It will work almost everywhere I go in the Great Basin of Oregon,
Nevada, and California. In many places I can get reception, my wife's
regular phone won't even get one bar.

The bag phone won't have any bells and whistles, but for emergency use,
it is great.

tom

I don't live in the boonies but I am frequently there. One of the
things I was most concerned about with my Treo was that it was digital
only. It has proven to be a nonissue. I always buy a phone that has a
jack on the back for an external antenna. I have a mag mount antenna
for my truck. There's a place in northern Montana where we hunt, about
20 miles south of the Canadian border. I get 1 bar at the top of any
hill. We are about 25 miles from the nearest cell site. A bag phone
will work better than a cell phone without an external antenna but not
even in the same league as any cell phone with one. Transmitting is
usually not the problem, it is receiving. If you can't receive the cell
it is irrelavant how many watts you can transmit. If you can receive
then a 1/2 watt transmitter is adequate.




tom wrote:
The best bet in the boonies is analog. The digital service is taking
over the high population areas, but analog still rules in the sticks.
The best cheap phone for boonies is an old fashioned bag phone.
Instead of .6 watts power, they have 3 watts power. This makes a
considerable difference in area of reception. I've been able to get
them at Goodwill for about $10. The only trick is to find someone who
can program it to work with your provider. I searched internet for the
"Motorola Bible" and in it are instructions on how to program the
phone. You need to get some setting stuff from Verizon and program
that into the phone. You need to call back Verizon and tell them you
have a new phone and give them the electronic serial number. In a
minute you are good to go.

I've been using a bag phone for the boonies for the last five years.
It will work almost everywhere I go in the Great Basin of Oregon,
Nevada, and California. In many places I can get reception, my wife's
regular phone won't even get one bar.

The bag phone won't have any bells and whistles, but for emergency use,
it is great.

tom

From the TracFone Coverage Map page:

TracFone® provides nationwide prepaid wireless service. We use the
nation's leading cellular providers to create a national footprint
covering 99% of the U.S. population. This gives you service everywhere
cellular service is available.

I meant to say Tracfone not TracPhone.

Where my wife's cingular has no serve, my TracFone does. Where my
dauther's Verison has no serve, my TracFone does.

John Hudson Tiner

Marc:

Is your primary concern the handsets ability to grab a weak signal and still
make a call successfully, or is your priority to have a multifunction device
that will allow you to check radar images, etc?

If it's the former, then the earlier suggestion to get an old fashioned
bagphone will be unparalleled. They are pretty archaic, but they will work
where pretty much any other phone would fail you, even in the weakest signal
locations. Just forget about internet, or even text messaging for that
matter. I don't think you can really even buy them new anymore (I could be
wrong, though) but you'll have no problem finding one used.

If your interest is the latter, then there's lots of options that are
surprisingly cheap. I know you mentioned that really expensive ones are out
of the question, so that probably eliminates the Treo/Blackberry option, but
have you considered a Sidekick?

I know it carries a bit of a stigma as a "Kid" device, but I've owned for
for 2+ years now and it is the absolute best bang for the dollar when it
comes to a multifunction device that is not only a phone, but a good
internet-capable data device.

There's nothing more reassuring then sitting in the cockpit just before
startup and getting a live radar image of your destination, or pulling up a
METAR/TAF while waiting for wx.

There's lots of handhelds that will allow you to do this, but none that will
do it for the downright cheap price that you can get a Sidekick for.

No, the screen isn't the size of a Treo/Blackberry, but it works well in my
experiences.
--
Regards, Mark.
http://www.oshawapilot.ca
Unmunge my email address to respond directly...

tom wrote:
The best bet in the boonies is analog. The digital service is taking
over the high population areas, but analog still rules in the sticks.
The best cheap phone for boonies is an old fashioned bag phone.
Instead of .6 watts power, they have 3 watts power.

Don't forget about the option for an external antenna. A good antenna
can make .6 watts look like 6 watts on both RX and TX. You may have to
look hard for an antenna that has that much gain, it will likely be a
directional antenna. Just be sure your phone has the connectors and
jacks needed to attach an external antenna. Also one thing to keep in
mind, with certain digital modes, it doesn't matter how strong the
signal is if you are more than a certain distance away. I think that
distance is around 20 miles. There is a some kind of handshake routine
that is timed and if it takes your phone more than the alloted time to
respond, it wont work even if there is plenty of signal strength. Sorry
I don't remember for sure which digital service this is, but I think it
is GSM.

--
Chris W
KE5GIX

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Chris W wrote:
There is a some kind of handshake routine
that is timed and if it takes your phone more than the alloted time to
respond, it wont work even if there is plenty of signal strength. Sorry
I don't remember for sure which digital service this is, but I think it
is GSM.

It's not CDMA as I get 20-25 miles with my external nondirectional mag
mount antenna on my truck.

OK thanks for all the opinions, looks like I should stick with a phone
with analog capabilities for a while longer. 99% of my usage is in a
digital area, but its pretty important to have the analog available for
when I fly out of town.

I chose the LG VX5200. Not a particularly highly-rated phone, but not
any worse than what I have now (CDM8900). It is however, one of the few
analog-capable phones Verizon offers at this point. And cheap enough
that I can upgrade later if something better comes along.