Beyond the Dial Tone
From photo sharing to instant messaging, new cell-phone services offer far more than voice calls. We rate your options and identify the glitches.Anne Kandra
Contributing Editor Anne Kandra writes the Consumer Watch column for PC World.
Photograph by Kevin Candland
These days you can instant-message a group of friends, check your bank account balance, snap a photo and send it to Aunt Julie, catch up on your e-mail, check the weather forecast and news headlines, sync up with the calendar on your computer, download a game, and finally, call in sick to the office--all using one device.
By most accounts, the evolution of mobile phones into voice, data, and Internet devices is just getting started. Motorola, Nokia, and other companies are making their gadgets more versatile, adding features like cameras, voice recorders, and tiny keyboards. Meanwhile, service providers are ramping up wireless network technologies that will allow for bandwidth-hungry tasks like videoconferencing and streaming video.
While research shows that U.S. users still are more interested in making calls than in, say, playing blackjack over the phone or watching a movie trailer, wireless insiders are optimistic about the future. "Carriers are pumping money into development based on the 'build it and they will come' model," explains Avi Greengart, lead wireless analyst at Jupiter Research. "They're banking on [shopper interest and adoption] to take off as the devices improve."
Maybe so, but the first challenge facing users is to make sense of the vast array of providers, plans, and features. So I compared data service plans and tried out features offered by six national carriers: AT&T Wireless, Cingular, Nextel, Sprint PCS, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless. (At press time, Cingular announced plans to acquire AT&T Wireless. Cingular said there would be no immediate changes for users, though the deal should mean expanded coverage for each carrier's customers.)
For each carrier, I focused on five categories: messaging (both text and instant through services such as AOL Instant Messenger, MSN Messenger, and Yahoo Messenger); photo sharing; e-mail; file downloads; and Web browsing. I used each service to send both e-mail and text messages, including SMS (short messaging system) and MMS (multimedia messaging system).
MMS messages (which may include photo, video, and/or audio attachments) can't be sent between different carriers. For example, I tried unsuccessfully to send a photo from a Sprint phone to a Cingular phone. In some instances, however, if you transmit a photo via MMS, the picture is replaced with a text message that points the recipient to a Web site, which is best viewed on a PC.
Cingular spokesperson Ken Keatley says the company is negotiating with other carriers to allow intercarrier MMS service and expects agreements by midyear. At this time, no such agreements exist.
For e-mail, carriers typically support AOL, MSN Hotmail, Yahoo, and POP3 accounts. Users are required to configure the e-mail settings on their phone. For an additional fee, you can use Microsoft Outlook and Lotus Notes on Sprint and T-Mobile phones.
All the carriers here, except Nextel, offer camera phones that let you exchange photos with an e-mail account or with a phone that uses the same carrier; I sent photos (and in one case, a short video). I also downloaded fancy ring tones, games, and graphics such as screen savers and wallpaper.
Many of the phones I looked at came with some free content, but you'll have to pay for additional programs, with prices starting at $1 for, say, a game or a ring tone. Business applications, such as personal information managers and currency conversion tools, are costlier, typically as much as $20. Acquiring apps usually is a simple matter of selecting the file you want and downloading it to your phone.
Finally, I checked out each carrier's Web accessibility and its online resources. Unlike a PC browser, cell phone browsers use a formatting standard called WAP (wireless application protocol) that makes Web sites easier to view on small screens. WAP pages strip out most of the graphics and give you just the text.
You can browse through news, sports, weather, entertainment, search engine, shopping, and travel sites, such as ABC News, CNN, ESPN, The Weather Channel, Zagat Online, Google, Amazon, and Fodors. Special-interest sites cover a range of topics from astrology to personal investing. Most carriers also provide tools to help you locate nearby attractions (such as restaurants and movie theaters), get driving directions from services like MapQuest, and check traffic.
Monthly Charges (chart)
The costs of using data services add up, and prices are all over the map.
Beyond the Dial Tone (cont'd)
AT&T Wireless
Photo friendly: LG's LX5450 camera phone (left) and Motorola's V300 allow you to send pictures easily.
AT&T offers a full set of data-service options to take advantage of its newest wireless network, called EDGE (enhanced data rates for global evolution)--an upgrade to its existing network that promises users with certain phones data speeds three to four times faster than previously available, says company representative Ritch Blasi.
I tested AT&T's services using Motorola's MPx200, a clamshell-design handset that runs Microsoft's Windows Mobile software and syncs up with Outlook. The phone's browser is familiar and easy to navigate because it's based on Internet Explorer, but I found AT&T's coverage inconsistent in my stomping grounds. For example, I connected fine in the Washington, D.C., area, but never found any service just north of Boston.
You can choose from four AT&T MMode plans; costs vary depending on how much data is allotted. MMode plans are billed in addition to regular monthly calling plans, which range from $20 to $300 a month. A feature called My MMode lets you customize your phone by saving and organizing your settings, favorite links, and files such as photos, ring tones, and graphics.
Cingular
If you can't find a calling plan that suits you at Cingular, you're just not trying. Cingular offers 40 different plans in six categories, with prices from $20 to $250 a month.
The company's data-service plans aren't much easier to decipher. Cingular's Wireless Internet plan gets you online for $4 a month, but deducts the minutes from your calling plan. For a plan with no airtime charges, the company offers Wireless Internet Express. The Wireless Internet service is available across the entire Cingular network. The Express service is available on 90 percent of the network; Cingular expects coverage to extend across its entire network by midyear.
If you're not sure which of its services to sign up for, Cingular provides a chart on its Web site that lists the amount of data used in typical data transmissions. For example, sending a short e-mail uses about 5 kilobytes; checking news headlines and reading an article uses about 10KB. Such file sizes are roughly similar across all carriers.
You can also sign up for extra services like group messaging, which lets you send a single message to a group of users, and customized information alerts (so you can, for example, receive a traffic report every weekday at 5 p.m.).
Browsing the Web on Cingular using the Nokia 6800 was cumbersome, requiring multiple clicks to navigate, open links, and scroll through text on its small screen. Also, you must wait for each action to complete, and my connection timed out several times.
Nextel
Think of Nextel as the conservative older brother to the teen-targeting, hipster-hyping wireless companies.
Nextel does not offer camera phones or MMS. "We're focused on the business and enterprise user who isn't necessarily interested in a lot of multimedia bells and whistles," says spokesperson Rich Pesce. (Nextel does have a division targeted at teens called Boost Mobile, which offers pay-as-you-go cell phones and entertainment services in California and Nevada only.)
I tried Nextel's service on the Motorola i730 cell phone that runs DirectConnect, Nextel's walkie-talkie feature. I found the i730's interface easy to navigate, but clicking and scrolling through text was slow.
Despite the service's lack of MMS, it offers many business applications (such as expense logs and loan calculators) and sites, including TheDeal.com, which tracks business mergers and venture capital news, and AlertUSA, which monitors homeland security.
The provider's voice plans range in price from $20 to $200 a month.
Sprint PCS
If it can be done on a cell phone, chances are you can do it on a Sprint PCS phone.
The company's PCS Vision service includes a full gamut of messaging, downloading, and Web browsing features that you can tack on to any of the provider's calling plans, which cost from $35 to $115 a month. PCS Vision also includes Sprint's push-to-talk (walkie-talkie) feature, ReadyLink. With a camera-enabled Sprint phone, users can capture and send photos and 15-second videos.
I tried the PCS Vision service on a Palm One Treo 600 PDA/phone hybrid and on a Sanyo SCP-5500 (VM4500) camera phone. The Sanyo is a compact unit with a crisp, 2.1-inch screen and video-capture capability. Sprint offers multimedia utilities that let you play short, on-demand video clips, set alerts, and more.
I used the camera to send photos and video clips (of my son rock climbing) to another Sprint PCS phone and to several e-mail accounts. Video was shaky, and the sound was muddy. But watching video on your cell phone is still one of the coolest games in town.
In addition, at press time Sprint was the only carrier to offer so-called television on a phone. On the Sanyo I installed MobiTV (developed by Idetic), an applet that turns the screen into a tiny TV. For an extra $10 a month, you can choose from about 14 channels, including MSNBC, TLC, and Discovery Kids. While the video was very choppy--one to two frames per second--the audio was good enough to make it entertaining.
Beyond the Dial Tone (cont'd)
T-Mobile
Keyboard on board: Cingular offers the Nokia 6800 (left), and T-Mobile sells Research In Motion's BlackBerry 7230.
You'll find a rich collection of data services, including video messaging, at T-Mobile.
You have to puzzle your way through the company's maze of plans, which have odd names like GetMore Max and FamilyTime Plus. Calling plans range from about $20 to $130 per month (T-Mobile also offers separate plans for businesses, as well as for BlackBerry and Sidekick PDA users).
I tried T-Mobile on a Motorola V300 camera phone and had no trouble snapping and sending photos to several e-mail accounts. I also tried the company's service on a BlackBerry 7230, a device that is much better suited for messaging and other online tasks. The unit's larger screen made Web browsing easy, and T-Mobile's connection was stable and speedy in my area.
Verizon
Subscribers to Verizon Wireless's Get It Now Web service should soon be getting it a whole lot faster.
This summer the company plans to start upgrading its wireless network with a nationwide program called Broadband Access (the service is already available in San Diego and in Washington, D.C.). Company spokesperson Ken Muche says the technology will let users Web surf at speeds of 300 to 550 kbps.
By comparison, most GPRS networks (AT&T's earlier spec, Cingular, T-Mobile, and Nextel) generally operate at dial-up speeds, while CDMA networks (Sprint PCS and the current Verizon network) are only slightly faster than dial-up. AT&T's newer EDGE network is three to four times as fast as dial-up. But in my experience with any network, going online on a cell phone still tends to be sluggish.
Verizon's Broadband Access will cost around $80 a month, on top of the calling plan, which ranges from $35 to $300 a month. Handsets with Broadband Access service, along with video messaging and multiplayer gaming, will be available later this year.
Using an LG VX6000 unit, I downloaded an application by Logitech called Mobile Video (which is $5 a month plus airtime during use) that streams live video; I used it to check out a rather choppy view of traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge. Inexplicably, you can also watch real-time surveillance of an anonymous car wash.
Some of Verizon's phones, including the Motorola V60p, allow you to use push-to-talk.
Whom Can You Trust?
Whether you plan to use your phone to check messages only occasionally or to stay connected around-the-clock, your first consideration in choosing a plan should be basic reliability. You want voice communication to be there when you need it, so make sure to check how good a prospective provider's coverage is in your area. Most cell phone companies offer a 14- to 30-day trial period in which you'll pay only for the minutes you use.
If you can't actually test the service by trying out a phone, talk to your neighbors, and consult Web sites such as PhoneScoop.com, WirelessAdvisor.com, or HowardChui.com, or a blog site such as MobileTracker.net, which includes advice and useful forums with first-hand user feedback about service providers. If you're planning to switch carriers, peruse PC World's tips in the article "Dialed In: You Can Take It With You."
Finally, think about how you'll use your cell phone and its services, and check the details of each plan before you sign on. If you're likely to spend a lot of time online, for example, you might want to look for a plan that charges you for the data--not the airtime--you use. After all, time will simply fly by when you're engrossed in watching that car wash parking lot.