At 12:06 AM -0500 1/1/00, NewtonTalk wrote:
>I wish. In a few areas of the country Metricom/Ricochet provides
>wireless access, but their modem ISN'T a PCMCIA card last I heard; it's
>an external box. Someone from the Stanford NUG sent me email recently
>from one.
Metricom is rolling out Ricochet service in other major cities
nationwide (US) in 2000. However, as a Ricochet user I can make a
few comments about how well the service works with a Newton.
Basically, as long as you are stationary, the Ricochet-Newton
combination works reasonably well. Speed is acceptable. Sometimes the
connection will drop off for no apparent reason -- the signal
strength bars will be at maximum, you'll be humming along, when all
of a sudden, POOF, disconnected. The real problem is that the NEWTON
side appears disconnected, but the RICOCHET still shows as being
connected to the network. So you then have to cycle power to the
modem, and reestablish your NIE connection. This is pretty irritating
when it happens since it takes a good 30 seconds or so.
This random disconnection happens occasionally while stationary, but
VERY OFTEN when in motion, i.e. in a moving vehicle. I find that the
Ricochet is essentially unusuable in a moving vehicle because these
disconnects will happen every minute or two, and it takes at least 30
seconds to recover from each.
Again, the Ricochet modem's indicator shows the modem is still
connected, but the Newton has closed the NIE connection and so you
have to repeat the power cycle/re-establish connection routine very
often. This fact makes me suspect that there's something in NIE that
isn't well suited to mobile connectivity, that the NIE isn't robust
enough to handle wireless communications.
-Jeremy
Jeremy Bond Shepherd | There's something about a martini
San Francisco, CA | 'ere the dining and dancing begin.
Internet: jbond@netcom.com | To tell you the truth.
Phone 415-929-0297 | It is not the vermouth.
| I think perhaps it's the gin. -Ogden Nash
PGP Public key can be found on most servers.
******************************************
This month's NewtonTalk brought to you by:
EVOTE.COM, the ultimate Political Junkie site on the 'Net.
The Clinton Administration, the George Bush
2000 Campaign, and almost every other major
U.S. politician has said something nasty
about us at some time. Find out why at:
http://www.evote.com
******************************************
Need Subscribe/Unsubscribe info?
Visit http://www.planetnewton.com
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Feb 01 2000 - 00:01:03 EST