860 connection options in Tokyo

[zauromite]

Hi All,
I was wondering if any 860 users in Tokyo could recommend the best ways to get online here.  Even though this is the land of the zaurus, it's hard to get English info anywhere, so any help would be greatly appreciated.  From what I can tell, wifi is kinda useless since access points are uncommon, so it seems the best options are:

1) bluetooth via the new FOMA F900iT phone,
2) cellular modem FOMA card
3) cellular modem Kwins card.

Since I have nothing right now except the zaurus, it seems that 3 is the cheapest and also best solution, but will it work with any ROMs other than the stock Sharp ROM?  It would be a shame to be stuck with that ROM.

For option 2, will the FOMA card driver (since it is an IPK file) work with the Cacko ROM?  What is the monthly cost for unlimited bandwidth?

Has anybody tried option #1?

Thanks for your help!

[jamesannan]

Wifi is certainly not "useless" if you are happy with intermitttent access. Many Yodobashi Camera stores have free wifi spots, and there seem to be quite a lot of cafes/hotels too.

eg

http://www.freespot.com/users/map_e.html

Can't help on the other options, sorry (and I haven't got much experience of wifi either, but enough to know it exists!).

James

[zauromite]

Yeah, I guess I'm looking for something more than intermittent.  I'd like to have something like the "always available" access that treo users in the US have.

The big problem with all the cellular modem options is that the drivers (IPK files) will probably only work with Qtopia based ROMs (am I correct about this?).  I'd really like full ROM flexibility...after all, isn't that half the fun?  Given that criteria, the best solution I can think of is to go with the bluetooth option since bluetooth (in general) will be supported by any ROM.  I feel like there must be other options though, but I can't think of any.  Anybody?

[ashikase]

If you already have the FOMA phone or are already planning to buy it, I would probably go with option 1 over option 2 (less bills/paperwork to worry about) . Here is a link discussing the FOMA flat-rate option (extra 4000yen/mo).

If you already have a phone that doesn't support Bluetooth, you can buy a serial cable to attach it to the Z.

I would recommend staying away from services such as AirH" and DoCoMo's @FreeD... they are both really, really slow (I know from experience). I have no idea what kind of speeds to expect through FOMA (or AU's flat-rate option with CDMA1xWin).

There may be other options available in Tokyo... I don't know, as I live closer to Nagoya.

- ashikase
  anpachi, gifu, japan

[zauromite]

Hi Ashikase,

I was wondering how you got @FreeD working.  I found a driver for it here:

http://support.ezaurus.com/kyotsu/update/s...l_2pwl.asp#C760

but whenever I try to install it (running Cacko on my 860) I get a error "The filename of this package includes chracter this application can't handle.  Please change the filename and retry install."  Of course changing the filename results in the error along the lines of "the filename is not <insert driver name here>.  Change filename and retry."  

Are you running the original Japanese ROM?  I'm wondering if there is a japanese character in there that's screwing stuff up.

I guess if the 64k for @FreeD is too slow, I could try the 128k KWINS option, but I actually get the same error when installing that driver also!

As for other options, I've tried to buy a serial cable, but the sales guys at the 2 stores I've tried both said that such an item doesn't exist between the 860 and a Mova phone.  Of course, I doubt this would be much faster than 64k anyway, right?

That leaves FOMA as the only fast options.  I've looked at the one existing bluetooth phone (the F900iT) but it's huge!  It's the largest phone Docomo has by a noticeable margin.  Bluetooth phone connection is probably a good option once a smaller bluetooth phone comes out.

The last option is the FOMA 384k packet service with p2402 card.  That driver gives me the same error as the others, but even if it did work apparently the service is very expensive for web surfing since they charge by the packet.

Anybody have any suggestions?  Ashikase, how slow was the service in real world terms?  i.e. roughly how long would it take to bring up a site like google or cnn or slashdot?

thanks,
Zauromite

[kenroy]

I started using KWINS for PDA a few months ago and can say it's been worth the money so far. 14,000 yen for the CF card and 21,000 yen for a 12 month license (plus a free month in promotion). It works at many train/subway stations in town and you even get a global IP address! If you're OK with just a 128K always-on connection then it's a pretty good deal.

-kenroy