Using a Zaurus as Cell Phone

[nevarrie]

Now that my Treo 180 has died I have bought a cheap gsm phone to hold me till I can find another pda phone.  One of the things I am looking at is Turning my SL-6000L into my cell phone line I did at one point with my Visor deluxe with a SpringBoard Expansion Card.  I know that there are a few CF cards out there for GSM and Sprint has one for PCS.   I have seen discusions about using them for internet connections though has anyone really used one of there cards to turn their Z into their main cellphone that they send a recieve calls with?  

From what I can tell this should be possable I guess I am more interested in if it is practical or if I am better off trying to get a Treo 650 or maybe a Motorola A780...

[dougeeebear]

I am able to connect to the internet with my SL-5500 through my cell phone.
If interested, I will give details.

Doug

[dsavard]

dougeeebear, I don't think that's the aim. The original poster has the same question as myself: Is anyone having experimented with these CF cellphones. The idea is to turn the Z into a cellphone, not connect it to a separate cellphone. We want to reduce the Batman factor by one (removing one of these devices in your belt) and increase the Bond factor, by integrating one more device into an existing one.

Hope this clarify.

However, if your own setup is not yet documented in the howtos, I strongly encourage you to document it and submit a document to integrate in the HOWTOs. For sure, it will help somebody else.

[dougeeebear]

Thank you dsavard for clearing that up.

[dhns]

I have done some initial experiments with the Audiovox RTM8000 but did not find enough time to really use it in daily life. So I have no experience about battery drain and real useability. The card itself is small enough so that it does not disturb other operation.

The RTM8000 comes with an earphone with micro and a button to accept or cancel incoming calls. Dialing out is a little cumbersome as I am not aware of a dedicated phone dialer software for the Z (my own solution within the myPDA-Zaurus-Edition project http://www.dsitri.de/wiki.php?page=Screenshots is not yet completed/working).

So the first step is to install the card (one has to fiddle a little with the serial_cs.o and do an additional serialctl command). Then, a terminal program like minicom can be used to issue an AT command to set the PIN and then ATD to dial (voice mode). There are several threads on ZUG on this topic.

-- hns

[jamesm]

This is an interesting post, I would quite like to try something similar when my 5600 arrives.

The Audiovox RTM8000 is currently not sold outside the EU afaik so you may have to get one imported if you're in the US:
http://www.audiovox.com/webapp/wcs/stores/...12410&langId=-1

I am not aware of a dedicated phone dialer software for the Z (my own solution within the myPDA-Zaurus-Edition project http://www.dsitri.de/wiki.php?page=Screenshots is not yet completed/working).

Lets hope you or someone else has a break through on this soon, its a really good idea

[dsavard]

jamesm: Where did you get the info it is not sold in the US? I would like to check if it is in Canada.

[jamesm]

jamis esm: Where did you get the info it is not sold in the US? I would like to check if it is in Canada.

dsavard: Check out the link I posted to the audiovox site, the relevant quote is below:

**Currently sold only outside the US

I'm sure it doesn't mean that they cannot be obtained from within the US, but it sounds like they're not sold directly from within the country.

If you're unable to get one from Canada then I would be happy to send you one over from the UK.

[dsavard]

jamesm: How much is it selling? I was unable to find the info on the site since the CF phone is not sold at the on-line store.

[jamesm]

dsavard: A quick scout around some UK resellers has found this online store:

http://www.widget.co.uk/asp/product.asp?re...archFor=&PT_ID=

They're selling the unit for 169.99 GBP (~394.72 CAD). I can't say for certain if thats a good price, although widget.co.uk do appear to be fairly competetive on most items in their store.

One way to get around the shipping taxes is to have someone buy it for you and then send it on as a gift. (I'm not sure on the legality of this method) The actual amount of tax/shipping from the UK to Canada is not something I'm familiar with.

[dsavard]

It's too much expensive. I will check if it is selling in Canada today and that's only part of the problem, since cell companies tend to sell subscription with only the cellphones they are reselling.

[dhns]

It's too much expensive. I will check if it is selling in Canada today and that's only part of the problem, since cell companies tend to sell subscription with only the cellphones they are reselling.

That might be the reason why it is not sold in the US...

They might have seen no reason to list the card in catalogs and subsidize it or bundle with a subscription. And 'cause they rarely offer subscriptions without a device, it is no business for Audiovox.

But my card has a FCC number so it is definitely approved for PCS operation.

-- hns

[jamesm]

I can't really comment on the state of cell phone operators in the US/Canada, however European mobile telephone companies have been going through something of a purple patch in the past five years so consequently coverage, service and hardware are readily available and very competetive; price wise.

The main factor in the high price of this card is probably the size of the market. Even with a massive European cell phone user base, there is still limited apeal for users to buy specialist hardware like a GSM CF card.

I may still look into this as an experiment for my 5600; in the UK one can pick up a 'Pay-as-you-talk' SIM card for about 5GBP and talktime prices are coming down all the time.

I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for any word on the introduction of 3G CF cards.... imagine a 400+kbps mobile connection on a pda

[dhns]

I just found by chance that Expansys seems to carry the product in the US and CAN:

http://www.expansys-usa.com/product.asp?code=RTM8000

http://www.expansys.ca/product.asp?code=RTM8000

-- hns

[jamesm]

That brings the price down a fair amount!

Let us know if you manage to get hold of one and get it working.