Work around the pitfalls of wireless functionality
About 5 years ago, I tested my first wireless email device—an early wireless modem that I plugged into a Windows CE 1.0-based handheld PC (H/PC). The combination was large and clumsy but much smaller and lighter than any notebook PC. I took the device on a business trip, and when I arrived at my hotel, I tossed my suitcase on the bed and automatically began searching the room for a power outlet near the phone. I planned to go through my usual routine of checking my email while waiting for room service. I was about to dial room service when I realized that I didn't need a phone to check my mail. I had a battery-powered Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) and a wireless modem. After ensuring that wireless connectivity worked in Seattle, I left the hotel and read my email at a local sushi bar.
After that experience, I didn't want to return the test device to the vendor. When I inquired about the cost of keeping it, I was shocked. The vendor wanted $500 for the modem, and the attendant service would run as high as $400 per month. Needless to say, I resigned myself to wired email, but I've always cherished that experience—and I've taken every opportunity to test new wireless alternatives.
Through the years, I've learned a great deal about how to use wireless email. The technology is one of the most exciting to come along in years, but it's also one of the most problematic for systems administrators. If you're interested in wireless technologies, you need to understand the basic types of devices. In their current state, these devices offer many benefits but also introduce many problems. Keep reading: I have a solution that might work well in your environment.
Two Kinds of Wireless Devices
I've used many kinds of wireless devices for email access, including wireless modems that work with both PDAs and notebook PCs, and various pagers. I've also used digital cell phones—either with a PDA or by themselves—for email. In my experience, these devices fall into two broad categories: devices that require you to use a special email account specific to the device and devices that give you access to your regular email account.
That wireless modem that I tested in Seattle had its own email address, as do most pagers and dedicated wireless devices, such as the Palm VIIx that I carry today. These devices don't give you direct access to the Internet or corporate data, but they provide access to email and other services specific to the device. For the purpose of this column, I call all wireless devices that have their own email address first-generation devices. (At first glance, first-generation devices seem needlessly complex—because of the need for a separate email address—but as you'll see in a moment, you can work around that complexity.)
Second-generation devices—those that provide wireless access to your regular email account—include notebook PCs or PDAs that use a Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD) modem, or PDAs that work in conjunction with a cell phone that's based on the Global Standard Messaging (GSM) or personal communications services (PCS) standard. Unlike first-generation devices, these devices give you direct wireless access to the Internet and corporate data. Palm users can get a Mobile Internet Kit (MIK), which lets you connect the PDA to a digital cell phone and use the cell phone as a wireless modem. An MIK will work with a slew of GSM and PCS phones. (For a list of such phones, go to http://www.palm.com/software/mik/phone.html.) Most Windows CE and Pocket PC users can obtain the same functionality by using a Socket Communications Digital Phone Card (DPC). Socket Communications' DPC cards also work with notebook PCs.
Second-generation devices should—by nature—be superior to first-generation devices, but for three reasons, this expectation isn't always met. First, no second-generation device provides coverage that is truly nationwide. (Some first-generation devices—notably pagers—do.) These devices are all based on some flavor of digital cellular service. As travelers are all too aware, not all services are available in all areas. CDPD is particularly annoying because the modem requires a separate account with a wireless carrier (just like a cell phone). Service is flawless in major metropolitan areas, but you're likely to encounter gaps in coverage when you travel the countryside.
Second, none of the broadly available wireless technologies provide a data rate higher than 19.2Kbps, which simply isn't fast enough to let you efficiently access a regular email account. To compensate for this deficiency, the email applications built into wireless-capable PDAs let you view only message headers. You then decide whether to download a complete message. However, you end up wasting time looking through headers of messages that you won't download. And don't even think about downloading binary attachments. Although some devices (e.g., Windows CE 3.x- and Windows CE 2.x- based H/PCs, Pocket PCs) let you download attachments at 19.2Kbps or slower, the download takes an eternity. (As a workaround, some people carry a wired modem. When they need to download a long message or attachment, they find a phone line and power outlet and connect the old-fashioned way.)