posted on May 9, 2004 05:38:20 AM new
I posted this question on another board, but only received 2 responses, so I thought you guys could help more. All they told me was "go back to Sprint". Well, I have a 1 year contract with Cingular and the fee is way too much to cancel the contract. Here's the dillema:
I love my gadgets, and I'm in the market for something that I can use on the road for emails and internet. I was using my laptop and my sprint cell phone, but connection was very slow. I'm now with cingular, and they charge by megabyte and not per minute, so I think it's going to be too expensive. The phone I have has bluetooth and the reason I bought that phone was because my PDA has bluetooth, but no one at cingular can help me hook it up (the most horrible customer service I have ever had - talked to them for 3 days straight and twice they hung up on me and one rep never even heard of bluetooth).
So, what do I need to buy? I'm hoping it will be easy and cheap enough that I can check my emails at work too(I'm a visiting nurse, so I'd be checking stuff in my car) without weeding through a bunch of junk on my lunch hour since I spend that time packing and going to the post office.
I think there must be some kind of mini laptop I can use, right? My laptop is pretty old, so even the hotels that have high speed internet don't work on my laptop (I think I need an ethernet connection or something like that)
posted on May 9, 2004 05:45:31 AM new
i would like to know your name and address and where you hang out so i dont ever have to use your service-a visiting nurse checking emails on the road,in the car ,at lunch time and breaks and pack and ship and all that while caring for patients.
My advice is not to go back to Sprint,BUT GO BACK TO BE A GOOD NURSE.
Lord knows we need good medical care in this country real bad!!
-sig file -------we eat to live,not live to eat.
Benjamin Franklin
posted on May 9, 2004 06:07:09 AM new
I don't do the packaging - my husband does that while I'm at work, but I have to print out the shipping labels with endicia and write on the back what goes in them. So I go home for lunch and I have a sandwich waiting for me when I get in the door. I eat while the labels are printing out and then I go back out and see more patients.
I do education for pregnant inner-city teenagers - I'm not giving chemotherapy while I check my emails. If someone isn't home (which is very common with this group of clients) and my next girl doesn't want me to come early, then I have a half hour to an hour to kill with nothing to do. I'm one of those people that need to stay busy all the time.
posted on May 9, 2004 06:13:01 AM new
wow,what a dedicated couple,20/20 will be calling soon!!
-sig file -------we eat to live,not live to eat.
Benjamin Franklin
posted on May 9, 2004 06:30:04 AM new
You know, I work my a** off 7 days a week - get up at 5:00 every morning to start ebay stuff, go to work at 8:00, take an hour off for lunch come home at 5:00, do more ebay stuff (and take care of 3 boys) until I go to bed at 9:00.
If you can't contribute constructively to this thread then why are you bothering to criticize what I do for a living?
Believe me - visiting 6 girls a day that only half listen to what you're saying, want you to magically fix the system so they can stay home and collect welfare, don't want to go back to school, don't have the money to take care of their children, are homeless, are in the middle of domestic violence, etc. etc. It is not the easiest job in the world - not to mention trying to run 600 auctions a week. I think there's something out there that can make my job a little easier so I can spend more "quality time" with my patients if that's what your concern is.
If you want then take the whole checking emails in between seeing patients out of the equation. Occasionally I do take a vacation. How can I check emails while I'm on vacation.....does that make you feel better?
posted on May 9, 2004 06:35:59 AM new
If you're traveling, look on the internet before you go and see if there any free "hotspots" in the area you will be in.
That way all you have to do is use a wireless network card and "plug" into the net and do what you need to do
posted on May 9, 2004 06:55:43 AM new
ihula -- You don't owe stop any explanations. Her response was rude and uncalled for. I can understand what you are trying to do. In this day and age, it seems we all need to work two and three jobs to stay afloat. Who knows? You could have been one of the nurses who cared for my dad after his accident! I'm sorry that I can't help you out with your questions. I'm totally gadget illiterate. That's my fiancee's specialty! I hope you get your answer.
posted on May 9, 2004 06:58:16 AM new
Ihula, Have you tried going to the Cingular web site and using their search engine for instructions on setting-up your phone? Or even the phone mfg should have something on it under the model #. If that doesnt work there is always this site https://www.bluetooth.org/forum/forum.php?forum_id=271
You may also want to check out AT&T Wireless.com because they have an extensive search engine on all products including bluetooth enabled phones - (They were just bought out by Cingular, though.)
I would think you could get a package add-on deal for so many kb's or mbs a month rather than just single access charges. Most of them are fairly competitive and should have that. Usually just gotta wait and catch it at a good promo time though.
posted on May 9, 2004 07:05:43 AM new
why dont you show your clients how to sell on ebay??
-sig file -------we eat to live,not live to eat.
Benjamin Franklin
posted on May 9, 2004 07:11:40 AM new
I assume you're joking. 99.9% don't have computers (80% don't have a bed to sleep in, so most don't have computers). I had one client in the last 2 years who actually had a computer and buys her baby clothes off of ebay and always wanted to learn, but doesn't want to take the plunge. She works as a CNA currently. I have offered to teach her in my spare time (didn't think it was appropriate to teach her during our regularly scheduled visits). So far she hasn't emailed me or called me to take me up on my offer and I don't see her anymore (we're only allowed to see her until her baby is 2 months old, then she goes into a different program if she still needs assistance)
my lack of expertise will show here; but my experience may help...i have a souped up p4 dell laptop...and alltel cellular..the dell set for wireless..dell couldnt get it running; neither could alltel, neither could my nestcape tech...guess what? i found more expertise and willingness to help at radio shack...thats right, radio shack...this may have been unique situation...the r/s franchise is in a college town with several knowledgeable young people...
--------
further, i thought i was gonna have the best of all worlds...good news; my isp has an 800# that i can do a dial up...bad news, so slow...
posted on May 9, 2004 07:53:43 AM new
Stopwhining that is an awful thing to say to someone as dedicated as ihula is. If you don't have something constructive to say then stay out of the conversation. You just make things worse. She is asking for help and you are not helping. If you knew the situation in Wisconsin about welfare. There is none. We have W2 where the person has to get trained so they can work and most of these people would like to sit on their A$$ and do nothing just like their parents did. So someone has to go out and visit them. There is no free lunch in Wisconsin.
Ihula I am sorry I know nothing about gadgets such as the cellphone. I have a problem which button to push to answer it.
I hope someone can help you with your question.
posted on May 9, 2004 07:58:58 AM new
yes if you have a linksys pcmcia card which is wireless, you should be able to pick up the internet in those areas, especially if you have XP professional as an operating system
posted on May 9, 2004 08:04:20 AM new
Thanks Libra
Maybe I should mention too that I only get paid when I'm physically seeing someone, so if they aren't home and no one will let me come early my income is "screwed". Many times I make it up by calling agencies to arrange for services for client during that time (emergency food, clothing, housing, job applications etc.), but otherwise that time is mine since I'm not getting paid for it. Libra is right - Wisconsin is not the most "poor friendly" state.
I was sitting a soccer practice the other day and while I'm watching my son run laps and do drills for an hour all I could think about is how much stuff I have to do when I get home. Internet or email access there would be great too.
posted on May 9, 2004 08:22:34 AM new
sorry,i thought you are a govt employee who gets paid no matter what.
keep up the good work on ebay.
what kind of sandwich does hubby make for you??
-sig file -------we eat to live,not live to eat.
Benjamin Franklin
posted on May 9, 2004 08:25:41 AM new
Many times it's Roast Beef, or a salad or a No Name Steaks Salmon Filet (those are the best).
I'm not really against the welfare changes in our state, although I do believe if someone is going to school (college or High school) assistance would be very nice instead of making them work for minimum wage the rest of their life.
posted on May 9, 2004 09:00:01 AM new
Stop - you made a hell of a lot of assumptions on this thread, all of them bad ones and all of them assuming the worst about people. Maybe before you spend any more time offering advice to others you should take a good long look at yourself.
Hula - you might want to invest a little in hiring a computer consultant for an hour or so. Shop around, find someone that understands the needs that you have and can help you find the right service (that's the type of research they are paid to have knowledge of) as well as help you configure communications between your various devices.
~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~
If it's really "common" sense, why do so few people actually have it?
posted on May 9, 2004 10:39:49 AM new
Well, we just got home from visiting mom, and hubby says the rest of the day is mine to do whatever I want, so I think I'll putz in the bluetooth forums for awhile and if I can't figure it out then it's time to try to find a computer consultant to see what they say.
I just thought technology must have advanced to the point where there's something portable that just grabs signals from the air and lets you get on the internet. I'm a few years ahead of myself
posted on May 9, 2004 10:55:46 AM new
The technology is there but the signal is not everywhere yet.
~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~
If it's really "common" sense, why do so few people actually have it?
posted on May 9, 2004 11:06:40 AM new
Yes, use a wireless card and become knowledgeable of free wifi locations. The Fresno airport just brought a location on line. What a novel aid for travelers. Other than that you would have to utilize something like DirecTV with an antenna on your vehicle, sorta like an RVer would do.
Don't worry bout stop, we know from your posts that you do a thankless job that money doesn't pay for. Don't mute stop, the drivel can be entertaining. Fluffy adopts a business persona with quite an acerbic quality to deal with non-contractual behavior. Successfully, I might add. I wonder why stop is that way?
posted on May 9, 2004 11:29:24 AM new
ihula, you're in Hawaii right?
No idea what your wireless options are there, but it sounds like what you're looking for is what was briefly available in Northern California for a couple of years. It was called "Ricochet", provided by a company called Metricom which has long since gone out of busness. If you had a Ricochet modem in your laptop, you could access the Internet remotely without a wired connection. Our vet, who did business out of a specially-equipped van, relied on Ricochet to keep in touch.
The cost to build and maintain the Ricochet network infrastructure was staggering. Metricom could not maintain an attractive price point for customers, so they went the way of most good but poorly thought-out ideas -- straight into Mr. Crapper's invention.
posted on May 9, 2004 11:45:03 AM new
LOL - I remember Ricochet. Specifically I remember an argument I got into them when I was considering their service. The wanted me to prepay for one year. I told the guy that was the most ridiculous thing I had ever heard. tech companies were dropping like flies and and I was not paying for one year of a brand new and unproven service but would be happy to pay on a month by month basis. the rep was amazingly rude and condescending when I suggested that there was no guarantee they would be around for a year and started into a hard sell. I just laughed at him and ended up going in a different direction. I think it was about 2 months after that that Ricochet was no more.
Hula - I think about you at least once a week - they are finally about to open the Tiki theme bar here in the Gaslamp. I can't wait to see it since this puppy has been about 4 months of construction/decorating in the making. The new Thai place down the street onyltook about a month and it is absolutely beautiful so the Tiki place should be mind boggling.
~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~
If it's really "common" sense, why do so few people actually have it?
[ edited by fenix03 on May 9, 2004 11:45 AM ]
