vB Easy Archive - wifi phone for Cingular/att in N. NJ area

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wifi phone for Cingular/att in N. NJ area
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Posted by: tomwright

Hi all,

I am looking for a phone that will work on cingular/ATT in the Northern NJ area. I am currently on an expired plan with them and need a new phone. I pretty much have to stay with ATT since this is my only phone and they work from my home. Verizon is out due to a nasty dispute I have with them, and Sprint did not work from my home last time I tried them. I do not get TV reception there either, and I am less than 25 miles from NYC. Tough terrain.

I need it to have, at least:
Wifi
calender/contact sync
MS Office document viewing. I do not care about editing.
bluetooth connectivity to transfer files to/from PC

In addition, nice to haves are:
quad band (should be at least tri band)
USB connectivity is nice to have as well
camera (unimportant either way, but useful on occasion)
3G/UMTS (for future use, maybe, can live without it for the moment since I do not need data access right now)

Wouldn't hurt to have, but do not really care:
Tethering ability to attach a laptop

I do not give a hoot about music etc.

I do IT support and would like a phone that will allow me to keep system documents on it for reference, and allow me to check web-mail without using up minutes on a data plan, since I am not reimbursed for this.

I checked out ATT Premier and could not get the price of the Tilt down without adding voice and data plans that totaled well over $100 a month.

I do not care if the phone is sold by ATT or someone else, so long as it works on the network. Price is of some concern, but I can afford more than $50.

I just do not want to pay so much I might as well go out and buy a cheap laptop and keep it under the seat of my car. Basically it needs to be under $500 or the laptop makes more sense.

I really like the Blackjack, but lack of wifi makes it a nogo. The indeterminate date for the BJ2 kinda leaves that out as well.

I prefer flips so I can keep it in my pocket instead of hanging it on my belt and looking like Batman, but have not seen one that does all this. I will take a slider, but would prefer a one-piece design like the BJ if I can not get a flip.

I do not need a data plan at the moment, just wifi web/mail access. If I do ever need one, I will make my job reimburse me for adding it.

Posted by: Dr Tran

Nokia N95-3 seems to fit the bill.

Posted by: tomwright

Wow, Thanks.

The N95 does look good. I will research that one more.

I am not certain it allows viewing office documents though.
Unless that is what is mentioned in the part about the email client supporting attachments?

Nokia USA N95

Posted by: tomwright

just to close this out:

I looked at the various phones out there that had wifi.
Being able to utilize the ATT premier service basically made the choice for me.

I picked up the 8525 for $150. I did NOT get any data plan.

The deal with the discounts seems to be that if you combination of data plan and voice plan are over $100 bucks a month, you get another $50 off the phone. So by spending $900-$1200 over the the two year contract, you save $50 one time.

No deal, since I do not need a data plan. All I want to do is keep some reference documents on the thing and be able to connect via WIFI to check web mail on occasion.

I do not care for the slid-out form factor. I much prefer the BlackJack/Treo/Blackberry form. I would really like a flip, so I can keep it in my pocket, but doubt I will see one that is practicla in this application.

So for $150 I got a decent phone that will do the job, and at a cost I will not cry over losing when something I prefer is available at a decent price, like the BJ2. In a year or so they something like that should be available at a decent price.

The phone came with Windows Mobile 5, but since WM6 has just been released for it, I flashed it up and it works a little better than it did out of the box, for the day or so that I used it.