Cell Phone - Handspring Treo 270 ? ?

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TiberiusMineola

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I recently used a USA based friend's [&phone service] Handsrping Treos cell phone - PDA combination. The specific model was a # 270. Very impressive & not too expensive. $50 - 100 in the USA. Has anyone used this brand cell phone succesfully in the DR? With Codetel? Tricom? Actual experiences: positive? Negative? Costs? Comments? Reccomendations. Thank you.
 

roca

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Jun 23, 2003
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I'm currently using the Treo 300 with codetel, went thru hell to have it activated. The difference between the 270 and the 300 is the latter is GSM (Orange) while the 300 is CDMA (Codetel, Tricom, Centennial). Since I bought mine with Sprint, I had to have someone hack the darn phone, and it currently works on a ficitional roam. If you want to use the 270 here, it will be with Orange and you must buy it with factory settings, meaning, no Verizon, t-mobile, Cingular, etc service on it. Handspring (the manufacturer) builds them under contract with these companies so the programming is set to either services.
For instance I just had a friend order the new Treo 600 (models come in both GSM and cdma), he works at T-Mobile so he is going to have the T-mobile programming removed before sending it here so that I can use it with Orange. It's not that the phone will not work it's just that without the programming I have full use of orange's services (mail, web, etc). Before rushing to buy the 270 I suggest you check out the 600 and if you have US$ 500 to spare. The size difference and upgrades from previous models (camera, expansion slot, etc) is worth the money. Here is a link you might want to check out:

http://reviews.cnet.com/Treo_600_GSM/4505-3127_7-30597291.html?tag=cnetfd.ld
 

rafael

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Jan 2, 2002
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Are you activating these PDA phones in addition to US activation or instead of. I haved a samsung i500 that is also a PDA.
I would love to be able to activate it here, but continue to use in the states as well. Is that possible.
 

roca

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Jun 23, 2003
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I'm using mine activated only in the DR. You can easily program your i500 here at any major codetel dealer. However I doubt that you can have two different carriers on the phone at the same time. I know this has a specific name, but can't remember at this time. Some phones allow you to have two different carriers programed into them, you might want to check out your user manual for this. Although I think the i500 is for sprint only.
 

rafael

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Roca thanks for the info. I guess I'll wait till I buy the next bestest cell phone to hit the market and use the i500 as a hand me down then.

I'm assuming accessing the net, and email etc will all work. How would that get billed. Monthly flat fee or using cell minutes. I can be on ICQ, MSN, AIM< and Yahoo all at once. Check email and make phone calls and I'll be working at the beach every day!

BTW, when will boca chica have Flash. I'll buy a WAP and install for any bar owner with a bar on the beach with Flash!

Heck the same goes for the zona colonial!
 

roca

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Jun 23, 2003
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Surprisingly enough, Codetel, which has always been a leader when it comes to telephony, has been late into cellular email, web and stuff, they just recently announced a new plan for this but do not know how it works. you might want to check their webpage for a plan they call UNO. The thing that sucks about it is that it only works with 3 or 4 phones only. To be fair thou, they are installing wi fi hot zones all over the city. Orange on the other hand, has the best cellular web, chat and email service, or so I've heard as I've always been a Codetel user until I get my new Treo 600, then I'm switchin. With both companies you should check their plans but I hear Orange is quite inexpensive. In any case, if you do adollar-peso exchange, cellular service here is quite inexpensive compared to the states.
 

rafael

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Jan 2, 2002
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WIFI hotspots

Tell me more! Since la luz se fue mucho around here these days, having a wifi hotspot to use for "work" would be great.

Of course I will have to get my leptop keyboard replaced first!!!
 

Festero

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Dec 15, 2002
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Still need power

rafael said:
Since la luz se fue mucho around here these days, having a wifi hotspot to use for "work" would be great.

Power would still be needed for the hotspot's router and transmitter. So unless there was a power backup for it.... well, you know.
 

ERICKXSON

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Dec 24, 2002
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We all should get a wireless modem/router put it closer to one of your house windows or just buy a repeater and wallah we have a HOT SPOT.

if we all ship in we can have half of la capital wireless.