Archived from groups: alt.cellular.sprintpcs (
More info?)
jw wrote:
> If I get a Treos 650, install a 3rd party browser and a 3rd party
> email client, tell me again why I need to get vision or any other
> Sprint package over and above the free and clear package I have now.
Because your phone must be provisioned for network access, and Vision is
what does that provisioning. It's like getting a cable or DSL modem:
you must sign up for the add-on internet package from the cable or phone
provider for that modem to work. It doesn't matter if you go with
whatever e-mail or web programs aren't approved or recommended by the
phone or cable company; those programs still must access the net, and
the data plan is what makes that happen.
Alternately, you can of course get your phone provisioned and NOT have a
Vision plan on your account, but then you're paying by the kilobyte,
which can get far more expensive really fast, especially on a Treo650.
> I can dial any number with it. The 3rd party email client handles POP
> email accounts -- I have one of those.
> So why can't I simply dial my ISP and do email and web stuff on it.
For the same reason that you can't just hook up a cable modem or DSL
line and "just dial your ISP" for web access. The method of access is
different. This is not POTS phone with a modem attached to it; it's a
1xRTT data interface, something your dial-up ISP cannot interface with.
Even on the old cdmaOne system, while it was possible to dial up your
ISP (assuming they still accepted 14.4k dialup connections; many don't
these days), you still had to get your phone provisioned for wireless
web, and that meant either a $10 monthly fee or $.39 a minute ON TOP of
whatever fees your were paying to your ISP. Why? Because even the old
phones weren't POTS lines with modems attached; they were digital spread
spectrum terminals, which are incompatible with dialup without Sprint
acting as an intermediary.
BTW, the same is true of all other cellular carriers. The only air
interface that is remotely compatible with dial up (and just barely) is
analog cellular, and even there you're going to pay airtime charges to
the cell carrier, something you don't have to do with Sprint's current
data pricing.
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