PURDooM

Notes by bugbyte:

1. Boost mobile is a pay-go-phone. You have to buy the phone, you have to load it up with minutes. It comes with a free $10.00 on it. There is no contract but you must reload the phone every so often. It will cost you about $10 a month to keep it active.

2. Boost runs on the Nextel network and brands Boost as a service by offering specific Boost phones under the Boost name. Two of the phones, the i415 and i455 have a GPS built into them. the i415 is about $40.

3. In addition to the voice, you *must* add a data service to the Boost plan if you want to use the phone as a cellular modem -the whole point of this thread. That access is very slow but there is WiDen coverage in some metropolitan areas that is faster. You can enable this on the i415 and i455. The data option is 35 cents a day whether you use it or not. That equates to approximately $11 a month.

4. There is no limit to the amount of data you can transfer.

5. If you want to track the phone, Boost offers a service called Loopt that both track the phone and allows you to see your friends positions who also have Loopt. Loopt is free for now but they plan to charge $2.99 in the future.

6. A free alternative to Loopt is mologogo. Mologogo is a Java client app that you run on your phone (so is Loopt). It is free. The difference between Loopt and Mologogo is that Boost makes Loopt available for download over the air to your phone. In order to load Mologogo on your phone, you must purchase a data cable, get an app (iDenJal) that allows you to load the app on your phone, download the mologogo app and load it onto your phone. If that is too complex for you, you can purchase a Boost phone with mologogo pre-loaded on it from the mologogo web site.

7. The tracking program runs on the phone. That means that the track shows where your phone is, not your car computer. The car computer is not necessary for the tracking to work.

8. You need the data cable to use the phone as a modem. The modem function gives you the same access to the net that you get when you are plugged into the net. Email, surfing, whatever. Just muuuuuuch slower.

9. Ways to use the phone as modem: Download weather, traffic information. Use Goops or an equivalent Google Earth tracking application to downlod the map data as you drive along without having to cache it ahead of time. Use some of the tracking apps that members here have written to broadcast your position. Chat, get email, etc.

For a review of actual usage by bugbyte, read: Full http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/1049598-post288.html

Notes by PURDooM:

The phone is a motorola phone and puts out an ok amount of radiation, so you will want to position it away from your speakers or headunit if possible so the speakers don't hear the interference.

Speeds are just slightly higher than a 56k connection (about 7 k per second). Make sure you bump up the baud rate on both the phone and in windows - the baud rate defaults at 19200 baud which is about 1/3 the speed.

To activate a data call, follow this post:
http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/show...7&postcount=10

Rafster reports that you need 'codeplugging' to enable wiDen service on a i450. I personally only tried the i415, which had no wIden service.
http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/show...7&postcount=32

And hey, after it is all set up you have a 2nd cellphone as well, so you can give it to your friend or kid or something when you need it and text him when you need to get his attention.



AS A ADDED BONUS, nextel boost mobile phones have a fully working gps reciever in them. Apparently you need a serial data cable to use it with your PC (and you cant use it the same time as a data call), but you can use it with software on the phone. A popular program is mologogo, which is a java based GPS tracking solution. Check out their web page. http://mologogo.com/ A james bond like application of this would be stick the program on the phone, run it, put some strong magnets on the phone and slap it onto the bottom of some car you want to track. The battery will track for a good 8 hours.

Edit: Yes, boost uses a sim card. No, you can't use it in another phone you have laying around the house (unless it is a nextel phone). Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boost_Mobile

Anywho, origional thread follows:

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I've been investigating how to get my pocket pc + gps uploading data like gpssecure does, and I can't seem to find anything. However, in my searches, I came across this service for java and gps enabled cell phones:

http://mologogo.com/


edit: a $49 i415
edit2: don't get an i415, its too slow, get an i450.

wtf free data plan?

Someone else said (http://www.howardforums.com/showthre...eadid=862243):


I'll do more investigatigating, but at the very least it looks like boost mobile could provide barebones data services with little to no monthly cost. I know I only need data for gps position uploading and instant messaging, and reading RSS feeds with whatever information updates I need. A 19200 baud connection could do all that fine.

Thoughts?

__________________
Current projects: iGmod reloaded (Latest release) (put on hiatus indefinatly)

Unlimited Internet and gps tracking for $6 a month with boost mobile!

Carputer 2: www.lmaocar.com