Boost mobile? - Page 20

Bugbyte · 04-06-2007, 01:11 AM

This thing is cool. I'm running the Motorola i455 and did a speed test on it. Results attached. The blue area on the graph is my upload speed for my cable service (road runner), the gray is the download speed for it. The yellow/green stuff all the way on the left is the i455 modem.

I'm on an 800 mile round trip this week and I'll try it out in the car to see how well it works on the road.

BAF · 04-08-2007, 04:17 PM

I got my new i836, which to my surprise DOESN'T have widen. I get about 30 kbit up and down. Also, modifying a non-charger data cable to charge was dead easy. USB ports provide 5v at 800ma, and my phone calls for 5v at 500ma for charge. So I just soldered small jumper wires from the data power pins to the charger power pins, and now my phone gets powered/charged by my computer.

Also, I saw a bunch of people asking for widen enable. I can do this, so if anyone here wants/needs it enabled, just post your codeplug (Google for more info on how to get your codeplug) and I can enable it for you. I can also enable other mods if you found some that you want.

Bugbyte · 04-17-2007, 10:22 AM

Last week I took a trip from New York down to North Carolina and used the Boost Motorola i455 and mologogo for mobile net and vehicle tracking. I'm reporting on my results here. (BTW, if anyone wants to set up quickly, go to mologogo's store and buy the whole kit for as little at $59.99 USD. They also sell the data cable for under $10.

The Good
It costs a mere 35 cents US a day, or about $10 a month for the data plan. There are no limitations to the amount of data.

It works. It really actually works. The tracking software is dead simple to use once you've loaded it on your phone. You launch the mologogo java app and forget about it. I've attached a screenshot from my tracking page that shows the trip as recorded by the mologogo service. You can see that there are periods when either there were no reports due to spotty coverage or the app wasn't running but as far as figuring out where I was, it works. To see this page live, go here.

The cell modem also works. I logged on and checked email, weather, and traffic as we moved along. The connection only dropped a single time and was by and large rock steady from a modem standpoint.

I used Goops to implement Google Earth tracking on a Dell Latitude Piece-O-Crap(tm) 600 from work. It worked well for the most part. However, the laptop would periodically freeze up and require a reboot. I'm almost certain that this is a Google Earth problem, or more specifically, a Dell hardware issue when using GE than a Goops or modem issue.

In general, GE was able to download the road and map data quickly enough to make it a usable nav solution. There were a few times when I would drive off of the road and out onto a blurry background but since I'd also used GE to plot out directions, I had a purple line showing me where I ought to be and in just a few minutes the cell modem would catch up to where I was and restore the proper labels and terrain data and so forth. I'd use it again as a primary nav product.

The Bad
There's a reason that there are no limitations to the amount of data. The modem is slow. As in sloooooowwwwwwwwww. When coverage is good, I was able to load pages at www.wunderground.com in reasonably good time -perhaps 1-2 minutes. When it was poor, it could take 10 minutes to get a page or worse, Firefox would time out because it got no response from the server. In all cases, simply driving a bit farther and trying again would fix it.

There were no cases where I simply wasn't able to make a connection after some time. However, it should be obvious that audio and video are out of the question. RSS feeds might make the whole setup snappier.

The Ugly
There's no ugly from my standpoint. Well, I guess that I haven't been able to iDen enable the phone yet, so all of my comments are based on use of the cell modem at a very low speed. I thought I'd enabled iDen but since there isn't any iDen service where I live I can't really tell if it is enabled or not.

Also, if you receive a call, mologogo suspends and you have to reactivate the program. This includes when you get a voice mail notification. Occasionally, the application will hang and stop updating your position. It isn't always clear about when this happens but it seems to occur when it has trouble downloading data for the onscreen map for awhile. Restarting the app fixes the problem.

The Verdict
For a cheapskate like me, the $10 a month price tag outweighs slow net access. I love having both net and tracking in the car, but then again, a lot of people don't want others to know where either they or their car is. Obviously if someone can look up your car location, they can find it and steal stuff out of your car. Since my system is dockable and I remove it from the car when I'm not in it, I don't worry too much about it.

The Boost solution works for both me and my car because I rarely talk on the phone and I don't text people on it. It's strictly an emergency phone or a way for my wife to find out "Where you at?!". Thus, it provides an ultra cheap phone service plus a modest data capability, which is exactly what I wanted.

midiwall · 04-17-2007, 12:41 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Bugbyte

Last week I took a trip from New York down to North Carolina and used the Boost Motorola i455 and mologogo for mobile net and vehicle tracking. I'm reporting on my results here.

Dude... THANK YOU - in the 15 pages of babble here, this is simply the clearest example of what to expect from this setup.

Sad to say, it's probably going to keep me from going this route, but now I have solid information about the experience.

Thanks again.

PURDooM · 04-17-2007, 01:01 PM

In regards to slow speed - some people may wonder what you can do with slow speed. The answer I think is cached content - if you wrote a script to constantly download your traffic web page or weather web page and store it locally, you could view the content on demand at any time without waiting for it to download. Boost also works well for very low bandwidth situations such as position updating, emailing, instant messaging, shell scripting (with ssh), and browsing without images.

Bump · 04-23-2007, 05:35 PM

Just had some Question about Boost:

1. If a bought the i885 model (bluetooth): (sorry never had a Bluetooth )
a. can I do this over a bluetooth connection with out the cables?
b. over blue tooth. how far apart can I use it from phone to computer?

2. does this model come with widen enabled?

3. when I get them to turn on the web. You get charged 35 cents a day if you use it or not? or it a Per day charge if used?

4. Is there any software to use " Loopt " on the computer.?

Thanks for any help

parksgm · 04-23-2007, 08:15 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by midiwall

Dude... THANK YOU - in the 15 pages of babble here, this is simply the clearest example of what to expect from this setup.

Agreed and seconded. Great review. Thanks!

PURDooM · 04-24-2007, 01:30 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Bump

Just had some Question about Boost:

1. If a bought the i885 model (bluetooth): (sorry never had a Bluetooth )
a. can I do this over a bluetooth connection with out the cables?
b. over blue tooth. how far apart can I use it from phone to computer?

2. does this model come with widen enabled?

3. when I get them to turn on the web. You get charged 35 cents a day if you use it or not? or it a Per day charge if used?

4. Is there any software to use " Loopt " on the computer.?

Thanks for any help

a. Never tried it... a wired connection lets you charge it so you don't have to worry about batteries. You are on your own to find bluetooth drivers too, but that should be easy.
b. IF you get it working, I can connect to a bluetooth modem from over 40 feet away while it is in my buddys pocket.
2. No idea.
3. Its 35 cents every day regardless of usage.
4. Sorry, don't know what loopt is...

Bump · 04-24-2007, 02:41 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by PURDooM

a. Never tried it... a wired connection lets you charge it so you don't have to worry about batteries. You are on your own to find bluetooth drivers too, but that should be easy.
b. IF you get it working, I can connect to a bluetooth modem from over 40 feet away while it is in my buddys pocket.
2. No idea.
3. Its 35 cents every day regardless of usage.
4. Sorry, don't know what loopt is...

Thanks

I don't need a charger in the car. But, I known I can use a car charger with it if I need to. And use blue tooth.

I want to use it for a everyday phone. And a modem in the car.

I just want to known if I was able to use it as a modem over BT.

Loopt is a boost service that can track a Boost phones. Show it on a map. And show you where your friends are. It will tell you when you get close to your friends .

Loopt Web Site

So, I would be using the phone for every day calls & car internet connections. Don't need to track path. I would use " Loopt " for that.

thanks again PURDooM

Bump · 04-24-2007, 02:51 AM

Here in a video demo of Loopt

Video Demo

Bugbyte · 04-24-2007, 11:58 AM

Loopt is free for now but it will cost $2.99 eventually. It basically does what Mologogo does except Mologogo is free.

Of course, if you have non-technical friends, then Boost will deliver the Loopt app over the air to the phone while you have to load the Mologogo app with a cable on each Boost phone. Or just buy a Boost phone with it already installed from the Mologogo store. IMHO, get the cable because they update the app from time to time.

Also, I've found that running any java apps like Mologogo or using it as a modem shortens the battery life A LOT. It needs a charge after 5 or 6 hours.

Bugbyte · 04-27-2007, 02:30 PM

If you use the Mologogo app and a Boost phone for a low budget low-jack, one of the problems you may find is that if for some reason the phone rings, the app will suspend. Also, the app will occasionally 'hang'.

For those reasons, embedding it into your dash isn't necessarily a great idea. Here's a few tips from the mologogo.wikispaces to help with those issues:

Mologogo Generic
Auto-Restart Mologogo
Go in to the datebook and create a New Event
Now change - Name: Mol Restart - Time: 1:00 (your choice) - Duration: None - Repeat: Daily (your choice) - Reminder: off - App: Choose Mologogo - Save
Go in to Mologogo Pref's and under Shutdown time, put in how many Minutes you want Mologogo to stay running.
I currently have 1439 Minutes to stay running and Datebook set to start Mologogo at 1 am giving me a daily restart.

Flip Phones
Stop un-wanted calls (Supplied by Steve Crow)
To stop all calls from reaching your phone, Foward Them
Menu -> Call Forwarding -> All Calls -> Forward to 15093210262
No per-minute or forwarding charges will be incurred - sets up a "not in service" message... Only a message.

parksgm · 04-27-2007, 04:48 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Bugbyte

Here's a few tips from the mologogo.wikispaces to help with those issues...

Great tips. Thanks.

As usual, it's refining the "details" of use such as these that can dramtically improve the end experience.

Bump · 04-27-2007, 05:09 PM

ok, I'm confused . I'm going to have to reread this thread again ( 298).

I thought this ran on the computer. Not on the phone.

So, you only need the cable for uploading the Java app , right ?
And if you use the internet on the computer?

So, it will track you without being in the car.

I'm lost. I wish someone would write a How to on this .

Bugbyte · 05-03-2007, 11:14 AM

I did a How-to thread on Boost for the Mac but I can give you the outline right here.

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. Between keeping the Boost service active and enabling the data plan, you will have to spend about $21 a month to have mobile net access in your car.

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 (WebJal) 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.

User Name		Remember Me?
Password