OT - Wireless phone providers - WAS: [Cialug]ssh for cell phones

[jrnosee at gmail.com]

Personally, I don't have Verizon.  My wife still does, but I despise
them and their shady business practices.  However, some time ago I did
have a PDA phone from them.  I could access most internet functions on
it.  A current co-worker of mine has a smartphone from Verizon and
it's nearly as blocked as their regular phones.  Sprint has decent
options as well, but are about the same as Verizon (although my
friend's sprint pda phone has been limited slightly as well).  The sad
part is they are the only two CDMA providers in the area (that I'm
aware of) that have hi-speed EVDO networks.  GSM, when I have used it
is GREAT..except it's coverage here in the US is horrible and I often
had poor coverage inside of buildings.  If you're not looking for
speed US Cellular has been pretty good to me.  They don't block
functions from the phones and if you're willing to "bend" your terms
of service, can be used with a bluetooth PDA or computer to connect to
the internet.  Granted they are only Rx1TT and pretty slow for data,
their data plan on a regular phone is only $10/mo for unlimited use.

All-in-all it's nice to have for occasional usage, but if you're
really looking for a phone/data package I'd check Verizon or Sprint as
I think they both have phone-as-modem plans.  Just don't expect to be
able to do everything with a normal phone that you think you should.
If you want an open-access phone, wait for google's phone(?) or check
and see if the RAZR 2's an option.  I haven't looked into it much yet
(because it's selling for more than some PDA phones), but I believe it
was supposed to be based off of linux.  HowardForum may have more info
on this.

On Nov 15, 2007 9:37 AM, Nathan Stien <nathanism at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Nov 15, 2007 9:20 AM, Dave J. Hala Jr. <dave at 58ghz.net> wrote:
> > If you could ssh into your phone, you could turn it into a covert spy
> > cam.  It would be almost as good as being invisible...
>
> And you could do a lot of other things besides.  scp files in/out,
> sync contacts, etc.  Possibly find the phone if it gets stolen.  And
> don't forget apt-get dist-upgrade.
>
> It would also be nice to have little gui apps running on the phone
> that run ssh underneath to contact my machines out in the world to
> manipulate things.  Set up a mythtv recording, monitor machine status,
> etc.
>
>
> - Nathan
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