Zendata On WAP/GPRS

Now that PDA/cell phone integration, such as PalmOne's excellent Treo 650, has reached maturity using GPRS to browse the web is a more rewarding experience. These devices, and their Pocket PC based cousins, have a decent screen size, and the GPRS "always on" packet based services allow a more affordable experience. Since GPRS is charged on the basis of usage volume rather than connect time you can connect in the morning to get your email and leave it connected all day if you wish.

Bear in mind that the Australian carriers are extracting their pound of flesh when it comes to the volume charges. A charge of 2.2 cents per kilobyte doesn't sound much when you think of small text based email but have an extended surfing session or download a few attachments and you realise that a 1 Mb Word attachment is costing you around $22! By comparison that may buy you more than 1 Gigabyte of broadband volume.

Our advice: keep your GPRS usage minimal and avoid email attachments. Heavy users can find capped monthly plans for devices such as the Blackberry.

Zendata Pty Ltd - contact@zendata.com