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AnchorDesk

David Coursey
How I stay in touch on the road

David Coursey
Executive Editor, AnchorDesk
Wednesday, October 1, 2003
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When thinking about how you're going to stay in touch with the rest of the world when you're on the road, you've got to consider the cost. No kidding, you say. But I'm not just talking about the dollars and cents on the price tag. How much is it worth to you to be able to send and receive messages from wherever you are? When you buy wireless services, you've got to consider trade-offs and think strategically.

The only communicator you need?
The BlackBerry 7230 is a phone, a PDA, a pager--and it's in color.
I'M THINKING about all this because I've been hearing the siren song of the new BlackBerry 7230, the full-color PDA/cell phone/pager that my colleague David Carnoy has just reviewed. Question I have is: Would the 7230--or any other device that depends on digital services that may or may not cover all the places I'm likely to go on any given day--really satisfy all of my communications needs?

Take, for example, a friend of mine who has a BlackBerry 6230. It's essentially a black-and-white version of the new 7230. (Well, actually, you can't really call these LCDs black and white or they'd be a lot easier to read--so let's just call it a "non-color" version of the 7230.) He uses it as a phone (using AT&T as a carrier) and has his e-mail redirected to it. Overall he's been pretty happy with it.

But he lives in an area, and uses a carrier, with pretty good digital coverage. He was especially pleased the day he found himself on a rural stretch of Highway 1 south of San Francisco, when his was the only phone--of the dozen or so handsets in the group he was with--that could find a signal. (Being the only person with coverage in a group is a pretty good way to run up your cellular bill, but that's another matter.)

COMPARE THAT to my wireless toolkit. Since moving to the sticks, where cellular coverage is pretty bad (especially at my house), my strategy has been to maintain accounts with as many carriers as possible. I currently have a Sprint PCS phone and an AT&T Wireless phone. My plan, when I can afford to implement it, is to add a Verizon phone and perhaps get rid of the AT&T service, because I really don't need more than two phones and I hear that Verizon has the best nationwide coverage.

I do, however, get pretty decent two-way pager coverage out here, so I also carry a BlackBerry 957--the non-color, pager-only BlackBerry in the PDA form factor. It's almost always been the last of my wireless devices to lose its signal, I can redirect e-mail to it if need be, and I have it set up to receive some automatic notifications. I find it's often quicker to dash off a quick e-mail than to play phone tag with someone, and it's easier to refer to driving directions or flight information in an e-mail than to copy it all down from voicemail.

Most of the time, I've got the BlackBerry and an HP iPaq PDA in whatever bag I'm carrying (please don't call in a "man purse"), along with one of the phones. The Sprint phone is usually the one in my pocket. Sprint's voice-dialing service means I don't have to look up phone numbers on the PDA that often. In fact, if it wasn't for all the other things I do with the iPaq, like mapping, reference materials, and listening to Audible books, I'd probably just stick with the BlackBerry.

Oh, yeah, I also carry a regular alphanumeric pager for my emergency services volunteer work. It's always set to full volume, even in church. But it only goes off about once a week--usually at night--and when that happens it's usually pretty important.

I DON'T SEE HOW I could find a single device, from a single carrier, that could keep me in touch as consistently as this collection of gadgets. And even if I could, even if there was no difference in paging and voice coverage, I'm not sure I'd want a combo device.

I remain convinced that, just as God made dogs and cats, She also made phones and pagers and personal digital assistants. While dogs and cats both make excellent companion animals (I'm a cat person, myself), they are quite different. Likewise, all these communications/information tools do different things, and it's hard to make any one of them do everything equally well. I have yet to see a form factor that combines full voice and full PDA functionality in a package I'd like to use for either.

I'm not suggesting you adopt my personal wireless strategy. I'm just saying that you need to fit your tools to your circumstances. Two phones, along with two pagers and a PDA, is overkill for most people. (So pick your carrier carefully!) If I'm just roaming around town, only one phone and the emergency pager are on my belt; the others stay in the car or briefcase.

But I eschew devices that try to cram too much functionality into too small a package. Such all-in-ones may be fine for some people. I just have yet to find one that works for me.

What do you think? What does your wireless toolkit look like? Have you tried to use a single device for all your communications needs? TalkBack to me below! 

Note to TalkBack users: We upgraded TalkBack last Friday. This means you will need to register in the new system, if you haven't already. The TalkBack username and password you used before Friday will not work anymore. We apologize for the inconvenience.

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