[pct-l] Pocketmail

[Ken Powers]

Actually Pocketmail works with analog phones. Most cell phones can be set to 
analog, but the setting on my phone is buried in many levels of menus. I had 
to get tech support to tell me how to find the setting. They also warned 
that the analog mode uses cell phone batteries much faster and that you 
should reset the mode to digital after using analog. (More menus!)

We found that using pay phones worked pretty well. We got pretty good at 
spotting them as we arrived in town. We even found some in strange locations 
outside of towns on the ADT. BUT, pay phones are becoming less frequent in 
rural America. They just are not profitable any more with all the cell phone 
users. Several towns on the ADT had no pay phones, but we found we could 
talk businesses into letting us use their phone for a couple minutes. We 
also found some regions (ADT again) had phone companies whose pay phones 
didn't work with Pocketmail. In some cases you could set the Pocketmail 
speed to a slower baud rate (more menus) and in some cases it flat didn't 
work. It becomes a balancing act between no cell phone coverage and no pay 
phones in small towns. (We did find that Lima, MT, on the CDT,  had no cell 
phone coverage - period.)

We have used Pocketmail on 3 long hikes and like it. We did soak our 
Pocketmail in a thunderstorm in Missouri on the ADT. The Ziploc had 
developed a hole and was in the corner of our tent where a small hole let in 
water. An unfortunate coincidence that soaked the Pocketmail Composer.

I recently saw hikers using a cell phone with a small keyboard. That perked 
my interest in carrying a cell phone for journaling. The keyboard was tiny 
and looked hard to use. I haven't explored that possibility yet. The cell 
phone probably wouldn't have coverage on the PCT anyway.

Ken
www.GottaWalk.com

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <gwtmp01 at mac.com>
To: "Dan Fenn" <danfenn at hotmail.com>
Cc: <pct-l at backcountry.net>
Sent: Monday, January 22, 2007 9:55 AM
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Pocketmail



On Jan 22, 2007, at 11:56 AM, Dan Fenn wrote:
> Although I've heard some good things about Pocketmail, I've also
> heard some pretty negative things as well (composer craps out,
> lousy service, unreliable, etc.)...so what else is new, right?

I've never had a problem with the device or the service.  AT, PCT,
and several
longish section hikes.  I keep it in a ziplock bag while hiking.  I
never use the
backlit display so the AA batteries keep it going for a long while.
It is reasonably
light and OK to type on and works with any phone.

I think the probability of finding a phone in trail towns is higher
than the probability
of getting a decent wireless signal for a cell/blackberry device.

Gary Wright



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