[pct-l] phone for pct

[Brian Lewis]

I agree with the "get a GSM phone locally", particularly if it's one you'll
be willing to use at home afterwards.  A big benefit of this approach is
that you'll have some time at home ahead of time to climb some of the
learning curves to using such a phone, really, pocket computer.

>From some analysis in 2008, I found AT&T to have far better coverage than
T-Mobile.   AT&T also offers a pay-as-you-go (no contract) plan that they
call "GoPhone", and with that approach you can buy data coverage at 100 MB
for $20, which lasts a month.  But add another $20 (just) before the first
month expires and any MB remaining rolls over.    You might want to contact
AT&T ahead of time from home, however, as I'm not sure you could walk into
an AT&T store with your phone in hand and walk out with it working ... maybe
so, maybe not.

For navigation, if you get a phone that has the Windows Mobile operating
system, FWIW I'm now using www.memory-map.com software.  Using that you can
download maps for free from www.libremap.org, and then get your data plot
from halfmile's work at http://www.pctmap.net/.   Alternatively, buy just
the three states worth of maps involved from memory-map as it might be
pretty tedious finding and downloading all the relevant maps via
libremap.org

One reason memory-map might be a good choice for you is that it's a bit more
of an international company; you can get UK Ordnance Survey maps for it.   A
warning, however, getting a mapping system working on your smartphone isn't
something you'll figure out immediately, it takes a bit of learning curve.
And it's *certainly* not required (very few people use this sort of
approach, at least thus far); just cutting up the PCT guides from Wilderness
Press or buying the PCT Atlas and bouncing the pages you're not using for a
while is a time tested approach.

In terms of picking a phone, I put together some thoughts on what to look
for here: http://postholer.com/smartPhone.html

Best of luck!


Brian Lewis / Gadget '08
http://postholer.com/brianle