Wireless Web?

[bubbaprog]

Hi... first time poster, at least in this forum...

here's what I need, and I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction. I need wireless internet access, for news essentially only. This could include simply having yahoo.com news search capabilities but it would be nice to be able to go to a few other news sites to search. The options, afaik, are:

#1 Wireless phone w/web access
#2 Pocket PC/Palm w/web access
#3 inexpensive notebook w/wireless modem (i know very little about this)

The palm option seemed the best for me, until I saw how limited the access area was. I'll be travelling a lot and will need quick access to news on certain issues. If anyone could respond with info about my options (along with generalized pricing - although if you tell me what I could get, I can look up prices myself) that would be wonderful.

Thanks in advance
-tim

[Jeffbx]

You didn't mention a price...

Here's a nice setup:

Compaq iPaq 6350 Pocket PC - ~$500
iPaq PC Card Sleeve ~$200
Ricochet 128Kbps wireless access:
http:\\www.ricochet.com
You'll have to check coverage areas
~$99-299 for modem, ~$75/mo access rate.

Total - $800-1000 one time, ~$75/mo.

The nice thing about the Ricochet is you can also plug it into your laptop (or desktop w/a PC Card adapter) and have ISDN speeds. Substitute a laptop for the PDA, if you have the $$$.

[bubbaprog]

That ricochet service doesn't have much coverage area. I need something that will give me coverage most places. Regular wireless might not do it -- cellular protocol modems anyone? Keep the ideas coming, and thanks :)

[Jeffbx]

The US is pretty far behind the rest of the world in terms of wireless coverage. If coverage is your main issue, I'd suggest that you start collecting & comparing coverage maps. Most services will have better coverage than Ricochet since it's so new, but the typical cellular connection is 96 - 14.4 Kbps.
You may just have to pick a carrier & go with it. None of them offer really wide areas.

Let me know what you go with, though.

[bubbaprog]

Speed is *not* an issue. I'm looking to be downloading mainly text.

A Handspring Visor/Springboard modem/phone combination looks like it might work. It appears to utilize a standard style modem that would allow me to dial into my own ISP (this is helpful) albeit at 14.4K, but as I said, speed is not a major issue.

Anyone familiar with the Visor and its plugin associates?