Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with edge

How can I be certain my iPhone doesn't send or receive data except phone, text and Wi-Fi?

goodnewsfortheinsane — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 10:01:38 -0800

How can I make sure my iPhone 3G doesn't transfer *any* internet data while retaining phone, texting and Wi-Fi capability? I'm getting an unlimited (3G) data plan next month but until then I'm stuck with my current plan which only supports GPRS data-wise, at a hefty per-MB rate.

Right now I have SBSettings (jailbreak) installed, which allows you to disable 3G and EDGE manually. I did that; will that be enough?

GPRS is 2G I believe so I 'm a little confused about the terminology maybe. I would like to just use the Wi-Fi at home until I get my unlimited data plan, and make calls and send SMS of course.

I'm in the Netherlands if it matters.

Thanks in advance, guys!

Can you hear me now? No? Good!

genial — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 12:16:52 -0800

Working out a situation where I would have an iPhone on Verizon's data network and wondering if anyone has tried this or is currently doing it. Further details inside As an iPhone user who is not in a 3G area, I have been wishing for over a year that Verizon would get the iPhone. They have not, nor does it seem it will happen in the near future (WWDC was my hope). On top of that it seems if they did I would have to get a new phone anyway since it would likely be CDMA. So I'm screwed on that front. Then I started thinking and realized the iPhone covers so much of what I do with data that I no longer technically need it as a "cell phone". To compound it all I work in a place with no cell phone access at all, so I'm not the person that requires being tethered to a phone at all times of the day anyways (I can't be really). Here are my thoughts:

1. Text Messages - I have Twitter with push notifications. Anyone who doesn't use that doesn't need to get ahold of me via txt.

2. Voicemail - I have a Google Voice account I (assume?) could keep for vm transcriptions to email.

3. Calling - Skype on the iPhone works over wifi. In addition I can open up Google Chat for text conversations that need to happen in real time (if I'm not driving).

So my thought is that all of this combined makes the Verizon Mifi a really compelling product. Sure I have to carry an extra device but if I cancel my cell phone plan (which I know there would be a cost to do) and opt for this, I have a Verizon data cloud surrounding me at all times for $60/month which is less than I'm paying for the iPhone.

Has anyone tried this? Am I missing anything important or any other pros/cons I haven't considered?

I want my damn 3G...

twine42 — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 07:45:50 -0800

Is there any (genuine) way to improve my cell/mobile phone signal? The house I'm preparing to move in to is in a little valley at the top of a hill - kind of like someone hit the hill with a massive axe. Everywhere around here gets great cellphone / mobile phone coverage on all the major UK providers, but in the valley it turns into crap.

There are two or three places in the house where I can get 2 bars of signal, but if I put the phone to my ear, or walk away a few feet, the signal vanishes completely.

Is there anything I can do to improve the receiption inside my house? Either phone specific or location specific?

It's kind of important, since I want to work from home but I design websites for mobile phones, so it's kind of a deal breaker if I can't make it work.

[besides, you can pry my SMS from my cold dead fingers...]

What sort of addresses do 3G end stations receive?

tkolar — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 11:05:12 -0800

What sort of addresses do 3G end stations receive? A quick survey around the office has revealed that cell phone manufacturers are not really keen on making the local IP address accessible (and frankly, such a small survey wouldn't be of much use anyway).

Intuitively I would assume they're given RFC1918 private IP addresses and sit behind a NAT box, but I'm hoping someone out there in AskMe land has more direct knowledge.

Pay-as-you-go unlimited data for first-gen iPhone in the UK?

-1 — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 08:16:33 -0800

I've got an unlocked iPhone (first-gen) running 1.1.4. Currently, I use AT&T's PAYG w/ Unlimited MediaNet to get unlimited data for $20/month. I'll soon be going to the UK, and I'd like to set up a similar arrangement. I'd like some advice as to how to accomplish this. I rarely make calls (<10 a month), and I almost never send texts -- what I really want is unlimited data on my iPhone. I'm having a hard time figuring out what (if any) pay-as-you-go tariffs in the UK will allow me to do this.

Since I've got a first-gen iPhone, I can't just use any old 3G SIM, so I'd like any recommendations as to what networks have plans that allow for unlimited EDGE usage. I'm willing to deal with GPRS if I have to, but EDGE is definitely preferred.

(I say "unlimited", but realistically I'm not gonna use more than 5GB/month, so reasonable caps are fine.)

Thanks in advance!

Psychomatic sinusache?

WCityMike — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 10:18:59 -0800

Slightly weird one: I occasionally get what I think is a psychosomatic sinusache. It seems to be induced by looking at a sharp edge or point, and perhaps happens to me once every one or two weeks. I'm wondering if anyone else has ever experienced this, and/or has any input into what's going on (mentally or physically) and any fixes or things that alleviate what's going on. As always, In such cases, it can severely increase in intensity, making it difficult to continue remaining focused on anything, requiring that I close my eyes, rub the bridge of my nose, and then try to return to staring at the screen. Taking off my glasses and rubbing the bridge of my nose, or blowing my nose, doesn't seem to alter the ache; it seems to quite literally be something changed by mental focus. I don't believe it's eye strain or mucus. I'm not sure if some underlying part of me imagines my eyeball being pierced or something, and the ache is an aversion thing, or if it's related to mental focus, or what. This has been with me for years, but it just occurred to me the other day to inquire with you guys as to whether it was just completely out of left field or was something other people had experienced.

Best PAYG SIM for short-term visit to UK?

fedward — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 11:06:46 -0800

How can I be as wireless for two weeks in the UK as I am year round in the US? We're going to the UK for two weeks. I have an unlocked, quad-band GSM phone with EDGE data. I also have an Option GT Max Express (or something like that), which is a global 3G card (HSDPA 3.6, downgrading to other GSM-based data services if necessary). I'd like to be able to use the phone for voice and data, and pop the SIM into my ExpressCard for data access while we're in London.

What's the best prepaid (PAYG) SIM to get for two weeks? Three (Hutchison 3G UK, that is) seems cheapest for phone and 3G data, but I can't find anything that says they even *have* EDGE. It looks like I need either Vodafone (ouch, £10 for 24 hours) or O2, but I'm not entirely clear on that either since I've read that O2 doesn't allow 3G data for PAYG cards, even with the web bolt-on.

And I thought the US mobile data market was bad. Am I just misreading their sites? Does Three have EDGE? Does O2 let you go 3G with a PAYG card? Can I speak complete gibberish? (Wait, I know the answer to the last one).

For extra credit, is there a good place to buy a SIM at Heathrow, or should I wait until we're killing time at Liverpool St. Station the day we arrive?

Yet another cellular-data phone recommendation question.

Kadin2048 — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 22:50:59 -0800

Can anyone recommend a phone for tethered EDGE data use with a PC, and basic voice calls? GSM, T-Mobile, Motorola preferred but not absolutely required. I've done some research but I'm a bit confused. I've decided to join the world of mobile not-quite-broadband, and I want to get a phone that I can tether to my notebook (sometimes a Mac, sometimes PC) and use for Internet access. I've actually gotten the tethered-data thing working with my current phone, a first-generation Motorola Razr V3, but it's GPRS-only and almost unusably slow once I get the office VPN up and running. All I want is to do email and light (image-disabled) web browsing, plus phone calls. I don't care about the other features, and I don't care about looks as long as it's small enough to fit into a dress-shirt pocket.

I've heard that EDGE is a step up in speed from GPRS, and the best I can really do right now on T-Mobile's network. (Or so I've been led to believe. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.) And for that, I need a new phone.

Aside from the slow data, I'm very happy with my current pairing of Motorola phone and T-Mobile as a provider. (I've used Motorola phones since they came with shoulder straps, and have never had a problem.) Plus, I got tethered data working on my non-EDGE Motorola pretty easily. Therefore I've been mostly looking at Motorola phones, but I'm open to other suggestions in the same price range.

According to what I can find, the Motorola phones that support EDGE are the newest Razr model (the V3xx), the KRZR K1, the RIZR Z3, and something called the W510. They all seem to retail for about $200USD, unlocked. However, I've read some anecdotal reports that EDGE support in some models is disabled, flaky, or non-functional. Can anyone vouch for them? If you have one, do you like it? Do you wish you'd gotten something else?

I've read their spec sheets and they seem to support different 'versions' of EDGE (e.g. the V3xx is EDGE version 10, the KRZR is version 12); should I care?

Also, I'm not sure if I should be buying a phone today that supports 3G data (HSPDA? UMTS?) so that I won't be repeating this business next year.

As you can probably tell, I'm in a bit over my head. Help me get squared away, MeFi! Thanks!

P.S.: I've read the past threads on this topic, but none seemed to discuss phones with this particular set of requirements.

How's the EDGE network in NYC on a normal day?

milarepa — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 07:41:44 -0800

What are the EDGE network speeds like on an iphone in New York City on a normal day? Are they excruciating? I am not interested in watching videos, just basic suring (e.g., moviefone, nyt), email checking, etc. I know that they won't be 3G, but are they passable?

Stop the water rot!

Marky — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 18:14:56 -0800

Protecting a hex sign, help! My family gave me two hex signs. They're 18 inches in diameter, painted on 1/8" Masonite. I was not enthusiastic about nailing them up to my shed, I thought they would be destroyed by the weather.

So I took them to Kinkos and had them laminated. No problem, and I'm not that worried about UV, they won't be in direct sunlight.

But now I'm looking at the edges, which are unprotected.

Any ideas on waterproofing the edges? I thought about plastic molding (as used on car doors) but I don't think they will bend in a circle.

T-Mobile data coverage around the world: is there a single map showing all covered areas?

allterrainbrain — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 22:52:48 -0800

T-Mobile's Unlimited International Email add-on for BlackBerry currently offers data service in "90 countries and locations." Is there such a thing as a single map showing these 90 countries and locations? If not, what's my most efficient way to make one myself? (On T-Mobile's site, there's only a drop-down menu; you need to click on each country to see whether data [as opposed to just voice] is offered in that country, then click again to see a map of the country's coverage area.)

My dream map would be a current, zoomable world map of actual T-Mo data coverage areas -- so you could view, for example, all of Eastern Europe or all of Central America at the same time, as with their excellent zoomable map of U.S. coverage.

Assuming there's no such map, I want to make a simple map myself, with different solid colors for each country (indicating "full coverage," "coverage only in urban centers," etc.) and each country shape linking to T-Mo's actual coverage map of that country. For this map I don't care about countries where there's only voice coverage & not data. Yes, I know this info fluctuates, so any map I made would be just a "current as of [date]" solution.

For making my own map, is there such a thing available as a big outline map of the world that already comes with an imagemap for each country's shape -- or just comes with clickable country names inside each country? (I'm hoping for something free or cheap; this is not an assignment for work, just a tool for planning my own low-budget travels.)

What is the best way to live-blog a cross-country road trip??

tarthur — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 19:40:01 -0800

What is the best method & location for live-blogging a cross country trip using a MacBook, DSLR camera, DV camera, t-mobile EDGE and intermittent wifi? I'm about to drive/move back to Southern California from Central Florida with my boyfriend and we want to document the trip with photos/video 'live' as we progress across the United States. Our travels will bring us up through New Jersey, Chicago, Denver with a stop at the Grand Canyon.

I have a t-mobile phone capable of EDGE (slow but useable) data transfer for the Mac and plan on stopping at wifi equipped locations to upload video/photos. A GPS type hookup would be sweet but I'm not familiar with doing that with a Mac.

It would be nice to have some type of map showing progress (GPS preferred but manually updated OK), the ability to post photos, gas prices, mood and other utterly useless information.

Has anyone had any experience with this type of blogging? I'm trying to determine if it would be best to use my limited skills to build some type of moveable type/wordpress with google + flickr or use something like Vox.

Thanks!

Wanted: Rich expression in music

Listener — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 13:27:28 -0800

Music with an edge - terms to characterize this, where to find/learn more? I have a hard time finding new music that is very interesting. I tried pandora, but I put in a sample track and it gives me back something relatively bland. How do I find more or the golden stuff with an edge? I put in Carmen McRae's "Look at that Face" live in '65, and I get bland, quasijazz studio shlock back. I put in Elvis Costello and I get gravelly/squeaky male vocalists with simple repeating song structures. A few golden performances by Maddy Prior and June Tabor return generic folk. I'm scared to put in JS Bach because I'll probably get Mozart (wonderful music, but lacking this thing I'm looking for). I put in tracks from transcendent Funkentelechy, I get some generic soul. Thelonious Monk/Beatles -- what else reaches this part of the stratosphere?

Some qualities are: dynamic expressive vocal range, with changes in tone colour; vocal harmony with 2 to max 4 voices; polyphony more than homophony; through-composed; for want of proper terms, shifting rhythms; a little dissonance. Is this just about rich variation in multiple aspects of the material, or am I missing something?

(1) How to characterize this or (2) any example recommendations that would be equivalent in character or (3) where I should go to learn more about this? Hoping for some insight from the metafilter musos that are here. (I am a self-taught amateur musician.)

Is a Blackberry 8800 on T-Mobile my best choice for a data-heavy cell plan starting in spring 2007?

allterrainbrain — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 12:47:22 -0800

My (non-existent) ideal device is a Treo -- with wifi, GSM/GPRS, and either EDGE or HSDPA -- on a service plan that includes flat-rate unlimited data, flat-rate international data roaming, and a small amount of voice usage inside the U.S. (say 100 mins/month). So, in the real world, is a Blackberry 8800 on T-Mobile my best choice for a plan starting in spring 2007? I want to use wifi, cellular-data, and cellular-voice, in that order of usage/importance. (Cellular-voice calls would only happen when there's no wifi available for VoIP.) I've been tethering my Sprint phones as laptop modems for six years -- ever since the first-generation data network where you were lucky to get 10k or 12k down -- so I'm looking forward to having EDGE-or-better speed on my next device.

Cost of the PLAN is the biggest factor for me. T-Mobile is cheaper & more flexible than Cingular for data (more below). Sprint and Verizon are out, since they're CDMA and I want GSM/GPRS for international voice & data roaming (esp. in remote areas that currently have GPRS and aren't likely to have any other data coverage for years).

Cost of the DEVICE is less important (since investing in a device that works with T-Mobile will save me money overall vs. any other carrier's data plan). I already own a basic PDA-only Palm device, and I've accepted that I'll need to keep carrying that along with the new data/phone device (since my biggest musts, Palm OS and GSM+GPRS+wifi connectivity, seem to be mutually exclusive for now [I need Palm OS itself, not just an OS that can sync with my Palm data]).

---- Here's what I want in a PLAN:
• flat-rate data plan, covering both unlimited data on the device and unlimited tethering (such as T-Mobile's $30/mo Blackberry plan for non-corporate users)
• EITHER a very cheap add-on for voice calls (like $10/mo for 100 mins/mo [not available at T-Mobile]) OR the ability, if you're on a data plan, to make voice calls billed per minute (as in T-Mobile's $0.20/min voice calls with data-only plans)
• flat-rate international data roaming with no annual commitment (such as T-Mobile's $20/mo international add-on, which you start & stop anytime [billed at $0.66/day] and which doesn't officially include free web access, tethering, or anything other than "email" [I've found many dozens of anecdotal reports to the contrary, but those experiences are apparently due to communication gaps between T-Moblie and its partners which I have to assume will be closed sometime soon]).

---- Here's what I want in a DEVICE:
• available from T-Mobile by June 2007
• non-Windows OS
• quad-band
• QWERTY keyboard
• uses GSM and GPRS and any EDGE-or-faster data standard
• has wifi (WPA-compatible) and will run at least one VoIP client (preferably many clients)
• can be unlocked and used with a new SIM card (for any travels where cheap-voice is more important than cheap-data)
• ringtones can be user-supplied mp3s (it's fine if that requires third-party software and/or lots of fiddling)
• no unsolveable incompatibilities with Mac OS (again, third-party & fiddling are fine).

Am I right that T-Mobile is my best provider and a Blackberry 8800 is my best device (assuming it turns out to have most of the features that are now being leaked -- most importantly wifi)? Am I missing any better ideas? (There are lots of mefi threads with info on older Blackberries/etc., but none specific to my situation.) Thanks for any reactions!

Looking for an advantage...

Mrs. Smith — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 17:03:13 -0800

Does your placement during the job inverview process make a difference? If you have a choice as to when you will schedule your interview, is it better to go first, so the interviewer is comparing all those who follow to you...or is it better to go toward the end, so you can leave the most recent impression when the individual goes to make a decision?

Do you think there is a strategy to this, providing that all other things are equal? Could going first or last help/hurt you just because of where you fall in the interviews?

Is there a best time of the day to interview or a better day of the week?

I want to sharpen the edges of my snowboard

MNDZ — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 15:42:03 -0800

Tuning my snowboard: I just got a Burton File Guide Kit to tune the edges of my snowboard. I am pretty sure i understand it; but just in case, does anyone know where to find directions for installing the files into the handpeice?

Unique female voices in electronic media? Who are the peers of Shelley Jackson and Laurie Anderson?

chocolatepeanutbuttercup — Thu, 24 Nov 2005 15:35:37 -0800

Unique female voices in electronic media? Who are the peers of Shelley Jackson and Laurie Anderson? Unique, cutting edge female voices in electronic media? Who are the peers of Shirley Jackson and Laurie Anderson?

I'm curious as to what the state of the art is in terms of female multimedia artists - I'm NOT looking for musicians or filmmakers, but female artists (art and literature) with a unique vision that you can't imagine easily being duplicated by a male. (I realize Anderson is thought of as a musician, but I think of her primarily as an artist who works in music as well as other media.)

Tile Flooring Advice

archimago — Fri, 06 Aug 2004 09:35:59 -0800

Can anyone share any info on Edge Precizion Tile flooring? I'm considering it for a DIY kitchen, but have been reading some horror stories online from untrusted sources. (yes, I trust the opinions of my mefi pals!!)