This is very tiny and plugs into PDAs CF (compact flash) slot or into a Notebook using a CF to typeII PCMCIA adapter.

The unit itself supports 3 bands and because it is CF can be used in a wide range of PDAs and Notebooks. The cost is a bit expensive ($HK 1900 = $US 245).

The CF card has a slot for the SIM card used by our GSM/GPRS system. It also comes with an earphone/microphone combo that connects to the card. In a PDA the software supports two modes of operation GSM for voice connections (much like a mobile phone & the screen on the PDA looks like a mobile phone PDA) and GPRS for data connection such as to the Internet.

In a notebook, the software driver only supports data connections, there is no extra program (as on the PDA) for driving the card as a mobile phone. So the notebook treats the card as if it is a GPRS modem.

It took me 2 weeks elapsed time & many hours, to get this thing working - mostly because I couldn't make a lot of sense of the instructions in the manual. Because this is a universally sold product, there were no meaqningful examples provided on what the config parameters really needed to be. In setting the unit up you have to add a string of codes that the software uses to talk to the card. These include for example ...

CPIN="9999"; CGDCONT=1, "ip", "APN"

Where 9999 is your SIM pin code & APN means Access Provider Name (or whatever - even though I work for a telecom company that supplies the GPRS service I had *NO* idea what this APN was or meant - neither did the shop when I took the unit back after a weeks failure to work out what I should enter).

Another source of confusion was when the manual said to use *99# as the usual phone number to dial for the GPRS service. Whilst my GSM SIM card is also GPRS enabled I had never seen any info from the service provider (my employer) about using such a number, so I of course used the normal ph number for ISP dial-in service. Oddly this worked (slowly) when used on my Notebook but not on any PDA which would usually lock-up. The card locked up after each attempt to dial when I was using my normal ISP dial-in ph num.

I finally made progress when the tech guy at the shop I bought it from, asked for 2 days to learn about how the AUDIOVOX RTM-8000 product worked & sure enough when I returned he gave me the correct code strings to use & it worked.

CPIN="9999"; CGDCONT=1, "ip", "HKCSL" (where 9999 was my SIM card pin)

(it turned that 'my' APN was "HKCSL" - am so glad he figured out what an APN was because I had no idea - my GSM service when using the SIM card in my phone, shows up as "CW HKT" so guessing that I had this APN thing of "HKCSL" was beyond my most intuitive capabilities.

Anyway after 2 weeks I can now plug the card into my IPAQ PDA & my SONY Vaio & it works as originally expected - but GPRS is *not* all that fast - I much prefer Wi-Fi connections but when away from Wi-Fi sites the GPRS card is next best.

In reviewing this evaluation of the RTM-8000 card, I was at first really annoyed at how difficult it was to get it working and to understand all the new configuration junk, but as with most of today's technology, we have to keep learning new garbage in order to use it. I half know what an APN is now & also now know that GPRS is usually dialled by dialling *99# as the phone number (how wonderfully intuitive). But in balance, once set up, IT WORKS.

Cheers

Doug Marker