Generally speaking, we felt the response time was a lot faster than the Palm VII's when using PQA applications. This can be attributed to CDPD's increased bandwidth over Palm.Net's. POP3 email access was also speedy, although we did get the occasional timeout from a Linux sendmail server hosted at our ISP.

AvantGo performance was mixed. Don't use this modem to synchronize channels with AvantGo.com -- it is way too slow. Instead of synchronizing the channels to the Palm V (and eating up its precious 2MB of memory in the process) we found we achieved much better performance browsing the AvantGo channels directly from the Internet using the PliNk Web site (see http://www.palmpower.com/issues/issue200001/ppcoolsite200001001.html).

Here's a cool AvantGo trick: Since AvantGo has no native bookmarking capabilities, we added a single custom PliNk channel to our AvantGo.com account, so that we could update the channel links at least once a week. AvantGo plans to implement a new device interface for wireless access late in Q1 2000, which will provide similar capabilities to the PliNk page, but will also provide a complete index to all the AvantGo channels for direct browsing when used on a wireless device.

The bottom line
For a beta, the OmniSky modem and service looks very promising, but we really want to see what the April software update looks like before we can pass complete judgment. If you're willing to work within the performance limitations of CDPD, and have no problem traveling with two sets of chargers, the service can be a great tool for certain types of people, namely high-power execs and technogeeks on the run who need access to their email from almost everywhere. David Gewirtz has also told me that he thinks this product may be a boon to network managers who need to check on their servers from anywhere they happen to be.

OmniSky has announced that they are expanding their beta program to accommodate 7,500 users instead of the original planned 5,000 (according to their PR representation, they are already at 6,000 users) and will be extending their $299.00 modem price (which includes free service until April) if you sign up before February 27. While pricing for the service has still not been set, OmniSky has stated that it will be an all-you-can eat service for less than $50.00 per month, and will be extremely competitive with existing wireless service offerings. Too good to be true? Stay tuned.

Jason Perlow is Contributing Editor for PalmPower and is proud to be an uber-geek. He can be reached at the fashionably evil email address of perlow@hotmail.com