Too bad that this product will never ship. OQO is rumored to be broke, I believe it. My friends who work there haven’t been paid in several weeks and last week were unexpectedly “furloughed without pay” for two weeks with less than a day’s notice.

They probably aren’t going to pull out this time.

What did you have to do? I’m playing around with the Sony VAIO P (which also uses the Gobi chipset) and it appears to be stuck in EVDO mode.

http://www.oqotalk.com/index.php/topic,3434.0.html

I found the link I was looking for:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Deployed_UMTS_networks

So as you can see most do it on 2100 Mhz, AT&T at 850/1900 but see how Tmo USA stands out at 1700/2100 don’t think ANY other carrier worldwide does that!

Btw Tmo USA isn’t alone with not having support from the hardware, see Jenn’s posts here about the BenQ:

http://www.midmoves.com/2009/01/staying-connected-at-180-feet/

Adding (Tmo USA) 3G wouldn’t give you anything in the OQO.

Also not sure about your package but some packages have increased now with Tmo meaning most (if not all?) are $34.99 now, only the old customers as myself get away with the $20 deal, even on NON 3G devices such as the Sidekicks from Tmo you pay the $35 now with a NEW contract so be careful to not “loose” your sweet $20, as if you are ok with the speed there’s nothing that beats it out there.

Myself also as an Tmo customer have an AT&T prepaid card with $20 unlimited for 3G data, but this ALSO is no longer available (at any price) but possible only if you have a card for which the 3G has been active BEFORE (and constantly after) the price increase. I was fortunate to be able to find one such card “2nd hand”

$20 for unlimited data (any speed) is a good deal in USA right now!

On the speed unless you use some very mobile orientated sites (and not the full sites) there won’t be that much difference really in the speed. Sometimes even better as your smart phone might itself slow down the process a bit due to lack of processing power. For instance my iPhone will pull up the same sites faster than the Sidekick (both on Tmo EDGE) most of the time.

Guess I can still use it with my current $20 data plan. It runs OK on my nokia e70 but I imagine it may be pretty slow on the OQO. I don’t currently use the net a lot during the day but was hoping to have that option with the OQO and Tmo. :[

SIM card (just like any other plastic card can be assigned to what you want it to be assigned to):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subscriber_Identity_Module

GSM :
“Most 3G GSM networks in Europe operate in the 2100 MHz frequency band”

More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSM

“The specific frequency bands originally defined by the UMTS standard are 1885–2025 MHz for the mobile-to-base (uplink) and 2110–2200 MHz for the base-to-mobile (downlink). In the US, 1710–1755 MHz and 2110–2155 MHz will be used instead, as the 1900 MHz band was already utilized.”

More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Mobile_Telecommunications_System

Voice&Data (non 3G):

“GSM-900 and GSM-1800 are used in most parts of the world”

“GSM-850 and GSM-1900 are used in the United States, Canada, and many other countries in the Americas.”
More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSM_frequency_ranges

Bottom line OQO will support ALL 3G GSM data network EXCEPT the *3G* part of the Tmo USA one. Not to confuse Tmobile’s home country (Germany) users this has NOTHING to do with you!

So now to your TMoUSA question, the TMo card (that you could add DATA service to) would work in the OQO yes, and if you have a Tmo USA SIM w/data service say in a G1 phone it would use the GPRS, EGPRS or 3G accordingly how the service is available where you’re at.

Now will TMo USA 3G and OQO work then? **NO!** Why? Because Tmo USA (just like ATT in a sence) uses a unique frequency NOT supported by the WWAN unit within the OQO, and frankly not really supported by much of any hardware yet. Kind of like it was with the AT&T 3G a while back, however AT&T has been around a while now and more and more hardware supports it.

To make this even more complex (it kind of is) GSM is as follows 850/1900Mhz in North America, but 900/1800MHz elsewhere, now PRE-3G data services were running on the same bands as the voice so they went hand-in-hand, and there was only NA GSM and everywhere else so to speak. Meaning AT&T *AND* Tmo USA share all the frequencies *EXCEPT* 3G where there essentially are three different. AT&T, Tmo USA and “the world”.

This is ONLY in regards to the GSM and 3G.

So if you stick a TmoUSA card with Data service in the OQO it will work BUT NO 3G speeds.

I’m sorry I feel I make these too hard every time

I was thinking about getting gone but want to make sure about what I’ll be able to do with it.

Thanks in advance

The Gobi module, is that being based on the 3G module from Option Wireless which is focussing on MID’s?

Thanks

““OQO is excited to work with Intel to deliver the highest performing Mobile Internet Device (MID) on the market today,” said Bob Rosin, senior vice president of sales and marketing at OQO.”

http://www.oqo.com/news/press_releases/2009-01-07_mode2+_release.html

http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/20/video-oqo-model-2-mid-gets-unboxed-previewed/#comments

But I kind of got the same hunch, something yet to be “fixed” but then again I was using it with WiMax, is that easier or harder on the battery than your typical 3G?