Cellular or wi-fi handheld?

When you sign up for cellular data access, you can expect to get access most of the time. Your reception may be spotty some places and none of us like that. But, you get an almost always on data connection. Wi-fi (802.11b etc.) has grown by leaps and bounds of late and is now in many of our homes, most offices, airports, Starbucks, a lot of other coffee shops and even Borders.

Here's the rub. Wi-fi is not ubiquitous yet. There's lots of talk about community wi-fi and mesh networks, but it's still just talk for most of us. I don't want to spend $30/month just to get access to wi-fi at Starbucks, Borders and the airport.

Most wi-fi connections can be hacked to get a free connection. If you have access to all wi-fi hot spots public and private, you are in business. But most of us (a) don't know how to do it, (b) don't have time to implement it and (c) think it's unethical. I'm hoping that mesh networks will make wi-fi free or close to it, but we aren't there yet.

Bottom line. If you want 24/7 Net access right now, you need cellular. Too bad that's gonna cost you. The cell providers slow down the process. Companies like Palm have to bend over backwards to please them. Handheld technology with cellular is 6 or more months behind other handheld tech because manufacturers have to tailor their offerings for each cell provider. That means they freeze the base technology months ahead of the release date.

The Tungsten W released this spring is a perfect example. It has lousy specs. It runs at 33 mhz, 16 mb of RAM and runs Palm OS 4.1. Compare that to the new wi-fi Tungsten C that runs at 400 mhz, has 64 mb RAM, has a better screen and OS 5.2.

Since I want something now, I'll take moderately priced 24/7 cell access (the color Sidekick) over occasional, faster wi-fi (Tungsten C). Within the year, the best mobile devices may have all three options: cellular, wi-fi and blue tooth. When the Treo 600 comes out in the Fall, it will be capable of using a blue tooth or wi-fi SD card (too bad it has 160x160 screen resolution).

Next year, the hot ticket may be combo cellular/wi-fi service plans. You'll use wi-fi, when available, for its speed and cellular to fill in the gaps and make phone calls. You'll use bluetooth to communicate with cheaper devices that don't justify the extra expense of wi-fi circuitry. Wi-Fi and 3G Together? posted on 80211-planet.com on Friday and the June 2nd post Wi-Fi: Will it fly or will it die? on Brighthand are also good.