KLUB@maristb.bitnet (Richard Budd) (03/06/91)
For the sixth year running, we are organizing this summer a bicycle ride from Buffalo to New York City. To allow members of the support crew to communicate with each other, one of the organizers suggested cellular telephones for each member of the crew. We are interested in answers to the following questions: 1) The telephones would only be needed for the duration of the bicycle trip and due to budgetary constraints, we would prefer to either rent them or accept a donation in exchange for promotion. To whom should we speak about renting cellular telephones for a ten day period (Radio Shack, the cellular phone companies...)? 2) Two to three members of the support crew ride bicycles. What would be the set-up required to install a cellular telephone on a bicycle? BTW, I've passed the BITNET address of TELECOM Digest over to the Information Institute at the University of Warsaw so the system administrators could communicate their local and wide area network problems directly to the forum. (Time to brush up on your Polish, Pat:-}) Richard Budd | E-Mail: IBMers - rcbudd@rhqvm19.ibm VM Systems Programmer | All Others- klub@maristb.bitnet IBM - Sterling Forest, NY Phone: (914) 578-3746
king@uunet.uu.net (Steven King) (03/09/91)
In article <telecom11.181.6@eecs.nwu.edu> KLUB@maristb.bitnet (Richard Budd) writes: > 1) The telephones would only be needed for the duration of the bicycle > trip and due to budgetary constraints, we would prefer to either rent > them or accept a donation in exchange for promotion. To whom should > we speak about renting cellular telephones for a ten day period (Radio > Shack, the cellular phone companies...)? I'd go to the cellular phone companies. It's my guess that they'd fall all over each other for the opportunity to brag, "Communications provided by XYZ Cellphone Company", especially if the event gathers a good deal of publicity. You can also check the yellow pages for "communications", "pagers", etc. to find companies that do business renting phones. This probably isn't a low-cost solution, though. Remember, unless you can get the cellphone operating company to donate airtime and setup fees, merely using cellphones as intensely as I imagine you will be can add up to some serious money very quickly! > 2) Two to three members of the support crew ride bicycles. What would > be the set-up required to install a cellular telephone on a bicycle? My choice would be to get portable phones. They're completely self-contained including battery and antenna. The setup needed would be a small carrying pouch on the bike so the rider doesn't have to hand-carry the fool thing. Some sort of mounting device might also be in order to allow one-handed dialing. Most portables aren't very convenient to hold and dial with the same hand. Also, contact the local cellphone companies and make sure you've got service all the way along the route! It would be bad to stake your communications on cellphones only to find that some rural areas (if you're riding through them) have little or no coverage. All the standard disclaimers apply. Steven King, Motorola Cellular (...uunet!motcid!king)
sw@indetech.uucp (Steve Warner) (03/10/91)
In article <telecom11.181.6@eecs.nwu.edu> is written: > 1) The telephones would only be needed for the duration of the bicycle > trip and due to budgetary constraints, we would prefer to either rent > them or accept a donation in exchange for promotion. To whom should > we speak about renting cellular telephones for a ten day period (Radio > Shack, the cellular phone companies...)? Many car rental agencies rent handheld cellular phones by the day. They would require no installation. The fees for such rental are kind of high - perhaps they would give a discount however. Hope this helps. Steve Warner - Fremont, CA, USA etc... replies to: sun!indetech!stables!sw (forget what the header says) [Moderator's Note: A joke told to me by the local Radio Shack guy today goes like this: "If you need a temporary cell phone, rent one from Radio Shack ... since when did Radio Shack *rent* phones, you ask? ... they always did. You go in, buy a phone on your credit card, use it that night and take it back the next day saying you changed your mind and don't want it after all ... " :) PAT]
alans@hp-ptp.hp.com (Alan_Sanderson) (03/10/91)
Re Cellular Phone Rental:
National Car Rental makes cellular phones available for rental as an
option to the vehicle rental. You might check with them to find out
what possibilities exist.
Alan Sanderson Hewlett-Packard AMSO alans@hp-ptp.HP.COM
US Snail: 1266 Kifer Rd. MS101S MaBell: 408-746-5714
Sunnyvale, CA 94086 FAX: 408-746-5890
Disclaimer: <Standard Disclaimer Applies> zellich@stl-07sima.army.mil (Rich Zellich) (03/13/91)
Wouldn't it be simpler and cheaper to just use portable CB's? Or do you really expect everybody to be so spread out that they would be beyond the range of a full-output CB unit?
njs@cpunk.watson.ibm.com (Nicholas J. Simicich) (03/16/91)
I mentioned this in email to the originator, but for the route they want to travel, cellular phones are a really bad idea. There will be lots of dead spots where people will be cut off. They would be better off renting VHF radios or using CB's, as Rick Zellich suggested. Besides, do they really want to dial a bunch of numbers and pay two airtime fees every time the bike at the front of the pack wants to call the bike at the back of the pack? They won't have any broadcast capability, either, so if the manager wants to broadcast to all of the workers, it will mean a bunch of separate calls. I think that they just want to key a mike and say who they are talking to, and then talk. Having cellular phones in the cars to call EMS or the police would be a good idea. But to use them for primary communication sounds really bad. Nick Simicich (NJS at WATSON, njs@ibm.com) ---SSI AOWI #3958, HSA #318
Allyn@uunet.uu.net (03/17/91)
This is in repsonse to the person who was thinking of using cellular telephones for communications at a bike race. I'm surprised nobody has mentioned ham radio yet. There are amateur radio clubs that specialize in providing communications for public events such as bike races. Using radios, as opposed to cellular telephones, has the advantage that all stations situated on the bike route can hear each other. This isn't practical on a cellular phone. Of course cellular phones have the advantage of being able to make a direct phone call without having to go through an "autopatch". Probably the ideal would be to get a local ham club to provide primary communications and then have a few cellular phones situated at strategic places along the route. Allyn Lai kb6odf allyn@cup.portal.com