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Latest Review
From: stork (stork@flash.net)
Fri, 13 Nov 1998 16:49:10 -0600
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The RIM Inter@ctive™ Pager 950 And BellSouth Interactive Paging Service:A Better Connection!
I am always searching for new technologies that will aid physicians in their daily lives. All of us are “married” to our pagers, cell phones, fax, and answering machines. As much as we may resist, our careers demand accessibility and accountability when we are working--and times when we are not. About a year ago, I looked at two paging services: the SkyWriter™ service from SkyTel using a Motorola pager (http://www.motorola.com//), and the RIM Inter@ctive Pager 900 (http://www.rim.net) using the BellSouth Interactive Paging Service. I was not very impressed at the time by either technology. I felt that the SkyWriter service was cost prohibitive, the pager was rather bulky to carry, and difficult to use. (see review: http://www.obgyn.net/english/pubs/features/Q-Phone_zab.htm) I did not mention the RIM (a.k.a. Research In Motion Limited) Inter@ctive Pager 900 in that review because I did not personally feel that it was ready for our market yet. (It lacked a backlight; an essential feature for any physician who must answer his pager any time, day or night.) When I mentioned what I felt were some of the shortcomings of the RIM 900 to the company, they asked me not to write them off just yet because they were working on a new and improved model. They were unable to tell me much more than that. I assured them that I would be anxiously awaiting the next version, and reserve judgment until that time. (Note: RIM, is a small, innovative company from Ontario, Canada, who has been an industry leader in wireless technologies.)
About a month ago, I noticed some “mini” reviews of the RIM Inter@ctive Pager™ 950 in the “new products” sections of several consumer PC magazines. The preliminary reviews were good, and it appeared that the 950 was indeed the product that would set Research in Motion and BellSouth Wireless Data apart from Motorola and SkyTel. (You may have spotted some BellSouth ads in various magazines recently.) I contacted the RIM folks, and asked if I could try out their new, improved device. They were all too willing, and sent out two Inter@ctive Pager 950s for trial. Why two, you ask? With two (or more) 950’s, you can have the added convenience of “pager to pager” dialogues, with all of the convenience and ease of a chat room. You also have the potential savings over long distance and/or cellular charges. You even get a delivery confirmation next to your message after sending to another Inter@ctive Pager 950 as well as read confirmation once the message is ready by the recipient. If you are out of range of the coverage area (as indicated on the LCD’s lower right corner), you message(s) will be held and delivered (guaranteed) as soon as you are back in range. (Go to http://www.bellsouthwd.com/covapp/ for the BellSouth coverage map.)
PAGER SPECS:
The pager is no larger than your average pager. It is 3.5”long by 2.5” wide by .93” thick. It weighs less than 5 ozs. including the battery. It uses a 386 PC chip, and sports a whopping 1meg of flash memory and 304 kbytes of SRAM (unheard of in a stand-alone pager). It comes with a belt clip that protects the screen from damage while wearing it. (When in the belt clip, the display is not visible.) When out of the belt clip, the LCD screen is extremely readable, and has an almost holographic appearance. There is an excellent backlight for no or low light conditions. The screen (in its normal state) gives you the time in double sized numerals, with the day and date on the left side of the screen. The bottom of the screen shows the remaining battery life, and strength of the signal as either a bar graph or percentage. The user can set the 950 to beep or vibrate. There is even a choice of vibrate when in the belt clip, and beep when out of the clip.
To the right of the LCD screen is a tactile thumb wheel that acts very much like a combination special function key/mouse. When used in conjunction with specialized buttons, users can navigate through messages with simple roll and click motions. The keyboard is a 31 key “QWERTY”, so touch typists will not have to hunt and search. While the “keys” are small, I found message typing simple messages on the RIM surprisingly easy, intuitive, and relatively error free. A programmable AutoText feature enhances this functioning. It will not only automatically correct common typos and capitalizations, it can be programmed by the user for shortcuts to commonly used words and phrases. For example, with a few easy steps, I was able to have the 950 spell out “Edward M. Zabrek, M.D., F.A.C.O.G.” every time I typed “emz”. The Inter@ctive Pager 950 uses a single AA battery. Under normal conditions, (according to BellSouth) a typical user should get about three weeks (500 hours) of operating time. BellSouth touts this as the longest battery life in the industry. The price for the Inter@ctive 950 is $249.00 with certain promotional contracts. (go to http://www.bellsouthwd.com/ips/inf/promo1.html for details) More specific details about the 950 can be found at: http://www.rim.net/products/IP950/about.html
BELLSOUTH--THE DATA SERVICE PROVIDER:
As you may have already guessed, I am enamored with the RIM Iner@ctive Pager 950™ and all of its unique features. Of course, this is only half of the story. Any communications device is only as good as the wireless data company providing the transmission services. BellSouth launched the Interactive Paging Service in late August 1998 (http://www.bellsouthwd.com). I have been extremely impressed with all aspects of this company. The 24 hour/day, toll free customer service line provides you with a friendly, patient, helpful voice more than willing to go the extra mile to answer your questions. This service gives users the ability to read, edit, and forward Internet e-mail anywhere in the world. Messages as long as 16,000 characters (2700 words) can be received on the pager. The message header preview feature allows the user to view the subject and size of a message before it is sent to the pager; the user may choose either to download and read the message on the pager, or forward it to another e-mail address or fax machine for later viewing. BellSouth claims that this service delivers (guaranteed “ungarbled”) alpha messages nationwide within 10 - 60 seconds. When you send to another paging subscriber, you will be notified that the subscriber has received and read the message.
Service plans for purchasing the pager are as follows:
COST/MONTH CHARACTERS/MONTH
$24.95 25,000 29.95 50,000 39.95 100,000 49.95 150,000 59.95 200,000 99.95 UNLIMTED
Service plans for renting the pager are as follows:
COST/MONTH CHARACTERS/MONTH
$44.95 25,000 54.95 50,000 64.95 75,000 74.95 100,000
GET OneConnectTM!
While the base plan service is good if you have more than one Inter@ctive Pager, most physicians will require a simple service that the rest of the world can easily use as well. (I found the basic service was not adequate for my patients and allied health personnel to use.) This brings me to the “OneConnectTM” service offered by BellSouth. OneConnectTM is an additional service that gives you a personal, nationwide toll-free number. There is a one-time activation charge of $25.00 and a $8.95/month additional fee over your monthly plan charge. The caller will hear prompts in your voice, which instructs them to press the following numbers:
(1) Send a text message to you through a Message Center Operator (cost-$.50 per each 80 character Message. These messages do NOT count against your prepaid character count.
(2) Leave a voice mail message (with or without numeric page)
(3) Send numeric page (free, unlimited)
(4) Send a fax with a voice message
(5) Call Connect to Your Party: This feature will simultaneously ring you two phone numbers that you program as needed. (Cost-$.25/min.)
(note: the cost of options 2 and 4 is $.25/min)
If your caller does not elect to choose any option, and does not hang up, a message asks the caller to “please hold while you are transferred to our text messaging center.” The operator will come and answer using your real name (just like your current, “live” answering service).
OTHER FEATURES:
The RIM Inter@ctiveTM Pager 950 can function as an address book that will hold around 1000 entries. These entries can include fields for last and first name, e-mail addresses, phone numbers, fax numbers, 1-way pager address, Inter@ctive pager address, company name and Notes. When you compose a message on the 950, you are directed to you address book to choose a name, and mode of delivery. If the recipient has an Inter@ctive pager, you can send a message directly to their unit. You can also fax, phone, or e-mail them. The phone feature will convert a text message to an electronic voice and read it to the answering party over the telephone. (cost-$.25/min)
You can also set up computer workstations as “internet dispatch” centers. This will allow you interact with those workstations and send/receive messages between pager and dispatch center (just as you would between two Inter@ctive Pager 950s. The software for the dispatch center is $149.00.
In summary, this new, improved technology from RIM and BellSouth has the potential to revolutionize communications in our practices. At first glance, the costs may appear to be a bit more than your average pager. If used to its fullest potential, however, you can actually save money. You would replace your current answering service. (Cost savings: $60-100.00/month.) You also would replace your current pager. (Savings average: $20/mo). Large, multi-physician groups and their allied health personnel could use a system of Inter@ctive Pagers to save on their cellular charges. Your front office personnel could use the dispatch software to send and receive messages to the entire staff. If you are looking for tomorrows technology, today, I highly recommend the RIM Inter@active Pager 950 and the BellSouth Interactive PagingSM Service using OneConnect.
For more information, you can reach BellSouth at 1-888-4BEYOND,
- Next message: stork: "Fwd: Re: Latest Review (Hopefully more readable)"
- Previous message: Edward Zabrek, M.D.: "Latest Tech Review-Sony/Etak GPS"
- Next in thread: HerBdy@aol.com: "Re: Latest Review"
- Maybe reply: HerBdy@aol.com: "Re: Latest Review"
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