Earthlink Wireless Treo 650 Coming Soon
There's a piece of news that came out somewhat 'under the radar' a couple of days ago and which took me completely by surprise. Namely, Earthlink Wireless, an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) powered by the Sprint and Verizon networks, announced that it would release its own Treo 650 on Monday May 30 (in 32 days).
This is terrific news on a number of fronts. Firstly, and naturally we now have one more carrier to choose from. Secondly, there is the fact that until now Earthlink Wireless had only provided BlackBerry services and no mobile phones of any kind so the Treo 650 will become its first combined phone and email solution. Thirdly, I am very impressed with the marketing effort that Earthlink has put behind its Treo launch so far. Among others, the company has built an excellent pre-launch information page and one of the best Treo demos that I have come across to date. One would be hard pressed not to leave their site feeling that Earthlink Wireless really likes the Treo and by extension so will you.
I particularly appreciated how the demo walks a prospective Treonaut through the core convergence features of our Treo in a simple but graphically rich presentation asking "What if you could take a computer with a high speed internet connection and combine it with a mobile phone, a speakerphone, an organizer, an MP3 player and a digital camera?" - look no further, as their website state the Treo 650 is "All you need, all in one"...
Perhaps one of the most interesting features of Earthlink's Treo offering is their exclusive TotalAccess software:
TotalAccess [is] designed to deliver a range of personalized content to the Treo 650. TotalAccess software includes server-side spamBlockerSM and Virus Blocker, which eliminate virtually 100 percent of spam and protects the user's inbox from unwanted viruses. EarthLink Wireless offers wireless, over-the-air synchronization between the Treo 650 and EarthLink's server to keep the user's address book updated without cradle-based synchronization. In addition, users can get fast and easy access to email, information, and favorite features in a simple, integrated interface. Accessing EarthLink's Personal Start Page on the Internet allows users to set up customized content to be delivered wirelessly, such as news, stock prices, sports scores, weather, directions, maps and more.
Additionally, the Treo 650 from EarthLink Wireless operates on the CDMA/1xRTT wireless network with nationwide coverage in the United States. It is scheduled to be commercially available in late May for a suggested retail price of $599 before rebate and can be used in conjunction with a variety of EarthLink Wireless, affordable pricing plans with no roaming charges. Calling plans with free night and weekend minutes start at $39.95 per month, with unlimited email and Internet access for an additional $19.95 per month (wireless data users will be happy).
Earthlink Wireless definitely has some 'personality' and is well worth checking out.
Treonauts like carriers that understand them... 
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Tracked on May 12, 2005 1:46:45 AM
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From a friend at Verizon... the Earthlink Wireless Treo650 they're offering doesn't *only* work on the CDMA/1xRTT network. It is fully EVDO capable. Since Earthlink Wireless is truly just a CDMA carrier reseller, your plan with them determines if you get Verizon service or Sprint service as your primary service, then through the partnership, you can roam to the other carrier without roaming fees. The catch is that if you get the higher priced plans, you actually get Verizon as your primary service provider (Sprint is just a roaming partner) and you get access to Verizon's EVDO network. The lower priced and more "family oriented" plans will give you Sprint as your primary (w/ Verizon as the roaming partner) and will only get you 1xRTT data and *won't* let you onto Sprint's EVDO as they roll it out.
Two things I found odd about the demo. One is that it showed pTunes. I doubt that the Earthlink Treo will ship with it (but I could be wrong). And two, towards the end of the demo, it shows the Treo 600 when it demoing the spamblocker.
However, this looks to be promising.
If the EVDO business is true, then that likely means that Verizon's Treo 650 (now rumored for a May 23rd release)would also have EVDO capability!!!
Mark - 'tis supposed to. The GSM 650 was supposed to offer 3G support and the CDMA version is supposed to gave EVDO support.
Errr... make that "the GSM 650 was supposed to offer EDGE support"... which it does. Whether or not the CDMA version will offer EVDO is an unknown. I have it from a good source that it will. In fact, my source says part of the hang-up was implementing EVDO and that they chose to wait to get some fixes after Sprint released their version. Apparently Verizon was going to offer it 3 months after Sprint, but the Sprint release showed a lot of weaknesses. Sprint now has their patches... including to NVFS and Verizon's release will come with those fixes already installed. Whether or not EVDO was completed and is working or axed and put off to a later date is still an unknown, but my source says Verizon will have the EVDO support. We'll know soon enough...
Earthlink Wireless has the worst customer service I've ever had to experience.
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