User
Opinions: OmniSky
| balance | MANY crashes and poor tech support | 
| I have been using this service for about a week. I have had more problems that I can count. To help prevent crashes Omnisky tells you to turn the modem off before removing. Did that and had to do a hard reset erasing everything while out of town on business. I lost e-mail at the same time. The whole 4 days I couldn't get e-mail and couldn't contact Omnisky for help (no number on their website accessed throug the handheld). The red LED lights up on the modem even though I don't have e-mail waiting. It also installs a lot of junk on your handheld you don't want like buy.com, ameritrade, etc.
That eats up valuable memory.
I read these messages before I bought it and now totally regret not listening to everyone else. Save your money and don't buy it!
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| tmronin | nice concept, but wished it worked |
| feh - 3 modems sent, 8 hours on phone with techs, 18 hard resets (would have been more, but i just couldn't take it anymore), no coverage, doesn't work in the apartment...gave up. it sits in a box waiting for me to do a hard reset and hope it works. glad to see i paid to be a betatester. |
| visored | Free with service is NOT worth this |
| One would think OmniSky was foisting a beta unit on the handheld user populace.
I was worried about coverage availability, not that the modem would not function properly. Half the time I do not want to carry the modem in my Visor, as it doesn't work at home adds to the bulkiness-so I take it out. And that is bad apparently. Got numerous serial errors when trying to connect. Taking it out and resetting sometimes worked. Tech support suggested upgrading to revc flash updater. Worked once. Palm apps and modules are just supposed to work. That's why we get them. I have enough trouble with thinking about various operating systems and I don't need to add Palm to the list. I want so much to be able to check my email while waiting for my baggage or while in a cab, but if I'm yanking the modem out half the time to touble-shoot, it's not worth the FREE hardware. Yuck. |
| Geoffrey | I don't remember volunteering for a Beta |
| This product is no where ready for public use. I tried for 4 months (over 25 hours!!)with Omni Tech Sppt to get it to work. Crashed my Prism almost everytime. They sent me 4 different modems. Great when it worked but it never worked. Definitely get BackupBuddy before even inserting the modem and expect that Omni will not honor any type of refund when you give-up. I'll give details in the discussion forum. |
| Anonymous | great product, watch coverage | 
| Coverage in my area is fine (southern orange county). I travel from North of LA to San Diego and coverage is excellent. I used to have a PALM VIIX. The mail app couldn't pull in real pop mail (unless you used a pqa which is slow), no instant messaging, and the unit was slow. It also was bulkier, ate a lot of batteries.
The omnisky service on the other hand with its excellent battery life (about 8 hours full use I can almost SWEAR), the ability to work on the prism (color), and with the help of palmscape (an app) you can view full webpages at decent speeds, no more web clipping if you dont need to.
Anyhow the device is great. It does cause some wierd resetting problems, but until theres a better option, I'm going with omnisky. |
| Prism Lover | Caveat Emptor (Latin for "Let the Buyer Beware) |
| Omnisky is not ready for prime time.
After upgrading from a Palm VII to a Handspring Prism, I was eager to use my Prism wirelessly and Omnisky seemed the natural path to take.
Signed up for service and was VERY disappointed. The Omnisky software was corrupted and required several hours of my time and downloaded patches to fix. Then the reception was HORRIBLE. I returned their modem and cancelled the service. Omnisky's staff know their service is marginal and yet they sell this hoping that you'll be satisfied with their mediocrity.
My solution was to buy the Handspring wireline modem. The downside is that you need to find a conventional phone line but the upside is that the connection is always stable when you do and the Handspring wireline modem supports COLOR which Omnisky does not (why would I want to see Omnisky's black and white screens when I just shelled out a lot of money to buy a Prism?).
Forget Omnisky. Get the wireline modem until someone releases a modem connection to your cellphone which has to come sometime soon. Buy the Handspring modem and DEFINITELY DOWNLOAD THE COOL BLAZER COLOR BROWSER (www.bluelark.com) which loads full COLOR webpages at a fraction of the time Omnisky's black and white browser loads if it loads at all.
Omnisky? Not worth the trouble.
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| LilPenguin | OmniSky vs Palm VII |
| I out grew my 2MB Palm VII and decided to give the Visor Platinum and Omnisky modem a try, will all of the promotions, why not?
Coverage:
My Palm VII has better penetration in buildings (I still have the service active to compare) than the OmniSky, although OmniSky seems to have a very limited coverage. One cool feature...I was in British Columbia, Canada for a week. Not only did the OmniSky work in Vancouver, but it worked at Whistler! Absolutely no coverage for the VII. And it came in handy when I needed to reference the current exchange rate. ;)
Software:
Because you can do more on the OmniSky, you automatically get more: icons, graphics and icons. I'm a content person for news, the VII wins hands down for data retrieval. When I reference my news sources on the OmniSky, it seems like I'm scrolling all the time. I also miss the ability to just pop up the antenna and tap on a web clipping. Simple. Cool. On the other side of the coin, I can do more on the OmniSky. Talk about remote telnetting!
Crashes:
I get my fair share, typically when I remove and reinsert the module multiple times in a day. One time, it forced my Platinum into a hard reset. That sucked since I was away from home. Why did I keep putting it in and out? Because it didn't fit in my darn case with the OmniSky. Now that I found a case with a double-zipper, I just leave the OmniSky in, and close the zippers on both sides of the antenna.
Cases:
Can someone please make a case for the OmniSky with Visor? I hate the case that comes with the OmniSky.
Overall Utility:
I love being connected while I'm standing in line at the Post Office, Bank, mechanic, etc. Will I settle on this or go to the Palm VIIx? Well, I prepaid for a year, so I have time to make up my mind. Couldn't answer that right now... |
| Andy | Coverage Question |
| Coverage map showed I was well inside limits, but I was on fringe. Don't know how you check it out before putting out that much money, but sure it will improve. Reminds me of cell phones five years ago. |
| Anonymous | Too Buggy |
| Tampabay Area coverage is supposed to be complete. It won't work indoors, under trees, when its raining etc. OK in the middle of a Walmart parking lot, as long as there are no cars in it! The only thing worse than the coverage is the stability of the system. Seems to lock up Visor when removed or installed. Display starts flashing can't do anything but a "hard" reset. Happens repeatedly. Gives errors about "checking phone number", "fatal error", "unable to access network", you name it. Not worth the money or the hassle. |
| Anonymous | love it |
| Love the product. I use it to send/receive email, trade stocks, and read the current headlines. |
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Product
Details
Name: OmniSky
Company: OmniSky
Length (external to Visor): .73"
Length: 5.0"
Width: 2.6"
Thickness: .32"
Weight: 4 oz
Total weight w/Visor Platinum: 9.4 oz
Total weight w/Visor Prism: 10.9 oz
Price:
$99.00 (With service contract), $299.00 (Without service contract)
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