Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!apple!sun-barr!newstop!texsun!texbell!vector!telecom-gateway From: Ralph.Hyre@ius3.ius.cs.cmu.edu Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Query: GE XR-3001 & Cellular One? Message-ID: Date: 25 Jul 89 19:07:00 GMT Sender: news@vector.Dallas.TX.US Organization: Carnegie-Mellon University, CS/RI Lines: 40 Approved: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 256, message 1 of 5 I'm thinking of jumping into the cellular phone fray: A local electronics and appliance is offering the GE XR-3000 (or XR-3001, the label on the phone and the sign disagree) 'luggable' phone for $49.99, as long as you sign up for a year of cellular service. How would one obtain the service manual available for this device? (I want to use my AT&T (aka Plantronics SP-2) headset so I can use it hands-free while driving ... [via the DB-9 connector which is used to attach the handset/keypad to the base unit.] The service costs $14.95 month and .60peak/.15off-peak for up to 25 minutes of airtime/month. [I don't expect to use it much more than that, but if I did, I'd be bumped up to the $30.00/month level with comparable airtime charges.] Cellular One is introducing a feature (called AirShare) which means there are no airtime charges for incoming calls. The retailer said that if they service provider were to eventually impose a monthly fee for this service, that the phone would have to be brought in and re-programmed at that time. (What is the reason for this? Do they change the ESN of the phone?) In summary, does this sounds like a reasonable deal? $200/year + airtime, and the phone is basically free. I currently have two land-based phone lines, so I could drop one (saving $9.00/month) and use the cellular phone for other calls. [does any carrier offer 'hunting' or busy/NA forwaring between regular and cellular phones?] Finally, has anyone modified any cellular phone to go out of band or otherwise change it's behavior? (I'd need to be able to transmit whether a cell had picked me up or not.) I'd love to have a 902-928 Mhz. amateur transceiver that I only paid $49 for. (The repeater/trunked base system would cost a good bit, I guess, but the Japanese CB service is a trunked system.) I would obey all FCC regulations (ie never revert to cellular operation or other than amateur band operation since I assume that any modifications would presumably remove the radios type acceptance for the cellular band. [radios for the amateur bands need not be FCC type accepted.]