PDA & Wireless? Providing better tech support with a PDA

[LuckyTaxi]

I work at a private school that consist of two buildings. There are times when I'm buried deep inside a closet or in a part of the building where i can't hear my name being paged through the PA system.

I'm thinking about installign some wireless access point (one in each building) and utilizing my old HP Jornada 540 PDA I hope to hook it up to the network. People can email me when they need me. I could use a pager, but not all classrooms have a phone.

Has anyone used this setup before? Does it work effectively? My only concern is that the signal from the access point will not be strong enough.

 

[JackMDS]

Nice idea.

Take into consideration power requirment. PDA with Wireless CF kept in On position, does not last for more than an hour at best. You may be need to carry an external battery pack.

 

[vortix]

If I were you I'd just get a cell phone. These days, almost all cell phones can receive (and most can send) text messages. You can send an e-mail directly to the phone.

Also, I'm sure you can get an alphanumeric pager that would have an e-mail address for relatively cheap.

 

[Garion]

It's doubtful that one access point will give you much coverage inside a school building with lots of walls, etc. You'd have to place it VERY carefully to even start to get decent coverage. Probably not worth it just for this purpose, not to mention all the other potential security issues.

I've had mixed luck with cell phone text messages - They seem to be a "best effort" service and messages don't always arrive for some time after they got sent.

I got a Blackberry a year or so ago, and I absolutely love it. I get e-mail delivered to me wherever I'm at. Coverage area is very good, and the service is pretty cheap (although I have no idea what it costs). Might be worth looking into. There are, however, several carriers that do blackberries. We get ours from AT&T Wireless. Probably best to get a demo and see what kind of coverage you get around your school.

- G

 

[LuckyTaxi]

I thought about the pager idea. Who should I look into? It seems pagers are now fading out, but then again doctors do use them.
I have a cellphone, but I don't get any reception where I am. My main coverage area is in downtown Philly and I work like 45 minutes away. The signal is pretty weak.

I am looking into the blackberry solution. I need a new cellphone anyways, so might be worth looking into the all in one solution.

 

[DaiShan]

Originally posted by: JackMDS
Nice idea.

Take into consideration power requirment. PDA with Wireless CF kept in On position, does not last for more than an hour at best. You may be need to carry an external battery pack.

On my 560 browsing the net constantly I get closer to 3 hours, intermitent browsing and readin gets slightly over 3, listening to mp3's with the screen off gets almost 5. Turn off the screen while you are doing it and you should be fine, or if you only intend to connect to check emails every once in a while, then you can turn it off all together. Just giving you my observations, your mileage may vary.