Help needed - Digital Cell phone

[Jay G.]

Hello all.
Currently, we have ancient analog cell phones installed in 3 vehicles, 2 ambulances and one command post.
Our cell carrier has told us that they will no longer be supporting these phones as of 6/06. I dont want to be left out in the dark so I need to get these replaced now.
I am looking for PERMENANTLY installed phones - I dont want anything that can be removed. These old phones are great because they have a handset and are great for privacy.

Does anyone know if there are any such phones made that are digital and permenantly installed? Please email me!

thanks!

[tvsjr]

Be careful about "digital". Most likely, you want a GSM phone. TDMA will go away about the same time AMPS does.

I've not seen any mobile-mount GSM phones. Most ENG outfits are going to portable phones in a device like a Cellsocket, then running regular phones. The Cellsocket emulates a dialtone to a standard POTS phone. Once you dial, the phone makes the connect, and the Cellsocket routes it. There are other similar devices on the market, but that's the name that springs to mind.

[mr.syntrx]

There's the Motorola M800 dual mode AMPS/CDMA phone, but the only links I could find to it were for Canada (Telus). There are quite a few car phones out there, but they're almost exclusively GSM 900/1800 (ie useless in North America).

Otherwise, you could consider using a fixed cellular terminal, which is basically a GSM transceiver with an RJ11 for an ordinary phone to be connected to, and a suitable POTS phone. FCTs are made by all of the major manufacturers, for GSM and CDMA. Ericsson units seem to be the most popular.

[spareparts]

We have ancient analog cell phones installed in 3 vehicles, 2 ambulances and one command post.
Our cell carrier has told us that they will no longer be supporting these phones as of 6/06. I dont want to be left out in the dark so I need to get these replaced now.

Jay,
Are you using the analog (AMPS) phones to send EKG data? If not, a fixed wireless terminal (FWT) likely would work.

I have one site with 4 FWT's connected to a multi-line phone system. Users can't tell the difference between wireless & telco. BTW, I use Telular products with great sucess.

Martin

[Jay G.]

Ok, I guess i need to elaborate:
We are NOT using this for any ECG data.
We are looking for a CDMA unit, to be used with a Verizon network.


thanks for the help!

[KB2ZTX]

Well I have been working on this same solution up in the north country for a while. Our SAR vehicles had mounted phones. The only solution I found that made verizon happy was switching out to Motorola Star-Tac in a car kit. The car kit has a remote handset that can be attached and an outside antenna jack. the phone was a tri mode and normally runs on the digital. we do go in some areas that does pop up analog.

I wiretied the phone to the mount so it can't be removed and works ok. If you do sovle this let me know as I have 4 ambulances and 3 SAR vehicles that could use this also.

Jeff

[RadioSouth]

I hesistate to mention Nextel but they do have a couple of 3w. in vehicle offerings. 10 yrs. ago in NY I had a Motorola TDMA/AMPS 3 watt car phone on service with Cellular One if they still support single band service.
The phones weren't made in a large quantity but I've seen them a few times on EBay.

[KitN1MCC]

we have had this problem here at the RR and went with Kyrocer phones with HF kits Kyrocera is the old qualcomm

[alex]

Nextel I think also makes a older style phone setup - m370 maybe? It will not do crossfleet/nationwide direct connect (to the best of my knoledge) however, you should be able to buy one for SoLnc/Nextel without too many problems.

If nextel coverage is good in your area, this might be an option for you.

-Alex

[spareparts]

We are NOT using this for any ECG data.
We are looking for a CDMA unit, to be used with a Verizon network.

http://www.telular.com/products/product ... ?tech=CDMA

They support a ringer load of 2.0, so you could attach just about any phone to it. (front & rear of the ambulance if desired)

EDIT: Additional Info: I called a family member who is a CellularOne customer. She has a Motorola M800, which is CDMA 1900/800 AMPS 800. This is a fixed mount car phone.

Martin

[nypd]

funny...you mention this now... i was in a nypd command post tonight... they have nokia 5190's or 5160's are cingular..in car kits with the privacy handset... now...if you really cant get a phone thats hard mounted..your best bet is to get that kit... i think its hk90 i havent sold them in years i dont remember..and get nokia 5185 it will work on verizon still...