Nowadays I always keep my phone's ringer off, and I even turn down the volume of my answering machine. This means that I'm constantly missing messages because I rarely remember to check to see if I have any messages. I always tell people to e-mail me if they want me to respond relatively quickly, as I tend to check frequently if I have any new e-mails.

This comes about because I'm too passive-aggressive. A year or two ago, I started getting quite a few phone solicitations. I try to be polite and listen to the spiels and then say that I'm not interested. And most telemarketing people are quite polite and say thank-you and then it ends. But some keep going after you and that's kind of annoying. The other annoying part was getting calls in the early morning (for me) or late at night. Since I get very few personal calls, it was much easier just to turn off the phone.

So once again I'm sort of looking to get some sort of mobile phone. It seems that not a week goes by when I don't think once "this is a situation where a mobile phone would help". I want a phone that I can use with my computer as well as for voice. I want maximum coverage, something that I can use if I find myself in Yosemite or the Grand Canyon, sort of away from normal cell-phone coverage.

Iridium is probably the best for coverage. You can call from anywhere in the world, except the Poles, and underground. It is quite expensive though. As far as I can figure out it is $3/min if you use a cellular network and $6/min if you use the satellite system. But incoming calls aren't charged to you. Still, it's $50 a month and if I only need to use it for every few months for an hour then it comes out to less than $100 a month.

A step down from that and you have normal PCS or cellular services. Sprint PCS looks ok. It has fair coverage for their digital network. Roaming coverage covers most of the rest of the US, except for remote areas. This is probably the most sensible option, but I'm not known for being sensible. Conservative, but not necessarily sensible.

I have to find out more about how to hook up a notebook computer to a mobile phone. Most every solution is PC based, although there are ways to use PC modems on a Macintosh. You just need to convert from PC serial cable to Macintosh serial. Then hopefully you can just use it like a normal modem. If there's any special software needed I'm in trouble.

Sprint PCS has a Wireless Web Connection kit. Looks like it's just a special data cable, some specialized Windows software, and that's it. $200, and you have to sign up for a Wireless Web option that costs extra. Sounds kind of weird to me. How this is going to cost extra than just using a modem to dial into my standard ISP, I don't know. They do say that Macintoshes aren't supported, although that doesn't mean it isn't possible.

Cellular One also has some sort of wireless access. But it's based on CPDP which is faster than using a cellular phone as a modem, but coverage is quite small. Motorola's satellite phone looks like it has a data adapter with a female RS-232 connector. That's enough thinking for now...