IBook questions: Bluetooth dial up's , NZ Oz isp's as well.

Gordy said:

Hi all

I'm the very proud owner of a 12in powerbook, but my parents are requiring a new laptop and I'm thinking about getting them a 12in ibook.

They are wanting a small highly portable laptop to take to new zealand / australia in january.

They plan to hook it up to a nokia mobile phone via bluetooth to let them send /recieve emails while they are out there.

Is this possible to do? If so how easy is it to run and what would they require to do this? Is a standard isp's dial up account ok or do I need to sort them out with gprs? Would there be any issues with taking a uk setup over to nz/oz?

How many mac stores are there about in nz/oz if they have any issues?

Any help advice would be most useful.
Thanks

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First, they need to be sure that they get a cell phone that will work down there. Like the US is CDMA or GSM, where as the UK is just GPRS. So you have to match your phone to what is going to be down there in NZ, and also the carrier (Verizon, Cingular, I don't know the NZ carriers) And where the coverage areas are, since you most likely wont get a signal out in the country side.

Attached is a document on how I found out how to hook up my cell phone to my powerbook, and ibook when I used a extra bluetooth doggle, with the username and password needed to turn it into a modem. Depending how how tech swavy your parents are, they could do it themselves everytime they needed to connect. You can set it up for them before they leave, and they can use the phone as a modem.

Essentually, they will just use their minutes and it would be enough of a data connection to get emails sent and recieved.

You could always use WiFi hotpoints rather than a mobile dial up, where it is available. NZ is pretty advanced technically so I would assume (please correct me if I'm wrong) no shortage of connectivity in the main centres. There are also a large number of internet cafes everywhere.