Once paging was simple - your pager beeped, you called your service. By the '70s you could receive phone numbers typed into a post-rotary phone, and by the '90s you had nationwide mixed-case datagrams.
But pagers always had problems. Even fact-filled alphanumeric pagers force you to close the information loop by phone. Meanwhile, e-mail has evolved to the point where being well-connected means having an Internet address, not a fat rolodex. But e-mail requires sitting down in front of a deskbound terminal, right? Wrong.
Finally, two-way wireless Internet e-mail has arrived. With battery-powered hardware (the most common configuration is an Ericsson GE Mobidem packet radio modem cabled to an HP95LX, a tiny DOS machine), Radiomail acts as your post office for a fixed $89 per month through September. Radiomail uses RAM Mobile Data's network to cover 100 metropolitan areas, or 90 percent of the urban US population.
Sending and receiving e-mail is simpler than at your workstation - the log-on procedure is eliminated. But composing mail is painful on the tiny keyboard and (non-backlit) display. But receiving messages is fluid: New messages show up as soon as they are posted to your service.
Using Radiomail while sitting in a San Francisco taqueria, I asked a Mexican friend in San Diego to translate a movie poster I saw on the wall, and during the zoo of Las Vegas Comdex I stayed in touch from the show floor. Even in Fresno, a California city better known for produce than digital communication, I could stay connected to the Internet. Radiomail is incredibly convenient for travelers who must stay in touch, and its fixed pricing scheme lets you send electronic postcards to those well-connected friends without worrying about the stamp.
Radiomail service, $89 month, +1-415-349-5683
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