The big problem is that it crashes the visor every now and again. When this happens, you just have to do a soft reset. Okay so that's a pain. No hard resets yet.

OmniSky says it's working on a color version to be released in January 2002. Until then, the OmniSky browser is B&W. If you need color, use the Handspring Blazer browser.

All in all, I like the modem. It does have a few problems, but I'm hoping most will be fixed in upcoming software updates. Really, the only big problem is the resets.

If you're a gadget person like I am, you'll love it.

In a given week I spend equal parts of my time in the Boston/Providence area for work and back home, just south of Houston. In Providence the coverage is excellent outdoors and sometimes decent indoors depending on how close to the shore you are. In Houston the coverage is incredibly strong, even indoors. A few miles down the road towards Galveston and things aren't as rock solid.

So before you take in any comments from me or anyone else, realize that your satisfaction with this product will be porportional to the strength of your signal.

I run an online business that requires me to answer a lot of emails, lookup online orders and forward them to my fulfilment department. I interact with my online merchant account and place orders with my wholesale accounts. I am able to do all of this with my Omnisky Minstrel S wireless modem attached to a Handspring Visor Prism.

It allows me to cut and paste, access different pop mail accounts and fill out various forms -- even using secure protocol.

I am able to access Fidelity brokerage and manipulate my investments, along with accessing near real time data to help me with my decisions.

The battery life is pretty good, usually outlasting the Prism itself, and the supplied AC adapter is small enough to be carried along with your travel accessories for the Prism.

The data rate is 19.2k and I get nice smooth transfers that is fast enough to get the job done for me.

Yahoo! offers a program that allows you to chat via Yahoo! Messenger - but not the general chat program.

Aol has a wireless app also, but it basically lets you IM others and use email. I am told that ICQ has a new application that will work with it also.

This modem really expands your world. My wife and I have been driving around, talked about seeing a movie and were able to look up movie times at selected cinemas.

The most powerfull feature is being able to access my pop3 mail accounts and send any size email (or receive) that I want. It is fast and efficient.

Setup was a little difficult, but the customer service staff at Omnisky are really good and helped me through the first couple of problems. It had more to do with my unit being too far away from a good tower than anything else, but I did have a couple of other problems concerning the IP I was assigned not registering correctly.

Each time it happened (all in the first three days) I was able to call customer service, they had me turn my unit off for thirty minutes then back on - and it began working with no problems. After I learned to get a backup module, all of my problems were solved.

On the downside, I get an inordinate amount of faults that require me to do a soft reset. Pratically anytime that I fail to powerdown the modem before setting the device down to catch a call.

Nothing is lost, and moments later I am back online, but it is a little bewildering.

I should also note that I once had to perform a hard reset and lost all of my data because of a problem I had sychronizing the unit with Scout (Omnisky's online server). I lost signal in mid transfer and it corrupted an essential file.

Again, having a backup module takes the fear factor out - but once you have it setup correctly and make sure that you synchronize correctly (I would simply find a good signal, then remain staitionary until complete).

This is a tremendously fun tool....

Pros: the new Blazer web browser allows you to surf the net in color, Omnisky supports all the Palm VII web clipping apps, the modem recharges easily, service in the Northeast (at least in my experience) is good.

Cons: The setup can be difficult and frustrating (I had to do a hard reset and reinstall the Omnisky data as well as all my own data a few times, the modem can cause fatal errors if not shut off completely before you remove it from the visor, the Omnisky apps themselves do not support color browsing unless you use the Blazer browser for which you must now pay extra.

On the whole, I recommend the modem especially for use with the Visor prism. As a former Palm VIIx user, I thought I would miss the convenience of just flipping up the antenna and being immediately connected, but browsing in color on the easy to read Visor Prism screen is a pure pleasure. The modem is very compact and is much smaller than the one for the Palm III or V. I have had no problems with it since the initial setup .

(1) The coverage is not very good. I can not get a signal in my house, but I am able to get it outside which only 2 meters away(I am able to get a very good signal almost anywhere on my cellular phone). It seems like the signal strength is too weak to penetrate the wall. The signal is good on the several freeways in San Jose though.

(2) Sometimes the speed is very slow and sometimes the connections just failed. But after couple minutes, it came back normal, a minus if you need things urgently.

(3) It causes my Prism to crash many times. Even the first time when I installed the Modem, it crashed and I lost all the data. I have gotten at around 5 - 8 crashes (needs hard start) in two days.

(4) The webs that you can visit (optimized for PDA) are still very limited.

Overall, this thing will be nice if the aformentioned problems get improved, at this stage, it is for those serious people who need the connection on the road and need it immediately.

I owned a Palm VII for about 15 months before I decided to upgrade. Or rather, needed to upgrade...2MB and wireless connectivity don't exactly go well together. It was tough decision, but with all of the rebates, I thought I'd try a Visor (Platinum) with the Omnisky modem.

First thing I noticed, the VII has better penetration in buildings...at conferences and seminars, the VII worked great in just about every room I was in. The OmniSky seems to only work if I'm in a room near the outside part of the building, sitting as close as possible to the outside within the room. Second item of notice, the Omnisky software utilizes lots and lots of graphical icons and a very GUI-y email client. The VII was definitely more "content" oriented. I didn't scroll as much when reading email or news articles. And I don't know why, but articles do seem more concatenated with the Omnisky than they do with the VII. Fourth, the Palm network has better coverage than Omnisky's (see palm.net vs omnisky.com's coverage maps). Fifth, I miss just popping up the antenna and tapping to connect; it must take a good 5-10 seconds to connect with the Omnisky.

So why stick with the Omnisky? I prepaid for a year (rebates). So far, I can indeed do a little bit more, such as telnetting to machines and being able to browse sites without waiting for someone to write a web clipping app. Surprise, surprise, the darn thing works in Vancouver, BC, Canada and at Whistler (yes, the ski resort)! Absolutely zero Palm.net coverage in BC, Canada. This was very handy when I wanted to do some currency conversion.

Yes, my OmniSky did crash my Visor a number of times when I first got it. Then I read someone's review suggesting to close the modem apps before pulling out the module. My Visor hasn't crashed since (knock on wood ;) ).

If you think you'll only be using or needing this device in major cities, it's worth considering. If you drive around a bit or tend to find yourself outside major cities, consider a Palm VIIx. Keep in mind, the VIIx is more suited to folks who prefer their wireless PDA use to be more content-oriented.

Their software also crashes my Visor nearly every time I use it.

I will give high praise, however, to Omnisky's technical service. They are quick to respond and willing to offer multiple possible solutions. The problem is that none of the solutions seem to work.

I would recommend against buying this product until they drastically improve their coverage area and fix the software.

I got the modem as part of a promotion, so with the promised rebates I'll ultimately only pay about $50 for it, but it's not worth the money.

Find another modem -- you've been warned.

What a nightmare.

The software they sent was corrupted which required hours with Tech Support and software patches to fix. Then after that problem was solved, email wouldn't work because the Omnisky email server had problems. Then the wireless coverage was *HORRIBLE!* (el stinko!). And that's here in the Bay Area where we're suppose to be the tech center of the nation. Overall, this was a real disappointment.

I sent the modem back and cancelled service.

Omnisky KNOW their wireless coverage is horrible and they sell you their service anyway hoping that you'll just grin and bear it. If wireless connectivity is essential, buy a Palm VII or wait until better options come out.

Omnisky? That dog won't hunt.

This modem drastically reduces the stability and reliability of your Visor, or at least it did for me. I got "Fatal Alerts" and other messages requiring resets all the time. Two hard resets were required. I have tried a new modem, I have tried a new Visor Prism, but the problems persist. P.S. I don't run hacks of any kind.

Incidentally, I was told by multiple OmniSky tech people (who are all very nice) that the Handspring modem is the real troublemaker. Not the Visor. So maybe patches & fixes will come out in the next 6 months to make it all better. But for now, I would go with the Palm Vx and cradle, or possibly even the Palm VIIx, which I understand has more universal coverage.