Using (1) phone for data + (1) for hands free

[Michael Quinlan]

Tomorrow I'll be switching from Nextel to Verizon as my cell carrier. Right now I have my phone paired and working for data, and disabled for hands free (the connection is intermittent when data is also enabled). Tomorrow I'll be switching from Nextel to Verizon as my cell carrier, and am aware that I'll need to add the tethering option if I want to have a data connection through the Verizon phone.

I suggested in another thread that it might be possible to use a Boost Mobile phone (with their minimum $5 per month charge if you "auto re-boost" your account), and am willing to try this as an alternative to paying Verizon $15 per month for tethering.

My question is - is it possible to have two phones connected to my 920 at the same time, if one is enabled for data only, and the other is enabled for hands-free only? If it's known to be "not possible", then I won't bother wasting time/money on a Boost SIM for my soon-to-be-old Nextel phone.

 

[offthegrid]

Thats a good question about the bluetooth connection.

What model Nextel phone do you have? Boost would be a great cheap way to get the traffic data. I haven't seen anyone say they made the data work with a Nextel.

 

[Michael Quinlan]

Thats a good question about the bluetooth connection.

What model Nextel phone do you have? Boost would be a great cheap way to get the traffic data. I haven't seen anyone say they made the data work with a Nextel.

I posted my working Nextel configuration in the sticky. See here.

Nextel's iDEN phones don't require paying for a tethering option, but Sprint's CDMA phones do now require it (I don't think they used to). Since Boost Mobile runs on Sprint/Nextel, I think their CDMA phones may not work without some additional fee, but their iDEN phones might. The problem for anyone not already possessing an iDEN phone is that none of Boost Mobile's current iDEN phones support support bluetooth. However, in my case, I can use my Nextel i580 with a Boost Mobile SIM, and possibly get a bluetooth data connection working.

I can get a new Boost SIM for $20, including $10 worth of air time. I think it's worth the $10 to find out if it works, but the obstacle I think more likely is that I won't be able to actively use two bluetooth connections from my TomTom at the same time. If that's the case, I'll just have a decision to make... pay $15 to Verizon every month, pay $5 to Boost every month and live without hands-free on my TomTom, or go without traffic data.

 

[offthegrid]

Nice, I must have missed your write up when I've gone through that thread. I'll have to look for a used i580 and get a boost sim. Thats the cheapest way to do this. In the past when I've had this setup with an AT&T phone it was always a little bit of a pain to use the phone for both. I'd have to reset the bluetooth connection after getting a call.

You've probably done some google searches but the ones I've done for multiple bluetooth connections tomtom came back with some threads here and there saying tomtom wouldn't support multiple connections.

 

[Michael Quinlan]

It just dawned on me that although *I* don't/won't have two phones, I will have access to two bluetooth-capable phones once I switch carriers (I'll be adding a phone). That won't tell me anything about the Boost functionality, but it should answer my question about the TomTom (if I get tethering enabled to start with).

 

[Michael Quinlan]

I was able to try multiple phones over the past few days, and here's what I found:

1. You can pair multiple phones without losing the configuration of previously paired phones (I'm sure there's a limit to the number of phones, but I only tried two)
2. You can switch back and forth between phones using "Manage Phones"
3. TomTom will only automatically link to the last active phone
4. I was unable to get TT to link to phones at the same time

I *MAY* try a Boost Mobile SIM in my bluetooth-enabled Nextel phone and see if that works (it works with a Nextel SIM).