Home > Consumer Reviews > Xircom SpringPort Wireless Data Springboard Module for Nokia

I have a Nokia 5190 from Cingular and eagerly ordered this unit. Cingular charged me a flat rate of $... a month just for datalink service, and then minutes on top of that, but that's not too expensive for wireless internet access.
I got it installed and running in about 45 minutes and proceeded to try it out. I got so annoyed with the speed, the bulky cable, the connect time (~30 to 40 seconds) and the intermittent service, that I gave up and returned it.

Don't bother.

If I could give it zero stars, I would. Plain and simple, it doesn't work. I plugged the unit into my Visor Deluxe, connected the cable to my Nokia, tried connecting and received the error message "No dial tone." It also seems to crash my phone in that half of the time it tries to connect, my phone ends up shutting off.

The Xircom website has little by the means of support for this product and nothing specifically addressing this issue of not connecting, let alone crashing the phone.

I've spent nearly an hour looking for support manuals and trying to connect without luck. The only review I can find on this product is one here on Amazon. I would also like to make an observation: this product is not listed on the Handspring website, nor at PalmGear. What does this say for the product?

All in all, a huge disappointment.

Not until I was putting the darn thing back in the box did I see the sticker on the box. This module is compatible with 8, count 'em, 8 phones. The Xircom website does not list them when you click for the listing (it takes you to their 56k modem module page instead) and the Amazon site simply says that it is compable with Nokia phones.

According to the sticker on the box: "For Nokia Handsets. This model is compatible with the following handsets: Nokia 6110, Nokia 6130, Nokia 6150, Nokia 6190, Nokia 5110, Nokia 5130, Nokia 5150, Nokia 5190"

With all the different mobile phones out there, why any company would make a product that was compatible with only 8 of them is the ring of a poor business plan.

Well, the module seems to install just fine (make sure you move Mobilelink into flash or you'll crash your unit). I'm trying to use mine my color Prism. The only problem is that my Nokia 5190 doesn't want to cooperate, so I still haven't surfed with this thing yet. I get a "Check Operator Services&quit; error on the screen of my Nokia, and it disconnects. Even so, I bought it because it was a lot cheaper than a wireless web module (hey, why buy the wireless hardware again - it's already in my phone), and I avoid a [monthly] charge for service. I just use my cell phone minutes, which is fine for brief email uploads/downloads. We'll see what happens to my cell phone bill once I get sucked into online surfing of the PDA-enabled websites. So, once I get around to calling Xircom for some help, I'll report back on this thing actually works.

Alot of stuff for Nokia is GSM only. Pull off your battery, and take a look at your Nokia phone. The older phones that alot of people carry is TDMA/CDMA, like the 5185. Guess what? It dosen't work.