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The newest feature on ChurchZip on cellphone (WAP, Web Access Protocol)
service.
This makes all of the ChurchZip search features accessible from
cellphones equipped with a WAP browser. That includes virtually
all (new) cellphones on the market now. (Summer, 2003).
The user interface customized for WAP phones is greatly simplified.
You can try it out at: http://www.churchzip.com/wap
The Openwave software provider
says this works on more than 86 models of cellphones now sold in
North America, and 161 models worldwide.
If you visit this URL with your regular browser, you get a working
demo version, using images of a cellphone. However, if you point
your cellphone's WAP browser to the same address, you get the real
thing. To avoid excessive clicking and keying of your cellphone,
we built the system assuming you are searching only in the US. IF
by chance you are outside the US, please write. We'll fix that up
too. Nobody likes to key lots of characters into a cellphone display.
Of course, once you do a search, using either zipcode or the name
of the town, you can scroll through a list of churches and phone
numbers and with one more "click" dial the church phone
shown in the display! Very cool.
WAP access does use minutes, but most providers offer unlimited
minutes on nights and weekends now.
For subscribers of Verizon Wireless service, a "free"
WAP proxy service is offered by Waptunnel.com.
By configuring their Gateway IP address (and port) in your cellphone,
access to WAP services is "free", including, of course
access to ChurchZip. With this kind of configuration, you don't
have to pay the $6.99 or so charged by Verizon for Internet access.
Of course, don't expect Verizon to help you configure this. They
will tell you it "isn't supported" and that your best
option is to pay the $6.99 every month to let them help you key
in some numbers.
As a practical matter, cellphone-based WAP access requires you
to have configured a "home-page" with pre-defined URLs
set for your cellphone. It's rather complex to build one of these
on your own site, but Winsite.com
offers an easy-to-use free service.
I'd like to hear from you
if you actually use this. I really didn't build it just for me.
Earle West, Marlboro,
NJ
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