The reaction you will get from wireless reps is that you MUST be crazy to want to sync your phone to Outlook without a data plan. They will tell you over and over again that it simply is not possible to synchronize Microsoft Outlook calendar and contacts to a smart phone without one of these data plans. For some it may be worth doubling the monthly cost to sync this wireless device. For many others it is an outrage. Well, it’s an indignity forced upon us and that’s enough to make me angry at least. That reason is also enough to force many people into fervent research, all repeating the mantra, “Oh please, just let me sync my Outlook calendar and contacts to my non data plan phone and I promise to exercise more, go green and do good deeds.”

 

 

Good News

I’ve done it. Others have done it too. While it is not one of the great mysteries, finding this information is nevertheless very difficult for the average, very busy consumer. Next, I’ll go over some history, the basic strategy and then talk specifically about how I synced my LG enV (VX11****).

 

Tools of our Ancestors (or, Why I Knew it Was Possible)

Let’s not forget that old and ancient tool used by our ancestors. It followed other great technological advances that helped push business to new heights like the round wheel, gun powder, the printing press, jet propulsion, the 80′s skinny tie and bottled water for $2. This innovative tool became a mainstay for modern professionals the world over. So powerful, in fact, that it was quickly de-evolved into a mishmash of distracting odds and ends technologies. Remember, friends, that the PDA used to sync to your PC. Way back before the Gigs of photos and music and back before “voice”, bff’s and LOLs and data plans, the PDA used to sync with Outlook. We won’t dwell on the quality or ease of this syncing but … and I’ll say it one last time … the PDA used to sync to your calendar and contacts.

 

Basic Strategy – Overview

You will need two things. One of them, the mini USB that exactly fits your phone, is probably packaged into your initial phone purchase along with the basic wall charger. So hopefully no fee there. The next thing you will need is a syncing software installed on your PC (I haven’t looked into MAC yet). From the phone manufacturer websites you will find their approved sync software. Download it and install it and then you will most likely get a button added into your Outlook Menu. Likewise, this software will be free. To get you started this should be all you need. Don’t look to pay software until you are sure the free methods will not work for you.

 

 

Steps I Followed

First I imagined the big picture in as simple a way as possible. Too often we get muddled in the details but even this IT stuff can be broken down into manageable parts.

 

The Break Down
• I have a smart phone with calendar and contacts functionality
• I use Outlook on my laptop and PC

 

My Assumptions
• I have to connect the phone to the PC.
• I’ll need a way to send my calendar and contacts so that my phone can understand it.
• I should start my search for the cheapest cable that fits my phone.
• I should make a simple targeted search like: “[phone brand] sync with Outlook”.

 

The Result

Needless to say that a little time and patience is required to wind your way through the junk, the complaints, the multitude of unanswered questions and the solutions that don’t exactly fit your need. By focusing on the phone brand websites you will quickly find that a simple plugin is offered by many manufacturers. I have a LG enV Touch but I also found similar software for Nokia and Samsung; so it’s out there.

 

Keep in mind that even the best of us are not terribly smart all of the time. I was about to buy that $29 special mini USB my phone requires when my wife pointed out that I had one already. I completely forgot about that since the LG enV wall charger is made form two parts: the mini USB cable and a wall plug. I connected the two to make my wall charger when I bought the phone and completely forgot that it was made of two pieces.

 

Pitfalls

You might be like me and not realize that you probably already have some of the pieces necessary for the sync. You might get bogged down in all of the complaints online and all of the people just like us who never found their answer. The allure of pay software my dazzle us but do not go that route unless they have a free trial or you try a truly free or different software. In all of this decide what limitations you are willing to live with.

 

In my case, I can only sync my main calendar and contacts, not the sub folders. Supposedly not all of the information will be synced, but for my part, all of my contacts’ multiple phone numbers and email addresses were indeed synced to my phone. My calendar entries were also synced. If you need more then we can look into the paid software… together. Read on.

 

Conclusion (… and Next Steps)

You can do this and it’s not hard. I also owe some photos/screen captures of my computer and phone syncing so you can see how it worked exactly for me. While I have only synced my own non data plan phone, my initial research showed me that the process is similar across brands.

 

What I will do is offer to work with you on your phone. I’ll help with a bit of the research and show you how to weed through some of the mess you’ll find online. Then working with you I’ll expand this article into specific phones and strategies. Just because we don’t want to double our monthly wireless bill does not make us bad people. We should not have to daisy chain mutliple pieces of software, run through tedious imports and exports or even pay too much for a simple need.

 

 

Remember that the MP3 (and sharing them) did not kill the music business. While it’s true that I haven’t looked at statistics recently, but I do recall that MP3′s actually raised sales overall. Our situation is a weak parallel — give us the freedom to not have data plans and still sync and we will reward these wireless companies with loyalty and upsells over time.

 

Comments? Thoughts?

 

Shameless Plug

Syncing the non data plan phone is just one step in the larger picture. Even the syncing of full blown data plan enabled smart phones to a PC is just one of the steps many of us will need (or will find incredibly useful). Now how about those “other” computers you have? The desktops and laptops and netbooks? Syncing.net software handles the complete Outlook synchronization and file sharing with your PCs AND we work flawlessly with your sync plan that includes a smart phone. Back and forth and all around you will be in sync.

 

An example of how we work with smart phones is found here.