Maybe they're trying to set a precedent? Who knows. But you don't seem to understand that there is a very real amount of work and cost associated with cellular data. I don't know where you get this idea that cell providers should give you a service that is very expensive to maintain for a few bucks a month.
How much are you paying for data? You keep saying that tethering would double your data bill, but I find it very hard to believe that AT&T is charging the same amount for tethering as they are for their unlimited smartphone data plan.
Also, on a side note, providers don't really have non-unlimited data plans for phones partially because it's not currently really easy or intuitive for the end user to check how much data they have used in their billing cycle, and phone manufacturers and software engineers don't bother adding that functionality because it's useless since everyone is using an unlimited data plan.
Maybe they're trying to set a precedent? Who knows. But you don't seem to understand that there is a very real amount of work and cost associated with cellular data. I don't know where you get this idea that cell providers should give you a service that is very expensive to maintain for a few bucks a month.
How much are you paying for data? You keep saying that tethering would double your data bill, but I find it very hard to believe that AT&T is charging the same amount for tethering as they are for their unlimited smartphone data plan.
Also, on a side note, providers don't really have non-unlimited data plans for phones partially because it's not currently really easy or intuitive for the end user to check how much data they have used in their billing cycle, and phone manufacturers and software engineers don't bother adding that functionality because it's useless since everyone is using an unlimited data plan.
I get this idea because I pay for an internet connection on my phone, which they have placed a abitrary restriction on, which i assume is based off the idea that the network would crumble under the load of everyone with a iphone tethering.
Look at the bottom of the data plan section. $60.00 a month with a 5gb cap for data+tethering I wasn't just making that shit up off the top of my head, and every other provider in the US charges about that much. Other countries with more sane, non-ogoploly companies usually charge a small (like 5-10) fee, or include it in the base data plan but with a lower (1-2 GB cap)
Provider offer unlimited data plans because it sounds good and there is a shit-ton of legalese in the contracts that say they don't actually have to follow that, much like how when a ISP says they offer "up to" 7 Mbps, they don't actually have to meet that number in reality. Why else would a "unlimited" plan have a hidden 5gb cap? As for checking how much data has been used, on the iphone at least there is a very easy to read statistics page under network in the settings, and I'm sure most other good smartphones (android, WinMo, S60, WebOS) probably have something similar.
Tethering can be a huge drain on the network if a person is heavily using it, in which case they probably won't mind paying extra to use the feature to the fullest extent. However, for most people, the feature is locked out because our teleco's are money-grubbing assholes who, on a regular basis, charge their customer extra to use features present on the unlocked versions of phones just because they can
It's not an arbitrary restriction you goddamn it I'm talking to a wall here.
Listen, understand something - they aren't capping your data use just because they feel like it. They're capping your data use because it costs a lot of money to send those ones and zeros over the air. This is one reason why the per-megabyte fees are so ridiculously high for data overages. I don't know any way to explain this to you other than the way that I have. I mean, maybe I could draw you an MSPaint picture or something, I don't know.
There is no misleading legalese. You get an unlimited data plan with your phone, and that data is separate from the data that you get with tethering. You can use as much data as you want on your phone, because no matter how hard you try, you probably aren't going to be able to use much (we're talking about 3G speeds here, we're in sub-DSL territory for most of the country) of that unlimited data that you are allotted.
Some general rules:
With a tethering plan, you are considerably more likely to use most or all of that 5GB.
People who tether to connect to the net use more data than people who just use their phones.
People who tether cost the provider more money than people who just use their phones.
Providers charge more money for people who tether.
You don't know what the fuck you're talking about (to be fair, you're just a consumer, so you're not really expected to), and seem to suffer from some ridiculous "I'm one man against the greedy corporate money-grubbing machine" mentality.
Don't like it? Don't pay for it. Or give up your overpriced chic phone and move to a carrier that doesn't blow.
(Basically, this is math and you're the sandwich.)
It's not an arbitrary restriction you goddamn it I'm talking to a wall here.
Listen, understand something - they aren't capping your data use just because they feel like it. They're capping your data use because it costs a lot of money to send those ones and zeros over the air. This is one reason why the per-megabyte fees are so ridiculously high for data overages. I don't know any way to explain this to you other than the way that I have. I mean, maybe I could draw you an MSPaint picture or something, I don't know.
Okay, it costs them money to send me data, good thing I'm already paying them a boatload to do that
There is no misleading legalese. You get an unlimited data plan with your phone, and that data is separate from the data that you get with tethering. You can use as much data as you want on your phone, because no matter how hard you try, you probably aren't going to be able to use much (we're talking about 3G speeds here, we're in sub-DSL territory for most of the country) of that unlimited data that you are allotted.
Ah, so we have unlimited data, and then tethering data. In no way is that at all misleading. I'm sorry for not knowing that tethering uses different data pipes to get to the internet than normal mobile data usage
With a tethering plan, you are considerably more likely to use most or all of that 5GB.
Yes, if you plan on using it regularly, like someone would use a 3g USB adapter. I'm not arguing that those people shouldn't paying the extra to get the full benefit of tethering, since they will obviously be having an impact on the network. All I'm saying is that if I want to tether my laptop for 15 minutes because I forgot to submit an assignment, I should be able to do so because hey, my phone gets on the internet, my phone connects to my computer, why can't they share?
People who tether to connect to the net use more data than people who just use their phones.
People who tend to tether a lot use more data. I'd be willing to bet that in my above scenario, it probably wouldn't use more than a lot of internet radio streaming
People who tether cost the provider more money than people who just use their phones.
Providers charge more money for people who tether.
See above
You don't know what the fuck you're talking about (to be fair, you're just a consumer, so you're not really expected to), and seem to suffer from some ridiculous "I'm one man against the greedy corporate money-grubbing machine" mentality.
And all the fuck you keep saying is that it costs money for them to send data on mobile networks and that the teleco's should be able to preemptively tell you how to use that connection before you've even abused it. If you're going to advertise your phones having "unlimited" data, perhaps actually offering that would be a good place to start, rather than having a shitload of restriction that people end up suing you over because, hey, you mislead people
Don't like it? Don't pay for it. Or give up your overpriced chic phone and move to a carrier that doesn't blow.
I'm pissed that AT&T has singled out the iphone and completely blocked tethering through legit means, dispite saying they would have it up by the years end. However, every carrier in the US apparently blows for tethering, with the possible exception of t-mobile, who seem to not care about upper limit caps quite so much. Verizon is the same rate as AT&T (30 for "unlimited" data + 30 more for tethering), and Sprint flat-out doesn't offer it on anything. Also, nice completely not mentioning the fact that you were completely wrong about how much they charge for it. [/quote]
(Basically, this is math and you're the sandwich.)
Ahaha, you can't explain math to food. Priceless, timeless comedy
Edit: Fuck, even Rogers in Canada, who many people believe are worse than many of the companies here in the US, even offers tethering included with the monthly data plan. I don't see them having network outages all over the fucking place
i think the teleco's know they're fucked on text message rates. Raising the rate by 30%-50%, depending on the carrier, when it costs next to nothing to send them? No wonder the FCC was directed by Congress to look into it
While you're at this smoke, can you please explain why we're the only country were we have to pay to receive texts?
I deal with customers like you every once in a while. People who, for some reason think that they are just entitled. People who are too dumb to understand that they are requesting a service, a service that has upkeep, upkeep that costs money (all those engineers and mechanics and location scouts all work for free, the towers build and maintain themselves, and the land they sit on was donated by the government or local landowners, the FCC was nice enough to give your carrier free reign over sending and receiving incredibly large amounts of wireless signals, the power company was nice enough to not charge your carrier for any electricity usage, the equipment used to transmit your call data was donated, and Santa Claus even dug the ditches to run the lines in between towers, all of this was provided without charge for around 70,000 towers), sooo, yeah, turns out they're just gonna give it to you for free.
I deal with customers like you every once in a while. People who, for some reason think that they are just entitled. People who are too dumb to understand that they are requesting a service, a service that has upkeep, upkeep that costs money (all those engineers and mechanics and location scouts all work for free, the towers build and maintain themselves, and the land they sit on was donated by the government or local landowners, the FCC was nice enough to give your carrier free reign over sending and receiving incredibly large amounts of wireless signals, the power company was nice enough to not charge your carrier for any electricity usage, the equipment used to transmit your call data was donated, and Santa Claus even dug the ditches to run the lines in between towers, all of this was provided without charge for around 70,000 towers), sooo, yeah, turns out they're just gonna give it to you for free.
Because you're entitled, you see.
I'm entitled because I fucking pay for the data. Why do i pay for 5gb capped connection, then get told I can't do something with it, at least up until the point where I hit the cap? If I go over my cap, then I expect that I would charged overage or be cut off, because when I paid for my data plan, that was the deal.
All you're doing is waving your hands around saying that because tethering uses more data then the average person, you should have to magically pay more for it.
We pay for SMS because we are the third largest country in the world (behind China and India) in terms of cell phone use, and carriers here have more towers, upkeep, and employees due to the larger size of our country.
SMS is sort of a ripoff, which is why a text messaging feature is included in a lot of plans at a lot of different carriers.
We're also a lot stricter in the US when it comes to text messaging. This is why we don't see as many spam texts as some other countries do.
We pay for SMS because we are the third largest country in the world (behind China and India) in terms of cell phone use, and carriers here have more towers, upkeep, and employees due to the larger size of our country.
SMS is sort of a ripoff, which is why a text messaging feature is included in a lot of plans at a lot of different carriers.
We're also a lot stricter in the US when it comes to text messaging. This is why we don't see as many spam texts as some other countries do.
We didn't meaning paying for SMS period, we meant A) Why so much? Why do we have to pay to unwanted texts from well meaning friends, unless we want to block all of them period? (by which i mean, some people want texts from say, their mom/dad, or son/daughter, but not from their friend steve who sends really stupid mass-texts about cats. There's no way to preemptively block steve without cutting everyone else off too)
Texting is usually not included in plans, unless you're going with a all-inclusive one, which AT&T and Verizon both don't offer to my knowledge.
I've never once heard of anyone complaining about spam texts, unless they were from their phone company saying something like "hey get more minutes at low rates for december!". This is also asinine as we are the only country who charges people when they receive spam texts.
The whole thing it kind of retarded in the first place, since the data channels used to send and receive texts is constantly sending info no matter what (it uses the control channel which sends null values if its not doing anything else, so it only costs marginally more to send a tiny bit of data through), so texts are pretty much free money to the companies
I can't explain the situation any simpler than I already have, but you still don't get it.
I don't think any amount of explanation is going to help you understand.
you could try actually responding to my posts instead of going on about how expensive mobile data connections are
just answer me this: If i pay for a 5gb per month capped connection, why am I not allowed to use it any way I wish? Furthermore, If i accept paying extra for tethering as an inevitability, which I do not, why is it a further $30 on top of the $30 I already pay. The main point here I already pay for data. I just don't expect to be handing tethering for free, I just expect to be able to use my data connection for what I want, within reason. If you can't answer that without calling me a thickheaded, entitled idiot, then yes i guess we are done here.
Ok, pretend you have a moped. It's a little tiny moped, like this one:
(In this scenario, the moped represents the amount of data you will likely pull from a smartphone)
I tell you that if you pay $30 a month, I will give you unlimited gas for your moped. That's a pretty good deal, right? Unlimited gas. I mean, gas is expensive nowadays.
Ok, let's say you have an M1-A1 Abrams Main Battle Tank. You know, one of these:
(In this scenario, the Tank represents the amount of data that you will likely pull from a tethered PC)
And I tell you that if you give me $30 a month, I'll give you unlimited gas for it.
How long do you think I'm going to stay in business?
I'll give you a hint: Not very long. Instead, I tell you that if you give me $30 a month, I will give you unlimited gas for your moped, and if you give me an additional $30 a month, I will give you 50 gallons of gas for your tank. This way you can use your moped all you like (since it's easy on gas), but you can also use your tank when the feeling strikes you. You just can't use it all month.
I pay $30 for unlimited gas for my moped. In reality, you're not actually going to give me unlimited gas, you will stop at some point. Because people start bitching at you because of this, you set that cap at a fairly high point, in this case 100 gallons, because most people will never use that much on a moped.
Now, I guess I also have a tank or something. I plan on driving it, Grand Theft Auto style, down the streets of Orlando blowing up cars. Now, as the military will stop me when I get over 5 stars, I doubt that I will be driving said tank for very long. Now, I have no idea how much gas tanks actually use, but seeing as how its a diesel engine and tanks can go pretty far on one tank, I'd be willing to bet they get decent fuel mileage. But, for the sake of the argument, we'll say I use 50 gallons of gas to go on my rampage.
So, following that logic, I take 100, subtract the 10 gallons my moped will use, and the 50 gallons my tank will use, and still have not used up the 100 gallons that I was told I would be allowed to use. To me, this seems fair. I give you money for up the ability to use up to a certain amount of gas, you give me up to that amount gas as i request it. The only problem I see is that you only gave me the gas to use with the moped, and not the tank. And since both the moped and the tank use the same gas from the same place in our example, the only thing you are charging me for is using the gas for something different than you intended.
Which sounds a whole lot like a bullshit charge to me
You know, now that I think about it, my example is absolutely flawed, because tanks do get surprisingly good gas mileage.
You're stupid, I give up.
Where is the fault in my logic? If they marketed the unlimited data plans as capped plans with restrictions, and then required more for things like tethering, then I'd be annoyed but at least they were up front about it. As it stands, the US is pretty much the only place were data plans don't have advertised caps and you can't tether. Most everywhere else you either are capped at X amount, but you can do whatever you want with the connection up to the cap, or its truly unlimited (see Norwegian countries) and you can tether all you want.
the real problem here is that the phone companies charge $60 for 3g USB dongles, which are intended to be used all the time. They are worried that if they let people tether for "free", as in wrapped into the cost of what you are already paying data, then no one will use buy the dongles and will instead just grab a phone, even if the cap is much lower. If this is the point you are getting at, then yes I get what you are saying. But in many ways it's just a money grabbing tactic that takes advantage of the people who need tethering in the first place, and in no way negates the points that i was making in previous posts.
by the way, for the future, not directly responding to someones posts and instead repeating the same point with slight variation over and over isn't really a good debating style. despite what you may think, I am not just arguing with you for the sake of arguing. If at point you had made a point that I thought was correct I would have said so. However, you spent much of the last page repeating yourself while calling me a thick-headed idiot
Let me just channel Australia for a moment here and ask all y'all to shut the fuck up about how bad you have it with your unlimited data.
Here's the data-plan rates from Rogers, aka "Robbers"
500MB = $25
1GB = $30
3GB = $60
5GB = $80
Note the distinct lack of anything that says "unlimited."
And those rates are on top of a voice plan.
Oh, and you have to sign a minimum of a 2-year contract.
But oooh we can tether for free
for about the five minutes it takes to blow through our data cap and then get charged $0.03/MB for overage
also these grapes are totally not sour at all
:P
edit @ Fats - yes that shit needs to go away right the fuck now
ALL YOU CAN EAT BREAKFAST, $4.99
breakfast limited to two eggs and a piece of soggy toast, extra eggs $0.99/ea, cripsy toast or additional slices $0.49/ea, bacon requires additional $4.99 BAF (Bacon Access Fee), ketchup not included and bringing your own is grounds for termination of the meal
PeregrineFalcon on
Looking for a DX:HR OnLive code for my kid brother.
Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
How about we stop using this term for things that aren't actually unlimited and just call it a 5 gigabyte package.
There is no five gig cap for an unlimited data plan. How is this escaping you guys?
I used over 30GB of data on my plan for the month of October. Sprint acually lost money on me for that billing cycle. They didn't say a word.
this is because sprint doesn't care, they're losing customers left and right. It takes a lot to get them to drop someone
Also, I love how you say "there is no cap for unlimited plans, stop being stupid you guys" when really, its just sprint who does this. AT&T and Verizon both have "soft caps" of 5gb where they start watching your usage and will threaten to cancel your plan if you continue to use more than everyone else.
Also, whats really funny here is you're advocating that tethering should be an extra 30 because of how expensive it is, while you use what i presume is an unlocked treo to tether on sprint, which doesn't offer any tethering options period for any of their branded phones. Basically, you picked the one company who won't charge or give a shit where you can actually use all of your unlimited data, with no strings attach, and then you sit up there on your fucking high horse and wonder why the rest of us keep bitching
I also really don't appreciate being called stupid when you won't directly respond to any on my points. I also give up, since you seem unwilling to actually debate me here and we've dragged an entire page of this thread of course. I would rather not be annoyed by this thread on thanksgiving
My "unlimited data" contract has a limit of 1GB per month.
With tethering, podcasts set to automatically download, and internet TV (for the commute) I generally shave pretty close to the limit. Tethering absolutely murders the battery, though, for some reason. If I'm using my laptop about an hour's use will kill it stone dead.
japan on
0
The_SpaniardIt's never lupinesIrvine, CaliforniaRegistered Userregular
My "unlimited data" contract has a limit of 1GB per month.
With tethering, podcasts set to automatically download, and internet TV (for the commute) I generally shave pretty close to the limit. Tethering absolutely murders the battery, though, for some reason. If I'm using my laptop about an hour's use will kill it stone dead.
Why don't you plug it into your laptop while you tether?
I finally got around to jailbreaking my iPhone, because I wanted to use the Sky TV app over 3G instead of wifi, and it is so great. Watched the football live on a moving bus yesterday.
Hey guys. I picked up a Motorola L6 a couple of months ago off of NewEgg; refurbished. It works pretty well overall, but it has this annoying, intermittent, problem: it displays a message saying either "insert sim", or "check sim".
The sim card is about as old as the phone. After it happened once or twice, I went into the AT&T store and got them to give me a new one.
Part of me is thinking it might be voltage related, as the problem appears to crop up just after a recharge, and when the battery is almost dead - but I could simply be trying to generate sense.
Another part is thinking it might be the contacts; I've cleaned those with rubbing alcohol.
Hey guys. I picked up a Motorola L6 a couple of months ago off of NewEgg; refurbished. It works pretty well overall, but it has this annoying, intermittent, problem: it displays a message saying either "insert sim", or "check sim".
The sim card is about as old as the phone. After it happened once or twice, I went into the AT&T store and got them to give me a new one.
Part of me is thinking it might be voltage related, as the problem appears to crop up just after a recharge, and when the battery is almost dead - but I could simply be trying to generate sense.
Another part is thinking it might be the contacts; I've cleaned those with rubbing alcohol.
I'm open to suggestions.
I get this on my phone sometimes. Just remove the sim and put it back in and that usually fixes it.
My AT&T contract for my iPhone is set to expire on December 10th. At that time I was PLANNING to get a Motorola Droid for $199 + 2yr and switch to Verizon; however I then stumbled on Amazon while looking for Cyber Monday deals. Apparently by extending my AT&T contract I can get a Blackberry Curve 8900 for $49.99, or a Blackberry Bold 9000 for $74.99.
So now my choice is between first of all AT&T or Verizon, and if AT&T, the Curve 8900 or Bold 9000. I tend to stick to phone, SMS, internet, email, and the google maps app on my iPhone, though that's mostly because I can't stand using iTunes to get new apps. Also, I tend to not even receive maybe 5% of my calls, though once I realize that's happening restarting the iPhone fixes it, so I don't know if it's AT&T or the phone that's causing the dropped calls.
So, forumers: besides the monthly bills and immediate cost of the phones, what else should I consider when deciding which phone/carrier to go with for the next two years? Is one phone better than the other by any stretch?
Halp
(edit) Oh if it wasn't clear, I have to decide on the phone TODAY, so I don't miss the Amazon deal.
My AT&T contract for my iPhone is set to expire on December 10th. At that time I was PLANNING to get a Motorola Droid for $199 + 2yr and switch to Verizon; however I then stumbled on Amazon while looking for Cyber Monday deals. Apparently by extending my AT&T contract I can get a Blackberry Curve 8900 for $49.99, or a Blackberry Bold 9000 for $74.99.
So now my choice is between first of all AT&T or Verizon, and if AT&T, the Curve 8900 or Bold 9000. I tend to stick to phone, SMS, internet, email, and the google maps app on my iPhone, though that's mostly because I can't stand using iTunes to get new apps. Also, I tend to not even receive maybe 5% of my calls, though once I realize that's happening restarting the iPhone fixes it, so I don't know if it's AT&T or the phone that's causing the dropped calls.
So, forumers: besides the monthly bills and immediate cost of the phones, what else should I consider when deciding which phone/carrier to go with for the next two years? Is one phone better than the other by any stretch?
Halp
(edit) Oh if it wasn't clear, I have to decide on the phone TODAY, so I don't miss the Amazon deal.
My service from ATT was very poor, and I just had a friend get rid of her iPhone because 50% of her calls would drop because of ATT service. She's in Seattle, and I was in Ohio, and then Colorado. I'd say that it is probably ATT causing the call issue, and that you should get out. I have been with Verizon for a year now, and have not had an issue with the service at all. The most annoyance I've had is realizing the store rep put the corporate blackberry data plan on my account rather than the personal one, but to be fair, I have a corporate discount so I'd call that an honest mistake.
Elin on
Switch SW-5832-5050-0149
PSN Hypacia
Xbox HypaciaMinnow
Discord Hypacia#0391
I'd recommend you away from the Curve. It's not a bad phone per se, but if you get one, be prepared for the every other day soft resets and trackball issues.
Anyone here know much in terms of policy at Sprint? Here's my story:
I owe Sprint a little bit of money (not much, probably around $70-$80) from a stint with them a couple of years ago that I just never got around to paying. So, when I switched carriers recently, I got hooked up as a secondary line on my stepdad's account (my mother is a secondary line on his account as well, all three of us have simply everything plans).
My stepdad recently got laid off, and spent the $100 I gave him a couple of weeks ago for my end of the phone bill on, well, I don't know what he spent it on, but it sure as fuck wasn't my end of the phone bill. I found out a couple of hours ago when I tried to make a call. I called him up and he confirmed the story.
So basically, they're way behind on the bill, and the odds of them catching up anytime soon are pretty low.
If I were to call Sprint tomorrow and ask that my line be removed from his account, and instead added to a new account in my name, and just have the contract end date be the same as the line I am currently using, would they be ok with that (assuming I paid them the money I owed them from before)?
The way I figure, as it stands now their worst case scenario is they lose three large bill customers, whereas if they move my line to it's own account, the worst case scenario is they lose two large bill customers. Plus, they'd get to clear up my old debt as an added bonus.
Does anyone know anyone who either works at Sprint, or has had experience doing anything similar?
So I went up to New York to visit the family for thanksgiving and lost my cellphone on the train. I'm on a sprint plan right now and am looking for a new phone. I'm thinking some sort of smart phone maybe or at least something that has a real keyboard. Anybody have a mobile make and model they'd recommend?
Did you make sure to have the phone's ESN put on the lost/stolen list to fuck over the person who didn't bother trying to return it to you?
Also, I don't know Sprint's policy, but with Verizon if your phone is stolen you may qualify for a new phone at a one year price, with a one year extension on your contract. Sort of like a "Sorry your phone got jacked bro, here's an early upgrade".
If you plan on staying with Sprint for a while, I would check to see if they offer anything similar.
I transferred my number to a dinky phone a bought at a mall kiosk so my old phone should be dead. I'll call sprint up and see what I qualify for though. Thanks.
I go through Alltel (I think it's owned by Verizon now?). I have an extremely shitty phone with an equally shitty plan. 1000 Minutes, 10cents per text in/out. $60ish a month. My contract doesn't expire until April.
I have a friend who is willing to give me a decent ATT phone (Treo something or other), so I've been mulling over switching once my contract is up. Maybe get a refurbished Iphone or something and my wife can take the Treo. In the meantime, is there a way to add a line without extending my contract? My goal is to nuke my landline and just get us both new cell phones.
Alternatively, is there any reason I should just stick with my current providor and maybe get phones elsewhere? I mean, a free used phone is a nice offer, but if there is some other good deals and I can do it now, that'd be super. Smart phones would be nice, but not necessary.
Anyway, I got an offer in my e-mail for $10 extra per month with a free phone and no activation fee if I put that phone on a two year contract. I can possibly get a Blackberry Pearl for free by changing my plan up a bit and getting another two year contract with my same provider.
Well if you're willing to wait your contract out you can potentially get a much better phone like the Pre or Hero at 70 a month for 1 or 130 a month for 2 lines with Sprint. That comes with unlimited everything except minutes to landlines. You seem to be unsure of what you want out of a phone or service. See who has good service where you live, check plan pricing online and then look at phones.
Does anyone know much about upgrading phones and stuff for Tmobile? I want to get my wife a myTouch (since that seems to be the best of the google phones offered by Tmobile) but she upgraded her phone last year about this time. We also don't have a plan that can support this (aka data and whatever else) so I'd need to upgrade our family plan too.
Is there any advice anyone can give me in getting the best deal out of this? Honestly, I'd be happy with just getting a decent deal on the phone since it's pretty expensive by itself.
Well if you're willing to wait your contract out you can potentially get a much better phone like the Pre or Hero at 70 a month for 1 or 130 a month for 2 lines with Sprint. That comes with unlimited everything except minutes to landlines. You seem to be unsure of what you want out of a phone or service. See who has good service where you live, check plan pricing online and then look at phones.
I've had a pretty bad time with Sprint in the past around here, so I'm trying to shy away from them. Sounds like a cool deal, though.
I just called and I have to wait until my upgrade date (3 days from now) and they are going to upgrade my plan to 500 minutes (I barely talk on my phone other than short bursts), unlimited web/ e-mail/ text/ picture/ video, free mobile to mobile/ nights and weekends, and 10 "My Circle" numbers (Most of my longer calls are to the same maybe 5 people). Plus a free Blackberry Pearl 8130 and a Samsung Freeform. I have to pay the difference between my current bill plus a month in advance. Ends up being about $110 a month.
Unfortunately a 2 year contract, though.
I'm just geeked out to be actually getting a smartphone. All I really want it to do is be able to check my e-mail and maybe browse PA. MP3 player and GPS is a nice bonus.
So there's new rumors about this keyboardless droid that's GSM bound. I hope this goes to Tmobile. I wanted to ask for a phone for xmas but Tmobile literally has nothing to offer. I'm not confident they'll upgrade current android phones to 2.0. If I weren't such a google whore I'd look to blackberries...
Posts
How much are you paying for data? You keep saying that tethering would double your data bill, but I find it very hard to believe that AT&T is charging the same amount for tethering as they are for their unlimited smartphone data plan.
Also, on a side note, providers don't really have non-unlimited data plans for phones partially because it's not currently really easy or intuitive for the end user to check how much data they have used in their billing cycle, and phone manufacturers and software engineers don't bother adding that functionality because it's useless since everyone is using an unlimited data plan.
I get this idea because I pay for an internet connection on my phone, which they have placed a abitrary restriction on, which i assume is based off the idea that the network would crumble under the load of everyone with a iphone tethering.
Look at the bottom of the data plan section. $60.00 a month with a 5gb cap for data+tethering I wasn't just making that shit up off the top of my head, and every other provider in the US charges about that much. Other countries with more sane, non-ogoploly companies usually charge a small (like 5-10) fee, or include it in the base data plan but with a lower (1-2 GB cap)
Provider offer unlimited data plans because it sounds good and there is a shit-ton of legalese in the contracts that say they don't actually have to follow that, much like how when a ISP says they offer "up to" 7 Mbps, they don't actually have to meet that number in reality. Why else would a "unlimited" plan have a hidden 5gb cap? As for checking how much data has been used, on the iphone at least there is a very easy to read statistics page under network in the settings, and I'm sure most other good smartphones (android, WinMo, S60, WebOS) probably have something similar.
Tethering can be a huge drain on the network if a person is heavily using it, in which case they probably won't mind paying extra to use the feature to the fullest extent. However, for most people, the feature is locked out because our teleco's are money-grubbing assholes who, on a regular basis, charge their customer extra to use features present on the unlocked versions of phones just because they can
Listen, understand something - they aren't capping your data use just because they feel like it. They're capping your data use because it costs a lot of money to send those ones and zeros over the air. This is one reason why the per-megabyte fees are so ridiculously high for data overages. I don't know any way to explain this to you other than the way that I have. I mean, maybe I could draw you an MSPaint picture or something, I don't know.
There is no misleading legalese. You get an unlimited data plan with your phone, and that data is separate from the data that you get with tethering. You can use as much data as you want on your phone, because no matter how hard you try, you probably aren't going to be able to use much (we're talking about 3G speeds here, we're in sub-DSL territory for most of the country) of that unlimited data that you are allotted.
Some general rules:
With a tethering plan, you are considerably more likely to use most or all of that 5GB.
People who tether to connect to the net use more data than people who just use their phones.
People who tether cost the provider more money than people who just use their phones.
Providers charge more money for people who tether.
You don't know what the fuck you're talking about (to be fair, you're just a consumer, so you're not really expected to), and seem to suffer from some ridiculous "I'm one man against the greedy corporate money-grubbing machine" mentality.
Don't like it? Don't pay for it. Or give up your overpriced chic phone and move to a carrier that doesn't blow.
(Basically, this is math and you're the sandwich.)
Ah, so we have unlimited data, and then tethering data. In no way is that at all misleading. I'm sorry for not knowing that tethering uses different data pipes to get to the internet than normal mobile data usage Yes, if you plan on using it regularly, like someone would use a 3g USB adapter. I'm not arguing that those people shouldn't paying the extra to get the full benefit of tethering, since they will obviously be having an impact on the network. All I'm saying is that if I want to tether my laptop for 15 minutes because I forgot to submit an assignment, I should be able to do so because hey, my phone gets on the internet, my phone connects to my computer, why can't they share?
People who tend to tether a lot use more data. I'd be willing to bet that in my above scenario, it probably wouldn't use more than a lot of internet radio streaming
See above
And all the fuck you keep saying is that it costs money for them to send data on mobile networks and that the teleco's should be able to preemptively tell you how to use that connection before you've even abused it. If you're going to advertise your phones having "unlimited" data, perhaps actually offering that would be a good place to start, rather than having a shitload of restriction that people end up suing you over because, hey, you mislead people
I'm pissed that AT&T has singled out the iphone and completely blocked tethering through legit means, dispite saying they would have it up by the years end. However, every carrier in the US apparently blows for tethering, with the possible exception of t-mobile, who seem to not care about upper limit caps quite so much. Verizon is the same rate as AT&T (30 for "unlimited" data + 30 more for tethering), and Sprint flat-out doesn't offer it on anything. Also, nice completely not mentioning the fact that you were completely wrong about how much they charge for it. [/quote]
Ahaha, you can't explain math to food. Priceless, timeless comedy
Edit: Fuck, even Rogers in Canada, who many people believe are worse than many of the companies here in the US, even offers tethering included with the monthly data plan. I don't see them having network outages all over the fucking place
edit the 2nd:
i think the teleco's know they're fucked on text message rates. Raising the rate by 30%-50%, depending on the carrier, when it costs next to nothing to send them? No wonder the FCC was directed by Congress to look into it
While you're at this smoke, can you please explain why we're the only country were we have to pay to receive texts?
Because you're entitled, you see.
I'm entitled because I fucking pay for the data. Why do i pay for 5gb capped connection, then get told I can't do something with it, at least up until the point where I hit the cap? If I go over my cap, then I expect that I would charged overage or be cut off, because when I paid for my data plan, that was the deal.
All you're doing is waving your hands around saying that because tethering uses more data then the average person, you should have to magically pay more for it.
Even while staying under the unlimited plan's cap
which you already paid for.
SMS is sort of a ripoff, which is why a text messaging feature is included in a lot of plans at a lot of different carriers.
We're also a lot stricter in the US when it comes to text messaging. This is why we don't see as many spam texts as some other countries do.
I can't explain the situation any simpler than I already have, but you still don't get it.
I don't think any amount of explanation is going to help you understand.
We didn't meaning paying for SMS period, we meant A) Why so much?
Texting is usually not included in plans, unless you're going with a all-inclusive one, which AT&T and Verizon both don't offer to my knowledge.
I've never once heard of anyone complaining about spam texts, unless they were from their phone company saying something like "hey get more minutes at low rates for december!". This is also asinine as we are the only country who charges people when they receive spam texts.
The whole thing it kind of retarded in the first place, since the data channels used to send and receive texts is constantly sending info no matter what (it uses the control channel which sends null values if its not doing anything else, so it only costs marginally more to send a tiny bit of data through), so texts are pretty much free money to the companies
you could try actually responding to my posts instead of going on about how expensive mobile data connections are
just answer me this: If i pay for a 5gb per month capped connection, why am I not allowed to use it any way I wish? Furthermore, If i accept paying extra for tethering as an inevitability, which I do not, why is it a further $30 on top of the $30 I already pay. The main point here I already pay for data. I just don't expect to be handing tethering for free, I just expect to be able to use my data connection for what I want, within reason. If you can't answer that without calling me a thickheaded, entitled idiot, then yes i guess we are done here.
(In this scenario, the moped represents the amount of data you will likely pull from a smartphone)
I tell you that if you pay $30 a month, I will give you unlimited gas for your moped. That's a pretty good deal, right? Unlimited gas. I mean, gas is expensive nowadays.
Ok, let's say you have an M1-A1 Abrams Main Battle Tank. You know, one of these:
(In this scenario, the Tank represents the amount of data that you will likely pull from a tethered PC)
And I tell you that if you give me $30 a month, I'll give you unlimited gas for it.
How long do you think I'm going to stay in business?
I'll give you a hint: Not very long. Instead, I tell you that if you give me $30 a month, I will give you unlimited gas for your moped, and if you give me an additional $30 a month, I will give you 50 gallons of gas for your tank. This way you can use your moped all you like (since it's easy on gas), but you can also use your tank when the feeling strikes you. You just can't use it all month.
This sinking in yet?
I pay $30 for unlimited gas for my moped. In reality, you're not actually going to give me unlimited gas, you will stop at some point. Because people start bitching at you because of this, you set that cap at a fairly high point, in this case 100 gallons, because most people will never use that much on a moped.
Now, I guess I also have a tank or something. I plan on driving it, Grand Theft Auto style, down the streets of Orlando blowing up cars. Now, as the military will stop me when I get over 5 stars, I doubt that I will be driving said tank for very long. Now, I have no idea how much gas tanks actually use, but seeing as how its a diesel engine and tanks can go pretty far on one tank, I'd be willing to bet they get decent fuel mileage. But, for the sake of the argument, we'll say I use 50 gallons of gas to go on my rampage.
So, following that logic, I take 100, subtract the 10 gallons my moped will use, and the 50 gallons my tank will use, and still have not used up the 100 gallons that I was told I would be allowed to use. To me, this seems fair. I give you money for up the ability to use up to a certain amount of gas, you give me up to that amount gas as i request it. The only problem I see is that you only gave me the gas to use with the moped, and not the tank. And since both the moped and the tank use the same gas from the same place in our example, the only thing you are charging me for is using the gas for something different than you intended.
Which sounds a whole lot like a bullshit charge to me
How about we stop using this term for things that aren't actually unlimited and just call it a 5 gigabyte package.
Where is the fault in my logic? If they marketed the unlimited data plans as capped plans with restrictions, and then required more for things like tethering, then I'd be annoyed but at least they were up front about it. As it stands, the US is pretty much the only place were data plans don't have advertised caps and you can't tether. Most everywhere else you either are capped at X amount, but you can do whatever you want with the connection up to the cap, or its truly unlimited (see Norwegian countries) and you can tether all you want.
the real problem here is that the phone companies charge $60 for 3g USB dongles, which are intended to be used all the time. They are worried that if they let people tether for "free", as in wrapped into the cost of what you are already paying data, then no one will use buy the dongles and will instead just grab a phone, even if the cap is much lower. If this is the point you are getting at, then yes I get what you are saying. But in many ways it's just a money grabbing tactic that takes advantage of the people who need tethering in the first place, and in no way negates the points that i was making in previous posts.
by the way, for the future, not directly responding to someones posts and instead repeating the same point with slight variation over and over isn't really a good debating style. despite what you may think, I am not just arguing with you for the sake of arguing. If at point you had made a point that I thought was correct I would have said so. However, you spent much of the last page repeating yourself while calling me a thick-headed idiot
There is no five gig cap for an unlimited data plan. How is this escaping you guys?
I used over 30GB of data on my plan for the month of October. Sprint acually lost money on me for that billing cycle. They didn't say a word.
Edit: edit for no sleep clarity
Edit2: This is what needs to change:
Here's the data-plan rates from Rogers, aka "Robbers"
500MB = $25
1GB = $30
3GB = $60
5GB = $80
Note the distinct lack of anything that says "unlimited."
And those rates are on top of a voice plan.
Oh, and you have to sign a minimum of a 2-year contract.
But oooh we can tether for free
for about the five minutes it takes to blow through our data cap and then get charged $0.03/MB for overage
also these grapes are totally not sour at all
:P
edit @ Fats - yes that shit needs to go away right the fuck now
ALL YOU CAN EAT BREAKFAST, $4.99
breakfast limited to two eggs and a piece of soggy toast, extra eggs $0.99/ea, cripsy toast or additional slices $0.49/ea, bacon requires additional $4.99 BAF (Bacon Access Fee), ketchup not included and bringing your own is grounds for termination of the meal
Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
this is because sprint doesn't care, they're losing customers left and right. It takes a lot to get them to drop someone
Also, I love how you say "there is no cap for unlimited plans, stop being stupid you guys" when really, its just sprint who does this. AT&T and Verizon both have "soft caps" of 5gb where they start watching your usage and will threaten to cancel your plan if you continue to use more than everyone else.
Also, whats really funny here is you're advocating that tethering should be an extra 30 because of how expensive it is, while you use what i presume is an unlocked treo to tether on sprint, which doesn't offer any tethering options period for any of their branded phones. Basically, you picked the one company who won't charge or give a shit where you can actually use all of your unlimited data, with no strings attach, and then you sit up there on your fucking high horse and wonder why the rest of us keep bitching
I also really don't appreciate being called stupid when you won't directly respond to any on my points. I also give up, since you seem unwilling to actually debate me here and we've dragged an entire page of this thread of course. I would rather not be annoyed by this thread on thanksgiving
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=s9_al_bw_feat?ie=UTF8&docId=1000456591&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-10&pf_rd_r=127R7T806BR82734CDNZ&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=500199871&pf_rd_i=540734
PSN Hypacia
Xbox HypaciaMinnow
Discord Hypacia#0391
With tethering, podcasts set to automatically download, and internet TV (for the commute) I generally shave pretty close to the limit. Tethering absolutely murders the battery, though, for some reason. If I'm using my laptop about an hour's use will kill it stone dead.
Why don't you plug it into your laptop while you tether?
It doesn't charge via USB, though.
The sim card is about as old as the phone. After it happened once or twice, I went into the AT&T store and got them to give me a new one.
Part of me is thinking it might be voltage related, as the problem appears to crop up just after a recharge, and when the battery is almost dead - but I could simply be trying to generate sense.
Another part is thinking it might be the contacts; I've cleaned those with rubbing alcohol.
I'm open to suggestions.
I get this on my phone sometimes. Just remove the sim and put it back in and that usually fixes it.
My AT&T contract for my iPhone is set to expire on December 10th. At that time I was PLANNING to get a Motorola Droid for $199 + 2yr and switch to Verizon; however I then stumbled on Amazon while looking for Cyber Monday deals. Apparently by extending my AT&T contract I can get a Blackberry Curve 8900 for $49.99, or a Blackberry Bold 9000 for $74.99.
So now my choice is between first of all AT&T or Verizon, and if AT&T, the Curve 8900 or Bold 9000. I tend to stick to phone, SMS, internet, email, and the google maps app on my iPhone, though that's mostly because I can't stand using iTunes to get new apps. Also, I tend to not even receive maybe 5% of my calls, though once I realize that's happening restarting the iPhone fixes it, so I don't know if it's AT&T or the phone that's causing the dropped calls.
So, forumers: besides the monthly bills and immediate cost of the phones, what else should I consider when deciding which phone/carrier to go with for the next two years? Is one phone better than the other by any stretch?
Halp
(edit) Oh if it wasn't clear, I have to decide on the phone TODAY, so I don't miss the Amazon deal.
My service from ATT was very poor, and I just had a friend get rid of her iPhone because 50% of her calls would drop because of ATT service. She's in Seattle, and I was in Ohio, and then Colorado. I'd say that it is probably ATT causing the call issue, and that you should get out. I have been with Verizon for a year now, and have not had an issue with the service at all. The most annoyance I've had is realizing the store rep put the corporate blackberry data plan on my account rather than the personal one, but to be fair, I have a corporate discount so I'd call that an honest mistake.
PSN Hypacia
Xbox HypaciaMinnow
Discord Hypacia#0391
Anyone here know much in terms of policy at Sprint? Here's my story:
I owe Sprint a little bit of money (not much, probably around $70-$80) from a stint with them a couple of years ago that I just never got around to paying. So, when I switched carriers recently, I got hooked up as a secondary line on my stepdad's account (my mother is a secondary line on his account as well, all three of us have simply everything plans).
My stepdad recently got laid off, and spent the $100 I gave him a couple of weeks ago for my end of the phone bill on, well, I don't know what he spent it on, but it sure as fuck wasn't my end of the phone bill. I found out a couple of hours ago when I tried to make a call. I called him up and he confirmed the story.
So basically, they're way behind on the bill, and the odds of them catching up anytime soon are pretty low.
If I were to call Sprint tomorrow and ask that my line be removed from his account, and instead added to a new account in my name, and just have the contract end date be the same as the line I am currently using, would they be ok with that (assuming I paid them the money I owed them from before)?
The way I figure, as it stands now their worst case scenario is they lose three large bill customers, whereas if they move my line to it's own account, the worst case scenario is they lose two large bill customers. Plus, they'd get to clear up my old debt as an added bonus.
Does anyone know anyone who either works at Sprint, or has had experience doing anything similar?
Also, I don't know Sprint's policy, but with Verizon if your phone is stolen you may qualify for a new phone at a one year price, with a one year extension on your contract. Sort of like a "Sorry your phone got jacked bro, here's an early upgrade".
If you plan on staying with Sprint for a while, I would check to see if they offer anything similar.
I go through Alltel (I think it's owned by Verizon now?). I have an extremely shitty phone with an equally shitty plan. 1000 Minutes, 10cents per text in/out. $60ish a month. My contract doesn't expire until April.
I have a friend who is willing to give me a decent ATT phone (Treo something or other), so I've been mulling over switching once my contract is up. Maybe get a refurbished Iphone or something and my wife can take the Treo. In the meantime, is there a way to add a line without extending my contract? My goal is to nuke my landline and just get us both new cell phones.
Alternatively, is there any reason I should just stick with my current providor and maybe get phones elsewhere? I mean, a free used phone is a nice offer, but if there is some other good deals and I can do it now, that'd be super. Smart phones would be nice, but not necessary.
Anyway, I got an offer in my e-mail for $10 extra per month with a free phone and no activation fee if I put that phone on a two year contract. I can possibly get a Blackberry Pearl for free by changing my plan up a bit and getting another two year contract with my same provider.
Are Blackberry Pearls decent? Sound worth it?
Edit: Pearl 8130
Is there any advice anyone can give me in getting the best deal out of this? Honestly, I'd be happy with just getting a decent deal on the phone since it's pretty expensive by itself.
I've had a pretty bad time with Sprint in the past around here, so I'm trying to shy away from them. Sounds like a cool deal, though.
I just called and I have to wait until my upgrade date (3 days from now) and they are going to upgrade my plan to 500 minutes (I barely talk on my phone other than short bursts), unlimited web/ e-mail/ text/ picture/ video, free mobile to mobile/ nights and weekends, and 10 "My Circle" numbers (Most of my longer calls are to the same maybe 5 people). Plus a free Blackberry Pearl 8130 and a Samsung Freeform. I have to pay the difference between my current bill plus a month in advance. Ends up being about $110 a month.
Unfortunately a 2 year contract, though.
I'm just geeked out to be actually getting a smartphone. All I really want it to do is be able to check my e-mail and maybe browse PA. MP3 player and GPS is a nice bonus.