[Q] I have a question about upgrading and what not. - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

i was wondering about upgrading my old phone to a phone that is from a different carrier (Rogers) and it's in a different city (Edmonton, AB {I live in Yellowknife, NT and we only have Bell up here})...
so I have the samsung vice on a uber 25 extended hours plan which includes: 3 way calling, call waiting, sys access fee $6.95, 911 fee $0.75(we don't even have 911 up in Yellowknife), personal email (but it's fcked up and won't work), personal IM (barely use it), 50 bonus minutes. fun 20 with mobile browser included: mobile browser usage, message centre, call display, image messaging, picture messaging, media pack, incl. messages. all for $25 a month.
i was thinking of deleting a few of these features from the mybell site so i could pay less every month but it said I can't customize any of it. :/ and I was going to look at my rate plan and it wasn't even listed there (same with my phone).
but the main thing i was going to ask was if I get the samsung focus and unlock it and put it on bell, how am i going to use it with no data plan? the plan and phone i have now is a really old one, so i don't know what to do. would I be able to add a data plan for like $10 bucks? will Bell get mad at me if I don't use a phone from them?
i'd really appreciate it if you'd help me.
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Related

AT&T vs T-MOBILE

Hi:
Up until now, I have been using T-Mobile ever since the XDA came out.
Used a "visorphone" before that. I do NOT use T-Mobile's Internet access (T-zones) ever since I got hit with a $180+ overage charge the first month I used it.
So.
Here is my issue:
Starting a few months ago, I noticed that, even though I do NOT use T-Mobile for any Internet access (I call up my own ISP instead from the XDA), T-Mobile are charging me something like $.50 for every email sent or received from the XDA using my own ISP. I suppose they monitor the traffic or something. When I protested that they shouldn't charge me for anything Internet-related, only the minutes used to call my ISP, they told me basically that they don't give a damn what I think, and that I will continue to be charged $.50 for every email. They show up on my bill as "e-note" to the phone number "500."
I think that's ridiculous and possibly illegal since it doesn't involve their servers or their services at all, but I don't have the energy to deal with their untrained "Wireless Data Group." It would take years to explain this to them. Just getting them on the phone took over 1 hour. This is partly a warning post, that this is what T-Mobile is doing, and we should know about it. So, I am looking into switching to AT&T.
My questions for anyone reading this:
1) anyone else have that billing issue with t-mobile?
2) is at&t any better? do they charge for internet traffic even if you haven't signed up for their services?
3) i don't think i have simlock issues, the unlock util from this site says that it's already unlocked. rom is 4.00.21 ENG, radio stack 6.24.00
from yorch.net.
4) is there anything i should know? won't this t-mobile build of "windows mobile 2003" rom work with at&t ?
any info appreciated, you can email thomas at pullen.com (removed the @ for the spam bots).
thanks!
TMO is pretty bad, iv experienced their levels of ignorance too, but once in a while, u can incounter sumone who knows alot about what they do
you should have never used tzones (if it wasnt unlimited) for transfering big amounts of data, thats why u got charged so much, for going over the allowd data amount
when connecting to your own ISP, are u connecting using THEIR # ? ... if so, then i dont know where TMO gets these ideas 4 charging u extra + the phone call :roll:
to unlock u need to go back to a 2002 rom, with the unlock software
ur build will work, but it would be better to switch to 4.00.05 , since u wont need all the useless TMO apps and what not
Hey tpullen,
Sorry to hear about your terrible time with T-Mobile.
Q: What type of plan do you have with T-Mobile?
If its only a voice plan with no data the .50 sounds about right and will be the same if you move over to AT&T. As a matter of fact AT&T's data charges are higher.
It doesn't matter that you're calling your own ISP, the fact still remains you're sending/receiving data on a voice only plan. :wink:
HTH
thanks
hey:
thanks for the replies. to answer your questions:
i had the t-mobile 3,000 minutes for $49 plan. it is only free long distance for the southeast u.s.; i think it's called a 'neighborhood' plan.
no data at all in my plan; i would call my own isp and surf the web and check email. only about 3 months ago t-mobile started charging me to check email, but not for the web. my complaint is that i am using my own isp, and the call comes out of my minutes. yes, it's sending data with a voice-only plan, but hey! i have a dial-up phone line, nothing fancy, a land line in my house. it's voice-only. if i plug a modem into my home phone line and call my isp, should i expect to get a bill from my phone company for every email i look at? to my way of thinking, and anyone is free to disagree, if i'm not USING your services then i don't want to PAY for your services. unless it is a t-mobile email, web, or proxy server i'm talking to, i don't expect to pay t-mobile. the minutes were already being deducted from my available minutes. that's all i should have to pay.
i don't think that's so outrageous.
i did unlock my phone with the xda dev build, then went back to the same tmobile windows mobile 2003 build. i wasn't sure if the xda "stays unlocked" once you unlock it and then put a new rom on, but it does.
now i have an at&t sim, and it works well enough, but the sort-of-funny thing is that you apparantly can NOT just call your own isp with at&t.
i can't seem to get a connection to work. so i don't know. maybe i will stay with at&t since they, according to their sales literature anyway, have a data network that's like 3 times faster than t-mobile's data network.
of course it's more $ for them.
whatever the case, i have 30 days to try at&t with no obligation, cancel any time, owe them nothing. everyone has that option right now, in fact, due to the new ftc "local number port" thing happening.
i'll let ya'll know how it goes if i stick with at&t. i can always stay with t-mobile, but i'm not sure if that's a good idea.
Re: thanks
tpullen said:
maybe i will stay with at&t since they, according to their sales literature anyway, have a data network that's like 3 times faster than t-mobile's data network. of course it's more $ for them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like you're talking about the EDGE service. Yeah, like 4 times the cost of T-Mobile's unlimited plan. I think I'll stick to the cheaper slower service.
tpullen said:
whatever the case, i have 30 days to try at&t with no obligation, cancel any time, owe them nothing. everyone has that option right now, in fact, due to the new ftc "local number port" thing happening.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Owe them nothing?! You might want to read that literature again. You'll not pay a cancellation fee nor an activation fee, but you will owe them for the prorated amount of time you had service, and any other additional fees that you use. This is pretty standard in the wireless industry. So if you go over your prorated minutes for the month, you owe them airtime charges. Happened to me, so just be careful.
bye bye at&t
hi arkhangel:
yes, you are correct:
4. Every new customer gets a 30 day risk free trial. When you purchase a phone and activate service at an AT&T Wireless store or at attwireless.com, you can return your undamaged phone for a refund within the first 30 days and pay only for airtime and usage charges. It’s just one more way we can earn your trust.
so it is not without charge, and thank god i only made one 6-minute call.
as far as the EDGE network goes, it was so-so...i only viewed 2 webpages with it, they loaded pretty much as quickly as with any other data service over the xda...and the funny thing is that it consumed apparantly almost 2 mb to do so.
i am pretty frustrated now, the at&t customer service has been pretty rotten, but t-mobile isn't too great either.
i'm calling verizon next, to compare...
tpullen said:
They show up on my bill as "e-note" to the phone number "500."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The phone is programmed to send an SMS to T-Mobile every time you reboot your PPCPE. These show up as e-notes to 500 just as you describe. Compare the timing of your email use vs. the timing of your reboots and see where the e-notes are coming from. I think you can purchase a bundle of a bunch (500?) of SMS messages (aka e-notes) for something like $2.99, so you could cap your cost that way.
You should also be aware that T-Mobile has gone to a flat rate for GPRS at $19.95 for unlimited internet. The comparable plan with AT&T is something like $80.

[Q] does vibrant use more data than mytouch 3g?

So I called T-Mobile to change my rate plan. I was told since me and my brother use HIGH END smart phones, the only data plan we can get would be 5gb or 10gb? They won't let me sign up for 2gb or 200mb.
I am using a Vibrant which is a 3g android device and my brother uses unlocked iphone 3gs on tmobile which gets edge speeds. I used 75mb last month and my brother used ZERO. T-Mobile is telling me that in order for me to get 200MB or 2GB, I need to buy a different mid range android phone like samsung gravity or mytouch 3g. Now this doesn't make any sense cuz both are 3g devices.
-Wouldn't me and my brother be using more data if we both have 3g capable devices?
-How could they keep iphone 3gs and other 4g devices in same high end category when iphone doesn't even get 3g speeds on tmobile?
Any ideas how can I change my rate plan without having to purchase a new phone? We are both using less then 200mb combined and I can't justify myself paying for 5gb when I dont use it. We both have wifi at home and at work so we only use tmobile data to check email on the go.
They're BSing you because I called and got mine changed to 200mb on my two lines with a Vibrant and MT4G
They telling me when I signed up for tmobile, I signed up for a plan that was promotional. As a result, I can change my minutes but not data, but that still renews my contract for 2 more years. If its renewing my contract, shouldn't I be able to change my rate plan to according to my usage?
I would call back and if they still give you problems start being an ass. If they still won't do it e-mail [email protected]. Anytime I've had problems someone has responded to an e-mail at that address within 48 hours with a resolution.
I called back and the person I spoke to was going to change my plan, but then said let me check if there are any notes on your account. After a 30 sec pause, this person also refused to change my plan. I wonder whats on the notes. This is the first time I actually called tmobile and I have never changed my plan before. I have been with tmobile for 6 months now. I guess I will try emailing them.
Thanks mate I really appreciate your help.
t-mobile makes no sense when it comes to data plans i dont even see my 200mb 4g web on the service list on their site anymore i called them before wanting the 200 mb cap unlimited data but they said they cant do that cuz its not available for my phone yet my sister got a new phone that has that for the same price im paying for mine
The Store
I have also had trouble with changing my plan details with the customer service on the phone. Have you tried going to the T store. I had much better luck there, and mention how nasty they were to you on the phone. That usually makes them want to try harder to help you our. It works for me everytime. Good luck, and keep moving forward.
Ramothgold
always ask for a supervisor. the reps can do what ever they want to your line. but wont cuz they here it from thoushands of people every day. . wife worked for at&t and she could give a person 250 dollar credit every month but she wouldnt do it for principle. so if the rep wont help speak to a supervisor. if that one wont help you ask to speak to the next one up. makes things way faster and easier.
Change it online, you don't have to talk to anyone!

Nomophobia?

Nomophobia, as in "No mobile phone phobia!" I found this article interesting because, 1. Its definately me. 2. The one chick checks her phone 50 times a day? Please, Im triple that easy!!!!90% of the time im awake, Im on my phone! News, Facebook, bank, XDA, text, 401K, ZumoCast to my home computer, Playstation Network! I can go on forever!
http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2...our-cellphone-nomophobia-on-the-rise#comments
yep, i got it. and it drags me away from my PC more and more every day as they become more powerful. i mean really, there is not much technology out there that is more handy then a smartphone. i cant read the news for hours on less then 2000mAh on my laptop, but i can on my phone!
and 50 times... i get more then 100 text messages a day, plus 30-50 emails, then phones calls and internet surfing... yeah i def beat her mark of 50. i use my phone as my clock, it would be interesting to see how many times i do turn my screen on. im guessing id be well over 400.
@lroy, I'm probally in the 400+ range also. And speaking of computer, I was just telling guest Sunday, I could not tell you the last time I physically sat at my desk at home or moved that laptop off the coffee table. (She asked could she have it!). The only reason my desktop is powered on is I use ZumoCast when I'm out to access it! Hell, I even program my cable box when I want to see something and I know I will not make it home!
I wanted to bring this back to the front. Last week a friend mentioned she could not take pictures, I replaced 2Gb Card with 16Gb Card for $19.99. Same friend came over and told me she could not send text, told her to delete all of them, fixed! She just now called and asked if her daughter can come over Saturday and I replace her card like I did hers..........This got me to thinking, over the last month or so, I have helped 8+ people with something or another. If your not going to use the features of the smartphone, why spend $600.00? You can still look cool and spend alot less money? And Im not talking about rooting or unlocking, I'm talking about simple, everyday life things to make life simple in which the device was made for?
1. Most of these people did not even know Bank of America had an app to check your bank account? (Members1st Credit Union either?)
2. None knew that you can program your Comcast DVR from your phone?
3. All thought you had to pay $29.99 for hotspot?
4. None knew about Google Music?
5. I tell people about Douphin Browser and they look at me like Im crazy?
6. No one, including my boss who is IT manger knew about Nexflix on smartphone?
Maybe it's me being anal, but you would not get at $2000.00 TV and not know how to use it right? and look at all the phones coming to market now, bigger, faster, larger, etc............. Again, just me!
dsims7_2000 said:
Maybe it's me being anal, but you would not get at $2000.00 TV and not know how to use it right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's US carrier subsidies for you!
Carrier subsidies have f^@k*! up the entire system; $600-$700 devices being sold for $200 or less. People don't value smartphones at all.
Think of it, in reality smartphones cost more than most laptops, televisions and audio equipment etc.
Do people upgrade their TVs every year or two? Heck no! But carrier subsidies allow us to buy brand new phones for $200 every 2 years. And in case of Android phones, wait for 6-to-10 months and some models can be had for $100 or even close to free. Who doesn't like that?
And in turn to make their money, these carriers make us sign contracts and buy expensive data plans even if we don't want to.
I don't know of any other country in the world where they make you buy a data plan if you want to run a smartphone on their network.
You simply buy a phone and buy a plan, that's how it should work.
Lots of people I know in other countries have bought their own phones and run it with a simple voice-only plan. If they need data they pay only for what they use. No $40 data plan forced upon them. I wish our major carriers would adopt this policy.
Heck, I will leave Sprint if something doesn't change soon.
I've been with them for 10 years now and paying $80/month for ****ty service.
I'm waiting to see how its LTE network turns out before resigning any contracts.
DH can $uck it with his unlimited plans!
Ok....rant over! Taking a deep breath now....!
OK, My OP was NOT about data plans and contracts (althought you have some truth), I know people that have had their phone for over 10 years, he** I lost a bet because co-worker has flip Sprint phone with SIM card. That said, it is/was about people buying $600.00+ phones to take pictures and text, PERIOD!!! you can get a free phone for that. If your not going to utilize your smartphone with all it can do, why get it?
As for Data Plans, I have been to..........23 countries in the last 5 years. I took AT&T Tilt, flashed it, VodoPhone SIM from Airport, I'm good. I really only used data twice a day for a few minutes if that. But yes, phone only for your used minutes and what data you uses is subtracted from your minutes, no biggie. But also remember, they don't get the $100.00 up front and 2-year contract, they pay full then pick a plan. (For the record, no matter what phone I had, its not working in South Korea with WCDMA!)
dsims7_2000 said:
OK, My OP was NOT about data plans and contracts (althought you have some truth), That said, it is/was about people buying $600.00+ phones to take pictures and text, PERIOD!!! you can get a free phone for that. If your not going to utilize your smartphone with all it can do, why get it?
As for Data Plans, I have been to..........23 countries in the last 5 years. I took AT&T Tilt, flashed it, VodoPhone SIM from Airport, I'm good. I really only used data twice a day for a few minutes if that. But yes, phone only for your used minutes and what data you uses is subtracted from your minutes, no biggie. But also remember, they don't get the $100.00 up front and 2-year contract, they pay full then pick a plan. (For the record, no matter what phone I had, its not working in South Korea with WCDMA!)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, sorry about that, didn't mean to hijack your thread.
I would gladly buy my phone at full price if they allowed me the freedom of choosing my plan. But they don't. So I end up paying $100-$200 for the phone and then $1800 over the next 24 months in service charges.
I check my phone for email several times a day (definitely less than 50) but I am an average user with regards to every day usage.
I am around Wi-Fi 95% of the time and so are most users, so I don't need or want their ($hitty & spotty) internet service.
My gripe is this: keep the unlimited plans for those who want it but allow those who don't want it to buy a cheaper plan.
The other thing that really p!$$#$ me off is the iPhone!
As everyone well knows, subsidies are the highest for the iPhones. And where do carriers recover their money, in the plans and contracts. I hate it that I pay money for services that I can never fully utilize so that others can have their iPhones. If iPhones were sold at retail without subsidies, we wouldn't have all the iDiots!
Coming back to your original topic: I'm definitely addicted. I need my phone and check it regularly for email, messages, clock, workouts etc.
I'm hooked and can't live without it now.

consumer cellular

I got a mailer today about consumer cellular. This looks like another alternative for a carrier. I ordered 2 sim cards today and will let you know.
The sims are free, and you can use unlocked gsm phones or previously used phones on att( not unlocked?), with no activation fees- (at least not yet). They charge $35 activation on the phones they sell.
This leads me to believe it uses ATT towers. There was no $$ required to order sims. This carrier is marketed to the senior members of the USA touting AARP discounts- but they are 3rd party discounters, not AARP. It's only 5%. You do have taxes added on just like any other carrier.
Here is what grabbed my interest. Minutes are from PAYG- 25 cents/min, or up to 2400 minutes for $60, or anywhere in between. I'll go for 300 minutes for $20. These minute buckets can be shared by a family plan for an extra $10/phone.
Here is the grabber. You can also get data, the max is 500mb for $30- this includes 5000 text and mms to be shared. They also have 100 text/mms and 10 mb data for $2.50, and others in between. This can also be shared by the family for no extra charges. For non heavy users, this is great. I have not used more than 300 mb, and that was a lot for me. I'm going to set this up with my daughter, who needs ATT service at school and lots of texts. She tried an lg thrive on our ATT plan for less than a day, and they zapped a $30 data plan on- I was really mad. We are both out of contract, so we can leave ATT and try this.
I checked the data service map, and it says 4glte, 3g, and 2g, so maybe we can get lte on this carrier?
This may work well for us. For $55, plus extra taxes that I'm not quite sure of, we can have minutes and a good hunk of data with 5000 text/mms.
Did I mention no contract??? And you can change your plans as many times as you want to get the lowest plan for your needs for the month. Or increase if the need increases to avoid overage charges. And CC will send you notices of your use. I'll let you know how it goes, at least for 1 month.
I am in no way asso with consumer cellular, I don't know anyone who uses them, and would like some feedback from someone who does! But this looks like a good way to cut our ATT bill and get another smartphone on board.
Update- If you are using your own phones, there is no activation charges. The sims are free, and you have 30 days or 30 minutes to try out the service. If you are a member of AARP, it goes 45 days or 45 minutes for evaluation. You can cancel with no charges if it doesn't work out. I have 2 sims on their way. I spoke to a CR, I can port our numbers if it works for us.
If messaging was not bundled with the data connect, it wouldn't pay for us to switch. That's a bonus that ATT makes you pay more for. (my daughter's texts are in the 1000's). ATT costs- Family messaging $30- data for 2 smartphones- $30+$30=$60- plus your minute talk plan on top. Varies with your plan.We'll just call ours $10+$10=$20.(family add ons).
If this is how CC says, a better option $ wise. I will let you guys know. NJ taxes are about 14%.
Here's a link to ranking of hidden state and federal taxes tacked onto your wireless bill
http://www.taxfoundation.org/research/show/27059.html
I think the important part is you're excited and have your needs, coverage and usage calculated.
I used CS more than 10 years ago with very satisfactory results. Tmo came up with a family plan and phones I wanted so I switched and have stayed every since.
So while I can't address the plans or coverage, I can at least to CS reliability.
here's the deal
First- all the CSR are native english speakers. No problem in communicating.
2nd. I got my sims. The clock on the 30 day eval starts when you place your order. I got 2 different answers to this question- so play it safe if you just want to get the free 30 days to see if it works. If you are a single and don't need alot of data, the rates are good- not any better if you take the 500mb plan over t-mo or straight talk. If you have 2 or more, than this will be economical, only because txt, mms, and data are in a shared bucket. This will run less than 2 separate plans on straight talk, about the same with 2 $30 tmo plans.
Voice works right away. I played with my iphone 3gs OS 5.0.1 and got data and mms working without any help from CSR. unlockit.co.nz via safari apn changer. I am waiting on an email from apple to unlock it. New this month.
UPDATE- Got my email from att/apple. All I had to do is a shift/restore to keep my jailbreak on 5.0.1 via my sn0wbreeze restore file. It restores, reloads, and when it reboots, I got a congratulations- your iphone is unlocked! Still on 5.0.1 with cydia and jailbreak.
I know- this is not android- but a great way to reuse/sell/pass down an unlocked jailbroken phone.
On my daughters thrive, I couldn't get data or mms working, go thru their set up, you put in the imei of your phone that is non-consumer cellular and the set up will say problem with data- please call. On her thrive- which was bought as a PAYG att phone, no problem- he flipped a switch, had me turn her phone on, and it was up and running. Any android OS less than ICS, there is an app called Tweakker in the market- it will reset your apn for mms to work. If you get the message from this program your settings were not changed, there is a problem, you have to call and get your data turned on.
Here's is the potential problem. On my Note, I called with the same expectations of them flipping the switch and turning on data. NOT SO. She said non consumer cellular phones were not supported. I said that I just got it working on the thrive. She said they sell the thrive, but I told her this was an att thrive, not CC. I was told the Note is not supported and I will not be able to use it with their carrier. WHAT???? So I asked about terminating the billing- even tho it's no contract, you will get billed every month after your service is completed. That's where your 30 day free eval comes in and you shouldn't have to pay that 1st bill if you cancel your service with them before those 30 days. The CSR was quite indignant when I asked about this. She said,"You'll cancel just because 1 phone won't work with data?" I told her I got this service specifically for this phone and if it doesn't work, then I can't use it. She was quite exasperated and said fine. I told her I will not cancel now, I just wanted to know the specifics of how to avoid paying that first bill and thanked her and hung up.
Took my sim out of my Note- and put it into a thrive from ATT- and changed my imei # in the account status. I called again, and had them get data working on the sim with the thrive. This CSR asked me if I knew about changing the settings to get mms working. (well, she had a clue!) I said yes I did and thank you very much. My thrive's 3g kicked in, and I said thanks again. This trick should work with any unlocked gsm or locked att phone that is not on their restricted list. Any Messaging phone should work- we know the Iphone and the Note won't work for this work around. I wonder how many more ATT added to their restricted list- since CC runs on their towers.
Took out the sim from the thrive, put it in my Note, and WHAT DO YOU KNOW?
I have 4G data flowing on my note!!!!
One of the CSR that got the first thrive going with data was perplexed -said the iphone should not work on their system. I told him I knew how to change the settings and got it to work. I had data, mms, and voice working.
So, If you know how to work the system, you can get the Note working with Consumer cellular. This might be a good work around till a reliable t-mo radio is released after the Note moves to tmobile. Only thing is you are limited to 500 mb of data. They don't sell more than that and will hit you with huge overage charges if you do go over so I wouldn't recommend streaming video and radio all the time. I never went over 300 mb with ATT with my data on all the time for email and occaisional web browsing, and an occ. tether session.
I hope I have answered some of the questions you might have had about this carrier Consumer Cellular. Again, the only reason I checked them out was ATT tacked on a $30 data plan when my daughter tried out the thrive for 1 day. I was not too happy. Between just the 2 of us, this $30+$30 for data alone covers the cost of the highest bill we would get from CC cause the data, text, and minutes are shared. That's for 300 min., 5000 text/mms, and 500 mb data.
Works out to about $57. with the 14% extras here in NJ. Still better than with ATT when you start adding smartphone data. It may be better this summer when ATT adds family shared data buckets. There is no price structure out on that yet.
sashusmom said:
I got a mailer today about consumer cellular. This looks like another alternative for a carrier. I ordered 2 sim cards today and will let you know.
The sims are free, and you can use unlocked gsm phones or previously used phones on att( not unlocked?), with no activation fees- (at least not yet). They charge $35 activation on the phones they sell.
This leads me to believe it uses ATT towers. There was no $$ required to order sims. This carrier is marketed to the senior members of the USA touting AARP discounts- but they are 3rd party discounters, not AARP. It's only 5%. You do have taxes added on just like any other carrier.
Here is what grabbed my interest. Minutes are from PAYG- 25 cents/min, or up to 2400 minutes for $60, or anywhere in between. I'll go for 300 minutes for $20. These minute buckets can be shared by a family plan for an extra $10/phone.
Here is the grabber. You can also get data, the max is 500mb for $30- this includes 5000 text and mms to be shared. They also have 100 text/mms and 10 mb data for $2.50, and others in between. This can also be shared by the family for no extra charges. For non heavy users, this is great. I have not used more than 300 mb, and that was a lot for me. I'm going to set this up with my daughter, who needs ATT service at school and lots of texts. She tried an lg thrive on our ATT plan for less than a day, and they zapped a $30 data plan on- I was really mad. We are both out of contract, so we can leave ATT and try this.
I checked the data service map, and it says 4glte, 3g, and 2g, so maybe we can get lte on this carrier?
This may work well for us. For $55, plus extra taxes that I'm not quite sure of, we can have minutes and a good hunk of data with 5000 text/mms.
Did I mention no contract??? And you can change your plans as many times as you want to get the lowest plan for your needs for the month. Or increase if the need increases to avoid overage charges. And CC will send you notices of your use. I'll let you know how it goes, at least for 1 month.
I am in no way asso with consumer cellular, I don't know anyone who uses them, and would like some feedback from someone who does! But this looks like a good way to cut our ATT bill and get another smartphone on board.
Update- If you are using your own phones, there is no activation charges. The sims are free, and you have 30 days or 30 minutes to try out the service. If you are a member of AARP, it goes 45 days or 45 minutes for evaluation. You can cancel with no charges if it doesn't work out. I have 2 sims on their way. I spoke to a CR, I can port our numbers if it works for us.
If messaging was not bundled with the data connect, it wouldn't pay for us to switch. That's a bonus that ATT makes you pay more for. (my daughter's texts are in the 1000's). ATT costs- Family messaging $30- data for 2 smartphones- $30+$30=$60- plus your minute talk plan on top. Varies with your plan.We'll just call ours $10+$10=$20.(family add ons).
If this is how CC says, a better option $ wise. I will let you guys know. NJ taxes are about 14%.
Here's a link to ranking of hidden state and federal taxes tacked onto your wireless bill
http://www.taxfoundation.org/research/show/27059.html
First- all the CSR are native english speakers. No problem in communicating.
2nd. I got my sims. The clock on the 30 day eval starts when you place your order. I got 2 different answers to this question- so play it safe if you just want to get the free 30 days to see if it works. If you are a single and don't need alot of data, the rates are good- not any better if you take the 500mb plan over t-mo or straight talk. If you have 2 or more, than this will be economical, only because txt, mms, and data are in a shared bucket. This will run less than 2 separate plans on straight talk, about the same with 2 $30 tmo plans.
Voice works right away. I played with my iphone 3gs OS 5.0.1 and got data and mms working without any help from CSR. unlockit.co.nz via safari apn changer. I am waiting on an email from apple to unlock it. New this month.
UPDATE- Got my email from att/apple. All I had to do is a shift/restore to keep my jailbreak on 5.0.1 via my sn0wbreeze restore file. It restores, reloads, and when it reboots, I got a congratulations- your iphone is unlocked! Still on 5.0.1 with cydia and jailbreak.
I know- this is not android- but a great way to reuse/sell/pass down an unlocked jailbroken phone.
On my daughters thrive, I couldn't get data or mms working, go thru their set up, you put in the imei of your phone that is non-consumer cellular and the set up will say problem with data- please call. On her thrive- which was bought as a PAYG att phone, no problem- he flipped a switch, had me turn her phone on, and it was up and running. Any android OS less than ICS, there is an app called Tweakker in the market- it will reset your apn for mms to work. If you get the message from this program your settings were not changed, there is a problem, you have to call and get your data turned on.
Here's is the potential problem. On my Note, I called with the same expectations of them flipping the switch and turning on data. NOT SO. She said non consumer cellular phones were not supported. I said that I just got it working on the thrive. She said they sell the thrive, but I told her this was an att thrive, not CC. I was told the Note is not supported and I will not be able to use it with their carrier. WHAT???? So I asked about terminating the billing- even tho it's no contract, you will get billed every month after your service is completed. That's where your 30 day free eval comes in and you shouldn't have to pay that 1st bill if you cancel your service with them before those 30 days. The CSR was quite indignant when I asked about this. She said,"You'll cancel just because 1 phone won't work with data?" I told her I got this service specifically for this phone and if it doesn't work, then I can't use it. She was quite exasperated and said fine. I told her I will not cancel now, I just wanted to know the specifics of how to avoid paying that first bill and thanked her and hung up.
Took my sim out of my Note- and put it into a thrive from ATT- and changed my imei # in the account status. I called again, and had them get data working on the sim with the thrive. This CSR asked me if I knew about changing the settings to get mms working. (well, she had a clue!) I said yes I did and thank you very much. My thrive's 3g kicked in, and I said thanks again. This trick should work with any unlocked gsm or locked att phone that is not on their restricted list. Any Messaging phone should work- we know the Iphone and the Note won't work for this work around. I wonder how many more ATT added to their restricted list- since CC runs on their towers.
Took out the sim from the thrive, put it in my Note, and WHAT DO YOU KNOW?
I have 4G data flowing on my note!!!!
One of the CSR that got the first thrive going with data was perplexed -said the iphone should not work on their system. I told him I knew how to change the settings and got it to work. I had data, mms, and voice working.
So, If you know how to work the system, you can get the Note working with Consumer cellular. This might be a good work around till a reliable t-mo radio is released after the Note moves to tmobile. Only thing is you are limited to 500 mb of data. They don't sell more than that and will hit you with huge overage charges if you do go over so I wouldn't recommend streaming video and radio all the time. I never went over 300 mb with ATT with my data on all the time for email and occaisional web browsing, and an occ. tether session.
I hope I have answered some of the questions you might have had about this carrier Consumer Cellular. Again, the only reason I checked them out was ATT tacked on a $30 data plan when my daughter tried out the thrive for 1 day. I was not too happy. Between just the 2 of us, this $30+$30 for data alone covers the cost of the highest bill we would get from CC cause the data, text, and minutes are shared. That's for 300 min., 5000 text/mms, and 500 mb data.
Works out to about $57. with the 14% extras here in NJ. Still better than with ATT when you start adding smartphone data. It may be better this summer when ATT adds family shared data buckets. There is no price structure out on that yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HOLY DISSERTATION!...
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using XDA
tyler79durdan said:
HOLY DISSERTATION!...
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL.....I try to be thorough if I put it out here. And only 1 response, so I kept adding on!!!!!! Only way I can give back Batman! Thanks for reading the WHOLE thing. HaHa
This experiment works OK. I have a small problem with speed tests. Out of 4 tests, every DL speed was .01 mbps with decent uploads of 1-2.19
Tim suggested I try a different radio, but not sure which one, or how to get back to this one- I have the original att stock radio file from GB, but not the ICS one.

No Note i717 Rom which caters to tablet carrier Plan: DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITY

Ok let me start off by saying I have done extensive digging and still have not found any script or development out there pertaining to using this phone or any other as a tablet account from your provider. In my case for example I am using a tablet sim account with Telus Canada (2 month with no overage charges and 5 dollars a month !!!!!!! Promotion ends early Dec. When you sign up you get 2 months.) The sales reps at the locations for Telus are instructed to gear you into a regular telephone plan which are practically 10-20 times that without unlimited!!! You may be asking well what about SMS / Phone functionality. But I am sure most of you know that we can use SIP with decent codecs with our phone. Here in Canada I found a provider who provides unlimited SMS with the DID, SIP account.
Voila 5 dollar plan. Full LTE speeds in metro locations ( here in Burnaby BC I am getting up to 45 Mbps D and 15 Mbps U !!! Serious speeds with no data cap. !!! Having just moved here we haven't even needed more than the portable hotspot for the entire last month. !!! Crazy Huh:cyclops:... :laugh: Well at least it was for me having just finished moving across Canada from Ontario in a 16 foot moving van toeing my car full of stuff behind that. Using the plan with great coverage and speeds everywhere except Banff Alberta in the mountains...
------------- ------------- -------- BUT ------------ -------------- ------------
there is one HUGE catch to this, if you use the default APN settings for Telus (sp.telus.com):crying::crying: DANGER DANGER instead of (isp.telus.com) that one character being the only difference and you are considered a mobile PHONE not TABLET, you will be charged 1 dollar a megabyte, a dollar for a text and like 50 cents a minute phone calls!!!! This is especially bothersome when you flash a new rom as the phone resets the entire apn config to whatever the dev. put there most of the time isp.telus.com has been there (blackstar rom, paranoid android, and other builds of JB and ICS) BUT sp.telus.com is selected and the isp on toggled off. When you install most roms you want your sim in for first boot and it's a real pain ripping it out each time as well doesn't matter anyways because if you have your apps in the phone it could cost you 28 dollars if it auto updated google chrome for example !! Also you want to be able to log in on first boot. Many times I have found a back door by opening the status bar and hitting one of the options to get me into settings and backing out to the full settings menu during setup. This is also a pain because of the high chance of crashing parts of the setup background services etc. AFTER ALL many developers are starting to recommend a sitting period of 10-15 min. ... "Ya but I wish I didn't have to sweat each time" ... I know very little is being transmitted but I don't even want to touch that other config... I also wish I couldn't even see my "phone number" or receive a call on it... All through sms compatible sip. Everything else is dead to me (joke). But honestly with LTE speeds like that a good voip provider makes it next to PSTN quality, perhaps even better with some codecs.
On 1 occasion i forgot while we were traveling the open road of the prairies, this resulted in over 200 dollars there goes any deal I had.
However the telus reps were happy to honer the plan and didn't seem to understand at the customer service counter how it got there, being that I have a shield right now (unlimited for a couple months,) well lets just say im back to 5 dollars for a great plan.
In the future however how can I guarantee I don't do this again!?! almost to risky when the shields go down... but honestly would be worth a shot if someone could right a CLEAN script which toggles apn settings in TWRP or CWM recovery. (I would prefer TWRP (seems way faster))...
However one thing that always stands out in mind is someone with the skills (im definitly not included wouldn't even know where to start!!) could design a simple rom with apn settings better VOIP integration (removing complete access to the mobile radio for anything of than data) ie, phone and sms are totally offline. Just mobile data or Wifi or airplane mode nothing else. This way the tablet plan which will happily stay under 50 dollars a month for serious LTE speeds in Canada and I would be a very happy camper.
Cheers to anyone who can figure it out and I would be happy to help out for some kind of legit exchange...
Thank you for your time.

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