I currently have t-mobile's family plan (~$70/month, two phones sharing 800 mins, one of which is my xda, no data on this plan). I called t-mobile to see about adding data, and the person I spoke to said I can add 1Mb/month for $2.99 or unlimited at $9.99/month.
How much, on average, would a person use checking e-mail, syncing avantgo, some surfing (checking directions, stuff like that)? 9.99 doesn't sound like much, but when you're already paying >$70 for service, it adds up. I currenlty connect via CDA (?), which is slow, but works.
I am on the TMo Family Plan with 800 minutes and four phones, one of which is my xda, so our situations are very similar.
The plans quoted to you are for T-Zones, which is WAP only. (Yes, some of you will say it works anyway, but TMo started closing the loophole this week.) I am on the Unlimited Internet Plan for $19.99. Prior to it being unlimited, I used the GPRS very little to stay under the 10MB limit, but that was difficult to do. Now that it is unlimited, I use between 85MB and 100MB per month checking e-mails every fifteen minutes and doing some light internet browsing.
I hope that helps.
David
First off, the $10/mo plan is for phones only, not PDA use. It will not work. Tried it, no go. It is limited to WAP.
How much will you use? 1MB is easy to kill if you browse normal sites, but can go a long way with light mail use and browsing only PDA sites. Hard to say what you'd use. I end up using about 8MB most months, even using it with my laptop a bit.
You can always upgrade if you see yourself going over. You'll need the $20 plan for the XDA however.
WAIT, do you guys mean to tell me that I am paying $10 a month for T-Zones for nothing? Can someone please explain!! What is the difference between T-zones and WAP?
I have a siemens sx56. I use GPRS all the time. I thought that it would be free for me since I have the T-zones for 9.99!!
I was just wondering if anyone knew how much data last.fm uses? because there doesnt seem to be a data counter build into android.
I was worried about going over oranges 500mb data allowance when using last.fm.
Suggestions are much appreciated folks!!
Install Net Counter (free) from Market. You can configure individual counters for daily/weekly/monthly totals, and set alerts to warn when you hit a certain usage.
awesome, thanks!
Only 500mb data plan...wow that is not much at all. I complain about the 5gb cap i have..but i'll complain no more.
The 500mb is only a 'guideline'.
To date, Orange hasn't actually billed a single customer for going over the limit.. Only 'warned'.
Doesn't mean there won't be a first - but should mean not to worry about it!
AndiTails said:
The 500mb is only a 'guideline'.
To date, Orange hasn't actually billed a single customer for going over the limit.. Only 'warned'.
Doesn't mean there won't be a first - but should mean not to worry about it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm afraid that's changed, orange will charge you for going over 500mb one of the main reasons why I went over to T-mobile, who give you 3gb fair usauge policy and don't charge for going over.
I moved from Orange to T-Mobile for this very reason. Orange were adamant that the 500Mb limit would be more than enough.
They would simply not accept that an Android phone way go over the monthly allowance quite easily since it is always connected.
Orange and the HTC Hero
justbabu said:
I moved from Orange to T-Mobile for this very reason. Orange were adamant that the 500Mb limit would be more than enough.
They would simply not accept that an Android phone way go over the monthly allowance quite easily since it is always connected.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just found out that I have gone over the 500mb Dolphin data allowance with my HTC Hero, in 8 days. 55mb over to be exact.
Not impressed, I appreciate I have used the phone a lot, but it's a new phone, what am I meant to do going forward, it's a online data based phone? So now I have an 18 month contract that I am tied to. The allowance is not fit for the purpose.
No idea what I should do. Not impressed with Orange or Phones4u. But phones4u will only cancel a contract if the phone is faulty.
I was with Orange for about 2 days (I couldn't get a signal at my house) so had to terminate the contract. I'd grilled them about what happens when you go over 500MB and they said it's about £1 per MB or something ridiculous like that.
They claimed their heaviest users hardly went over 300MB but I doubted that...
I'm in the same boat, tied to a contract and with only 500mb monthly usage however most of the time I only use it via Wifi because the area I live in doesn't get HSDPA, so I very much doubt I'll go over the 500.
Typical MP3 stream:
128 kbit/s = 56 MiB/h
So enjoy your 9 hours of last.fm with your 500MiB allowance
I am happy user of SGSII for about 6 months. After I took this, 2 owners of company where I work also took 2 SGSII phones, but mostly they kids use it. Now they have been on winter vacation abroad, and they came back with bills of 2.000 Euros and 1.500 Euros. Now they are angry, saying that: a) they didn't make it; b) that carrier who installed software (???) made something wrong; c) android sucks d) they are not stupid to use roaming while abroad ... etc, etc. I am 99% sure that their kids used data transfer in order to play games, or something similar, but ... I am just wandering - is there any possibility that phone makes some kind of data transfer by himself ? Even my managing director now launches story that his phone (Samsung galaxy note) is turning on data transfer, altough he turned it of. Can someone who really knows something about this ?
Regards,
ZZ
You've said it perfectly yourself - you said 99% sure, I'll go 100%.
I'm no expert , but I've got 3 kids.
Kids+Phone+Abroad=Big bills. I speak from experience (I'd kill my eldest if it wasn't for tiresome rules....).
They did it. Your colleagues are fooling themselves. And not very convincingly either.
They must have left background data on, and some of the kids must have enabled data! Thats all they need. If they don't have a roaming data plan the cost for mb can be very high, depending on the country they travel to.
Sent from my GT-P7500 using Tapatalk
Hey, usually, data rates are as high as 15 to 20$ per MB. If the phone checks for updates by itself, or if they have corporate mail, it is possible that they get high bills, add to that the fact some operators charge on PDP context activation (even if you didnt access internet, but just using their radio resources attempting to...)
If kids had played, it would worsen the case as well. But i think that the phone owners can ask for the data CDRs from the carrier, they mostly can provide the URLs accessed as well as the charge
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.
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...
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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.