smart phone plan insanity.

**BouncingSoul** · March 30th, 2010

My friends and coworkers all have smart phones, I want a Droid so bad I can taste it. The plans are throwing me for a loop. I'm finding that these plans have separate sections for voice, data and text. Am I reading this stuff right? Are text messages really not considered part of a data plan? That doesn't seem right, they show up under the data section of my bill. My boss thinks this is relatively normal. He says its easy to get around, just have everyone send their texts to your email address and when you reply it goes to their phone number @ cellphone company.com or something. Thus eliminating the need for texting. Is that true? It seems like a loophole like this would be slammed shut by Verizon instantly. It also seems the cost of data is absurdly overpriced. I mean $30-45 a month just to surf the web "unlimited". That's almost as much as my crappy overpriced dsl. I see I could get a 20 meg package for $10/mo but I can only imagine how quickly I'd eat through that, having the Droid's GPS navigator open for a few minutes would probably suck all of that up.

**perris** · March 30th, 2010

ya, text and data are differant charges

in addition, sprint trys to get more charges in when you get a droid then when you get any other phone

this is the reason i stayed with windows mobile, I don't need to pay extra for services I don't need or are free with a differant phone

**BouncingSoul** · March 30th, 2010

I just got back from the Verizon store... Confirmed what Perris said. They can't explain why text is separate. I mentioned how it's all in one category on my bill. The kid working tried to reason it out but couldn't. Ultimately he just said it's the way things are. Which is dumb. I asked about sending texts to my email address, he didn't say it was impossible but suggested it violated some terms. I'll have to look more into that. Data plans are still stupid expensive, but they are the way of future so there is no complaining I guess.

I did notice that the Verizon store is absolutely raping their customers on the Droid as well. They want 249.99 after mail in rebate. I can get the "mail in" rebates as instant at Best Buy and still still pay less. It's between $99 and $130 depending on what sales are going on.

I think I'm going to hold tight on everything until my contract is fully up (I'm just in my early renewal period now) and then see if I can join my girlfriends plan on Sprint. Save some cash with a multi-line plan.

**ElementalDragon** · March 30th, 2010

Yea... Best Buy seems to be able to get freakin fantastic deals on phones sometimes.... not exactly sure how.

As for the whole data plan.... you'd actually probably find it much more convenient than you think. Take, for instance, if you're out on the town and want to find a nearby place to eat... or want to call in to your favorite pizza shop to get a pizza to go.... can quickly and easily look it up. Or if you want to find directions to somewhere... rather than using GPS. Not sure if it's only the iPhone or not (probably not)... but as far as i'm aware you can also use triangulation to find where you are, or at least your general area, and get directions that way. not quite as accurate, but works, and doesn't cost anything as far as i'm aware.

**perris** · March 31st, 2010

Originally Posted by ElementalDragon

Yea... Best Buy seems to be able to get freakin fantastic deals on phones sometimes.... not exactly sure how.

As for the whole data plan.... you'd actually probably find it much more convenient than you think. Take, for instance, if you're out on the town and want to find a nearby place to eat... or want to call in to your favorite pizza shop to get a pizza to go.... can quickly and easily look it up. Or if you want to find directions to somewhere... rather than using GPS. Not sure if it's only the iPhone or not (probably not)... but as far as i'm aware you can also use triangulation to find where you are, or at least your general area, and get directions that way. not quite as accurate, but works, and doesn't cost anything as far as i'm aware.

there is the problem though, i already have unlimited data, I already have a gps, I do not need to watch their teevee progrmas

I have to add gps, teevee, radio and something else to get a droid...for services I will never ever use

me not getting a droid, especially with windows 7 around the corner

**American Zombie** · March 31st, 2010

I find it interesting that we went from telegraph to telephone to basically back to telegraph now (text messages).

**ElementalDragon** · March 31st, 2010

Perris: if they're FORCING you to pay for their over-the-air TV crap and the GPS and everything..... i'd question their practices, and possibly submit something to the BBB. The only thing you should need for a smartphone is the data plan.... although some argue that even that isn't necessarily needed. If Verizon is saying you need to pay for those services, i'd tell them that they can take their services, stick them up their a**, and just give you the phone with the services you want for it. If they don't agree.... find another Verizon location that will do so for you, and then possibly rub it in the other salespeople's faces.

Zombie: yeah... kinda odd... but there is also the saying History repeats itself. So long as we don't start getting corded cell phones (not including the plethora of home-phone's-disguised-to-look-like-cell-phones that you can't avoid seeing at Best Buy and such)... i don't think there's much to worry about.

**Xie** · April 1st, 2010

Yeah, ever smartphone needs a data plan now because of the crazy rise in network bandwidth (AT&T knows this from the iPhone). Also text and data are separate because they are trying to make the most money possible and at first if you texted it cost them next to nothing but then you didn't use minutes (that was the original basis for a cell plan).

Also you could go agent to agent, but none of them are going to give you a smartphone w/out data, it's part of a smartphone now, on all networks. Also you should wait for the Nexus One it's suppose to make the Droid look sad.

**BouncingSoul** · April 1st, 2010

Think I'm gonna wait for the (rumored) Nexus Two. The One doesn't have a slideout keyboard and there are all those pictures of damaged screens due to them being carried in pockets. I always carry mine in my pocket!

**Tuffgong4** · April 6th, 2010

back from the dead I know

if you have good coverage with sprint they have the best and easiest plans. 99.99 unlimited everything. no extra charges for anything, get any smart phone you want and you are done.

Currently my wife and I share 1500 minutes with unlimited text and data for 129.99.

I have a rooted Sprint Hero and nothing competes with Android. I came from a heavily hacked Touch Pro and I felt like I finally got a smartphone when I got me hero. And my hero is pretty outdated hardware-wise. With the Nexus one, HTC EVO 4G and hopefully the desire coming to sprint I won't leave them.

I also have a pretty big discount through my employer so my plan is actually a lot less.

As for coverage I've never had a single place I don't get coverage.

**perris** · April 6th, 2010

Originally Posted by Tuffgong4

back from the dead I know

if you have good coverage with sprint they have the best and easiest plans. 99.99 unlimited everything. no extra charges for anything, get any smart phone you want and you are done.

Currently my wife and I share 1500 minutes with unlimited text and data for 129.99.

I have a rooted Sprint Hero and nothing competes with Android. I came from a heavily hacked Touch Pro and I felt like I finally got a smartphone when I got me hero. And my hero is pretty outdated hardware-wise. With the Nexus one, HTC EVO 4G and hopefully the desire coming to sprint I won't leave them.

I also have a pretty big discount through my employer so my plan is actually a lot less.

As for coverage I've never had a single place I don't get coverage.

I have always been a big advocate for sprint, I have a legasy contract for just 10 bucks I get unlimited data I have unlimited data, this means for 60 bucks total I get tethering my laptop at over 3 meg

they want me to updgrade to teevee and gps if I get an android, I don't need teevee or gps so no android for me

also, I don't want to get an android with mobile seven around the bend

**Xie** · April 7th, 2010

Originally Posted by BouncingSoul

Think I'm gonna wait for the (rumored) Nexus Two. The One doesn't have a slideout keyboard and there are all those pictures of damaged screens due to them being carried in pockets. I always carry mine in my pocket!

One of the selling points of the Nexus One IMHO is the lack of pull out keyboard. The physical keyboard is dead on phones, and hopefully stays that way for future generations.

**perris** · April 7th, 2010

Originally Posted by Xie

One of the selling points of the Nexus One IMHO is the lack of pull out keyboard. The physical keyboard is dead on phones, and hopefully stays that way for future generations.

to each their own I guess, for instance I don't think that's a selling point I think it's a compromise without the keyboard, I think it's the same thing as a laptop, I wouldn't buy one without a keyboard

most phones with hardware keyboards do both, it's up to the user rather then the manufacturer making decisions for you, with these devices the screen keyboard for people like you that perfer it . then for people like me, who don't want to waste viewing real estate, weslide out the hardware..much better, much more practical and a choice to each their own

my htc is not thcker then phones that don't have a keyboard, I can use the screen if I want and I like thekeyboard much better then the screen

I'm not buying a phone without a hardware keyboard, I like them much better then screen keyboards and they leave the screen for content

hardware keyboards are gonna be around for a long time

now, if a company wanted to use my invention, which is a slide out screen that doubles as a keyboard so you can double your screen or use it as a software keyboard, that I'd get

March 30th, 2010	Top \| #1
BouncingSoul Stranger Than Fiction Joined: January 2004 Location: Sioux Falls, SD Posts: 1,289 Reputation: 877 Power: 122	smart phone plan insanity. My friends and coworkers all have smart phones, I want a Droid so bad I can taste it. The plans are throwing me for a loop. I'm finding that these plans have separate sections for voice, data and text. Am I reading this stuff right? Are text messages really not considered part of a data plan? That doesn't seem right, they show up under the data section of my bill. My boss thinks this is relatively normal. He says its easy to get around, just have everyone send their texts to your email address and when you reply it goes to their phone number @ cellphone company.com or something. Thus eliminating the need for texting. Is that true? It seems like a loophole like this would be slammed shut by Verizon instantly. It also seems the cost of data is absurdly overpriced. I mean $30-45 a month just to surf the web "unlimited". That's almost as much as my crappy overpriced dsl. I see I could get a 20 meg package for $10/mo but I can only imagine how quickly I'd eat through that, having the Droid's GPS navigator open for a few minutes would probably suck all of that up.

March 30th, 2010	Top \| #2
perris OSNN Godlike Veteran Joined: January 2002 Location: new york Posts: 12,258 Reputation: 4333 Power: 291	Re: smart phone plan insanity. ya, text and data are differant charges in addition, sprint trys to get more charges in when you get a droid then when you get any other phone this is the reason i stayed with windows mobile, I don't need to pay extra for services I don't need or are free with a differant phone IT'S NOT WHAT YOU'VE DONE IT'S WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO DO

March 30th, 2010	Top \| #3
BouncingSoul Stranger Than Fiction Joined: January 2004 Location: Sioux Falls, SD Posts: 1,289 Reputation: 877 Power: 122	Re: smart phone plan insanity. I just got back from the Verizon store... Confirmed what Perris said. They can't explain why text is separate. I mentioned how it's all in one category on my bill. The kid working tried to reason it out but couldn't. Ultimately he just said it's the way things are. Which is dumb. I asked about sending texts to my email address, he didn't say it was impossible but suggested it violated some terms. I'll have to look more into that. Data plans are still stupid expensive, but they are the way of future so there is no complaining I guess. I did notice that the Verizon store is absolutely raping their customers on the Droid as well. They want 249.99 after mail in rebate. I can get the "mail in" rebates as instant at Best Buy and still still pay less. It's between $99 and $130 depending on what sales are going on. I think I'm going to hold tight on everything until my contract is fully up (I'm just in my early renewal period now) and then see if I can join my girlfriends plan on Sprint. Save some cash with a multi-line plan.

March 30th, 2010	Top \| #4
ElementalDragon The One and Only Joined: August 2002 Location: Lehighton, PA Posts: 3,160 Blog Entries: 3 Reputation: 1095 Power: 161	Re: smart phone plan insanity. Yea... Best Buy seems to be able to get freakin fantastic deals on phones sometimes.... not exactly sure how. As for the whole data plan.... you'd actually probably find it much more convenient than you think. Take, for instance, if you're out on the town and want to find a nearby place to eat... or want to call in to your favorite pizza shop to get a pizza to go.... can quickly and easily look it up. Or if you want to find directions to somewhere... rather than using GPS. Not sure if it's only the iPhone or not (probably not)... but as far as i'm aware you can also use triangulation to find where you are, or at least your general area, and get directions that way. not quite as accurate, but works, and doesn't cost anything as far as i'm aware. Core 2 Quad Q9450 \| 4GB DDR2 800 \| Abit IP-35 Pro \| eVGA GTX 295+ I Love Windows 7! Has my post been helpful to you? If so, please click the to the left to add to my reputation.

March 31st, 2010	Top \| #5
perris OSNN Godlike Veteran Joined: January 2002 Location: new york Posts: 12,258 Reputation: 4333 Power: 291	Re: smart phone plan insanity. Originally Posted by ElementalDragon Yea... Best Buy seems to be able to get freakin fantastic deals on phones sometimes.... not exactly sure how. As for the whole data plan.... you'd actually probably find it much more convenient than you think. Take, for instance, if you're out on the town and want to find a nearby place to eat... or want to call in to your favorite pizza shop to get a pizza to go.... can quickly and easily look it up. Or if you want to find directions to somewhere... rather than using GPS. Not sure if it's only the iPhone or not (probably not)... but as far as i'm aware you can also use triangulation to find where you are, or at least your general area, and get directions that way. not quite as accurate, but works, and doesn't cost anything as far as i'm aware. there is the problem though, i already have unlimited data, I already have a gps, I do not need to watch their teevee progrmas I have to add gps, teevee, radio and something else to get a droid...for services I will never ever use me not getting a droid, especially with windows 7 around the corner IT'S NOT WHAT YOU'VE DONE IT'S WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO DO

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March 31st, 2010	Top \| #6
American Zombie OSNN Veteran Addict Joined: June 2004 Location: Seattle Posts: 2,864 Reputation: 2689 Power: 151	Re: smart phone plan insanity. I find it interesting that we went from telegraph to telephone to basically back to telegraph now (text messages).

March 31st, 2010	Top \| #7
ElementalDragon The One and Only Joined: August 2002 Location: Lehighton, PA Posts: 3,160 Blog Entries: 3 Reputation: 1095 Power: 161	Re: smart phone plan insanity. Perris: if they're FORCING you to pay for their over-the-air TV crap and the GPS and everything..... i'd question their practices, and possibly submit something to the BBB. The only thing you should need for a smartphone is the data plan.... although some argue that even that isn't necessarily needed. If Verizon is saying you need to pay for those services, i'd tell them that they can take their services, stick them up their a, and just give you the phone with the services you want for it. If they don't agree.... find another Verizon location that will do so for you, and then possibly rub it in the other salespeople's faces. Zombie: yeah... kinda odd... but there is also the saying History repeats itself. So long as we don't start getting corded cell phones (not including the plethora of home-phone's-disguised-to-look-like-cell-phones that you can't avoid seeing at Best Buy and such)... i don't think there's much to worry about. Core 2 Quad Q9450 \| 4GB DDR2 800 \| Abit IP-35 Pro \| eVGA GTX 295+ I Love Windows 7! Has my post been helpful to you? If so, please click the to the left to add to my reputation.**

April 1st, 2010	Top \| #8
Xie - geek - Joined: September 2003 Location: NY, USA Posts: 5,224 Reputation: 1730 Power: 175	Re: smart phone plan insanity. Yeah, ever smartphone needs a data plan now because of the crazy rise in network bandwidth (AT&T knows this from the iPhone). Also text and data are separate because they are trying to make the most money possible and at first if you texted it cost them next to nothing but then you didn't use minutes (that was the original basis for a cell plan). Also you could go agent to agent, but none of them are going to give you a smartphone w/out data, it's part of a smartphone now, on all networks. Also you should wait for the Nexus One it's suppose to make the Droid look sad. tehgeek \| tehgeek \| geeking out to tech \| IRC \| Parted Magic \| A+ Certified Professional

April 1st, 2010	Top \| #9
BouncingSoul Stranger Than Fiction Joined: January 2004 Location: Sioux Falls, SD Posts: 1,289 Reputation: 877 Power: 122	Re: smart phone plan insanity. Think I'm gonna wait for the (rumored) Nexus Two. The One doesn't have a slideout keyboard and there are all those pictures of damaged screens due to them being carried in pockets. I always carry mine in my pocket!

April 6th, 2010	Top \| #10
Tuffgong4 The Donger Need Food!!!! Joined: June 2002 Location: Chicago Posts: 2,465 Reputation: 840 Power: 153	Re: smart phone plan insanity. back from the dead I know if you have good coverage with sprint they have the best and easiest plans. 99.99 unlimited everything. no extra charges for anything, get any smart phone you want and you are done. Currently my wife and I share 1500 minutes with unlimited text and data for 129.99. I have a rooted Sprint Hero and nothing competes with Android. I came from a heavily hacked Touch Pro and I felt like I finally got a smartphone when I got me hero. And my hero is pretty outdated hardware-wise. With the Nexus one, HTC EVO 4G and hopefully the desire coming to sprint I won't leave them. I also have a pretty big discount through my employer so my plan is actually a lot less. As for coverage I've never had a single place I don't get coverage. Home Intel E6600 \ Abit AB9 Pro \ 4 gig Corsair DDR2-667 \ EVGA 9800GT \ HDD 1 320GB sata + 1 1.5TB sata \ 1 1TB backup drive / Samsung S183L SATA DVD-RW \ Windows 7 Pro x64 Laptop Asus UL30VT\ Intel CULV SU7300 \ 4GB Ram \ Intel Integrated + Nvidia 200m \ 500GB HDD \ 13.3 inch LED \ Windows 7 Premium x64

April 6th, 2010	Top \| #11
perris OSNN Godlike Veteran Joined: January 2002 Location: new york Posts: 12,258 Reputation: 4333 Power: 291	Re: smart phone plan insanity. Originally Posted by Tuffgong4 back from the dead I know if you have good coverage with sprint they have the best and easiest plans. 99.99 unlimited everything. no extra charges for anything, get any smart phone you want and you are done. Currently my wife and I share 1500 minutes with unlimited text and data for 129.99. I have a rooted Sprint Hero and nothing competes with Android. I came from a heavily hacked Touch Pro and I felt like I finally got a smartphone when I got me hero. And my hero is pretty outdated hardware-wise. With the Nexus one, HTC EVO 4G and hopefully the desire coming to sprint I won't leave them. I also have a pretty big discount through my employer so my plan is actually a lot less. As for coverage I've never had a single place I don't get coverage. I have always been a big advocate for sprint, I have a legasy contract for just 10 bucks I get unlimited data I have unlimited data, this means for 60 bucks total I get tethering my laptop at over 3 meg they want me to updgrade to teevee and gps if I get an android, I don't need teevee or gps so no android for me also, I don't want to get an android with mobile seven around the bend IT'S NOT WHAT YOU'VE DONE IT'S WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO DO

April 7th, 2010	Top \| #12
Xie - geek - Joined: September 2003 Location: NY, USA Posts: 5,224 Reputation: 1730 Power: 175	Re: smart phone plan insanity. Originally Posted by BouncingSoul Think I'm gonna wait for the (rumored) Nexus Two. The One doesn't have a slideout keyboard and there are all those pictures of damaged screens due to them being carried in pockets. I always carry mine in my pocket! One of the selling points of the Nexus One IMHO is the lack of pull out keyboard. The physical keyboard is dead on phones, and hopefully stays that way for future generations. tehgeek \| tehgeek \| geeking out to tech \| IRC \| Parted Magic \| A+ Certified Professional

April 7th, 2010	Top \| #13
perris OSNN Godlike Veteran Joined: January 2002 Location: new york Posts: 12,258 Reputation: 4333 Power: 291	Re: smart phone plan insanity. Originally Posted by Xie One of the selling points of the Nexus One IMHO is the lack of pull out keyboard. The physical keyboard is dead on phones, and hopefully stays that way for future generations. to each their own I guess, for instance I don't think that's a selling point I think it's a compromise without the keyboard, I think it's the same thing as a laptop, I wouldn't buy one without a keyboard most phones with hardware keyboards do both, it's up to the user rather then the manufacturer making decisions for you, with these devices the screen keyboard for people like you that perfer it . then for people like me, who don't want to waste viewing real estate, weslide out the hardware..much better, much more practical and a choice to each their own my htc is not thcker then phones that don't have a keyboard, I can use the screen if I want and I like thekeyboard much better then the screen I'm not buying a phone without a hardware keyboard, I like them much better then screen keyboards and they leave the screen for content hardware keyboards are gonna be around for a long time now, if a company wanted to use my invention, which is a slide out screen that doubles as a keyboard so you can double your screen or use it as a software keyboard, that I'd get IT'S NOT WHAT YOU'VE DONE IT'S WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO DO

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