 Review by SSidlov 
UPDATED: 1.2 years ago
member for 9.7 years, 1542 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Pompton Lakes,Passaic,NJ
 $125 per month (24 month contract)
 about 1 days
 "3G is interesting if you can get it, moderate to pricy plans"
 "Crippleware phones with logo,"
 "good coverage in metro corridors, weak in very rural/mountainous areas"
| Pre Sales Information:
Install process:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
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With the repurchase of Cingular by ATT, I have returned again to ATT which was my first wireless cellular carrier. The pricing above is for 3 phones in a $59 550/mo minute plan with rollover, I have 3800 minutes rolling over. The $39 350min/mo plan is not available to me for some reason.
I have had the same service since the late 90's. The same phone numbers, etc. I still have my first cell phone a GE Pocketfone which is walkie talkie sized and weights in at 12.5oz. My first Internet capable phone was a Mitsubishi T series whose screen could be used as flashlight (really) and then several Siemens S series phones. Since the Mitsubishi all have been modem/tether capable. Once I got burned with a $100 extra charge (back when $100 was worth several tanks of gas) for downloading too much when tethered. (I needed a file for work, and went directly to it, without browsing, free wifi and dialup were not available to me at the time.)
I have a new Sony Ericsson Z750a which has HSDPA support (aka 3G for ATT) and I actually live near a 3G enabled tower in the suburbs of NYC. The phone has both HSDPA 850/1900/2100 and UMTS 850/1900/2100 MHz. 3G is a battery life drainer, but ATT blocked the Z750a's ability to be 2G. Unbranding the this particular phone may be a plus. (Unbranding did unlock the type of network connection settings.)
After installing Opera Mini 4.5, I went to our mobile speed test here, and tried to use it up to 1mb downloads. The first time I did this I got failure messages. A couple days later, I got results typical of 1.3mbps (970kB) and a Opera AJAX test got over 5000 kB which is also ''too fast' as the network is supposed to be only capable of up to 5mb, and it's questionable if the phone itself has more than 1.3mbps capability but elsehwere people have reported speeds up to 5.6 mbps. The increased speed I found out is due to caching by Opera's servers.
After unbranding the phone, and some updates to the mobile speed test here, I can run the iPhone test. Here's what I got at 10am on a Tuesday:
Latency: 3012, 884, 888, 844, 840, 828, 876, 836, 840 and a speed of 2618kbps
When I downloaded themes from SE's web site, they ranged from 110k to 250k and took only a 'second' or so when they actually started. SE's website is flaky and slow to respond even on a 'real computer" IME. Opera's download took two seconds. Google Maps is a PITA to run on this phone, for some reason, there is no 'allow for session' Internet access connection, and you get constantly interrupted with the 'do you want to allow this application to connect to the Internet' question.
The phone could be tethered to my laptop via bluetooth, but I have not tried to use it this way at this time as it would be limited to the speed of bluetooth. A USB cable is on its way, and I will test tethering with that when it comes.
Current Personal Data Plans from ATT are $15/mo for unlimited data/media net/TV. Enterprise Unlimited Data Plan is $45. Tethering is allowed with the Enterprise version according to reports. I suppose that you could occasionally tether with the personal plan but it's not available with some phone models particularly the so-called 'smartphones.' ATT lists this phone as being tetherable and has instructions on how to do it. Using the HSPDA function while tethered may not be allowed, but the phone created something called "Wireless UMTS and Wireless High Speed" modem profiles.
The z750a also does ATT's new video services. You can have HBO for an additional $6/mo. They offer FOX, CNN, NBC, CBS and NBC/MSNBC offerings along with Disney, CN, and others.
I just watched a Today Show segment, and there was no stuttering and the sound/picture were fairly good. Landscape mode showed some artifacts in the lowest 1/8th of the screen, but it filled the screen vs portrait mode viewing. My phone says it downloaded 1444977 B for the session in which I watched the 2min video. That should be Bytes (since the phone shows a capital b), and I calc that at 11mb or 1.3mB. After the iPhone was released, the service was shot to hell as there were many more phones on 3G than before, TV service was not the same as the streaming broke up. Now that the iPhone people have stopped playing with the service, the TV is again stable.
I downloaded 53mb on the phone during my first few weeks. I have the $15/mo unlimited data plan, thats 10x what I normally used. Also, with the unbranded version I have a RSS powered desktop, when the I open the phone, the RSS feeds (NYT, Google, BBC etc) come up on a Ticker that I can read and select articles from. It updates hourly on it's own.
ATT is offering a personal Mega MediaNet service plan for $30/mo. Unlimited SMS, MMS, IM, DATA/TV etc. It's the price of unlimited MediaNet ($15) and Unlimited Messaging ($15) for a single phone, Unlimited Family plan messaging is $30/mo -thats one price for all phones in family plan which is good if you have two or more phone users with heavy messaging which can cost $10-15 for 1500 messages to Unlimited. 200 SMS are $5/mo. After much debate, I left my 16yr old's phone with her old MediaNet bundle of 500 sms and 50 MMS with 5MB of data for $10.
The Z750a is a interesting phone. A clamshell, it has the full 3G capability, TV streaming, XM Radio (additional subscription), FM- RDS enabled radio, plays MP3 and AFC music, and has a 2megapixel camera (no flash, no self portrait mirror). Using the SE's software, rather than Windows Mobile, can be a bit a a challenge since it always seems that the option you want is hidden, but you will get used to it quickly. SE supplies on their website, software to sync to Outlook (or Notes). The phone supports 1,000 contacts, with both business/home addresses, and multiple phone numbers for each. (Using Bluetooth, you can voice command enable each different phone number stored, so Jim at the office, Jim at home, Jim's Mobile, Jim's wife's mobile, etc. )
An organizer, task manager, notes, and your bookmarks can be sync'd back to Outlook and IE. They also supply ripping software for the music, installing podcasts (audio and video) and I read audio-books too. The phone doesn't come with a USB cable though it will show as a USB storage device. The cable can be purchased online for as little as $3 before shipping. The USB cable is the only way to get updated firmware/os as ATT disabled the 'no cable' wireless function to do this which is in SE's manual and website. Even after debranding, SE updated my firmware with some fixes that make the phone a bit easier to use.
GPS is a hot topic in the phone. ATT says no, but SE says that using Google Maps Location function should tell you were you are, I'm right next to a tower, but the function doesn't work. Unbranded versions of the phone allow GPS location by using A-GPS. Iit's just not enabled with the standard ATT version software. SE's manual says that there is a "Locations/Enable GPS" option in the General settings tab - it doesn't show in ATT's version. The phone is listed as NOT COMPATIBLE with SE's GPS external add-on.
A 2G M2 Micro card can be installed. Some websites suggest that it will take up to 8G card, YMMV, it's not listed as capable of more than 2G on SE's charts but many phones listed as 2G (w580i as an example) will take 4G. Additionally, the phone's manual lists Podcasts as viewable, and RSS feeds as standard, though these seem either hidden or disabled to me at this time due to branding from ATT. The phone also has settings for sharing on networks (not WiFI, but via Bluetooth). There is a place to signon with a Userid/Password/Domain name as well.
ATT has fairly good coverage, I've driven from NY/NJ to Nashville TN and always had service along the highways and elsewhere. Even where my in-laws live in NW Md./SE Pa. and they are big Verizon customers, I have service and they don't for the most part. Though I can go a bit 10miles northwest of where I live and lose signals in NJ due to limitations on cell towers in various towns and leasing by wireless competitors.
Unbranding: This is NOT unlocking, it is removing the ATT custom firmware and applications for the mfgr's firmware and application set. I debranded the phone, and the GPS is fully enabled, but I can't use TV apps or other ATT media store apps or purchases. Please see »[AT&T] de-Branded SE z750a - with photos for more information on what changed. I do get the full GPS service (though the phone can be slow to find the sats) and I have installed AmAze GPS software so I can actually get turn by turn directions on the phone. Just like other portable GPS hardware/software it's not meant to be used by the driver. GPS can be accurate to 10m but often it's about 50-100m depending on the number of satellites used.
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