tomz17
join:2004-01-09
Newark, NJ | reply to fAcEtIOUs
Re: Verizon is killing what (little) value for money there is said by fAcEtIOUs:You can now buy an unsubsidized smartphone like the Nexus One; use WiFi for almost all data needs; and get a pay as you go plan from the cell company for voice. ... except that carriers have wised up to this.
Verizon will require a data plan for any smartphone (they know which ones are smart phones based on ESN). There is no "I will use only wifi, and pay for my 3g data a-la carte option"
Even AT&T now supposedly uses the IMEI to FORCE data plans onto customers!
Furthermore, there is no low-cost pay-as-you-go data plan in the US. The cheapest for GSM is AT&T's $5 for 1 megabyte, or $19.99 for 100 megabytes. Their prepaid voice rates are pretty ludicrous, though! The cheapest for CDMA is probably pageplus, with their 20 or 50 megs of included data. |
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| said by tomz17:except that carriers have wised up to this. Verizon will require a data plan for any smartphone (they know which ones are smart phones based on ESN). There is no "I will use only wifi, and pay for my 3g data a-la carte option" Even AT&T now supposedly uses the IMEI to FORCE data plans onto customers! This is the part the really pisses me off. Subsidized phones (where they give you a discount for signing a contract) requiring a data plan if its a smart phone, ok. It's just their way of guaranteeing a return on the discount. Still a bit of a scam, but I'm ok with it.
But if I bring a paid-in-full phone in for activation, they STILL force a data plan when I don't want/need one. That to me is a matter the FCC needs to take up.
Though as proven with the phantom data fee, the FCC is toothless.
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Intel Q6600 @3400Mhz/GA-EP35-DS3P/4x 2048Mb G.Skill/WD Raptor 300Gb/3x WD20EADS 2TB/2x PNY GTX 260/Silverstone 850W/Custom water cooler |
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said by tomz17:Furthermore, there is no low-cost pay-as-you-go data plan in the US. »www.boostmobile.com/ |
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 jonnyzPremium
join:2003-03-20
Canfield, OH
 ·Armstrong Zoom ..
| reply to Camelot One
You can still get around this with ATT in contract or on Pay As You Go (I have done both):
1. Bring an old $20 unlocked GSM non-smartphone to them, get a contract with non-smartphone data, and swap the SIM into your unlocked GSM smartphone of choice.
2. Buy a GoPhone plan with the crappiest phone possible and swap the SIM into your GSM smartphone of choice.
And I highly doubt they come after users via IMEI for data plans. My Nokia E51 has never needed a data package - I use WiFi for all my data - not to mention the IMEI changes during unlocking in many GSM phones.
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Join the RC5 team. |
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tomz17
join:2004-01-09
Newark, NJ | reply to fAcEtIOUs
Is stand corrected, but unlimited iden... no thanks... if you want to go that route, then you should also consider the free QNC on pageplus! |
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