Explain it to me like I'm a 10 year old please

I want to use my cell phone for the internet service. I just want to
check my email and check prices on amazon.com. Does this use up a lot
of whatever they give me in the media bundle I have? I don't
understand exactly how it all works and what would cause me to go over
the allotment of ?. I know it doesn't go against my minutes and I
don't want to text message or anything like that. Just basically the
two things I mentioned. Can someone explain how it works?

On 16 Jan 2007 15:57:56 -0800, "tonita" <toni_brightman@yahoo.com>
wrote:

>I want to use my cell phone for the internet service. I just want to
>check my email and check prices on amazon.com. Does this use up a lot
>of whatever they give me in the media bundle I have? I don't
>understand exactly how it all works and what would cause me to go over
>the allotment of ?. I know it doesn't go against my minutes and I
>don't want to text message or anything like that. Just basically the
>two things I mentioned. Can someone explain how it works?


The MediaMax 200 package gives you unlimited Internet and 200 Text
messages a month for $19.99 on a standard cell phone.

"tonita" <toni_brightman@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1168991876.009441.7480@38g2000cwa.googlegroup s.com...
>I want to use my cell phone for the internet service. I just want to
> check my email and check prices on amazon.com. Does this use up a lot
> of whatever they give me in the media bundle I have? I don't
> understand exactly how it all works and what would cause me to go over
> the allotment of ?. I know it doesn't go against my minutes and I
> don't want to text message or anything like that. Just basically the
> two things I mentioned. Can someone explain how it works?
>

You don't say which Media bundle you have. What you use up are Mega Bytes of
data whenever you access the web, e-mail or MSN/Yahoo chat. You can (on the
phones I have had) check to see how many minutes you have used for talking
and the amount of data (The Mbytes)transferred between your phone and the
services you use. Your statement also has this information. Until you know
how much data you are using I would recommend getting the unlimited Media
package at $20 per month. This is a lot cheaper than starting on a plan with
limited amounts of data and then having to pay excess charges (which are
steep). Check your statement and if you find you are using a lot less data
than one of the cheaper packages offers, change plans.

I have the media basic bundle which is 1MB and 400 messages (which I
won't use). It is unlimited until March 8th and right now I can't see
how much I've used until next billing cycle. How much does it use just
to check email and get onto a webside and search, like Amazon and
searching books?

Thanks


Austinman wrote:
> "tonita" <toni_brightman@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:1168991876.009441.7480@38g2000cwa.googlegroup s.com...
> >I want to use my cell phone for the internet service. I just want to
> > check my email and check prices on amazon.com. Does this use up a lot
> > of whatever they give me in the media bundle I have? I don't
> > understand exactly how it all works and what would cause me to go over
> > the allotment of ?. I know it doesn't go against my minutes and I
> > don't want to text message or anything like that. Just basically the
> > two things I mentioned. Can someone explain how it works?
> >
>
> You don't say which Media bundle you have. What you use up are Mega Bytes of
> data whenever you access the web, e-mail or MSN/Yahoo chat. You can (on the
> phones I have had) check to see how many minutes you have used for talking
> and the amount of data (The Mbytes)transferred between your phone and the
> services you use. Your statement also has this information. Until you know
> how much data you are using I would recommend getting the unlimited Media
> package at $20 per month. This is a lot cheaper than starting on a plan with
> limited amounts of data and then having to pay excess charges (which are
> steep). Check your statement and if you find you are using a lot less data
> than one of the cheaper packages offers, change plans.

At 17 Jan 2007 04:25:21 -0800 tonita wrote:
> I have the media basic bundle which is 1MB and 400 messages (which I
> won't use). It is unlimited until March 8th and right now I can't see
> how much I've used until next billing cycle. How much does it use just
> to check email and get onto a webside and search, like Amazon and
> searching books?

That's loaded question. If I e-mail you a 1MB photo, I've just burned
your whole month's allotment.

Seriously, get the unlimited. Assume an average e-mail is about 3K
including headers and overhead, if you get 10 e-mails a day you'll use up
the 1MB/month on e-mail alone.

Just checking now, each page on Amazon's _mobile_ website (not the "real"
Amazon) seemed to run about 5k. 1MB gives you 200 pages like that a
MONTH. That's if you don't get any e-mail at all!

I'm all for being cheap, but if you don't get the $20 unlimited plan,
you'll pay $10/MB for overages.



--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Todd Allcock wrote:
> At 17 Jan 2007 04:25:21 -0800 tonita wrote:
>> I have the media basic bundle which is 1MB and 400 messages (which I
>> won't use). It is unlimited until March 8th and right now I can't see
>> how much I've used until next billing cycle. How much does it use just
>> to check email and get onto a webside and search, like Amazon and
>> searching books?
>
> That's loaded question. If I e-mail you a 1MB photo, I've just burned
> your whole month's allotment.
>
> Seriously, get the unlimited. Assume an average e-mail is about 3K
> including headers and overhead, if you get 10 e-mails a day you'll use up
> the 1MB/month on e-mail alone.
>
> Just checking now, each page on Amazon's _mobile_ website (not the "real"
> Amazon) seemed to run about 5k. 1MB gives you 200 pages like that a
> MONTH. That's if you don't get any e-mail at all!
>
> I'm all for being cheap, but if you don't get the $20 unlimited plan,
> you'll pay $10/MB for overages.
>
>
>


Sounds to me like the OP has already exceeded reasonable expectations
for a cell phone's usefulness.

--
jer
email reply - I am not a 'ten'

It is alleged that Austinman claimed:

> services you use. Your statement also has this information. Until you know
> how much data you are using I would recommend getting the unlimited Media
> package at $20 per month. This is a lot cheaper than starting on a plan with
> limited amounts of data and then having to pay excess charges (which are

Not necessarily. You may very well be right in this particular
use-case, but this is not always true.

With Media Net plans, the break-even point for no-plan vs having a data
plan is at about 1.5MB/month. Less than that, you may as well go a la
carte on your data as the cost is the same. At 1.5MB, you're spending
$15 for the data, which is the same cost as the Media Works bundle for
5MB. Overage is the same rate as a la carte, $0.01/kB.

Forex, my data use cost for my last billing cycle was $7.14, a la
carte. But then again, I use it a lot less than the OP plans on.

The only monkey wrench to the above is messaging. The data plans
include some amount of messaging as well, which would otherwise cost
$0.15 each.

> steep). Check your statement and if you find you are using a lot less data
> than one of the cheaper packages offers, change plans.

Always keep an eye on your rates and charges.

--
Jeffrey Kaplan www.gordol.org
The from userid is killfiled Send personal mail to gordol

"Emilio Lizardo. Wasn't he on TV once?" "You're thinking of Mr.
Wizard." "Emilio Lizardo is a top scientist, dumbkopf." "So was Mr.
Wizard." (Perfect Tommy, Buckaroo Banzai and Reno, "Buckaroo Banzai")

It is alleged that tonita claimed:

> I have the media basic bundle which is 1MB and 400 messages (which I
> won't use). It is unlimited until March 8th and right now I can't see
> how much I've used until next billing cycle. How much does it use just
> to check email and get onto a webside and search, like Amazon and
> searching books?

It is impossible to say up front. Are you reading all of your mail
every time from your phone, or only selected messages? Are you using
POP or IMAP? How much email do you get?

Are you using the "full" sites for Amazon, etc, or are you using a
version designed for mobile devices (ie, fewer graphics, etc, to
minimize data use)? How extensive are your searches? These are all
things that need to be considered.

--
Jeffrey Kaplan www.gordol.org
The from userid is killfiled Send personal mail to gordol

"If I am ever the Hero top 100 list: #39. I will never say "This one is
mine!" and engage in a one-on-one struggle with the Evil Overlord or
any of his henchmen; however, I might say "This one is mine!" and stand
back while my comrades, by prior arrangement, pump all available
firepower into the now-distracted target.

At 17 Jan 2007 11:43:44 -0600 Jer wrote:

> Sounds to me like the OP has already exceeded reasonable expectations
> for a cell phone's usefulness.

Oh, I don't know. Living in a house with my wife, three children, and
only three PCs, you'd be surprised how often my PPC Phone becomes my
primary computing device! ;-)


--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

I've decided to change it to the unlimited plan. But, how do you get a
smaller version of Amazon? I'm going to upgrade soon and I know some
people who have Amazon already on the phone, but how do I change what I
already have?

Jeffrey Kaplan wrote:
> It is alleged that tonita claimed:
>
> > I have the media basic bundle which is 1MB and 400 messages (which I
> > won't use). It is unlimited until March 8th and right now I can't see
> > how much I've used until next billing cycle. How much does it use just
> > to check email and get onto a webside and search, like Amazon and
> > searching books?
>
> It is impossible to say up front. Are you reading all of your mail
> every time from your phone, or only selected messages? Are you using
> POP or IMAP? How much email do you get?
>
> Are you using the "full" sites for Amazon, etc, or are you using a
> version designed for mobile devices (ie, fewer graphics, etc, to
> minimize data use)? How extensive are your searches? These are all
> things that need to be considered.
>
> --
> Jeffrey Kaplan www.gordol.org
> The from userid is killfiled Send personal mail to gordol
>
> "If I am ever the Hero top 100 list: #39. I will never say "This one is
> mine!" and engage in a one-on-one struggle with the Evil Overlord or
> any of his henchmen; however, I might say "This one is mine!" and stand
> back while my comrades, by prior arrangement, pump all available
> firepower into the now-distracted target.

It is alleged that tonita claimed:

> I've decided to change it to the unlimited plan. But, how do you get a
> smaller version of Amazon? I'm going to upgrade soon and I know some
> people who have Amazon already on the phone, but how do I change what I
> already have?

Info here:
<http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/103-1614877-6445434?ie=UTF8&nodeId=468620>

--
Jeffrey Kaplan www.gordol.org
The from userid is killfiled Send personal mail to gordol

"I want you to be happy. I want me to be happy. I want you to be
happy for me and me to be happy for you. Is that so much to ask around
here?" (Amb. Mollari, B5 "Acts of Sacrifice")

"Jeffrey Kaplan" <nomail@gordol.org> wrote in message
news:d5usq2950ap00v0gor5oujnevm1j9iugug@gordol.org ...
> It is alleged that Austinman claimed:
>
>> services you use. Your statement also has this information. Until you
>> know
>> how much data you are using I would recommend getting the unlimited Media
>> package at $20 per month. This is a lot cheaper than starting on a plan
>> with
>> limited amounts of data and then having to pay excess charges (which are
>
> Not necessarily. You may very well be right in this particular
> use-case, but this is not always true.
>
> With Media Net plans, the break-even point for no-plan vs having a data
> plan is at about 1.5MB/month. Less than that, you may as well go a la
> carte on your data as the cost is the same. At 1.5MB, you're spending
> $15 for the data, which is the same cost as the Media Works bundle for
> 5MB. Overage is the same rate as a la carte, $0.01/kB.

Agreed, but based on the sophistication of the user I would consider an
unlimited plan good insurance until more information is available on the
actual data usage.