On 7/28/2011 4:30 PM, Todd Allcock wrote:
> At 28 Jul 2011 16:12:15 -0700 SMS wrote:
>> On 7/28/2011 1:51 PM, Todd Allcock wrote:
>>> At 28 Jul 2011 10:24:57 -0700 SMS wrote:
>>>> To me it seems like the sole benefit of T-Mobile prepaid over
>>>> Pageplus prepaid is that you can keep a T-Mobile prepaid phone
>>>> active for $10 per year, versus $30 per year on Pageplus, and it
>>>> costs $80 on Pageplus if you only want to re-up once a year rather
>>>> than three times a year.
>>>>
>>>
>>> There's that, plus compatibility with iPhones (albeit at EDGE data
>>> speeds) and the $1.49/day "unlimited" data day pass which works on
>>> phones and allows tethering. (It doesn't work on T-Mo-branded
>>> tablets or laptop
>>> cards, though.)
>>
>> I know it exists, but I can't find the $1.49 day pass mentioned on T-
>> Mobile's prepaid page.
>
> It's somewhere in this mess:
>
> <http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/phones/prepaid.aspx?>
>
> It's sad that T-Mo's web site has always been a confusing, contradictory
> mess.
It's intentional.
I could still not find any mention of the $1.49 day pass for prepaid.
Inexplicably, under they have a sub-title "Monthly 4G and Pay As You Go"
but underneath they list their international rates, with nothing about
data:
<http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-additional-services#international>.
Also, AFAIK, T-Mobile has a 3G network and has not even begun to deploy
4G LTE, but they keep talking about 4G.
> I noticed that a while ago, that the $10 and $25 cards where replaced
> with $15 and $30, yet T-Mo still gives a "free" $25 card with the
> purchase of a prepaid phone during some promos.
Callingmart still offers the $10/30 minute card and $25/130 minute card.
I think the mistake on the T-Mobile site for the $15 card may be that
the $15 card has more than 30 minutes but they forgot to change it,
since on the $30 card they upped the minutes to 160 (from 130 on the $25
card).
I would not be surprised if what T-Mobile is doing is an effort to
increase churn so they look less viable as a stand-alone company when
the government is making the decision on the acquisition. AT&T is
looking increasingly desperate about the acquisition to the point of
being bizarre. They've gotten a large number of strange NGOs (that they
donate to) to come out publicly in favor of the acquisition.
Of course the lack of the iPhone and their 1700MHz spectrum are
additional causes of T-Mobile's churn since they can't offer many
popular handsets.
AT&T is not doing all that well lately either, churn is way up and net
additions have fallen by 42% (over the same quarter last year). Mostly
caused by Verizon getting the iPhone.
Adding <alt.cellular.t-mobile> in case any T-Mobile prepaid customers
are interested in paying a lot less for better prepaid.
At 29 Jul 2011 08:01:45 -0700 SMS wrote:
> On 7/28/2011 4:30 PM, Todd Allcock wrote:
> > At 28 Jul 2011 16:12:15 -0700 SMS wrote:
> >> I know it exists, but I can't find the $1.49 day pass mentioned on T-
> >> Mobile's prepaid page.
> >
> > It's somewhere in this mess:
> >
> > <http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/phones/prepaid.aspx?>
> >
> > It's sad that T-Mo's web site has always been a confusing,
contradictory
> > mess.
>
> It's intentional.
>
> I could still not find any mention of the $1.49 day pass for prepaid..
I'm on my WinMo phone, but on the oage I linked, below the phones, is a
list of prepaid plans, and in the list is:
" Pay As You Go plans
" Perfect for customers who want to control their spending without a
monthly plan, with talk as low as 10¢ a minute."
<snip refill amounts and credit>
"$1.49 Web DayPass: Unlimited 24-hour mobile web access for Pay As You
Go (also available if you need more data than included in your monthly
plan)."
> Inexplicably, under they have a sub-title "Monthly 4G and Pay As You
> Go" but underneath they list their international rates, with nothing
> about data: <http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-additional-
> services#international>.
>
> Also, AFAIK, T-Mobile has a 3G network and has not even begun to deploy
> 4G LTE, but they keep talking about 4G.
4G, in T-Mo's dictionary, is a marketing term and equals "as fast or
faster than the slowest speed anyone else calls 4G." Since T-Mo's 3G
HSPA+ (21 and 42Mb/s) is as fast or faster than Sprint/Clear's WiMax,
which is advertised as 4G, T-Mo feels it's perfectly fair to bill their
higher speed 3G as "4G."
Personally, I don't have a problem with that, since until Verizon
launched LTE, T-Mo's "4G" was the fastest network available, and faster
than Sprint's 4G.
FWIW, even Verizon's LTE doesn't meet the EU definition of "4G" (100Mb/s
average for mobile networks, 1Gb for fixed, IIRC) so in absence of an
industry standard definition of 4G, T-Mo can call their network anything
they like. (The fact that the normally very litigious carriers haven't
sued T-Mo over the use of the term would seem to suggest T-Mo is in the
clear, at least legally.)
> > I noticed that a while ago, that the $10 and $25 cards where replaced
> > with $15 and $30, yet T-Mo still gives a "free" $25 card with the
> > purchase of a prepaid phone during some promos.
>
> Callingmart still offers the $10/30 minute card and $25/130 minute
> card. I think the mistake on the T-Mobile site for the $15 card may be
> that the $15 card has more than 30 minutes but they forgot to change
> it, since on the $30 card they upped the minutes to 160 (from 130 on
> the $25 card).
$10 and $25 cards are still commonly available at resellers. Whether
they're just selling through "old stock" or whether T-Mo has just elected
to offer different values through third parties, I couldn't tell you.
> I would not be surprised if what T-Mobile is doing is an effort to
> increase churn so they look less viable as a stand-alone company when
> the government is making the decision on the acquisition.
Doubtful. T-Mo (postpaid) just launched a bunch of new value plans which
are very attractive and seem designed to win back the demographic they've
been losing to Cricket and MetroPCS. If the "fix" is in, and T-Mo was
trying to shred customers, the postpaid guys apparently missed the memo.
I think T-Mo is just trying to increase ARPU. Nobody wants/needs the $2-
3/month customer. Increasing the minimum refill bumps them up to $5/month.
None of this affects heavier users- they weren't buying $10s or $25s
anyway- the minimum card to get near $0.10/minute is $50, and even
heavier users are on monthly plans.
(Same goes for the texting rate increase. Anyone doing any significant
amount of texting is on a plan with a bucket.)
> AT&T is
> looking increasingly desperate about the acquisition to the point of
> being bizarre. They've gotten a large number of strange NGOs (that they
> donate to) to come out publicly in favor of the acquisition.
That's not that strange- it's the typical M.O. in these types of
potentially unpopular mergers. Notice Microsoft came out in favor of it-
AT&T has been the most enthusiastic vendor of the new Windows Phones, and
the only one to throw any ad dollars atpushing them.
> Of course the lack of the iPhone and their 1700MHz spectrum are
> additional causes of T-Mobile's churn since they can't offer many
> popular handsets.
Yes on the iPhone, but I'll disagree on the rest. Advertising is what
makes a handset popular. T-Mo's Android and Blackberry selection is as
good as anyone's, and certainly brr than AT&T's, but Verizon has created
"Droid" as a popular branding through incessant advertising- T-Mo just
can't compete with that spending to turn a "MyTouch" or a "Galaxy" into
an equally desired device.
A recent study (embarrassingly) suggested the iPhone was actually the
most popular device on T-Mo's network with over 1 million in active use.
(We've got two on T-Mo- one on postpaid, and one on prepaid.)
> AT&T is not doing all that well lately either, churn is way up and net
> additions have fallen by 42% (over the same quarter last year). Mostly
> caused by Verizon getting the iPhone.
Live by the sword, die by the sword. AT&T knew iPhone exclusivity
wouldn't last forever, but was too short sighted to plan an exit
strategy. They locked down their Androids tighter than anyone, carried a
piss-poor selection of them, and tried to steer their entire customer
base to the Jesus phone.
> Adding <alt.cellular.t-mobile> in case any T-Mobile prepaid customers
> are interested in paying a lot less for better prepaid.
Different strokes, as they say...
Page Plus has better coverage, but a crappy handset selection and poor
data options. T-Mo offers cheap subsidized handsets (not as cheap as
contract options, but certainly cheaper than unsubsidized,) the $1.49/day
web pass is pretty nifty for those who can use it, and their monthly
prepaid options, while not as cheap as PP's, offer a lot more data.
> FWIW, even Verizon's LTE doesn't meet the EU definition of "4G" (100Mb/s
> average for mobile networks, 1Gb for fixed, IIRC) so in absence of an
> industry standard definition of 4G, T-Mo can call their network anything
> they like. (The fact that the normally very litigious carriers haven't
> sued T-Mo over the use of the term would seem to suggest T-Mo is in the
> clear, at least legally.)
Nah, they're just not worth suing.
> Page Plus has better coverage, but a crappy handset selection and poor
> data options.
Any Verizon handset other than the iPhone and the Blackberry can be used
on Pageplus. But you have to pay full price for it.
> T-Mo offers cheap subsidized handsets (not as cheap as
> contract options, but certainly cheaper than unsubsidized,) the $1.49/day
> web pass is pretty nifty for those who can use it, and their monthly
> prepaid options, while not as cheap as PP's, offer a lot more data.
PP is definitely not a good choice for those that need to use a lot of
data, but for those people that use 3G data on their phone mainly when
there is no other data available, the 100MB can be sufficient. Last week
we were on a week long vacation. Every hotel (7) had wi-fi. Two college
campuses we visited had free guest wi-fi. Several restaurant we went to
had free wi-fi. It's more work than just using 3G, but not all that much
more.
At 29 Jul 2011 14:07:37 -0700 SMS wrote:
> On 7/29/2011 9:52 AM, Todd Allcock wrote:
>
> > FWIW, even Verizon's LTE doesn't meet the EU definition of "4G"
(100Mb/s
> > average for mobile networks, 1Gb for fixed, IIRC) so in absence of an
> > industry standard definition of 4G, T-Mo can call their network
anything
> > they like. (The fact that the normally very litigious carriers
haven't
> > sued T-Mo over the use of the term would seem to suggest T-Mo is in
the
> > clear, at least legally.)
>
> Nah, they're just not worth suing.
DT has deep pockets!
> > Page Plus has better coverage, but a crappy handset selection and poor
> > data options.
>
> Any Verizon handset other than the iPhone and the Blackberry can be
> used on Pageplus. But you have to pay full price for it.
Have you priced "full price" handsets at Verizon? Dumbphones are $300,
smartphones are $500-600. Prepaid phones on T-Mo start at $20,
smartphones at $100. For practical purposes Page Plus users are stick
with the crap low-end or refurb phones from Page Plus, or whatever they
can score on eBay or Craigslist.
> > T-Mo offers cheap subsidized handsets (not as cheap as
> > contract options, but certainly cheaper than unsubsidized,) the
$1.49/day
> > web pass is pretty nifty for those who can use it, and their monthly
> > prepaid options, while not as cheap as PP's, offer a lot more data.
>
> PP is definitely not a good choice for those that need to use a lot of
> data, but for those people that use 3G data on their phone mainly when
> there is no other data available, the 100MB can be sufficient. Last
> week we were on a week long vacation. Every hotel (7) had wi-fi. Two
> college campuses we visited had free guest wi-fi. Several restaurant we
> went to had free wi-fi. It's more work than just using 3G, but not all
> that much more.
My vacation will go differently. We're traveling back east to see my
family and staying at my childhood home. Not a single WiFi access point
in range. (It's an older suburban neighborhood inhabited almost
exclusively by luddite retirees, most of whom are the same neighbors we
had when we moved in back in the early 1970s!)
Of the big four carriers, only Verizon works most the time, the other
three only work consistently outside in the yard or on the second floor.
T-Mo will probably disown me after I turn my "4G" phone into a WiFi
hotspot for a week for the kids' netbook, iPhones and iPods!
> Have you priced "full price" handsets at Verizon? Dumbphones are $300,
> smartphones are $500-600. Prepaid phones on T-Mo start at $20,
> smartphones at $100. For practical purposes Page Plus users are stick
> with the crap low-end or refurb phones from Page Plus, or whatever they
> can score on eBay or Craigslist.
Yes, that's true. Fortunately there is no shortage of gently used smart
phones for sale on craigslist.
At 30 Jul 2011 21:49:55 -0400 tlvp wrote:
> On Fri, 29 Jul 2011 18:00:58 -0400, Todd Allcock
<elecconnec@anoospaml.com> wrote:
>
> > ...
> > T-Mo will probably disown me after I turn my "4G" phone into a WiFi
> > hotspot for a week for the kids' netbook, iPhones and iPods!
>
> Either that or Bill you Big Bucks for that privilege :-) .
Naah, my old grandfathered plan is unlimited. Worst case scenario they'd
tell me I need one of the newer limited "unlimited" plans.
>At 30 Jul 2011 21:49:55 -0400 tlvp wrote:
>> On Fri, 29 Jul 2011 18:00:58 -0400, Todd Allcock
><elecconnec@anoospaml.com> wrote:
>>
>> > ...
>> > T-Mo will probably disown me after I turn my "4G" phone into a WiFi
>> > hotspot for a week for the kids' netbook, iPhones and iPods!
>>
>> Either that or Bill you Big Bucks for that privilege :-) .
>
>
>Naah, my old grandfathered plan is unlimited. Worst case scenario they'd
>tell me I need one of the newer limited "unlimited" plans.
Unlimited? Big user? No problem, they may just choke you to death...
While it sounds bad in that article, personally I'd rather that the
carriers use throttling and continue offering unlimited plans. Even the
throttled speed is probably enough for streaming audio, and it's
definitely fast enough for e-mail.
SMS wrote on [Sun, 31 Jul 2011 09:42:21 -0700]:
> On 7/30/2011 9:55 PM, AJL wrote:
>
>> Unlimited? Big user? No problem, they may just choke you to death...
>>
>> http://bytelib.com/att-is-going-to-c...vy-data-users/
>
> While it sounds bad in that article, personally I'd rather that the
> carriers use throttling and continue offering unlimited plans. Even the
> throttled speed is probably enough for streaming audio, and it's
> definitely fast enough for e-mail.
Funny how they give no actual hard information
5% of 98.6 million is almost 5 million people.
12 times more data than the average... what's the average? What's the top
they are seeing?
Is the average 250MB? Are they throttling above 3GB? Or do they claim their
avg to be 100MB?
"Justin" <nospam@insightbb.com> wrote:
> Funny how they give no actual hard information
> 5% of 98.6 million is almost 5 million people.
>
> 12 times more data than the average... what's the average? What's the
> top
> they are seeing?
>
> Is the average 250MB? Are they throttling above 3GB? Or do they claim
> their
> avg to be 100MB?
On 7/31/2011 10:53 AM, Cameo wrote:
> "Justin" <nospam@insightbb.com> wrote:
>> Funny how they give no actual hard information
>> 5% of 98.6 million is almost 5 million people.
>>
>> 12 times more data than the average... what's the average? What's the top
>> they are seeing?
>>
>> Is the average 250MB? Are they throttling above 3GB? Or do they claim
>> their
>> avg to be 100MB?
>
> It's a moving average, I gather.
They said throttling begins some time after 5GB and they said that
throttling only affects the top 5% of users, so presumably what they are
saying is that 95% of users are using less than 5GB.
They don't say what the average data use is. However when they dropped
unlimited data for new customers and began offering 200MB and 2GB plans
they said that 65% of their smart phone customers use less than
200MB/month of data. This means that 30% are (or were) between 200MB and
5GB.
This jives with recent surveys of data usage. I.e. the June 2011 Validas
study stated that 58-64% of users on each carrier were using less than
200MB/month.
In article <4e3585ef$0$2204$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net>, SMS says...
>
> On 7/30/2011 9:55 PM, AJL wrote:
>
> > Unlimited? Big user? No problem, they may just choke you to death...
> >
> > http://bytelib.com/att-is-going-to-c...vy-data-users/
>
> While it sounds bad in that article, personally I'd rather that the
> carriers use throttling and continue offering unlimited plans. Even the
> throttled speed is probably enough for streaming audio, and it's
> definitely fast enough for e-mail.
I can understand your position... but personally, I'd rather have a
choice between being throttled and paying additional money. Being
throttled can cause problems since I use my smartphone for work, and
when you get throttled, you end up running at 2G speeds (at least that's
the way it works on T-Mobile).
> I can understand your position... but personally, I'd rather have a
> choice between being throttled and paying additional money. Being
> throttled can cause problems since I use my smartphone for work, and
> when you get throttled, you end up running at 2G speeds (at least that's
> the way it works on T-Mobile).
Yes, on T-Mobile you can't get around the throttling by paying more. On
AT&T you can by switching to the 2GB plan and buying extra GB.
But realistically speaking, on a work phone you're highly unlikely to
exceed 5GB/month. Those using excessive amounts of data are doing a lot
of video streaming.
At 01 Aug 2011 16:08:17 -0700 SMS wrote:
> On 8/1/2011 1:14 PM, Steve Sobol wrote:
>
> > I can understand your position... but personally, I'd rather have a
> > choice between being throttled and paying additional money. Being
> > throttled can cause problems since I use my smartphone for work, and
> > when you get throttled, you end up running at 2G speeds (at least
that's
> > the way it works on T-Mobile).
>
> Yes, on T-Mobile you can't get around the throttling by paying more. On
> AT&T you can by switching to the 2GB plan and buying extra GB.
On T-Mo you could get around it by upgrading to a bigger plan. In
addition to AT&T's two options, of 200MB and 2GB, T-Mo also offers 5GB
and 10GB.
IIRC, AT&T charges $10 per extra gig, so 5GB on AT&T would be $55, about
what T-Mo charges for 10GB.
> But realistically speaking, on a work phone you're highly unlikely to
> exceed 5GB/month.
IIRC, Steve (Sobol) exceeded it last month, which was why he asked the
question in the first place.
> Those using excessive amounts of data are doing a lot
> of video streaming.
That song again? There are plenty of ways to burn a lot of data without
necessarily "doing a lot of video streaming." Syncing files, uploading
photos, automatic OTA phone/SD backups (there are lots of Android apps
for that.)
SMS wrote on [Mon, 01 Aug 2011 16:08:17 -0700]:
> On 8/1/2011 1:14 PM, Steve Sobol wrote:
>
>> I can understand your position... but personally, I'd rather have a
>> choice between being throttled and paying additional money. Being
>> throttled can cause problems since I use my smartphone for work, and
>> when you get throttled, you end up running at 2G speeds (at least that's
>> the way it works on T-Mobile).
>
> Yes, on T-Mobile you can't get around the throttling by paying more. On
> AT&T you can by switching to the 2GB plan and buying extra GB.
>
> But realistically speaking, on a work phone you're highly unlikely to
> exceed 5GB/month. Those using excessive amounts of data are doing a lot
> of video streaming.
Where did they say they started throttling over 5GB?
They said the top 5%. Without giving a rough estimate of how much that is.
Todd Allcock wrote on [Mon, 01 Aug 2011 17:54:06 -0600]:
> At 01 Aug 2011 16:08:17 -0700 SMS wrote:
>> On 8/1/2011 1:14 PM, Steve Sobol wrote:
>>
>> Those using excessive amounts of data are doing a lot
>> of video streaming.
>
>
> That song again? There are plenty of ways to burn a lot of data without
> necessarily "doing a lot of video streaming." Syncing files, uploading
> photos, automatic OTA phone/SD backups (there are lots of Android apps
> for that.)
There are a lot of ways to do it without doing ANY video streaming.
When you update an app in android it does not tell you how big the file is
before you start downloading it.
Not everyone has internet at home, either. I know many people who are
forced to use dialup or go without altogether.
In article <j17o43$f2g$1@dont-email.me>, Justin says...
>
> SMS wrote on [Mon, 01 Aug 2011 16:08:17 -0700]:
> > On 8/1/2011 1:14 PM, Steve Sobol wrote:
> >
> >> I can understand your position... but personally, I'd rather have a
> >> choice between being throttled and paying additional money. Being
> >> throttled can cause problems since I use my smartphone for work, and
> >> when you get throttled, you end up running at 2G speeds (at least that's
> >> the way it works on T-Mobile).
> >
> > Yes, on T-Mobile you can't get around the throttling by paying more. On
> > AT&T you can by switching to the 2GB plan and buying extra GB.
> >
> > But realistically speaking, on a work phone you're highly unlikely to
> > exceed 5GB/month. Those using excessive amounts of data are doing a lot
> > of video streaming.
>
> Where did they say they started throttling over 5GB?
> They said the top 5%. Without giving a rough estimate of how much that is.
T-Mobile throttles over 5GB (2GB on newer plans if you don't
specifically pay more for 5GB or 10G. I was commenting how I'm on T-Mo
and would like the choice of being throttled or paying more.
> The problem is AT&T won?t say who exactly these customers are and how
much data consumption would trigger the slowdown.
> Have you priced "full price" handsets at Verizon? Dumbphones are $300,
> smartphones are $500-600. Prepaid phones on T-Mo start at $20,
> smartphones at $100. For practical purposes Page Plus users are stick
> with the crap low-end or refurb phones from Page Plus, or whatever they
> can score on eBay or Craigslist.
A worthy alternative if you don't need the huge array of Android apps is
the Palm Pixi Plus for $50. It's a real smartphone and not a bad one.
Battery life is about 3-4 days, way better than my $125 T-Mobile Comet
(Android). And with a little searching you can find some familiar apps:
Yelp, Pandora, Spaz (a Twitter app), a decent web browser, wifi. The
only app I haven't found for WebOS is a free texting app like you find
for the big two (e.g. TextFree, TextPlus, TextNow).
I first bought one for my daughter and put her on the PP 2000 text plan.
After playing around with it, I bought my own as a backup to the Tmo
prepaid. Looking at it, I thought the tiny keyboard would be difficult,
but it is really easy to use. I can type faster than on my iPod Touch or
Comet. The sound quality is as good or better than the iPhone or my
Comet (which ain't saying much admittedly).
On 8/1/2011 8:19 PM, Steve Sobol wrote:
> In article<j17o43$f2g$1@dont-email.me>, Justin says...
>>
>> SMS wrote on [Mon, 01 Aug 2011 16:08:17 -0700]:
>>> On 8/1/2011 1:14 PM, Steve Sobol wrote:
>>>
>>>> I can understand your position... but personally, I'd rather have a
>>>> choice between being throttled and paying additional money. Being
>>>> throttled can cause problems since I use my smartphone for work, and
>>>> when you get throttled, you end up running at 2G speeds (at least that's
>>>> the way it works on T-Mobile).
>>>
>>> Yes, on T-Mobile you can't get around the throttling by paying more. On
>>> AT&T you can by switching to the 2GB plan and buying extra GB.
>>>
>>> But realistically speaking, on a work phone you're highly unlikely to
>>> exceed 5GB/month. Those using excessive amounts of data are doing a lot
>>> of video streaming.
>>
>> Where did they say they started throttling over 5GB?
>> They said the top 5%. Without giving a rough estimate of how much that is.
>
> T-Mobile throttles over 5GB (2GB on newer plans if you don't
> specifically pay more for 5GB or 10G. I was commenting how I'm on T-Mo
> and would like the choice of being throttled or paying more.
>
>> The problem is AT&T won?t say who exactly these customers are and how
> much data consumption would trigger the slowdown.
>
> They're AT&T - *** do you expect?
They have said that the throttling will not occur below 5GB.
The level over 5GB they begin throttling depends on how much data the 5%
of heaviest users actually use, and it can vary month to month. It will
never begin at less than 5GB.
SMS wrote on [Mon, 01 Aug 2011 20:33:59 -0700]:
> On 8/1/2011 8:19 PM, Steve Sobol wrote:
>> In article<j17o43$f2g$1@dont-email.me>, Justin says...
>>>
>>> SMS wrote on [Mon, 01 Aug 2011 16:08:17 -0700]:
>>>> On 8/1/2011 1:14 PM, Steve Sobol wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I can understand your position... but personally, I'd rather have a
>>>>> choice between being throttled and paying additional money. Being
>>>>> throttled can cause problems since I use my smartphone for work, and
>>>>> when you get throttled, you end up running at 2G speeds (at least that's
>>>>> the way it works on T-Mobile).
>>>>
>>>> Yes, on T-Mobile you can't get around the throttling by paying more. On
>>>> AT&T you can by switching to the 2GB plan and buying extra GB.
>>>>
>>>> But realistically speaking, on a work phone you're highly unlikely to
>>>> exceed 5GB/month. Those using excessive amounts of data are doing a lot
>>>> of video streaming.
>>>
>>> Where did they say they started throttling over 5GB?
>>> They said the top 5%. Without giving a rough estimate of how much that is.
>>
>> T-Mobile throttles over 5GB (2GB on newer plans if you don't
>> specifically pay more for 5GB or 10G. I was commenting how I'm on T-Mo
>> and would like the choice of being throttled or paying more.
>>
>>> The problem is AT&T won?t say who exactly these customers are and how
>> much data consumption would trigger the slowdown.
>>
>> They're AT&T - *** do you expect?
>
> They have said that the throttling will not occur below 5GB.
No, they haven't.
> The level over 5GB they begin throttling depends on how much data the 5%
> of heaviest users actually use, and it can vary month to month. It will
> never begin at less than 5GB.
Where did they say this ? Nowhere, not even the major newspapers could
get this information out of them.
On 8/1/2011 8:26 PM, Travis James wrote:
> On 7/29/11 3:00 PM, Todd Allcock wrote:
>
>> Have you priced "full price" handsets at Verizon? Dumbphones are $300,
>> smartphones are $500-600. Prepaid phones on T-Mo start at $20,
>> smartphones at $100. For practical purposes Page Plus users are stick
>> with the crap low-end or refurb phones from Page Plus, or whatever they
>> can score on eBay or Craigslist.
>
> A worthy alternative if you don't need the huge array of Android apps is
> the Palm Pixi Plus for $50. It's a real smartphone and not a bad one.
> Battery life is about 3-4 days, way better than my $125 T-Mobile Comet
> (Android). And with a little searching you can find some familiar apps:
> Yelp, Pandora, Spaz (a Twitter app), a decent web browser, wifi. The
> only app I haven't found for WebOS is a free texting app like you find
> for the big two (e.g. TextFree, TextPlus, TextNow).
That looks like a very good choice for Pageplus, thanks. A good
replacement for my kids HTC5800 feature phones which are getting old,
and for which I can no longer buy recently manufactured batteries.
> On T-Mo you could get around it by upgrading to a bigger plan. In
> addition to AT&T's two options, of 200MB and 2GB, T-Mo also offers 5GB
> and 10GB.
That's true, but what about if you go over 10GB? Aren't you
automatically throttled with no way to purchase more 3G bandwidth?
There must be some need out there for 10GB or more of data. I could
backup my 8GB MicroSD card over 3G just twice in a month and be at 16GB.
T-Mobile would be ideal for this since I would not really care if it
took all night to do this (of course it's not a good way to do a backup
even with unlimited data so I wouldn't do it, but it's possible to do so).
You're right that uploading photos can also take a lot of bandwidth, and
that's something that users might actually want to do. I could see using
MicroSD cards in a digital camera (via an adapter) then sticking the
card in the phone for uploading photos. On vacation I do the uploading
over Wi-Fi via a netbook at the hotel, but without a computer or wi-fi
it'd be nice to use the phone for that.
SMS wrote on [Tue, 02 Aug 2011 09:55:23 -0700]:
> On 8/1/2011 4:54 PM, Todd Allcock wrote:
>
>> On T-Mo you could get around it by upgrading to a bigger plan. In
>> addition to AT&T's two options, of 200MB and 2GB, T-Mo also offers 5GB
>> and 10GB.
>
> That's true, but what about if you go over 10GB? Aren't you
> automatically throttled with no way to purchase more 3G bandwidth?
>
> There must be some need out there for 10GB or more of data. I could
You mean, for like people who don't have internet at home.
> You're right that uploading photos can also take a lot of bandwidth, and
> that's something that users might actually want to do. I could see using
"SMS" <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote in message
news:4e3828d2$0$2199$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net...
> On 8/1/2011 8:26 PM, Travis James wrote:
>> On 7/29/11 3:00 PM, Todd Allcock wrote:
>>
>>> Have you priced "full price" handsets at Verizon? Dumbphones are $300,
>>> smartphones are $500-600. Prepaid phones on T-Mo start at $20,
>>> smartphones at $100. For practical purposes Page Plus users are stick
>>> with the crap low-end or refurb phones from Page Plus, or whatever they
>>> can score on eBay or Craigslist.
>>
>> A worthy alternative if you don't need the huge array of Android apps is
>> the Palm Pixi Plus for $50. It's a real smartphone and not a bad one.
>> Battery life is about 3-4 days, way better than my $125 T-Mobile Comet
>> (Android). And with a little searching you can find some familiar apps:
>> Yelp, Pandora, Spaz (a Twitter app), a decent web browser, wifi. The
>> only app I haven't found for WebOS is a free texting app like you find
>> for the big two (e.g. TextFree, TextPlus, TextNow).
>
>> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16875101038
>
> That looks like a very good choice for Pageplus, thanks. A good
> replacement for my kids HTC5800 feature phones which are getting old, and
> for which I can no longer buy recently manufactured batteries.
I second and third the Pixi for Pageplus.
Been using one for several months on the standard plan. Using only WiFi at
present - I've turned 3G off but may switch plans later to experiment with
it.
Set my s/o up on a Pixi on the Unlim/Unlim/20 meg/$45 plan and she is a very
happy camper, saving $100 from her Verizon plan of several months ago. She
uses 3G only when necessary and has lived within the paltry given amount,
and has a little $$ in the account in case she goes over.
> Set my s/o up on a Pixi on the Unlim/Unlim/20 meg/$45 plan and she is a very
> happy camper, saving $100 from her Verizon plan of several months ago. She
> uses 3G only when necessary and has lived within the paltry given amount,
> and has a little $$ in the account in case she goes over.
Does she really need toe unlim/unlim part of that? Personally we would
have a very hard time using more than 1200 minutes and sending/receiving
more than 2000 texts per month.
"SMS" <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote in message
news:4e388578$0$2172$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net...
> On 8/2/2011 12:56 PM, tycho wrote:
>
>> Set my s/o up on a Pixi on the Unlim/Unlim/20 meg/$45 plan and she is a
>> very
>> happy camper, saving $100 from her Verizon plan of several months ago.
>> She
>> uses 3G only when necessary and has lived within the paltry given amount,
>> and has a little $$ in the account in case she goes over.
>
> Does she really need toe unlim/unlim part of that? Personally we would
> have a very hard time using more than 1200 minutes and sending/receiving
> more than 2000 texts per month.
She =absolutely= needs the unlim minutes part of that plan. She is =never=
off the phone, and it is her only phone (no landline at home). She used to
have 1200 minutes/mo. with Verizon, bumped it to 1400, and even that wasn't
enough month after month. $45 would buy her only 1125 minutes at the
cheapest $0.04/rate with the $80 card, so she is effectively getting more
minutes, free texting, and a smidge of free data for that amount. (She's
gotten into texting in a big way, too -- many dozens per day (although I
think anyone would be hard pressed to exceed the 2000 allowance of the
1200/2000 plan)).
Me, this month is my biggest ever under the Standard plan: almost $20 worth
of calling/texting! I can't even justify the $30 TnT plan. I bought a PIN
for that plan and haven't even loaded it yet...
On 8/3/2011 9:59 AM, tycho wrote:
> "SMS"<scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote in message
> news:4e388578$0$2172$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net...
>> On 8/2/2011 12:56 PM, tycho wrote:
>>
>>> Set my s/o up on a Pixi on the Unlim/Unlim/20 meg/$45 plan and she is a
>>> very
>>> happy camper, saving $100 from her Verizon plan of several months ago.
>>> She
>>> uses 3G only when necessary and has lived within the paltry given amount,
>>> and has a little $$ in the account in case she goes over.
>>
>> Does she really need toe unlim/unlim part of that? Personally we would
>> have a very hard time using more than 1200 minutes and sending/receiving
>> more than 2000 texts per month.
>
> She =absolutely= needs the unlim minutes part of that plan. She is =never=
> off the phone, and it is her only phone (no landline at home). She used to
> have 1200 minutes/mo. with Verizon, bumped it to 1400, and even that wasn't
> enough month after month. $45 would buy her only 1125 minutes at the
> cheapest $0.04/rate with the $80 card, so she is effectively getting more
> minutes, free texting, and a smidge of free data for that amount. (She's
> gotten into texting in a big way, too -- many dozens per day (although I
> think anyone would be hard pressed to exceed the 2000 allowance of the
> 1200/2000 plan)).
>
> Me, this month is my biggest ever under the Standard plan: almost $20 worth
> of calling/texting! I can't even justify the $30 TnT plan. I bought a PIN
> for that plan and haven't even loaded it yet...
Yeah, I was thinking of going back to the standard plan, but my data
usage was way up this past month, up to 26MB. That would be about $26
just in data charges, plus about $10.50 for my voice minutes and texts.
This was a data heavy month because we were on vacation for a week and
used the 3G a lot between hotels to do things like make reservations and
arrange college tours. I'll give TNT1200 one more month to see how the
usage works out.
"tycho" <this@wont-work.com> wrote in message
news:j1buqh$r6g$1@dont-email.me...
>
> "SMS" <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote in message
> news:4e388578$0$2172$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net...
>> On 8/2/2011 12:56 PM, tycho wrote:
>>
>>> Set my s/o up on a Pixi on the Unlim/Unlim/20 meg/$45 plan and she is a
>>> very
>>> happy camper, saving $100 from her Verizon plan of several months ago.
>>> She
>>> uses 3G only when necessary and has lived within the paltry given
>>> amount,
>>> and has a little $$ in the account in case she goes over.
>>
>> Does she really need toe unlim/unlim part of that? Personally we would
>> have a very hard time using more than 1200 minutes and sending/receiving
>> more than 2000 texts per month.
>
> She =absolutely= needs the unlim minutes part of that plan. She is
> =never= off the phone, and it is her only phone (no landline at home).
> She used to have 1200 minutes/mo. with Verizon, bumped it to 1400, and
> even that wasn't enough month after month. $45 would buy her only 1125
> minutes at the cheapest $0.04/rate with the $80 card, so she is
> effectively getting more minutes, free texting, and a smidge of free data
> for that amount. (She's gotten into texting in a big way, too -- many
> dozens per day (although I think anyone would be hard pressed to exceed
> the 2000 allowance of the 1200/2000 plan)).
>
<snip>
You don't have a household with a teenager then. They live and die by
texting. My 14 year older easily exceeds 2000 texts on a monthly basis.
Re: The Best Gets Better... 
. I was commenting how I'm on T-Mo
Linear Mode
