Apologies to XS11E, who finds Page Plus off-topic (but who won't see this
anyway since he now filters all posts containing Page Plus!)
Dealer email today:
"The 55' and 'Unlimited Talk n Text' Plans Get More Data
*
"We're very pleased to announce that effective immediately, the 1 GB of
data that has been running as a special promotion on The 55 plan will now
become a permanent plan change!
*
"The double-data "Leap Year Special" which began running January 26th as
a limited-time promotion will now become a permanent change from 500 MB
to 1 GB of data on The 55 plan. The price of the plan will remain at
$55/month, and there are no other changes to this plan.
*
"Also coming in the very near future, we're increasing the amount of data
on the Unlimited Talk n Text plan from 20 MB to 100 MB.*We're confident
that this 5X increase in data will be a welcomed plan upgrade for many
customers who like the plan but need more data. The price of the plan,
which was just reduced by $5 in December, will remain unchanged at
$39.95.*
*
"At the same time, the data overage rate for the Unlimited Talk n Text
plan is increasing from $.10/MB to $.20/MB. We will be notifying you over
the next couple of weeks regarding the exact date of the Unlimited Talk n
Text plan changes.
*
"The changes will be reflected in updated collateral - flyers and posters
- which will be available from the Online Marketing Store in the dealer
portal around the end of the month..."
> "We're very pleased to announce that effective immediately, the 1 GB of
> data that has been running as a special promotion on The 55 plan will now
> become a permanent plan change!
I was wondering how long it would take before they realized that the
type of person that signs up with Pageplus is probably not the type of
person that is enticed with temporary incentives.
> "We're very pleased to announce that effective immediately, the 1 GB of
> data that has been running as a special promotion on The 55 plan will now
> become a permanent plan change!
While $55 a very good deal compared to the voice and text plus the $20
300MB data plan on Verizon or the $15 200MB data plan on AT&T, the real
competition is the $45 unlimited everything plan on AT&T MVNO
StraightTalk or the $40 unlimited plan on MetroPCS. While neither has as
good coverage as Pageplus, StraightTalk is probably sufficient for most
users, and they can always carry a Pageplus phone at $2.50/month for
those areas where they need it. Yeah, "unlimited" really isn't unlimited
on StraightTalk but it's at least 2GB. Plus you can use a jailbroken GSM
iPhone on StraightTalk which is a big deal to a lot of users.
I think that Pageplus should drop the $40 unlimited talk and text plan
and keep Talk and Text 1200 at $30 and change "The 55" to "The 45" to
compete against MetroPCS and StraightTalk.
When the child-unit goes off to college in the fall I'm going to
probably have to see how much data she "needs." Since every university
appears to have campus-wide Wi-Fi, hopefully she won't need much data.
On 3/14/2012 11:12 AM, Todd Allcock wrote:
> Apologies to XS11E, who finds Page Plus off-topic (but who won't see this
> anyway since he now filters all posts containing Page Plus!)
And of course many of us have filtered all posts from
"xs11eNO@SPAMyahoo.com" so we wouldn't see how upset he is anyway!
On 3/14/12 4:33 PM, sms88 wrote:
> On 3/14/2012 11:12 AM, Todd Allcock wrote:
>
> <snip>
>
>> "We're very pleased to announce that effective immediately, the 1 GB of
>> data that has been running as a special promotion on The 55 plan will now
>> become a permanent plan change!
>
> While $55 a very good deal compared to the voice and text plus the $20
> 300MB data plan on Verizon or the $15 200MB data plan on AT&T, the real
> competition is the $45 unlimited everything plan on AT&T MVNO
> StraightTalk or the $40 unlimited plan on MetroPCS. While neither has as
> good coverage as Pageplus, StraightTalk is probably sufficient for most
> users, and they can always carry a Pageplus phone at $2.50/month for
> those areas where they need it. Yeah, "unlimited" really isn't unlimited
> on StraightTalk but it's at least 2GB. Plus you can use a jailbroken GSM
> iPhone on StraightTalk which is a big deal to a lot of users.
>
> I think that Pageplus should drop the $40 unlimited talk and text plan
> and keep Talk and Text 1200 at $30 and change "The 55" to "The 45" to
> compete against MetroPCS and StraightTalk.
>
> When the child-unit goes off to college in the fall I'm going to
> probably have to see how much data she "needs." Since every university
> appears to have campus-wide Wi-Fi, hopefully she won't need much data.
Straight Talk used to be strictly a VZW MVNO, then they started adding
some ATT phones. Over time, an incressing percentage of the phones they
offered moved to ATT. Have they now pulled the plug on VZW?
I was with ST for a year or so as a VZW user and was happy with them. I
switched to PP because I wasn't using anywhere near the 1000 minute
allowance for $30/month.
PP's pay as you go standard plans allow me to buy just as much time as I
need-- but I've started to use data now and sure would like to be able
to use data at a more reasonable rate that the 99 cents/mg they charge
on the standard plan.
--
You're all worthless and weak. Now drop and give me 20.
"Douglas C. Neidermeyer" <sgt@arms.omega.faber.edu> wrote in message
news:jjrbgm$3rs$1@news.albasani.net...
> On 3/14/12 4:33 PM, sms88 wrote:
>> On 3/14/2012 11:12 AM, Todd Allcock wrote:
>>
>> <snip>
>>
>>> "We're very pleased to announce that effective immediately, the 1 GB of
>>> data that has been running as a special promotion on The 55 plan will
>>> now
>>> become a permanent plan change!
>>
*snip*
>
> Straight Talk used to be strictly a VZW MVNO, then they started adding
> some ATT phones. Over time, an incressing percentage of the phones they
> offered moved to ATT. Have they now pulled the plug on VZW?
>
> I was with ST for a year or so as a VZW user and was happy with them. I
> switched to PP because I wasn't using anywhere near the 1000 minute
> allowance for $30/month.
>
> PP's pay as you go standard plans allow me to buy just as much time as I
> need-- but I've started to use data now and sure would like to be able to
> use data at a more reasonable rate that the 99 cents/mg they charge on the
> standard plan.
Best you can do is PP's "The 12," where you can get 10 (woo!) MB for $12
with $0.20/meg overage (along with 250/250 Min/Txt). 250/250/50 would cost
you $20.
I'm in exactly the same boat; but with judicious use of "ubiquitous WiFi"
(tm) I've never used more than a couple of MB on the standard plan in any
given month.
On 3/14/2012 5:01 PM, Douglas C. Neidermeyer wrote:
> Straight Talk used to be strictly a VZW MVNO, then they started adding
> some ATT phones. Over time, an incressing percentage of the phones they
> offered moved to ATT. Have they now pulled the plug on VZW?
I don't think so, but the smart phones they offer are not on VZW, and I
don't think they let users move VZW smart phones onto ST like PP does.
> Best you can do is PP's "The 12," where you can get 10 (woo!) MB for $12
> with $0.20/meg overage (along with 250/250 Min/Txt). 250/250/50 would cost
> you $20.
>
> I'm in exactly the same boat; but with judicious use of "ubiquitous WiFi"
> (tm) I've never used more than a couple of MB on the standard plan in any
> given month.
What you have to watch out for on Android phones is applications that
use 3G data surreptitiously for advertising, whenever you have 3G data
on. The best way to avoid this is to root your phone and install
droidwall <http://code.google.com/p/droidwall/>.
At 14 Mar 2012 13:15:06 -0700 sms88 wrote:
> On 3/14/2012 11:12 AM, Todd Allcock wrote:
>
> > "We're very pleased to announce that effective immediately, the 1 GB
of
> > data that has been running as a special promotion on The 55 plan will
now
> > become a permanent plan change!
>
> I was wondering how long it would take before they realized that the
> type of person that signs up with Pageplus is probably not the type of
> person that is enticed with temporary incentives.
I'd guess they were doing data collection/analysis; determining what the
"average" 1GB data customer actually used before committing to make it
permanent.
You'll note they raised the overage rate as well, probably to scare
casual users into a bigger plan then they need (which lowers average
usage) just like the big guys do.
"sms88" <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote in message
news:jjs96h$dq$2@dont-email.me...
> On 3/14/2012 8:09 PM, tycho wrote:
>
>> Best you can do is PP's "The 12," where you can get 10 (woo!) MB for $12
>> with $0.20/meg overage (along with 250/250 Min/Txt). 250/250/50 would
>> cost
>> you $20.
>>
>> I'm in exactly the same boat; but with judicious use of "ubiquitous WiFi"
>> (tm) I've never used more than a couple of MB on the standard plan in any
>> given month.
>
> What you have to watch out for on Android phones is applications that use
> 3G data surreptitiously for advertising, whenever you have 3G data on. The
> best way to avoid this is to root your phone and install droidwall
> <http://code.google.com/p/droidwall/>.
True. I've got a Pixi -- WebOS -- so I use the "Data toggle" app. A simple
on-off switch, not nearly as comprehensive as Droidwall, but no data is used
at all unless I turn it on via that app.
> I'm in exactly the same boat; but with judicious use of "ubiquitous WiFi"
> (tm) I've never used more than a couple of MB on the standard plan in any
> given month.
It's amazing to see the amount of free Wi-Fi out there, and increasing.
One really nice thing is entities with secure Wi-Fi adding a second
network for public use. I've seen this on a lot of college campuses that
we've visited lately. We visited University of Nevada and I asked the
tour guide about Wi-Fi and she told me to stop by the library and they'd
give me a free day pass, but many universities don't require this extra
step.
Last night we ate at a restaurant in Palo Alto, full of Google and
Facebook employees, and the restaurant had the Wi-Fi password on the
menu and painted on the wall. It's actually becoming rare to NOT have
Wi-Fi, and it's not limited to just techie areas.
At 14 Mar 2012 19:52:40 -0500 Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote:
> In article <jjqvak$on8$1@dont-email.me>,
> sms88 <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote:
>
> > When the child-unit goes off to college in the fall I'm going to
> > probably have to see how much data she "needs." Since every
university
> > appears to have campus-wide Wi-Fi, hopefully she won't need much data.
>
> Maybe Republic Wireless will be in full swing by then.
Republic is an interesting idea, but I don't think the $20/month price is
sustainable unless Republic reinstitutes usage caps when "roaming" on
cellular. When the beta is over, I expect to see either a price
increase, data caps, or both (tiered pricing depending on how much cell
data is used.)
Until Republic comes our of berta, a savvy user with a smartphone can
"roll his own" emulation of Republic with Google Voice, a VoIP app, and
Page Plus, or other prepaid cell service.
When I was stuck without T-Mo service for a week at home (a landlord
killed the electrical power to T-Mo's lone tower in my neighborhood
during a lease dispute!) I conditionally forwarded (forward only if
unanswered) my T-Mo number to a VoIP line and left WiFi running on my
phone so I could receive calls to my cell on either WiFi or cellular.
That was a little clunky (and battery burning!) a half-decade ago, but is
pretty trivial to set up today with an Android phone.
sms88 wrote on [Thu, 15 Mar 2012 08:59:00 -0700]:
> On 3/14/2012 8:09 PM, tycho wrote:
>
>> I'm in exactly the same boat; but with judicious use of "ubiquitous WiFi"
>> (tm) I've never used more than a couple of MB on the standard plan in any
>> given month.
>
> It's amazing to see the amount of free Wi-Fi out there, and increasing.
> One really nice thing is entities with secure Wi-Fi adding a second
> network for public use. I've seen this on a lot of college campuses that
> we've visited lately. We visited University of Nevada and I asked the
> tour guide about Wi-Fi and she told me to stop by the library and they'd
> give me a free day pass, but many universities don't require this extra
> step.
>
> Last night we ate at a restaurant in Palo Alto, full of Google and
> Facebook employees, and the restaurant had the Wi-Fi password on the
> menu and painted on the wall. It's actually becoming rare to NOT have
> Wi-Fi, and it's not limited to just techie areas.
"sms88" <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote in message
news:jjt3kd$7hd$1@dont-email.me...
> On 3/14/2012 8:09 PM, tycho wrote:
>
>> I'm in exactly the same boat; but with judicious use of "ubiquitous WiFi"
>> (tm) I've never used more than a couple of MB on the standard plan in any
>> given month.
>
> It's amazing to see the amount of free Wi-Fi out there, and increasing.
> One really nice thing is entities with secure Wi-Fi adding a second
> network for public use. I've seen this on a lot of college campuses that
> we've visited lately. We visited University of Nevada and I asked the tour
> guide about Wi-Fi and she told me to stop by the library and they'd give
> me a free day pass, but many universities don't require this extra step.
>
> Last night we ate at a restaurant in Palo Alto, full of Google and
> Facebook employees, and the restaurant had the Wi-Fi password on the menu
> and painted on the wall. It's actually becoming rare to NOT have Wi-Fi,
> and it's not limited to just techie areas.
I pretty much agree. I went skiing in Jackson Hole last week. The hotel
had free WiFi. The airport did not, but I was sitting at the gate outside a
snack shop that had PW protected WiFi and I wandered in, asked for the PW
and they gave it to me without an eyeblink. I came back to Chicago and
returned some DVDs at the library -- free WiFi. I came home and went to a
Potbelly for a sandwich for dinner -- free WiFi.
There are many, many places =without= free WiFi (O'Hare, annoyingly enough),
but otherwise I almost never turn on 3G.
"Justin" <nospam@insightbb.com> wrote in message
news:jjt5rt$k5p$1@dont-email.me...
> sms88 wrote on [Thu, 15 Mar 2012 08:59:00 -0700]:
>> On 3/14/2012 8:09 PM, tycho wrote:
>>
>>> I'm in exactly the same boat; but with judicious use of "ubiquitous
>>> WiFi"
>>> (tm) I've never used more than a couple of MB on the standard plan in
>>> any
>>> given month.
>>
>> It's amazing to see the amount of free Wi-Fi out there, and increasing.
>> One really nice thing is entities with secure Wi-Fi adding a second
>> network for public use. I've seen this on a lot of college campuses that
>> we've visited lately. We visited University of Nevada and I asked the
>> tour guide about Wi-Fi and she told me to stop by the library and they'd
>> give me a free day pass, but many universities don't require this extra
>> step.
>>
>> Last night we ate at a restaurant in Palo Alto, full of Google and
>> Facebook employees, and the restaurant had the Wi-Fi password on the
>> menu and painted on the wall. It's actually becoming rare to NOT have
>> Wi-Fi, and it's not limited to just techie areas.
>
> You're still in fairyland.
>
> Most places still do not have wifi
If you define "most places" by geographic area, I 100% totally agree. But
if you define it as "most places =I= tend to go" I don't necessarily agree.
It depends, of course, on where you live, travel and work.
I just went from a major metro area (Chicago) on a ski trip encompassing
several very small WY and ID towns (some trendy/touristy; some not at all),
and was able to access free WiFi in "most places" where I actually wanted to
connect.
Was I covered while I was skiing? Nope -- would have had to use 3G (but --
unlike so many other skiers -- didn't need to "check Facebook" while in the
middle of carving a beautiful mountain face full of snow). Was I covered
during the drives through the Teton Pass headed to Grand Targhee, or on the
way to Yellowstone? Nope. But I was content to look at the scenery, rather
than some tiny OLED screen. Was I, however, able to access free WiFi at
nearly every stop along the way, and at my destinations? Yup.
Never had 3G on for an entire week of Western U.S. travel, yet I was in
comfortable free wireless data contact for email, radar reports, blogging,
whatever, whenever I chose to do so. I read about 100 emails, and sent
perhaps half that. Browsed all my favorite websites every night.
My compromise: I didn't demand to be "connected" each and every second.
That's trained behavior. And if I actually did =need= to check email or the
web =THAT VERY SECOND= I could always turn data back on.
"Todd Allcock" <elecconnec@AnoOspamL.com> wrote in message
news:jjt4ep$cck$2@dont-email.me...
> *snip*
>
> Until Republic comes our of berta, a savvy user with a smartphone can
> "roll his own" emulation of Republic with Google Voice, a VoIP app, and
> Page Plus, or other prepaid cell service.
>
Doing that now with great success.
My total "landline (VoIP)" plus cell bill last month was $7.50 (for my
long-time landline DID, unlimited inbound, and good 911), plus $4.93 for
cell phone usage. $12.43.
To be fair, I also have to pay $24.95 for my 12/1 Mbps Internet service.
No longer have cable -- I use broadcast HD and a WDTV Live Plus -- so my
"quadruple play equivalent" costs me $37.38/mo.
tycho wrote on [Thu, 15 Mar 2012 12:22:59 -0500]:
>
> "Justin" <nospam@insightbb.com> wrote in message
> news:jjt5rt$k5p$1@dont-email.me...
>> sms88 wrote on [Thu, 15 Mar 2012 08:59:00 -0700]:
>>> On 3/14/2012 8:09 PM, tycho wrote:
>>>
>>>> I'm in exactly the same boat; but with judicious use of "ubiquitous
>>>> WiFi"
>>>> (tm) I've never used more than a couple of MB on the standard plan in
>>>> any
>>>> given month.
>>>
>>> It's amazing to see the amount of free Wi-Fi out there, and increasing.
>>> One really nice thing is entities with secure Wi-Fi adding a second
>>> network for public use. I've seen this on a lot of college campuses that
>>> we've visited lately. We visited University of Nevada and I asked the
>>> tour guide about Wi-Fi and she told me to stop by the library and they'd
>>> give me a free day pass, but many universities don't require this extra
>>> step.
>>>
>>> Last night we ate at a restaurant in Palo Alto, full of Google and
>>> Facebook employees, and the restaurant had the Wi-Fi password on the
>>> menu and painted on the wall. It's actually becoming rare to NOT have
>>> Wi-Fi, and it's not limited to just techie areas.
>>
>> You're still in fairyland.
>>
>> Most places still do not have wifi
>
> If you define "most places" by geographic area, I 100% totally agree. But
Or most places as buildings.
> My compromise: I didn't demand to be "connected" each and every second.
> That's trained behavior. And if I actually did =need= to check email or the
> web =THAT VERY SECOND= I could always turn data back on.
That's a difference, I don't WANT to be connected all the time but I NEED to be
that very second.
"Justin" <nospam@insightbb.com> wrote in message
news:jjtctm$v2h$1@dont-email.me...
> tycho wrote on [Thu, 15 Mar 2012 12:22:59 -0500]:
>>
>> "Justin" <nospam@insightbb.com> wrote in message
>> news:jjt5rt$k5p$1@dont-email.me...
>>> sms88 wrote on [Thu, 15 Mar 2012 08:59:00 -0700]:
>>>> On 3/14/2012 8:09 PM, tycho wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I'm in exactly the same boat; but with judicious use of "ubiquitous
>>>>> WiFi"
>>>>> (tm) I've never used more than a couple of MB on the standard plan in
>>>>> any
>>>>> given month.
>>>>
>>>> It's amazing to see the amount of free Wi-Fi out there, and increasing.
>>>> One really nice thing is entities with secure Wi-Fi adding a second
>>>> network for public use. I've seen this on a lot of college campuses
>>>> that
>>>> we've visited lately. We visited University of Nevada and I asked the
>>>> tour guide about Wi-Fi and she told me to stop by the library and
>>>> they'd
>>>> give me a free day pass, but many universities don't require this extra
>>>> step.
>>>>
>>>> Last night we ate at a restaurant in Palo Alto, full of Google and
>>>> Facebook employees, and the restaurant had the Wi-Fi password on the
>>>> menu and painted on the wall. It's actually becoming rare to NOT have
>>>> Wi-Fi, and it's not limited to just techie areas.
>>>
>>> You're still in fairyland.
>>>
>>> Most places still do not have wifi
>>
>> If you define "most places" by geographic area, I 100% totally agree.
>> But
>
> Or most places as buildings.
Sure.
But if you define it as "most buildings I need to be in, or find myself
near" you get a different answer depending on where you are.
As it turns out, during the trip that I discussed earlier in this thread,
"most" (i.e., a majority, =particularly= if defined by time-spent-in) of the
buildings that I found myself in had free WiFi.
>> My compromise: I didn't demand to be "connected" each and every second.
>> That's trained behavior. And if I actually did =need= to check email or
>> the
>> web =THAT VERY SECOND= I could always turn data back on.
>
> That's a difference, I don't WANT to be connected all the time but I NEED
> to be
> that very second.
Huge difference; agreed.
For my part, =I= don't at all NEED to be connected every second. Neither my
work nor my life-style require that now. Never did.
Even when working at very high level at a Fortune 500 Company, I trained my
President and CEO that, hey, sometimes I'm =just not available=. Such as,
when I'm scuba diving off boat in the middle of the Sea of Cortez where
there is a single emergency sat phone for all aboard. Live with it. I was
valuable enough that they accepted my terms, I guess...
If I did need to be connected every second, I'd turn on 3G. But I'm lucky
that such is not the case.
Our different needs define our very different outlooks regarding the
availability of WiFi.
"Justin" <nospam@insightbb.com> wrote in message
news:jjt5rt$k5p$1@dont-email.me...
> sms88 wrote on [Thu, 15 Mar 2012 08:59:00 -0700]:
>> On 3/14/2012 8:09 PM, tycho wrote:
>>
>>> I'm in exactly the same boat; but with judicious use of "ubiquitous
>>> WiFi"
>>> (tm) I've never used more than a couple of MB on the standard plan in
>>> any
>>> given month.
>>
>> It's amazing to see the amount of free Wi-Fi out there, and increasing.
>> One really nice thing is entities with secure Wi-Fi adding a second
>> network for public use. I've seen this on a lot of college campuses that
>> we've visited lately. We visited University of Nevada and I asked the
>> tour guide about Wi-Fi and she told me to stop by the library and they'd
>> give me a free day pass, but many universities don't require this extra
>> step.
>>
>> Last night we ate at a restaurant in Palo Alto, full of Google and
>> Facebook employees, and the restaurant had the Wi-Fi password on the
>> menu and painted on the wall. It's actually becoming rare to NOT have
>> Wi-Fi, and it's not limited to just techie areas.
>
> You're still in fairyland.
>
> Most places still do not have wifi
Even Mayberry (Mount Olive) NC (recall Andy Griffin) has wifi, in fact it's
city wide and it's free.
Does the include 'everywhere'? No but enough everywhere to satisfy my needs.
NotMe wrote on [Thu, 15 Mar 2012 13:57:58 -0500]:
>
> "Justin" <nospam@insightbb.com> wrote in message
> news:jjt5rt$k5p$1@dont-email.me...
>> sms88 wrote on [Thu, 15 Mar 2012 08:59:00 -0700]:
>>> On 3/14/2012 8:09 PM, tycho wrote:
>>>
>>>> I'm in exactly the same boat; but with judicious use of "ubiquitous
>>>> WiFi"
>>>> (tm) I've never used more than a couple of MB on the standard plan in
>>>> any
>>>> given month.
>>>
>>> It's amazing to see the amount of free Wi-Fi out there, and increasing.
>>> One really nice thing is entities with secure Wi-Fi adding a second
>>> network for public use. I've seen this on a lot of college campuses that
>>> we've visited lately. We visited University of Nevada and I asked the
>>> tour guide about Wi-Fi and she told me to stop by the library and they'd
>>> give me a free day pass, but many universities don't require this extra
>>> step.
>>>
>>> Last night we ate at a restaurant in Palo Alto, full of Google and
>>> Facebook employees, and the restaurant had the Wi-Fi password on the
>>> menu and painted on the wall. It's actually becoming rare to NOT have
>>> Wi-Fi, and it's not limited to just techie areas.
>>
>> You're still in fairyland.
>>
>> Most places still do not have wifi
>
> Even Mayberry (Mount Olive) NC (recall Andy Griffin) has wifi, in fact it's
> city wide and it's free.
> Even Mayberry (Mount Olive) NC (recall Andy Griffin) has wifi, in fact it's
> city wide and it's free.
>
> Does the include 'everywhere'? No but enough everywhere to satisfy my needs.
While most places have Wi-Fi, for the places that don't that's where you
use 3G.
I'm at the Salesforce.com show in San Francisco today. Free Wi-Fi? You'd
be hard pressed to find a trade show where Wi-Fi _isn't_ available.
"Justin" <nospam@insightbb.com> wrote in message
news:jjtejd$9ef$1@dont-email.me...
> NotMe wrote on [Thu, 15 Mar 2012 13:57:58 -0500]:
>>
>> "Justin" <nospam@insightbb.com> wrote in message
>> news:jjt5rt$k5p$1@dont-email.me...
>>> sms88 wrote on [Thu, 15 Mar 2012 08:59:00 -0700]:
>>>> On 3/14/2012 8:09 PM, tycho wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I'm in exactly the same boat; but with judicious use of "ubiquitous
>>>>> WiFi"
>>>>> (tm) I've never used more than a couple of MB on the standard plan in
>>>>> any
>>>>> given month.
>>>>
>>>> It's amazing to see the amount of free Wi-Fi out there, and increasing.
>>>> One really nice thing is entities with secure Wi-Fi adding a second
>>>> network for public use. I've seen this on a lot of college campuses
>>>> that
>>>> we've visited lately. We visited University of Nevada and I asked the
>>>> tour guide about Wi-Fi and she told me to stop by the library and
>>>> they'd
>>>> give me a free day pass, but many universities don't require this extra
>>>> step.
>>>>
>>>> Last night we ate at a restaurant in Palo Alto, full of Google and
>>>> Facebook employees, and the restaurant had the Wi-Fi password on the
>>>> menu and painted on the wall. It's actually becoming rare to NOT have
>>>> Wi-Fi, and it's not limited to just techie areas.
>>>
>>> You're still in fairyland.
>>>
>>> Most places still do not have wifi
>>
>> Even Mayberry (Mount Olive) NC (recall Andy Griffin) has wifi, in fact
>> it's
>> city wide and it's free.
>
> Very few places have town or city wide wifi
The point was that wifi is a lot more common than the post suggested.
On 3/15/12 11:47 AM, tycho wrote:
> "sms88"<scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote in message
> news:jjs96h$dq$2@dont-email.me...
>> On 3/14/2012 8:09 PM, tycho wrote:
>>
>>> Best you can do is PP's "The 12," where you can get 10 (woo!) MB for $12
>>> with $0.20/meg overage (along with 250/250 Min/Txt). 250/250/50 would
>>> cost
>>> you $20.
>>>
>>> I'm in exactly the same boat; but with judicious use of "ubiquitous WiFi"
>>> (tm) I've never used more than a couple of MB on the standard plan in any
>>> given month.
>>
>> What you have to watch out for on Android phones is applications that use
>> 3G data surreptitiously for advertising, whenever you have 3G data on. The
>> best way to avoid this is to root your phone and install droidwall
>> <http://code.google.com/p/droidwall/>.
>
> True. I've got a Pixi -- WebOS -- so I use the "Data toggle" app. A simple
> on-off switch, not nearly as comprehensive as Droidwall, but no data is used
> at all unless I turn it on via that app.
>
>
Is Data Toggle the exact name of the app? I couldn't find it or anything
close in the app catalog.
NotMe wrote on [Thu, 15 Mar 2012 15:55:10 -0500]:
>
> "Justin" <nospam@insightbb.com> wrote in message
> news:jjtejd$9ef$1@dont-email.me...
>> NotMe wrote on [Thu, 15 Mar 2012 13:57:58 -0500]:
>>>
>>> "Justin" <nospam@insightbb.com> wrote in message
>>> news:jjt5rt$k5p$1@dont-email.me...
>>>> sms88 wrote on [Thu, 15 Mar 2012 08:59:00 -0700]:
>>>>> On 3/14/2012 8:09 PM, tycho wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> I'm in exactly the same boat; but with judicious use of "ubiquitous
>>>>>> WiFi"
>>>>>> (tm) I've never used more than a couple of MB on the standard plan in
>>>>>> any
>>>>>> given month.
>>>>>
>>>>> It's amazing to see the amount of free Wi-Fi out there, and increasing.
>>>>> One really nice thing is entities with secure Wi-Fi adding a second
>>>>> network for public use. I've seen this on a lot of college campuses
>>>>> that
>>>>> we've visited lately. We visited University of Nevada and I asked the
>>>>> tour guide about Wi-Fi and she told me to stop by the library and
>>>>> they'd
>>>>> give me a free day pass, but many universities don't require this extra
>>>>> step.
>>>>>
>>>>> Last night we ate at a restaurant in Palo Alto, full of Google and
>>>>> Facebook employees, and the restaurant had the Wi-Fi password on the
>>>>> menu and painted on the wall. It's actually becoming rare to NOT have
>>>>> Wi-Fi, and it's not limited to just techie areas.
>>>>
>>>> You're still in fairyland.
>>>>
>>>> Most places still do not have wifi
>>>
>>> Even Mayberry (Mount Olive) NC (recall Andy Griffin) has wifi, in fact
>>> it's
>>> city wide and it's free.
>>
>> Very few places have town or city wide wifi
>
> The point was that wifi is a lot more common than the post suggested.
SMS wrote on [Thu, 15 Mar 2012 13:25:13 -0700]:
> On 3/15/2012 11:57 AM, NotMe wrote:
>
>> Even Mayberry (Mount Olive) NC (recall Andy Griffin) has wifi, in fact it's
>> city wide and it's free.
>>
>> Does the include 'everywhere'? No but enough everywhere to satisfy my needs.
>
> While most places have Wi-Fi, for the places that don't that's where you
> use 3G.
>
> I'm at the Salesforce.com show in San Francisco today. Free Wi-Fi? You'd
> be hard pressed to find a trade show where Wi-Fi _isn't_ available.
Good luck using the wifi at a trade show.
There are often problems with the 3g connections at trade shows
On Thu, 15 Mar 2012 15:55:10 -0500, "NotMe" <me@privacy.net> wrote:
>
>"Justin" <nospam@insightbb.com> wrote in message
>news:jjtejd$9ef$1@dont-email.me...
>> NotMe wrote on [Thu, 15 Mar 2012 13:57:58 -0500]:
>>>
>>> "Justin" <nospam@insightbb.com> wrote in message
>>> news:jjt5rt$k5p$1@dont-email.me...
>>>> sms88 wrote on [Thu, 15 Mar 2012 08:59:00 -0700]:
>>>>> On 3/14/2012 8:09 PM, tycho wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> I'm in exactly the same boat; but with judicious use of "ubiquitous
>>>>>> WiFi"
>>>>>> (tm) I've never used more than a couple of MB on the standard plan in
>>>>>> any
>>>>>> given month.
>>>>>
>>>>> It's amazing to see the amount of free Wi-Fi out there, and increasing.
>>>>> One really nice thing is entities with secure Wi-Fi adding a second
>>>>> network for public use. I've seen this on a lot of college campuses
>>>>> that
>>>>> we've visited lately. We visited University of Nevada and I asked the
>>>>> tour guide about Wi-Fi and she told me to stop by the library and
>>>>> they'd
>>>>> give me a free day pass, but many universities don't require this extra
>>>>> step.
>>>>>
>>>>> Last night we ate at a restaurant in Palo Alto, full of Google and
>>>>> Facebook employees, and the restaurant had the Wi-Fi password on the
>>>>> menu and painted on the wall. It's actually becoming rare to NOT have
>>>>> Wi-Fi, and it's not limited to just techie areas.
>>>>
>>>> You're still in fairyland.
>>>>
>>>> Most places still do not have wifi
>>>
>>> Even Mayberry (Mount Olive) NC (recall Andy Griffin) has wifi, in fact
>>> it's
>>> city wide and it's free.
>>
>> Very few places have town or city wide wifi
>
>The point was that wifi is a lot more common than the post suggested.
>
Not really. I live in San Diego and open wifi access is hard to come
by.
"Justin" <nospam@insightbb.com> wrote in message
news:jjtvjs$a29$1@dont-email.me...
> NotMe wrote on [Thu, 15 Mar 2012 15:55:10 -0500]:
>>
>> "Justin" <nospam@insightbb.com> wrote in message
>> news:jjtejd$9ef$1@dont-email.me...
>>> NotMe wrote on [Thu, 15 Mar 2012 13:57:58 -0500]:
>>>>
>>>> "Justin" <nospam@insightbb.com> wrote in message
>>>> news:jjt5rt$k5p$1@dont-email.me...
>>>>> sms88 wrote on [Thu, 15 Mar 2012 08:59:00 -0700]:
>>>>>> On 3/14/2012 8:09 PM, tycho wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I'm in exactly the same boat; but with judicious use of "ubiquitous
>>>>>>> WiFi"
>>>>>>> (tm) I've never used more than a couple of MB on the standard plan
>>>>>>> in
>>>>>>> any
>>>>>>> given month.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> It's amazing to see the amount of free Wi-Fi out there, and
>>>>>> increasing.
>>>>>> One really nice thing is entities with secure Wi-Fi adding a second
>>>>>> network for public use. I've seen this on a lot of college campuses
>>>>>> that
>>>>>> we've visited lately. We visited University of Nevada and I asked the
>>>>>> tour guide about Wi-Fi and she told me to stop by the library and
>>>>>> they'd
>>>>>> give me a free day pass, but many universities don't require this
>>>>>> extra
>>>>>> step.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Last night we ate at a restaurant in Palo Alto, full of Google and
>>>>>> Facebook employees, and the restaurant had the Wi-Fi password on the
>>>>>> menu and painted on the wall. It's actually becoming rare to NOT have
>>>>>> Wi-Fi, and it's not limited to just techie areas.
>>>>>
>>>>> You're still in fairyland.
>>>>>
>>>>> Most places still do not have wifi
>>>>
>>>> Even Mayberry (Mount Olive) NC (recall Andy Griffin) has wifi, in fact
>>>> it's
>>>> city wide and it's free.
>>>
>>> Very few places have town or city wide wifi
>>
>> The point was that wifi is a lot more common than the post suggested.
>
> Why? Most places do not have wifi.
The reality *may* be that most don't have wifi but enough do to meet the
general need.
We travel extensively by RV to some way out of the way places and with few
exception have been able to find accessible wifi almost everywhere.
In our retirement my wife manages her graphic design studios and I my
engineering consultant business. And no it's not everywhere but sufficiently
ubiquitous as to meet all our needs.
To be crude clean wifi is almost as available as public rest rooms.
<nobody@nada.com> wrote in message
news:9f15m7139841gv0csrmh5mppgcgog23efj@4ax.com...
> On Thu, 15 Mar 2012 15:55:10 -0500, "NotMe" <me@privacy.net> wrote:
>
>>
>>"Justin" <nospam@insightbb.com> wrote in message
>>news:jjtejd$9ef$1@dont-email.me...
>>> NotMe wrote on [Thu, 15 Mar 2012 13:57:58 -0500]:
>>>>
>>>> "Justin" <nospam@insightbb.com> wrote in message
>>>> news:jjt5rt$k5p$1@dont-email.me...
>>>>> sms88 wrote on [Thu, 15 Mar 2012 08:59:00 -0700]:
>>>>>> On 3/14/2012 8:09 PM, tycho wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I'm in exactly the same boat; but with judicious use of "ubiquitous
>>>>>>> WiFi"
>>>>>>> (tm) I've never used more than a couple of MB on the standard plan
>>>>>>> in
>>>>>>> any
>>>>>>> given month.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> It's amazing to see the amount of free Wi-Fi out there, and
>>>>>> increasing.
>>>>>> One really nice thing is entities with secure Wi-Fi adding a second
>>>>>> network for public use. I've seen this on a lot of college campuses
>>>>>> that
>>>>>> we've visited lately. We visited University of Nevada and I asked the
>>>>>> tour guide about Wi-Fi and she told me to stop by the library and
>>>>>> they'd
>>>>>> give me a free day pass, but many universities don't require this
>>>>>> extra
>>>>>> step.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Last night we ate at a restaurant in Palo Alto, full of Google and
>>>>>> Facebook employees, and the restaurant had the Wi-Fi password on the
>>>>>> menu and painted on the wall. It's actually becoming rare to NOT have
>>>>>> Wi-Fi, and it's not limited to just techie areas.
>>>>>
>>>>> You're still in fairyland.
>>>>>
>>>>> Most places still do not have wifi
>>>>
>>>> Even Mayberry (Mount Olive) NC (recall Andy Griffin) has wifi, in fact
>>>> it's
>>>> city wide and it's free.
>>>
>>> Very few places have town or city wide wifi
>>
>>The point was that wifi is a lot more common than the post suggested.
>
>
> Not really. I live in San Diego and open wifi access is hard to come
> by.
Haven't been to SD in years so I can't comment on that availability. As I
said in a previous post my wife and I are retied and travel extensively by
RV and while we do have the option of one or more of the wireless data plans
we find we can do 99.9% of what we need via public wifi all over the
country.
Some states (Texas comes to mind) you can be literally miles from the west
side of nowhere and pull into a rest stop and have full access to the
internet.
"Douglas C. Neidermeyer" <sgt@arms.omega.faber.edu> wrote in message
news:jjtv5e$1nq$1@news.albasani.net...
> On 3/15/12 11:47 AM, tycho wrote:
>> "sms88"<scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote in message
>> news:jjs96h$dq$2@dont-email.me...
>>> On 3/14/2012 8:09 PM, tycho wrote:
>>>
>>>> Best you can do is PP's "The 12," where you can get 10 (woo!) MB for
>>>> $12
>>>> with $0.20/meg overage (along with 250/250 Min/Txt). 250/250/50 would
>>>> cost
>>>> you $20.
>>>>
>>>> I'm in exactly the same boat; but with judicious use of "ubiquitous
>>>> WiFi"
>>>> (tm) I've never used more than a couple of MB on the standard plan in
>>>> any
>>>> given month.
>>>
>>> What you have to watch out for on Android phones is applications that
>>> use
>>> 3G data surreptitiously for advertising, whenever you have 3G data on.
>>> The
>>> best way to avoid this is to root your phone and install droidwall
>>> <http://code.google.com/p/droidwall/>.
>>
>> True. I've got a Pixi -- WebOS -- so I use the "Data toggle" app. A
>> simple
>> on-off switch, not nearly as comprehensive as Droidwall, but no data is
>> used
>> at all unless I turn it on via that app.
>>
> Is Data Toggle the exact name of the app? I couldn't find it or anything
> close in the app catalog.
Data Toggle is the exact name of the app.
It's available on the "alternative" catalog: "PreWare", not the Palm
catalog.
"Preware is a homebrew package management application for your HP webOS
device. Users can install any package from any of the open standard package
feeds on preware.org (or any other location that hosts an open standard
package feed).
Preware is the most advanced installer currently available - it is the only
on-device installer that can install applications, themes, and patches, as
well as give access to over 1600 Linux programs."
(I did this all a while ago and no longer remenber the install details. I
think I had to load something from my PC to the Pixi via a USB cable. But
Once that was done, the Preware catalog works great. I've never had the
slightest problem, and have loaded countless tweaky apps, increased my
default processor speed and added an app that down-clocks when unused --
saving tons of battery power; stuff like that.)
> We travel extensively by RV to some way out of the way places and with few
> exception have been able to find accessible wifi almost everywhere.
>
> In our retirement my wife manages her graphic design studios and I my
> engineering consultant business. And no it's not everywhere but sufficiently
> ubiquitous as to meet all our needs.
>
> To be crude clean wifi is almost as available as public rest rooms.
But more available than clean public rest rooms.
It's rarely necessary to seek out free Wi-Fi, it seeks you out. We were
out at Bryce Canyon National Park in Arizona a few weeks ago. Stopped in
the visitor center for a few minutes. The Park Service provides free
Wi-Fi (how nice to have some of your tax money going to things people
actually will use!). Further out in the park there was no coverage at
all, so it's not like 3G/4G does you much good out there anyway.
The premise of Republic Wireless <http://republicwireless.com/> is good,
and I hope it works out for them--offer a phone that uses Wi-Fi when
available, 3G at other times (though it's Sprint 3G so it's of limited use).
One thing with all that free Wi-Fi is that it's a good idea to have VPN
provider for security. My ISP provides free VPN termination and I use it
extensively.
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