Data Plan Required

[bkrodgers]

Originally Posted by Darkjedi

My biggest worry is that when the WM6.5 phones die out, what will be there to replace them for us SERO customers? We can't go android or palm because they almost all 'exclusives' and therefore require the special everything data plan. We are stuck with WM, but will WM7 follow the way of android and require the everything data plan as well?

I'm pretty sure WP7 will not be allowed on SERO. Nothing will replace it for SERO customers. Sprint is actively trying to get people off SERO, and they're perfectly within their rights to do so. I say that as a SERO customer myself. The plan was discontinued a long time ago, and the simple truth is that you'll have to eventually decide whether you want the latest and greatest phone, or if you want to keep an ultra cheap plan and older or less exciting phone.

Yes, I'd love to keep SERO, but it's basically part of the price of upgrading to a newer phone. Honestly, I was pleasantly surprised they allowed the TP2 on SERO.

[Drew212]

Originally Posted by sprintgirl

u would be crazy not to have a data plan...and if u used data without the plan u would b lookn at outrageous bills... Having a TP2 without data is like flinstoning a porsche. why have amazing capabilities and not use them. say what?!

I would like someone to please explain these features for me, as I am a software engineer and don't see a single feature that 'requires' a data plan or that isn't reprogrammable to work exclusively with wifi. Features are all software. In the phone, there is not a damn thing in the hardware that requires a data plan, and that's what pisses me off.

[nrfitchett4]

Originally Posted by dtrush

I used to get text messages at the $.02 rate to receive e-mail snippets and that was fine for me. When they jacked up the price it forced people into spending at least $5 per month for a few hundred text messages if you occasionally used the service. More revenue for the cell companies!

This data $hit is really annoying because a lot of us would rather use the Wi-Fi connection in our phones as it's almost free and a lot faster. Plus, some of us would rather use a real computer anyways to surf the internet. Paying $30 that won't be fully used is a waste! I guess that's why my occasional data use on Page Plus 20MB data is just perfect.

my wifi at work is slower than my sprint 3g evdo. but i see your point. i think that if you got the companies to do away with mandatory data plans, you'd see the phone subsidies go away as well.

by the way, I thought sprint did away with SERO (for new customers)?

[nrfitchett4]

Originally Posted by Drew212

I would like someone to please explain these features for me, as I am a software engineer and don't see a single feature that 'requires' a data plan or that isn't reprogrammable to work exclusively with wifi. Features are all software. In the phone, there is not a damn thing in the hardware that requires a data plan, and that's what pisses me off.

than get a feature phone and no data plan. no one is making you get a tp2. And aren't a lot of places getting away from free WIFI? I know starbucks did.

can't a software engineer afford a data plan?

[Drew212]

It's not the fact of affordability but principle. I'm not going to spend $30 every month just because I can, I'm not going to squander my money. Also, a software engineer furthering his education while raising children is a poor man.

What feature phone includes a full qwerty slide-out keyboard on par with the TP2, and also includes windows mobile, an gravity sensor/acceleromer and all the other various hardware bonuses? I have owned a touch for 3 years now, and have been on windows mobile operating system for over 5 years. It would be rather nice if I could keep all, or at least most of the applications I have coded for my mobile device that I still use frequently.

[frazell]

Originally Posted by nrfitchett4

than get a feature phone and no data plan. no one is making you get a tp2. And aren't a lot of places getting away from free WIFI? I know starbucks did.

can't a software engineer afford a data plan?

Why would he need to get a feature phone? The Touch Pro 2, as well as both its Touch Pro 1 and Mogul predecessors, ships with a WiFi card in it. I would assume that HTC put this card into the device because some consumers find that to be a valuable feature. Otherwise they could save the money on it and increase their profits...

There is no requirement in Windows Mobile currently for a data plan. You can either disable it on the phone in Phone options or (if it isn't an option there) use one of the ton of "no-data" apps to prevent any app from starting a data connection. Ensuring the phone doesn't get you charged any data fees, ever.

You can't dictate to him that he'll ever need cell powered data services or enough for him to justify paying for it. For all I know, and you as well, he spends the majority of his time on a college campus, at work, and at home. All of which have WiFi connectivity he can make use of. Making his device just as data connected as if he had 3G, without the cost.

Also, I'm not sure why you presume that he should be buying a data plan just because he should be "well off enough". That comment only makes sense when coming from a person who has no concept of proper management of his/her finances...

Hopefully this quote helps you understand my last point...

"Becoming wealthy is not a matter of how much you earn, who your parents are, or what you do.. it is a matter of managing your money properly." - Noel Whittaker

If that didn't get my point across I think this news story will do a better job. It is about a local man who never made more than $11/h in his life and he made multi-million dollar donations to schools in the area.

Only a poor man and a fool wastes his money on things he doesn't need...

The carriers are all doing this for reasons that aren't all that surprising. The people who really (and I mean lots of it) use data on their phones are a very small minority. But they put a lot of strain on the networks and carriers have to make huge investments to keep them chugging along. Mainly because the press constantly talks about their speed and reliability.

As a result, they feel they can keep themselves profitable and make the investments by forcibly spreading the cost. They want to ensure that 100% of the customers are covered so they can have enough to power the 5% and ensure they still get their lovely 40%+ profit margins...

[slimgoodie_5]

Well i can only use the wi-fi when i am in certain areas but at work i cant use it. i think it is a good idea to check and see if you can get a discount through your job which saves some money.

[CoryNat]

Just talked to ES Weds. about this. Wanted to upgrade the wife's phone. They told me that the TP2 is the last PDA that will be allowed without an Everything Plan. Currently, the 3 WinMo phones they offer can be activated, but no new phones will be allowed without a plan change. Of course, this is now. If they keep losing subscribers, things may change. No wiggle room from anyone I talked to right now though.

[WBFAir]

Originally Posted by Drew212

It's not the fact of affordability but principle. I'm not going to spend $30 every month just because I can, I'm not going to squander my money. Also, a software engineer furthering his education while raising children is a poor man.

What feature phone includes a full qwerty slide-out keyboard on par with the TP2, and also includes windows mobile, an gravity sensor/acceleromer and all the other various hardware bonuses? I have owned a touch for 3 years now, and have been on windows mobile operating system for over 5 years. It would be rather nice if I could keep all, or at least most of the applications I have coded for my mobile device that I still use frequently.

I'm total with you on this Drew and believe you me I have had some pretty testy online arguments over this for quite some time now and trust me you are not alone in your feelings about this either and as far as I am concerned you are totally right.

First of all just to settle this, there is absolutely no “technical” need to have a data connection, all the data connection is, is a means to connect to the internet essentially and this can be done just the same with WiFi if you have it so to be forced to pay extra for this if that is not your choice with them saying you have to have it or the device is useless, is just ludicrous.

Yes, if you don’t have a WiFi connection you can’t connect so for those who need 24/7/365 access and have absolutely no way to get to any WiFi during the day I guess you can say it is needed if that is the access you need, but for anyone for whom any of that is not the case, you don’t.

What I really love the most too is how if you shop for the FIOS service how much they will tout that it includes WiFi access and even though they call it free we all know its not.

So what you’re telling me is you want me to be so happy I have this WiFi that is supposed to be a free extra if I get FIOS but then when I buy something from you that can actually use that, you tell me I have to pay $30.00 a month extra for a data connection???

Explain that one to me.

Also and you seem to already get this but don’t buy into the ones who say, without data connection a TP2 is useless and just a dumb phone anyway, so you really are not being forced to get it as if you want it this way you're just as better off as getting a dumb phone and it would be the same, so just get one of those and you don't have to pay for a data connection, as nothing could be further from the truth, but it sounds like you already know that, just as any intelligent person would.

Also don’t buy into the, its too hard to shut of the data connection as all it takes is one changing of two registry settings from 1 to 0 on a factory TP2 with 6.1 and your done, as well there is even a simple little program called “No Data” that will give you a simple user interface for the same thing if you don’t feel comfortable with Reg changes.

I will add that for the 6.5 WM upgrade whether from Verizon or any of the cookers here this does not stick as easily but I believe it can still be done.

The thing is, the shut off via the reg hack still works just the same but unfortunately in anything above 6.1 it resets to back to on (or 1) every time the phone is shut off an on so its not that is doesn’t work but its just that there is stuff in the update that resets a lot of reg changed settings on a restart so its really more that it just doesn't stick, but as I mentioned, I believe there are those that have figured out what does this an how shut it off but as I have stayed with 6.1 I can’t fully comment on that.

At any rate having said all this I really must tell you to look into the Page Plus company that was recommended earlier here as that is what I have done and I too thought it might be a bit hooky as it seemed to good to be true, but I have tested it on my TP2 and it works flawlessly.

As well you don’t even have to go with the $39.99 plan as they also have a $29.99 a month plan called Talk & Text 1200 that gives you 1200 min talk, 1200 min text and 50mb of data instead of 20.

So if that is enough for you I guaranty if you go with them, you will be happy.

As the previous poster said they “are” on the Verizon network so what ever coverage you get with Verizon now you will get with Page Plus.

Of course if you’ve never uses a pre-paid service before there are differences for any of them which basically just boil down to less bells & whistles (even Verizons pre-paid) so I certainly would recommend you check it out thoroughly to be sure that it will all work for you but for me when I did, I found that it more then satisfied all my needs and that virtually nothing of what I did loose was of any issue.

About the only thing I felt that was, was that once you switch over you basically loose the Verizon warranty service or ability to walk into any Verizon store and get service but you still have the warranty with HTC though so its not like your entirely out in the cold.

I guess I would have to say that it kinda sucks to loose the new every two year thing too but as I plan to keep this thing for a long time and basically mathed out that I would be saving over $750.00 over that two years with PP, I felt I was OK with that.

One last thing I might add is that as I never have even learned about texting I can’t comment on that fully but I believe it is just as functional. I can guaranty you though that the data connection works flawlessly and I didn't have to make a single change to the Verizon data settings on my TP2 either.

Basically what I have done is I leave my data connection off and I have found the hack that keeps the WiFi on 24/7 even in suspend (another painless one btw), so as I go about my day between the free WiFi I have found, and my own WiFi from my cable provider, the phone polls those and I get all I need. Then if I ever am in a place that I need to connect but I don't have WiFi, I simply use the NoData program and activate my data connection and get what I need, then switch it back off, and have found that the 50mb of data I have with PP is way more then enough to handle this.

An $29.99 per month is all I pay for this.

And btw that is it, there is no extra fees or taxes.

Also btw here is a link to the best Forum I have found for them: http://www.howardforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=364 which I used to ask a lot of questions before I went with them and found everyone there to be very helpful.

So check it out as I think this maybe right up your ally and if there is anything else I can do to help, don’t hesitate to ask.

Hope that helps.

[sprintgirl]

Originally Posted by nrfitchett4

than get a feature phone and no data plan. no one is making you get a tp2. And aren't a lot of places getting away from free WIFI? I know starbucks did.

can't a software engineer afford a data plan?

lol thats what i was thinking... how cheap are you that you have to use free wifi. most of the reasonably priced plans already include data anyway... thats like saying can i buy these shoes without the shoelaces?