Data Plan Required

[WBFAir]

Originally Posted by p-slim

Since you put it like that then i'm going to explain myself in a little more detail. People purchase smartphones to browse the web at will, receive emails instantly, download and run apps, and lastly to talk and text (otherwise they could just buy any regular phone.) If you only want to check around hotspots then like i said earlier this is in no means what a smartphone is needed for or was even created for. I have an android and i've downloaded about 30 apps, of those 30 apps at least 23 of them use data. You need to realize why and what a smartphone was created for and it should be simple why sprint, att, and verizon require data plans. Correct sprint let winmo phones slide thru because this is a dying os, but wp7 you can gurantee a simply everything plan will be required. There is no way i can force you to understand but you might as well accept it because the companies are making the correct decision. Evaluate if you need a smartphone then decide if its the purchase you want, like someone stated above no one is forcing you to buy the phone.

As I think it can be obtained if you read my post so I didn’t spell it out this way, I'm not trying to argue that there shouldn’t even be a data connection or that there aren’t plenty of people out there such as you for whom a data connection is right for.

My points are simple:

1: A carrier supplied data connection over free WiFi is not “technically” or more better put “mechanically” needed for a very large amount of people to get a tremendous amount of usage from a device such as the TP2.

2: For those that it is necessary for, yes a data connection is great but that this should be a optional thing not a mandatory thing and to force it on those for whom it is not needed is wrong.

Simply put the bottom line is, make it an optional not a mandatory thing which is entirely possible to do without issue and let the customer decide what they want based on there needs.

[Drew212]

Originally Posted by p-slim

I have an android and i've downloaded about 30 apps, of those 30 apps at least 23 of them use data.

First, this is a windows mobile phone, not android, and there is little I can't get around, or port over to another app that would require me to use a data plan. Even with the program running in the background i have access to T1 wireless internet everywhere except when I'm home, which seems like its 30X faster from what I have seen in 3G.

[p-slim]

Originally Posted by Drew212

First, this is a windows mobile phone, not android, and there is little I can't get around, or port over to another app that would require me to use a data plan. Even with the program running in the background i have access to T1 wireless internet everywhere except when I'm home, which seems like its 30X faster from what I have seen in 3G.

i brought up android because technically with sprint you don't need a data plan to have a tp2 on your account, only androids and palms require a data plan. 2nd you are making my point, people dont buy smartphones, better yet let me rephrase that, smartphones weren't created so people could use them at home techinically, smartphones were created for on the go use. if i'm at home i would rather use my computer with full capabilities then my smartphone. Now i understand you may not but just because you won't thats not the reason smartphones were created.

[WBFAir]

Originally Posted by p-slim

i brought up android because technically with sprint you don't need a data plan to have a tp2 on your account, only androids require a data plan. 2nd you are making my point, people dont buy smartphones, better yet let me rephrase that, smartphones weren't created so people could use them at home, smartphones were created for on the go use. if i'm at home i would rather use my computer with full capabilities then my smartphone. Now i understand you may not but just because you won't thats not the reason smartphones were created.

Just to point out p-slim, a smartphone is not solely a smartphone because it is a phone that can go on the internet alone.

I use the GPS, I can use text, I can use the camera an take videos, an in particular to the TP2 I have one of the largest and highest resolutions screen you can get for all that in a pocket size device as well as not even to touch on the computer aspects of the WM 6.1 OS system to run a tremendous amount of things that don't even begin to use data that are just to many to list, I can also listen to as much music as my 16 gig card can hold and I could go on an on like this

A "smartphone" today at least and will continue to be even more so in the future is a device that is a phone and a PDA and so much much more.

So why should anyone be force to have to leave all that behind unless they pay a extra $750.00 over two years for only one aspect of that?

Especially if they have virtually no use for what that one thing is out of all of that.

Simple put this is ransom money that the providers are forcing us to pay that they know we will pay just so we can get all that and that is just wrong.

[p-slim]

Originally Posted by WBFAir

Just to point out p-slim, a smartphone is not solely a smartphone because it is a phone that can go on the internet alone.

I use the GPS, I can use text, I can use the camera an take videos, an in particular to the TP2 I have one of the larges and hiest resolutions for all that in a pocket size device as well as not even to touch on the computer aspects of the WM 6.1 system to run a tremendous amount of things that don't even begin to use data that are just to many to list, I can also listen to as music as my 16 gig card can hold and could go on a an on like this

A smartphone today at least and will continue to be even more so in the future is a device that is a phone and a PDA and so much much more.

So why should anyone be force to have to leave all that behind unless they pay a extra $750.00 over two years for only one aspect of that?

Especially if they have virtually no use for what that one thing out of all of that, that this $750.00 is paying for.

a regular phone can do alot of those things as well. Like i was saying you have to decide if you need a smartphone. What seperates a smartphone from a dumbphone is mainly email, web browsing, and data sensitive mobile applications (ie. instant messaging programs, slingbox, etc..). You can listen to music on any phone nowadays, most phones have an micro sd slot somewhere. if you're thinking about purchasing a smartphone just because 1 single feature would benefit you then it seems like you are just sol, but for 95% of people who need or want a smarthphone a data plan is the smartest route, and if i'm a company thats in the $ making business then guess what, i'm following the 95% of people.

[WBFAir]

Originally Posted by p-slim

a regular phone can do alot of those things as well. Like i was saying you have to decide if you need a smartphone. What seperates a smartphone from a dumbphone is mainly email, web browsing, and data sensitive mobile applications (ie. instant messaging programs, slingbox, etc..). You can listen to music on any phone nowadays, most phones have an micro sd slot somewhere.

Yes but not all and especially the dumb phones, can do all of the things other then that as well or even at all, as well as the TP2 can.

So why should we be restricted from getting those other things and even the things you spoke off which can all be gotten via WiFi, if we have that which then that allows us to enjoy all of what the TP2 has to offer, by being told that we have to deal with all the less we get from a dumb phone unless we fork over an extra $750.00 for something we don't need?

[boggsie]

This is an interesting conversation.

I own an diamond. The only reason I have data is that Sprint got me hooked on SERO, which is $30 a month ... less than I was paying per month with my prior carrier for a plan without data.

If I did not have SERO, I would very much desire a phone with the ability to turn off the over the air connection to ensure that I did NOT use data (and get a surprise bill), or I would want to turn data off on my account.

So, how would I use my smartphone? The same way that I did with my prior carrier.

1. Syncronize calendar events via USB
2. Synchronize contacts via USB
3. Pull all of my RSS feeds over to the phone via USB
4. Pull over the weather report for the day to my phone via USB

I would have no need for a data plan. None ... and my smartphone would serve me very, very well as a personal information manager as well as a phone.

I use data today because it is convenient and included in SERO @ $30. The day that I have to go over the $30 month price-point just to have a smartphone available to me, I'll most certainly go back to a "dumb-phone" at a much lower price point than $30 per month.

Now, the reason that the data is required by the cell company is that it is a mechanism to build in a certain amount of revenue with a presumably higher profit margin ... which is necessary to offset the up-front subsidy included upon signup or contract renewal, when the TP2 is purchased.

Again, great conversation, but it's all about perspective and perception. Keep sharing and maybe (if you're not too stubborn) you can manage to understand where the other person is coming from. i.e. if you are a twitter and facebook follower, not having real-time over the air updates seems silly as that is what those communications mediums are moving people towards.

Best regards,
-boggsie

[jmorton10]

Originally Posted by WBFAir

I use the GPS, I can use text, I can use the camera an take videos,

These are all functions of most phones nowdays, you don't need a TP2 for these basic functions (my sons eNv can do all these functions & has a full slide out qwerty KB)

~John

[jmorton10]

By the way, I know a VZ tech & he told me one of the main reasons VZ started requiring a data package on all PPCs was they got sick & tired of answering tech calls from people that just got an $1800 cell bill & where absolutely POSITIVE they had not used any data on something like their xv6800............

~John

[WBFAir]

Originally Posted by jmorton10

These are all functions of most phones nowdays, you don't need a TP2 for these basic functions (my sons eNv can do all these functions & has a full slide out qwerty KB)

~John

I think it would be easy to argue that just about any device even the dumb phones are going to have some or even a large amount of the features the TP2 has, which in a way is me saying I am in agreement an understand this but they don't have all of what the TP2 or a comparable device to it has, and by that I also mean that as such any thing that would, would then end up being one of the devices any carrier will be applying the data charges to.

So in a way, to suggest any of those or even a dumb phone in place of a TP2 is kinda like along the lines of what I keep trying to say and is mute as it is not a apples to apples comparison.

Also keep in mind people that I don't just make this argument for today but (and which btw this is hardly lost on the carrier companies) as we all know that as time goes on and especially if the carriers are making a killing for this data charge thing and people keep supporting it, that just about any device that will be coming out will be one that they can an will make have a mandatory data charge for and that the option to get the features we have been discussing or need in something that doesn’t require a data plan will become almost non existent so I don’t just argue this for the TP2 or even the way things are at this very moment but for when that day comes too.