Database Users

Softbank x01ht users in japan: Which PLAN? get ready to be really confused!!!!!!

This is to all x01ht users in Japan. Other users are welcome to read, if not just for the entertainment value!
Which data plan to do you use? What are the advantages? Disadvantages?
Please tell us your stories and recommendations. Below is my story. If you are not familiar with the Matrix and want to get really confused, read on!
Firstly, this assumes you are using settings from the following thread, which enable unlimited access to the softbank data network. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=297687
If you are not using the above settings, then I suggest you take the blue pill (not the blue plan below, idiot). Anyway....
First, my previous plan: White Plan PLUS PC Site Direct unlimited data usage
from ¥980 [¥1,029 incl. tax] to ¥9,800 [¥10,290 incl. tax]
With this data plan you are charged a minimum of 980. Data usage is up to 9800 are charged normally, but that is the maximum you will be charged. I WAS using this plan and being charged the full 9800 per month, which means I was using more than 9800 yen worth of data. Upon investigation, it seems I was using around 25,000-30,000 a month in data alone, thereby making this plan worth it.
Regarding calls, under the white plan you can call other softbank handsets all you like for a monthly charge of ¥980 between 1-9pm. Other handsets are charged at normal rates.
Anyway, under the above white plan and PC Direct Unlimited, I was averaging about 12,000-13,000 a month in charges.
Concerned about this, I decided to call an operator and see if they could recommend me a better plan. They introduced me to the Blue Plan. yippee!
http://mb.softbank.jp/mb/en/price_plan/blue/index.html
Basically, it gives me unlimited data usage as above (including MMS, internet, internet sharing, etc) at a FLAT rate of 5700 yen. However, the difference between this and PC DIRECT, described above, is that it matter how much or less you use it you will always be charged 5700 a month. Be careful, Neo!
Anyway, since my average usage is as I said above, around 25,000-30,000 a month, this seems like a bargain.
Regarding calls, of course, since it is the Blue Plan, the White Plan of 980 yen can't be used in conjunction. After some consideration among the LL, L, M, S and SS calling plans within this Blue Plan, I settled upon "S" . That gives me 55 minutes of free calls at 2,200. (with the 50% discount per month using Individual Discount 50). (Of course calls cannot be made free to other softbank handsets, unlike the white plan). I also joined the family discount portion - The meaning of this is of yet unclear, although it probably gives me some other hidden discounts. Or not?
In any event, my monthly bill will now be a minimum of 8,200
5700 - data
2,200 - calling (includes 50% discount)
300 MMS service charge.
This is a lot better than than the 9800 charge for data plan ALONE under my old plan.
What do you reckon? As confusing as hell? Did I get a bargain? Or should I have considered one of their other plans, such as GOLD or ORANGE?
Which plan do you use? Why? Especially, I want to hear from you if you are on the Gold or Orange plans and can get a better deal than what I describe above). Remember, the more confusing the story the better! See you in the Matrix, Neo!

I am just following white rabbit.
Well, I have 3 units, one for me, one for my wife and the other for my daughter.
I am using white plan + family discount.
My monthly bill is about 9,000 yen for 3 units including installment for each unit.
I also use Yahoo BB + Yahoo BB WIFI, so I don't need to use MMS.
And humble tip from one of my friends,
If you send MMS to your friends who use softbank, you should use his or her phone number not softbank's mail address. This is also free.
@tora201: I really love Matrix, T1 and T2. so I named my X01HT SkyNET, my own rom CyberNET and my linux box Matrix

White plan..... Damn, you don't go down the rabbit hole very far do you.... Hehe.
However, this is interesting. I would like to find out what others are doing. Three units for 9000 yen sounds reasonable! (No data plan though).

im on the white plan with the unlimited data packet. just got a bill for 11000 yen. i actually used about 150,000 yen worth of packet charges
have you received a bill for the blue plan yet?

finally got around to calling softbank to change from white to blue and they said as of april 1st the 5700 data plan is no longer available so im stuck with the white and 9800 data plan.

tora201 said:
Basically, it gives me unlimited data usage as above (including MMS, internet, internet sharing, etc) at a FLAT rate of 5700 yen. However, the difference between this and PC DIRECT, described above, is that it matter how much or less you use it you will always be charged 5700 a month. Be careful, Neo!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does your plan really allow us to use internet sharing? It means that if I connect my computer to the internet using my phone as a modem I will not be extra charged. Right?

How I Cut My Cellphone Bill In Half !!!

Hey guys, like you, even though we have to manually do alot to get our HD2's in perfect condition. I wanted to hip you all to something that I'm currently taking advantage of, which is saving me major money each month.
Went to Wal-Mart on the lauch date of the infamous HD2, and paid full price for one, thinking that it would end up saving me money in the long run, because I had my own equiptment, therefore, I wasn't under a 2 year aggreement for T-Mobile.
Went to the T-Mobile store to get setup with service. Deciding on getting the T-Mobile unlimited everything plan (voice,sms,data) it ended up costing me around $92 a month (including taxes, fee's, and the $5 discount). So, I began thinking, "this is not the significant discount I was looking for". I asked the salesman what was the benefit of me purchasing this phone outright, he told me that if I got the same package and features, with the phone discount, under contract, it would cost me around $120-$130 a month. I began to seek other options to lower my bill. However, I was hesitant to lower anything, because I did one time, and got fuked over with crazy overage charges! I even thought about switching it over to AT&T, but then realized I'd be loosing out on the high speed data, because of the incompatibilities of the 3G radios between the 2 networks (and who wants edge speed on a smartphone these days!).
Then I did some research and found out about Simple Mobile, this is a Virtual carrier of T-Mobile (like how Virgin is to Verizon, and Boost is to Sprint). Anyway, after a couple of emails, and phone calls, I decided to make the switch. I found a nearby retailer (or u can check them out online) And I never looked back!
I now play EXACTLY $60 a month, for unlimited everything (voice,sms,data). And I was able to port and keep my same number. While this is truly great in of itself. Another great feature is because it's still a subsiary of T-Mobile, I didn't have to software unlock the HD2 at all. It was literally a matter of taking the old Sim card out and putting the new one in. The only thing that I did have to reconfig was the internet settings and the MMS settings to be able to have those 2 things function correctly. (which is very easy, I provided a link to the instructions below)
Instructions on changing internet settings and MMS settings.
http://www.mobile-files.us/showthread.php?2245-HD2-wap-mms-settings-for-SimpMo
The internet is exactly the same, I'm still getting the H icon at the top, with about 4 MB sec speeds. Call quality and range is the same, and so is the txting features. Because it's using the same T-Mobile towers as before. (which T-Mobile is very good, in Costa Mesa, CA )
Don't know about you all, but especially in these times, when money is tight, I have to really buckle down to budget and plan for big ticket items. So when I spend $400+ on a device. I truly want to be able to see more of the savings, in the long run. And thats how I cut my bill in half! They even offer plans at $30 and $40 if you don't want or need unlimited data for your phone, therefore saving your even more money.
This may not help some of you guys out there, but if your like me, and not in a contract, or you may be in a contract, and thinking this may be a better route for you in the long run (make sure you do your math beforehand, and make sure your savings outweigh your ETF from T-Mobile) I just wanted to let you know, that you do have an option out there.
Simple Mobile
http://www.mysimplemobile.com/
Hope it helps!
Eddie

so are you truly getting 3g speed? this sounds promising.

smokeingit said:
so are you truly getting 3g speed? this sounds promising.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes sir, I sure am, it displays the H icon, so I know its the HSDPA speed, which is alittle faster then 3G...however, i'm not sure if its the new HSDPA+ that you might have been hearing lately. I say that because, I dont believe WM have a status icon to show you that (because the technology is so new), so my theory is that, IF the HD2 supports it, AND its is getting the HSDPA+ signal, it'll still show the H icon at the top right of the device. But to answer your question, its DEFINITELY gets the high speed, because its still using the same towers!

I have friend that works in one of those smokes, cell, and gun stores and he has been trying to get me into this program.
It's good to go and legit.
Unfortunately I am only 6 months into my new 2 year contract...had to for my $190 Leo.
dangit.

I believe this has been discussed many times already.....
Simple mobile does not provide unlimited data. I believe it's still capped at 1GB/month. Which is a big no no for people who like to tether and abuse the network.....

calc said:
I believe this has been discussed many times already.....
Simple mobile does not provide unlimited data. I believe it's still capped at 1GB/month. Which is a big no no for people who like to tether and abuse the network.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So your saying their "Unlimited Everything Talk, Text & Web" plan, which is labeled as "New", is not actually unlimited?

Paten said:
So your saying their "Unlimited Everything Talk, Text & Web" plan, which is labeled as "New", is not actually unlimited?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://consumerist.com/2010/07/simple-mobile-unlimited-data-plan-is-of-course-secretly-limited.html
http://www.prepaidreviews.com/blog/mvno/simple-mobile-limits-unlimited-data-plan-36148/
Both reported and the end of July of this year.... so unless something has changed in 3 months time, NO it is not unlimited.
I was suckered into a new mobile phone plan with a new company called Simple Mobile. They are a T-mobile MVNO (essentially a reseller) claiming to offer UNLIMITED talk, text, and data for $60/mo.
The reality is... Their $60 plan is NOT unlimited. When you hit 1000MB in one month your data service is simply terminated without warning.
They will offer to sell you an additional 100MB for $10. This policy is not stated anywhere on their website. If you call or write and complain, they will simply tell you to go elsewhere and will not provide any refund.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I mean really............. just think about it for a minute, do you really think T-Mobile is going to allow another company to use their network and infrastructure all the while having them undercut their own prices too.....not to mention the toll and expense of all pushing out all that bandwidth at "unlimited" rates.

calc said:
I believe this has been discussed many times already.....
Simple mobile does not provide unlimited data. I believe it's still capped at 1GB/month. Which is a big no no for people who like to tether and abuse the network.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All I can do , is speak from my experience. Since having this service, I KNOW that I used more than 1GB (stream music all day, watch YouTube, use it for general internet browsing, and logging into my Orb media server at home, and streaming TV from my PC). So I would definitely consider myself a above average data user, and have not once, been capped or throttled (trust, I would be *****ing and complaining, with everyone else). I've even checked my usage online to see it and its a little under 2Gigs of data transfer, and everything is ok. I not sure if maybe I have a magic bean, VIP, IMEI on my device (joke-e-joke ) , which is given unlimited data usage, without penalty, or maybe they've modified their contract and upped the data usage cap or something. Again, I can only speak from my personal experiences, within the last 3 months, reguarding my device and service. I don't use my phone for tethering, but I do consider myself a heavy data usage user and not had any problems regarding their quality of service thus far.

Get rid of the unlimited voice and txt, then with this guide I wrote:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=19619155#post19619155
You can cut your phone bill even more sharply. I'm paying about ~$20/month right now depending on my voice usage when out and about.

[Q] Cheapest Decent No Contract, Voice/Text Plan

Looking for a no contract plan with decent amount of minutes (preferably at least 200/250 per month) and unlimited texting. Data doesn't really matter to me that much as I'm almost always near Wifi.
Any suggestions?
I'm currently eyeing the T-Mobile $30 no contract plan that includes 100 min., unlim. texting, and unlim. data (4G speeds up to 5 GB) but the minutes seem like they won't be enough and the next level of plans is the $50 unlimited everything.
Is there anything comparable to this from services like Straight Talk, Simple Mobile, and such that's easy on the wallet? (Broke college student)
I also need it to use swappable SIM cards (GSM) similar to the prepaid T-Mobile plan described above, unlike Metro PCS, Boost, and such because I like to fiddle with various phones (the XDA community knows a little about this addiction
I would appreciate any suggestions.
Note: I'm located in Southern California (LA area) if it matters.

Virgin Mobile for $35, you get 300 minutes and unlimited web, data messaging, and email.
EDIT: Oops NVM, you wanted swapable SIMS, in that case, there is Red Pocket Mobile. You can bring your own GSM phone and it's $30 for 250 minutes voice and unlimited text, 10 MMS, and 10 MB data (better make sure you use WiFi). I think they use AT&Ts network.

man did not even kno about red pocket mobile

adelmundo said:
Virgin Mobile for $35, you get 300 minutes and unlimited web, data messaging, and email.
EDIT: Oops NVM, you wanted swapable SIMS, in that case, there is Red Pocket Mobile. You can bring your own GSM phone and it's $30 for 250 minutes voice and unlimited text, 10 MMS, and 10 MB data (better make sure you use WiFi). I think they use AT&Ts network.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks adelmundo, Red Pocket sounds like a good option, but I think people get the most bang for the buck with the $30 T-Mobile one for smartphone users. I really don't talk on the phone that much but like I said, 3.33 minutes per day seems too little. But I think they have like a fixed rate per minute if you go over the 100 minutes (I'm not sure what exactly that rate is) but even if you go over, it still be less than $45/$50, beating a lot of the 2-year contract plans out there.
PS: Awesome avatar!

my T mobile plan is unlimited everything and it is 75 per month. For me it works pretty well I do around 100-200 texts average,,, 3500 min + phone average and around 5-7 gig of internet......... the thing to consider with some of the off brand or smaller sub companies is if you travel at all they totally suck on coverage and speed. So, for me Tmobile is a good choice. But... if you just stay in one location basically, then the smaller companies would be good enough. It all depends on what you need.

saintsmmx said:
Thanks adelmundo, Red Pocket sounds like a good option, but I think people get the most bang for the buck with the $30 T-Mobile one for smartphone users. I really don't talk on the phone that much but like I said, 3.33 minutes per day seems too little. But I think they have like a fixed rate per minute if you go over the 100 minutes (I'm not sure what exactly that rate is) but even if you go over, it still be less than $45/$50, beating a lot of the 2-year contract plans out there.
PS: Awesome avatar!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's $0.10 a minute if you go over.
Sent from my HTC Sensation with Beats Audio using xda premium

Why do people sign contracts?

I realize many people sign 2 year contracts because they see "free phone" and think the carrier subsidizing the phone somehow works out in their interest over the course of 2 years of paying $80-100 per month. But, considering the attractive prepaid/pay as you go/no contract options available now, why don't people take the time to do some simple math and realize paying $300 for an unlocked phone and $30-50 a month thereafter is much cheaper than getting a free phone and an expensive contract plan?
Thoughts? Personally, the notion of signing away your life for 2 years just to get phone service is absurd.

Not necessarily, I'm on contract for three years but I got my skyrocket for 200 new. My plan is only 50 tax in and has everything I need, including unlimited texting, 6 Gibson of data, 500 daytime, evenings & weekends after 6, call I'd, voicemail and unlimited network calling. Mind u, some people are paying more for less, but that doesn't mean that EVERYONE is paying 100 per month. Most people can't afford the 600 upfront for a good smartphone, and carriers know this

icenight89 said:
Not necessarily, I'm on contract for three years but I got my skyrocket for 200 new. My plan is only 50 tax in and has everything I need, including unlimited texting, 6 Gibson of data, 500 daytime, evenings & weekends after 6, call I'd, voicemail and unlimited network calling. Mind u, some people are paying more for less, but that doesn't mean that EVERYONE is paying 100 per month. Most people can't afford the 600 upfront for a good smartphone, and carriers know this
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's not bad, really, but contract plans in the U.S. tend to be more expensive. Like, T-Mobile's standard 5GB contract plan with however many minutes and unlimited messaging is $80 a month, and you're throttled after 5GB down to dial up speeds, as far as I know.
I mean, you can find fairly new smartphones on the Internet (ebay, et al) for $200-400. Expensive, sure, but cheaper than a 2 year contract in most cases, even with a subsidized phone. Consider paying $200 or $250 for a subsidized phone, and you're still locked into a contract. Seems kind of out there, especially with the Draconian data usage policies all carriers here are implementing.

Pretty good deal, but I wouldn't commit to a carrier for 3 years (at least not in the states) because the landscape can change so much. I especially wouldn't commit to the same phone for 3 years now that they're releasing more powerful ones by the droves (sure, you can get an upgrade, but that leads to a contract extension anyway).

I just did it because the ''free'' HTC Desire HD when it was just released and I took an contract where I could change it after 3 months and that resulted that I right now pay € 22,79 before inflation correction this was € 22,50.
So for about € 600 I have unlimited mobile internet with a fup and € 20 credit each month which I can call 100 min with, but my contract is fishy, I take that € 20 to the next month if I not use it, but most time it will just get lost so my family often borrow my phone because I don't use much off those mins.
But when I took my contract the HTC Desire HD had still a new price between € 500 and € 550 so if we go calculate then I just pay about € 100 for the mobile internet and call mins.
So that would make € 4,16 for each month. That is really cheap as aslong i'm in my country i have internet, if i'm in another country I can use call and sms from within that € 20.
But in October 2012 my contract will end so I will not make it new but end it and then I will just use no sim card or a prepaid for being reachable. Because mobile contract are not cheap anymore in my country.
But this contract is my second where I have high end smartphone for free with and pay around € 600 after two years, my first was with iPhone 3G but that contract cost some more, but still in € 600 I guess something like € 650 maybe, but I forget it.
These contracts are so made that if you go over your bundle that you will pay much more, so that's why you get phone for free, but they will also charge you more if you send a text message to another country, for example, if I send a text message when I log on to a german network it cost me € 0,13 and goes off from my bundle, but if I send that same text message from my provider inside my country then it cost me € 0,39 and that is charged extra.
So i'm smart and whenever I send my gf a text message who is staying in another country, then I log my phone on the German network, it has saved me alot already.

This is almost like asking why do people go to mcdonalds?

I have both a postpaid contract account (standard 2yr in US) and a prepaid account with the same carrier. (TMOUS) (long story, don't ask)
I FEEL (note the caps phrase, please) that not only is customer service better on the postpaid account, but the data speeds are faster (comparing SIM to SIM not, device to device).....
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk

radlink14 said:
This is almost like asking why do people go to mcdonalds?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, it is, considering the abundance of other options.

Probably because most carriers try their damndest to prevent people from getting on postpaid no-contract plans. I'm currently fighting with T-Mobile over this and have since left for AT&T which had no issue giving me a postpaid plan without a contract (since I bought my device outright).

Contract worked out cheaper for me.

synaesthetic said:
Probably because most carriers try their damndest to prevent people from getting on postpaid no-contract plans. I'm currently fighting with T-Mobile over this and have since left for AT&T which had no issue giving me a postpaid plan without a contract (since I bought my device outright).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh boy. I'm curious now--what'd T-Mobile do? I haven't heard many horror stories about their postpaid stuff, but to be honest I haven't heard much about T-Mobile lately at all.

pottedplant73 said:
Oh boy. I'm curious now--what'd T-Mobile do? I haven't heard many horror stories about their postpaid stuff, but to be honest I haven't heard much about T-Mobile lately at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I left T-Mobile for a month to go to Sprint because coverage was terrible at my home (I've since moved). Sprint wasn't much better, so I canceled during my 30-day trial and went back to T-Mobile.
In the intervening month I was with Sprint, T-Mobile had canceled their Even More Plus (postpaid no-contract) plans and brought their current plans instead. I told them specifically I didn't want a contract, that I had my own devices and didn't need subsidized or financed phones. The rep agreed to all of this and signed me back up on what should have been the closest approximation of what I had before (500 minutes, unlimited SMS, 5GB internets).
Except it wasn't. It was a two-year contract on both lines, even though I never got a subsidized device out of the deal. So I called them and complained about this and tried to get them to fix it. The only thing they were willing to do was to give me a cheaper option by condensing my two lines into a family plan. I was not happy but I saw little choice outside of paying two lines' worth of ETF fees.
After that I didn't really have many complaints. The service was great, speeds were wonderful and the price was pretty damn low. So I didn't press the issue of being set up on a contract without my initial consent.
But then in November, T-Mobile began to heavily compress all JPEG images on the internet when using mobile data.
I don't just mean minor compression to save a few bits here and there. This was major, significant compression where JPEG filesizes would be reduced by 350%. The end result was, of course, incredibly poor image quality all across the web--and even in the Android Market. The transparent image-compression proxy caused apps like Google+ to force-close when viewing pictures.
This looked awful on my old Nexus S 800x480 display. It looked far, far worse on my Galaxy Nexus's 1280x720 display. Naturally I called and complained. Long and loud. Nothing ever changed. Nobody ever even attempted to solve the issue--indeed, if it was even an issue and not just an underhanded way to try and conserve bandwidth.
After over a dozen calls to customer service and tech support spanning nearly ten hours of phone conversations, a huge number of factory resets done on both devices to placate their reps, and two SIM card replacements, I was done, fed up with the lot of them. Went to AT&T and transferred both lines over. Now T-Mobile's trying to charge me ETFs.

[Q] UK: sim only deals

hi all,
I am a T Mobile UK customer since July 2010 on a 2 year contract for £15 p/m.
Since I have signed up with them I have noticed a steady decrease in service quality, the internet is way slower than it used to be, it really became noticeable after their merger with Orange
today I got my bill increase through the post (The 2nd one since I signed up) now my bills gone up to £15.85 a month, as I haven't got long left on my contract I figure its a good time to start looking around
Voice Minutes aren't important to be, I currently have 300 a month and never use more than 30.
Texts I use occasional, currently I have 300 a month, at most I will use 150.
Data is what I use most, as a smart phone is pretty much useless imo without a data plan, I don't need bags of data, 1GB a month would be way more than enough, I just need a stable/reliable connection.
Looking to pay £10 a month sim only, preferably 30day rolling contract, willing to lock my self in 12months max if its a good deal.
what would you recommend? how are your experiences with other mobile providers?
Thanks, Mark