Database Users

T-Mobile Tech Support Really Sucks...

Man I really hate T-Mobile's tech support. I called them to ask a simple question:
If I cancel my Total Internet Package which is just 20$ more on by phone bill that I don't really need to be spending, will I be charged for using the WIFI on my phone when I am at home?
I have Comcast cable internet at home and can pick up the router's signal with my MDA even with the sim card out and browse the internet.
They turned around and told me that I would be charged per Kb if I canceled my Total Internet Package and then used my WIFI to pick up my home internet service.
By the way this was T-Mobile's Windows Mobile Department that told me this...
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Ok now I have 2 questions for all of you.
Is what T-mobile told me true?
Is there a cheaper way to get unlimited GPRS internet than T-Mobile's $19.99 Total Internet package?
The only time I use my GPRS is to update WeatherPanel and when I am using the OZ Instant Messenger. All other time I spend on the internet is with WIFI turned on and GPRS turned off.
Please, all help will be greatly appreciated and well received.
Thanks in advance, your friendly neighborhood computer geek, Dan.

Well I hope I can help answer your question somewhat.
I do not pay for the GPRS service through Tmobile, I try not to use it at all. If I pull data through it then I am charged. But if i use a wifi hotspot then Tmobile will not charge me. In truth they should have no way of telling if and when I use a WiFi connection. The reason the rep told you this was really a twisting of the truth. He can probably get away with telling you this because it will cut your access to Tmobile HotSpots which you get access to with the data plan. Sneaky sneaky bastards, you should post this little tale on http://consumerist.com/ .
To answer the second if Tmobile is your carrier then NO I dont believe you can get GPRS data from another carrier. Unless your phone is sim unlocked and you choose to use another carrier to get your data through, but this will need you to switch sims out. Either way your gonna pay for it. I would hold out till 1-2 quarter of 2008 Tmobile will start its HSDPA role out, providing upwards of 3Mbps for data. Of course you will need a phone capable of HSDPA, but such is life.
If I am uninformed of another method maybe someone here will be so kind as to enlighten us.

ritalin said:
Well I hope I can help answer your question somewhat.
I do not pay for the GPRS service through Tmobile, I try not to use it at all. If I pull data through it then I am charged. But if i use a wifi hotspot then Tmobile will not charge me. In truth they should have no way of telling if and when I use a WiFi connection. The reason the rep told you this was really a twisting of the truth. He can probably get away with telling you this because it will cut your access to Tmobile HotSpots which you get access to with the data plan. Sneaky sneaky bastards, you should post this little tale on http://consumerist.com/ .
To answer the second if Tmobile is your carrier then NO I dont believe you can get GPRS data from another carrier. Unless your phone is sim unlocked and you choose to use another carrier to get your data through, but this will need you to switch sims out. Either way your gonna pay for it. I would hold out till 1-2 quarter of 2008 Tmobile will start its HSDPA role out, providing upwards of 3Mbps for data. Of course you will need a phone capable of HSDPA, but such is life.
If I am uninformed of another method maybe someone here will be so kind as to enlighten us.
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Click to collapse
I figured T-Mobile was full of S**T... I know I can access the internet via WIFI even without a sim card in the device. I only use it at home or in hospitals anyway. Like I said though, the GPRS for me, is just for WeatherPanel. That's why I am trying to find a cheaper way...
Thank you for your help though. Not the answer I was hoping for but very grateful non the less.
Dan.

You won't get charged for using wifi. If weather panel is all you really use GPRS for then go to the 5.99 plan. That's what I use and have no problem using weather panel or even browsing the web. The other day I even streamed video over it, although GPRS is way too slow to be any use for that but I wanted to see if it worked. The only apps that I know of that do have problems are mostly IM apps since they have most of the ports that those programs use blocked on the 5.99 plan.
Just realized that you said that you use OZ IM, I'm not sure if that will work or not, I can't seem to get it to work with WM6.

You will not be charged per kilobyte, whoever told you that was either new or retarded. The only difference you will see is that your instant messaging will go thru text messages instead of wifi, charging you per message, to log in, to log out, etc. That's due to the way the OZ instant messaging is written. The 5.99 has been working for a lot of people, but it was a glitch in the system that is slowly being fixed market by market, so don't get upset if it doesn't work for you or if it suddenly stops working, as it was never meant to work. If you connect thru wifi, you won't pay anything as it's your connection thru wifi to your phone's wifi, and the T-Mobile network is nowhere in the mix. Again, the Instant Messaging will be billed as text messages.

johnny12times said:
You will not be charged per kilobyte, whoever told you that was either new or retarded. The only difference you will see is that your instant messaging will go thru text messages instead of wifi, charging you per message, to log in, to log out, etc. That's due to the way the OZ instant messaging is written. The 5.99 has been working for a lot of people, but it was a glitch in the system that is slowly being fixed market by market, so don't get upset if it doesn't work for you or if it suddenly stops working, as it was never meant to work. If you connect thru wifi, you won't pay anything as it's your connection thru wifi to your phone's wifi, and the T-Mobile network is nowhere in the mix. Again, the Instant Messaging will be billed as text messages.
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That is really good to know. Can you tell me or direct me to a thread that explains the real difference between the 5.99 plan and the 19.99 Total Internet Package?

i don't know about the question you had, but I've had the other extreme as far as Tmo's customer support/tech support... always been great to me. Even after 2 refurbs.

Whoever told you that you'd be charged using Wi-Fi was either full of it or was ASSUMING you would then be accessing T-Mo services...why would you? Just use whatever service you use from home.
I use my MDA with Wi-Fi in my house ALL the time and it has NOTHING to do with T-Mobile. It's not EDGE/GPRS--it's a totally different technology, just like hooking your wireless laptop up to your home router.
Furthermore, you can use the Wi-Fi with T-Mobile Hot Spots if you have that subscription with ANY Wi-Fi computer you have--no reason to have more than one Hot Spot account--many hotels now have it, not just Starbucks.
T-Mobile NOW forces you to pay for Hot Spots with Internet Service as a bundle but they are different technologies.
The Internet Service is EDGE/GPRS and that is a CELLULAR service and is programmed into your SIM chip. I use that too. My MDA can hook into eMail and web sites without a Wi-Fi connection via the cell modem. But it's not nearly as fast.
I actually have 2 SIM chips with this service--I got one for my old IPAQ6315, but that's in the MDA. The one in the MDA is in my notebook computer--it has a Cingular Sony Ericsson cellular modem that I got the unlock code for, and put the chip from the MDA in there--I ALSO can use my notebook with EDGE/GPRS, or Wi-Fi (or even RJ45) connections.
I have the eMail for my regular eMail routed to my MDA--no messing with another address. So it's working a lot like a Blackberry as well.
Finally, you asked if there's a cheaper alternative: There is. It's called "T-Zones" and it's T-Mo's WAP service, for $6 or $7/month. It gives you the limited access you get on cell phones, and you already have it with the fancier internet access--click on T-Zones and you'll see it.
Generally, with T-Mo, service is a waste of time till you get to Level 2. But if you get to Level 3, then you get the techs that really know their business. The PDA support can be similar. But you got to jump through a lot of hoops to reach that level and that can take 30-45 minutes on the phone. Be persistent.

dharvey4651 said:
That is really good to know. Can you tell me or direct me to a thread that explains the real difference between the 5.99 plan and the 19.99 Total Internet Package?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the 19.99 plan gives you your actual connection to the GPRS/EDGE(and in 4 test markets 3G! T-Mobile bought a whole lot of 3g network up recently.) network (internet2.voicestream.com), by connecting thru this route you are given access to the ports required to get to full websites, as well as email servers, etc.
the 5.99 plan is your basic wap access, t-zones and other wap sites. It's what is used by motorola's, samsungs, basic phones. Gives you access to your account information from T-Mobile's wap sites (but not on an mda running less than wm6 and having had the tzones applett installed), accuweather's website, and other wap websites. By connecting thru the wap APN, you are directed thru a filter that doesn't allow you full access to normal websites.
Now, T-Mobile has a glitch in their system where every now and then you get 5.99 internet and your number isn't put into the filter, so the ports that were supposed to be closed off to you never were, and you can browse and email just as if you had the 19.99 feature. The only problem? They know of the glitch and are closing it market by market, which has been taking the better part of 7 months now, but it's not that far from being finished.
Almost all programs you have installed on the mda that are third party will default to what ever internet connection is available, however, the OZ instant messaging program from the MDA and almost all other T-Mobile PDA's is written specifically to use the SMS (short message system) as the next backup if you aren't connected thru the internet2.voicestream.com, or blackberry.net apn if you are using a blackberry, so if you are connected thru wifi, then you will be charged text for each message.
Hope this helps, if not, let me know.
Johnny

Avoiding Data Charges

My wife and I are going to Europe for a month this summer and we would like to bring our phones to use as portable wifi devices. What is the best way to guarantee that we get no data/text messaging/phone charges?
Ideally we could just remove the sim card but I heard you can't use the device when you do this (even for wifi). Is this true even if we have sim unlocked the device? Do we have to install ADP1 for this trip to do this?
I also read that we could change the APN to something invalid and that would prevent data charges but what if someone text messages us?
Thanks

As long as your device is activated, as in you are not prompted to sign into your Google account when you turn on the phone, you will be fine. Just take the SIM out of the phone when you arrive.

you could always disable the radios. There are ways to turn off cell radios and leave wifi or even turn of data all together but leave the cell radio on.

Rekna said:
My wife and I are going to Europe for a month this summer and we would like to bring our phones to use as portable wifi devices. What is the best way to guarantee that we get no data/text messaging/phone charges?
Ideally we could just remove the sim card but I heard you can't use the device when you do this (even for wifi). Is this true even if we have sim unlocked the device? Do we have to install ADP1 for this trip to do this?
I also read that we could change the APN to something invalid and that would prevent data charges but what if someone text messages us?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's an app on the market that lets you disable/enable your APN settings with a simple tap or two. Search for APN.

it is called APNDroid, its brilliant! Really easy to use. One click to disable APN's, click again to re-enable them!

I'm on prepaid right now so I'm trying to not use data at all. However, even with apndroid and turning off all 3g/data, I was still losing money in my prepaid account. The only thing that I could do to stop the random charges is to uninstall any apps that require internet access (last.fm, skype, etc).
Just a warning for anyone travelling - it looks like 3rd party apps can access data even if you disable it on the g1. You can google reports of people getting charged crazy amounts of roaming data charges even after turning off their data.

I had problem last month where i unlocked my g1 to use with the 3 network, worked great and i was very happy. I did not realise however that the g1 was for whatever reason using the 3g internet rather than my wifi, for some reason or another it continuously was charging me for data i thought i was getting form my wifi! over £100 the g1 cost me in that little incident.
My advice to you is either take out your sim or use the apn blocker. I would not even put your sim in when in another country!

Does anyone see any fault in this plan of mine to avoid data charges after buying the phone (I'm going to get it today or tomorrow).
The phone is already unlocked.
1) Borrow my friend's sim with a data plan. and register phone
2) Do not fill in correct APN info upon setup (so I can't be charged data)
3) Put in my sim
4) Spend 10 hours reading these forums and trying to install custom firmware/tinkering with the phone etc.
5) Download APNdroid, run it 24/7, then enjoy my dataless phone while I browse wifi all night downloading cool apps and tweaking my phone.

Sorry this is a bit later but for anyone who is looking for an asnwere to this i found one -
Here is how you turn off data service on your G1:
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1. Use Anycut to create a shortcut to "Testing"
2. Click on Testing.
3. Click on Phone Information
4. Hit Menu button
5. Click on More
6. Click on Disable data connection
This turns off all data access. Note that GPRS service switches to "disconnected".
Now you should have a phone that does voice calls, but no data access.
Wi-fi still works which is great.

try txtFeeder.com to avoid data charges
I am not sure what your planning doing with your phone, but you should try txtFeeder.com - a free mobile feed aggregator to avoid data charges. It'll let you keep up with news, weather, or whatever site you normally read, on your mobile, without paying data charges. it works really well.

try txtFeeder.com to avoid data charges
I am not sure what your planning doing with your phone, but you should try txtFeeder.com - a free mobile feed aggregator to avoid data charges. It'll let you keep up with news, weather, or whatever site you normally read, on your mobile, without paying data charges. it works really well.

Any way to stop data/internet connection entirely when not connected to Wifi?

New user here, please tolerate my long post with many questions. I've had my Touch Pro 2 for a few months now, but haven't gotten into customizing it at all yet. What I'm wondering is if there is a program that can prevent my phone from accessing the internet or using any data unless I am connected to Wi-fi. I'm a University student and spend most of my time on campus, which has free Wi-fi. Occasionally while tinkering with my phone I get an error message from one program or another, and the browser instantly kicks up and leads me to a page for troubleshooting. Eventually costing me data fees.
Is there any way to prevent my phone from accessing the internet entirely unless it is connected via Wi-Fi? I found a few programs that looked like they might solve my problem, but they only seem to work when roaming. Also if anyone happens to know, is the battery drain much higher if I leave Wi-fi on all the time? I'm currently in the habit of turning it off and on when I need to use it, but if the drain is low enough I might stop bothering with the constant on/off switching.
Thanks in advance for any help you folks can offer!
PS: Are there any "must have" programs or tweaks that I should know about? Other than a few games, my phone is still entirely stock. I've looked over the "software worth installing" thread, but being new to Windows Mobile it's hard to know what is a slight tweak, and what is something that everyone should probably have.

Search for the "NoData" cab. I think it's from Modaco.

I noticed that one previously, but was under the impression that it only blocked data transfers when roaming? If that's not true, or it can be configured otherwise, then that should be exactly what I'm looking for.

I used this program for my wife's phone. It blocks your phone from accessing your carrier's data network. It turns the hardware off, I believe. Worked for me!

first you should turn error reporting off since you'll never get a message back for a fix as MS won't do anything about it half the time. And second you should be able to turn off the 3g in connection settings under communication in the settings menu. When you do that it shouldn't auto on. You don't need any software to do what you need for this. I've had mine since it came out and the settings have held up through the Tilt and the Fuze as well. Hope this helps.

There you are

[Q] Problem with picture text messaging

Went to a sprint store (appointment) and they told me that when I am connected via wifi at home, it will not be able to receive text notification and will not be able to see my picture (I have the download button showing but will not open the picture when I click on it). So this means, that when I have wifi connection at home, that disables the 3G connection that I have thus not seeing the Sprint's server where the text are delivered. Aren't the text messages via the 3G or 4G connectivity on the phone. So my wifi connection will not allow the 3G connection on the phone. I tested sending a picture message from my Epic to my Tilt2 (AT&T) windows phone with the same wifi connection and I get the notification and I have to click on the icon to display the picture with no problem. But the epic as I have explained earlier, will give me no notification, it gives me a download button when I open up the text message - but will not do anything at all - not opening the picture. when I disable my wifi - no problem

I need to test this, because if it's true thats bull****, I have Wifi at home on all the time. Heck if Sprint is going to start capping the unlimited plans, why force us to use 3G at all times when there's wifi available? testing this...

yea you're correct, it shows the button if you go into the messages, but it wont notify or let you download it, it says failed. Thats garbage.

Thanks Six-Duece and so I am not the only one. Somehow, if you are connected via wifi, the 3G or even 4G (data connection) is somehow disabled.
Thanks once again.. I am going to return my phone since I am still within the 30-days.
and I notieced even here in Vegas that 4G connection is so flaky and always reverts back to 3G and I pay $10 for something that is not used.
Maybe one day, when 4G connectivitiy is much more stable, then the $120/yr would be worth it. $120 is not joke nowadays

This is a problem for me also. People have told me it has something to do with sprint/android users, which I dont see how thats the case when I have been with sprint for over 3 years now and this is the only phone that has happened to me on.
I have owned the HTC EVO, Touch Pro, Touch Diamond, and Palm Pre on Sprint's network and non had made me turn wifi off in order to recieve pictures. (HTC EVO = Android device)..
Also it seems to let me SEND pictures with wifi on just not RECIEVE.. It sucks & hope someone will figure out a way to get by this non-sense.

yea this could be a deal breaker for me, I think I will weigh my options and decide if I want to keep hanging on to this or say screw it. It bothers me because it makes no sense.

Typically the way things works is like this, calls and text go over the voice network (or on 1x), so you can be disconnected from 3G and still send and receive plain sms.
Now MMS are sent and received (downloaded) over the data network, either 1xrtt or 3G EVDO. Whether you're on wifi or not shouldn't matter as long as you're connected to the cell network.
The issue with the Epic seems to be that if you're connected to wifi it seems to disconnect from the data network (either to save battery or for some other reason INSTEAD OF KEEPING A DORMANT CONNECTION TO THE DATA NETWORK) and as such MMS can't be downloaded or fail to.
Now I don't receive a lot of MMS so I've never really been affected by this enough to annoy me but I can say that other Sprint phones I've had with wifi do receive MMS even on wifi because I assume they keep a dormant connection to the 3G network.
Either way, for heavy MMS folks who conncet to wifi a lot this must be annoying.
Just one more bug we need to alert Samsung and Sprint to for a furure fix. It might be a bug or the phone was just designed that way for some reason.

i will have to try that this is bs
if they wont do anything i may have to get an evo instead but i wish not to have to

The reason I brought this up, is because I connect wifi most of the time (at work and at home), and family sends a lot of picture messages. So this is a big issue for me especially since you don't receive any notification.
Maybe if they fix this issue then I might go back, since I am still in the 30-day return guarantee. I will be monitoring this thread.
Thanks for all for testing and confirming my problem.

Hi,
Has anybody of you who had the same problem as I did, has this issue been addressed and fixed now..
Thank you for taking the time to respond back

I just noticed that my mms pictures are now downloading when on wifi. Maybe Sprint quietly fixed this bug? Anyone else notice the change?
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

sryans2004 said:
This is a problem for me also. People have told me it has something to do with sprint/android users, which I dont see how thats the case when I have been with sprint for over 3 years now and this is the only phone that has happened to me on.
I have owned the HTC EVO, Touch Pro, Touch Diamond, and Palm Pre on Sprint's network and non had made me turn wifi off in order to recieve pictures. (HTC EVO = Android device)..
Also it seems to let me SEND pictures with wifi on just not RECIEVE.. It sucks & hope someone will figure out a way to get by this non-sense.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was a problem with the hero. Its not exclusive to theepic. Apparently it has something to do with adroid
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

No problems here. Just tested on my epic, wifes Evo, and my old Hero. Everythings working fine over wifi regarding mms. I wilk say tho that the Hero and Evo received the mms withing a minute, while my Epic didnt for about 8 minutes.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

wifi as main carrier and unlocked HTC Tilt

Good Morning,
I recently have purchased an unlocked HTC Tilt running win mobile 6.1.
I have data blocked (from my old phone/plan. I am never with out wifi access however so basically i would like to turn this into a cell phone that uses wifi for Everything else. I am also working on building SBS 2003server and would love to configure sql on my server when build to be my sms provider. Everything I have is ATT. ATT wireless. ATT uverse. I don't need or want to be charged/billed as I am already using ATT for everything which would basically be double billing.
I guess I am asking how can I create or adjust current HTC tilt to be a cell phone with wireless accessories apps and connections for all but the actual phone calls? Can the below be achieved via downloads, regedits, flashrom etc?
Media Net run via wifi instead of cell modem connection. instant messengers blue tooth GPS google mobile apps all running via wifi instead of cellular modem>? Ideas help links etc I have been all over and am totaly stuck and on overload between work the server and this.
not opposed to getting different unlocked cell as well if it would make the task less cumbersome.