Related
This morning I got a SMS from AT&T (USA) saying that they have identified my device as a "smartphone" and they will now be charging me $30 per month for data. (I checked and have used about 400MB of data in the last month)
(previously I was on a $10 data unlimited + $5 (forced messaging) plan (EDGE).
When I called to ask, they said that the only way I can use the EDGE data unlimited plan was if I went back to my SE w810 phone. (Note that it has a full browser and IM capability too)
I'm shocked how they can force me to pay more by using their ignorance of data technology (diff between EDGE and 3G) as an excuse.
Some questions for the community:
1) has this happened to you and what did you do ?
2) which are the other providers that provide EDGE? (the ATT rep stated as a matter of fact that t-mo DOES NOT have a EDGE-only plan, but I have read that t-mo does have it)
3) do you think I should return my phone and wait for the ATT version?
4) which 3G band is more common around the world? (UMTS Band 1/4/8 2100/AWS/900 ) or the bands on the upcoming ATT N1 ?
ps: I'm thinking of calling them back and saying that my phone is not a smartphone. (coz its a superphone )
Switch your phone to "use only 2g networks" (under settings>wireless networks) and tell them that they are wrong and your phone is incapable of 3g connectivity. I'm on tmo and I don't think they have a 2g (edge) only plan...
so....
you have a nexus that gets at&t 3g? how is that possible?
britoso said:
This morning I got a SMS from AT&T (USA) saying that they have identified my device as a "smartphone" and they will now be charging me $30 per month for data. (I checked and have used about 400MB of data in the last month)
(previously I was on a $10 data unlimited + $5 (forced messaging) plan (EDGE).
When I called to ask, they said that the only way I can use the EDGE data unlimited plan was if I went back to my SE w810 phone. (Note that it has a full browser and IM capability too)
I'm shocked how they can force me to pay more by using their ignorance of data technology (diff between EDGE and 3G) as an excuse.
Some questions for the community:
1) has this happened to you and what did you do ?
2) which are the other providers that provide EDGE? (the ATT rep stated as a matter of fact that t-mo DOES NOT have a EDGE-only plan, but I have read that t-mo does have it)
3) do you think I should return my phone and wait for the ATT version?
4) which 3G band is more common around the world? (UMTS Band 1/4/8 2100/AWS/900 ) or the bands on the upcoming ATT N1 ?
ps: I'm thinking of calling them back and saying that my phone is not a smartphone. (coz its a superphone )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They are not "using their ignorance of data technology as an excuse". I am sure that AT&T knows more about the technology behind their service than you or I. They are not using any "excuses" they are going by policy. If you have a smart phone on their network they require you to have a data plan. It is really in your best interest to pay for the unlimited plan. It prevents you from having insanely large bills. And if you can afford to by the Nexus One, you can afford the $30 plan. I had to pay for the data plan when I had my 8525 on AT&T and they didn't even have 3G in my area at the time.
thewayne01 said:
If you have a smart phone on their network they require you to have a data plan.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're missing the point. THEY get to decide what is a "smartphone". Even though there are two levels of service (EDGE and 3G), they force you into paying for 3G even if your phone does not support it.
An analogy is a gas station forcing you to fill premium gas even though your car runs fine on regular. The gas station's excuse is that you have a shiny car so as per their policy you can only fill up on premium.
britoso said:
You're missing the point. THEY get to decide what is a "smartphone". Even though there are two levels of service (EDGE and 3G), they force you into paying for 3G even if your phone does not support it.
An analogy is a gas station forcing you to fill premium gas even though your car runs fine on regular. The gas station's excuse is that you have a shiny car so as per their policy you can only fill up on premium.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL at the analogy. How about drop the bucket of loss that is AT&T and go with TMobile????
j2eubank said:
LOL at the analogy. How about drop the bucket of loss that is AT&T and go with TMobile????
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i second this lmao
b1337 said:
you have a nexus that gets at&t 3g? how is that possible?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this .
Are you on contract? If you are tell them to go eat a ****, or free you from your contract because they are changing the terms on you.
If you're not on contract, then well, it's really up to them to change terms as they see fit, and they get to decide how you use their network.
I'm not in contract, been with them (Cingular) since 2003.
What are my options for voice+EDGE only.
I will surely miss my rollover minutes.
I could be wrong, but I don't think data plans are ever Edge or 3G specific. You are paying for data based on smartphone usage expectations. They think smartphone users will use a larger bandwidth than someone who uses a feature phone regardless of what the phones 3g/edge capabilities are.
If you are interested in checking out tmobile, you would be suited perfectly do to one of their even more plus plans (no contract, no subsidy) which range from $59.99 for 500 min with unlimited data/text (or ~$55 for no text) up to $79.99 for unlimited everything...
Depending on where you live you may only get edge, or GPRS so make sure to check the coverage maps etc...
Edit: IIRC DFW is supposed to well covered by tmo...
rossiscatch said:
You are paying for data based on smartphone usage expectations.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So browsing on EDGE on my old sony w810i uses less bandwidth than browsing the same websites on my N1 ?
There is NO cap on the EDGE-only "data unlimited" data plan.
In the past they have forced people who used more than 2GB/month to switch. I'm not even close to that number. All they have right now is that i'm on a phone they classify as a "smartphone".
So those rates are for t-mo 3G correct ?
Damn that sucks that they're forcing you to upgrade >.< unfortunately, it's the same with t-mobile so it's up to you if you want to switch carriers
I had the "total internet add-on" data plan with t-mo with my dash, i only got edge on it though since the phone didnt support 3g. When i got my N1 i had 3g working for about 2 weeks just fine but one day it stopped working altogether, so i called them up and they said the same thing, "We have detected that you are using an android smartphone so you'll have to upgrade to the android internet plan"
Now i'm paying $25/month.
That's not too much of a difference than ATT's $30 but if you switch you'll actually be able to use 3g, and t-mobile's pretty cheap too so it shouldnt be too bad for you
britoso said:
So browsing on EDGE on my old sony w810i uses less bandwidth than browsing the same websites on my N1 ?
There is NO cap on the EDGE-only "data unlimited" data plan.
In the past they have forced people who used more than 2GB/month to switch. I'm not even close to that number. All they have right now is that i'm on a phone they classify as a "smartphone".
So those rates are for t-mo 3G correct ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup, T-mobile is essentially going for an "all or nothing" pricing structure.
Basically three options, X Minutes voice, text, data.
I hope they roll text and voice together soon.
britoso said:
So those rates are for t-mo 3G correct ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, the rates listed are for tmobile 3G (there is no EDGE plan on any carrier as far as I know), and you can take a closer look at tmobile.com. If those prices are good to you you should at least test tmobile out for a couple of weeks... 3G is definitely much more fun on the nexus than edge, and if you are going to be paying $30 a month more on At&t anyway you have nothing to lose. Also, you wouldn't be signing a contract, so you'd be in about the same position as you are now but with 3G capabilites.
With regards to data plans, I am not saying I agree with their logic; In fact, I think they should have 3G and Edge specific data plans. You would think AT&T would also welcome this to alleviate some of the 3G congestion for users who don't demand 3G speeds, or who's phones are not capable. I would even welcome a tiered package, for example, a 1GB hard cap for $10-15 or something.
Anyway, I think (total guess here) that they believe there is more use of push email, etc and apps that constantly update and grab data on phones like the iphone and nexus, so those are the capabilities I am referring to, not simply browsing the web.
There's no reason for them to have edge/3g data plans, that's not what they're charging you for. they charge more for smartphones because they use more bandwidth since they're able to load actual websites and do more than a basic cellphone with mobile web browsing. They may have a poor way of explaining the situation if they're saying it's because you've accessed their 3g networks (which as somebody has already pointed out is impossible with an N1), but it's simply because a smartphone accesses the data network more than a basic cellphone.
Why do you want EDGE only? Thing is the unlimited voice plans on tmobile are so cheap you don't need roll over. I used to be on AT&T as well and always felt more like I was the one doing the rolling over.
j2eubank said:
Why do you want EDGE only? Thing is the unlimited voice plans on tmobile are so cheap you don't need roll over. I used to be on AT&T as well and always felt more like I was the one doing the rolling over.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont need more than EDGE. (gmail, gvoice, IM, occassional web lookup. thats all I use the web on my phone for)
original iphone (2g) users when they acquire a 3g or 3gs iphone receive emails and texts from att letting them know they have a 3g capable device (even if they have 3g disabled on the phone) and need to upgrade their plan to reflect this.
My girlfriend broke her 2g and adopted my iphone 3g when I moved to the n1. About a week after the migration, texts and emails started rolling in from ATT telling her to upgrade to a 3g data plan. I called ATT and they were less than friendly about the entire thing. I explained why she was on a 3g device and that if they checked their records, she was not using it. After a manager began to talk down to me I let them know she was in contract for the services offered for the iphone 2g and if they were adamant about the forced upgrade, they were free to let her out of her contract at not additional cost...so far the emails and texts have stopped. Keep in mind that she has 3g turned off on her phone so it's not like she is attempting to use a service that was not in her original plan.
It seems to me that they do actually offer an edge/2g only data plan if they are this persnickety regarding edge vs. 3g data usage.
...seriously lame if you ask me.
If the rumors about an upcoming AT&T N1 are true, then AT&T is probably gearing up to be able to detect the 3G N1's on their system and force them to upgrade. That would at least make some sense, even though I think they should be gearing more off of amount of data rather than type of data.
So, if they are gearing up for that - perhaps the current N1's are coming up in their system as "rogue 3G smartphones" even though these particular N1's are not accessing their 3G? They probably use IMEI numbers so it would boil down to whether HTC uses separate ranges for the different forms of the N1 or not - or whether they report the ranges with such fine granularity to the carriers.
My take on the "smartphone data" plan distinctions is that they really want to charge more for higher volumes of data, but any plan that includes a limit has such a bad public reaction these days that instead they make all of the plans "unlimited" and bank on how easy it is for the device to use the data to throttle the customers rather than a hard limit. In the end, the result is that they classify your device instead of your usage to appease the other customers and then you may pay in circumstances which seem unfair - all to save the "we don't like limits" crowd from rebelling...
I switched over to the new 20gb mobile share plan from ATT...I had the 5gb plan and continuously went over the limit and had to pay close to $100 in overages consistently. Unfortunately, I travel for work, so I'm constantly in hotels, so there's no way I can have a cable company install internet in my room, and the wifi from the hotels is hopelessly slow. I looked into broadband or "mifi" but they all had some limitations, whether in speed or in data allowance.
Here was my idea: Switch to a 4gb mobile share plan (I have 2 lines) from ATT, then get another phone from either Sprint or T-Mobile since they offer unlimited data. Sprint only offers 2gb or 6gb hotspot plans, but I'll just root and get their unlmtd plan, and T-Mo is goin to offer unlmtd 4G starting Sep. 5, and while they won't allow hotspots, once again, I'll just root. Right now, I'm paying $260/month for two smartphones and 20gb shared between the two on ATT. If I switch to 4gb, I'd be paying $150, plus getting an unlimited plan from either Sprint or TMo, get a basic Android phone that offers a tethering option, and monthly pay no more than maybe $70-$100, which would put my bill max at $250, still $10 cheaper than what I'm paying now and I get the added benefit of unlimited data.
I would be using the T-Mobile or Sprint phone for strictly a hotspot, so I'd need minimal minutes and messages. Does this make sense? Is there something I'm missing that would make this impossible?
composi said:
I switched over to the new 20gb mobile share plan from ATT...I had the 5gb plan and continuously went over the limit and had to pay close to $100 in overages consistently. Unfortunately, I travel for work, so I'm constantly in hotels, so there's no way I can have a cable company install internet in my room, and the wifi from the hotels is hopelessly slow. I looked into broadband or "mifi" but they all had some limitations, whether in speed or in data allowance.
Here was my idea: Switch to a 4gb mobile share plan (I have 2 lines) from ATT, then get another phone from either Sprint or T-Mobile since they offer unlimited data. Sprint only offers 2gb or 6gb hotspot plans, but I'll just root and get their unlmtd plan, and T-Mo is goin to offer unlmtd 4G starting Sep. 5, and while they won't allow hotspots, once again, I'll just root. Right now, I'm paying $260/month for two smartphones and 20gb shared between the two on ATT. If I switch to 4gb, I'd be paying $150, plus getting an unlimited plan from either Sprint or TMo, get a basic Android phone that offers a tethering option, and monthly pay no more than maybe $70-$100, which would put my bill max at $250, still $10 cheaper than what I'm paying now and I get the added benefit of unlimited data.
I would be using the T-Mobile or Sprint phone for strictly a hotspot, so I'd need minimal minutes and messages. Does this make sense? Is there something I'm missing that would make this impossible?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not to insult you, but using a phone exclusively as a hotspot is kind of a douchebag move. I know you need it for business and I know you're trying to save money, but you're the reason unlimited data is going away and carriers started cracking down on tethering. So please, don't do that, and consider going for a business line on AT&T or something.
What he said ^^^. Cricket has 3G unlimited data and they have modems as well. That may be a thought.
T-Mobile testing new prepaid service GoSmart Mobile for 2013 launch
http://www.androidauthority.com/t-m...id-service-gosmart-mobile-2013-launch-137432/
Tmobile why 3G that,s so 2009 it,s 4g/lte or go home.......
no switch for me ^_^
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2037154
a little more info here!
GoSmart Mobile
well it seems to be a reasonably good offer at the first look but if we look closely we'll find a different story altogether
at $30 one gets unlimited talk & text
now days phone is used not only for talk & text but for lot of things, so we need data pack as well
so one have to give $5 more and upgrade to $35 plan, unlimited talk & text plus unlimited data at 2G speed
but for a smartphone we need good data speed, at least 3G.
so one should give $10 more and upgrade to $45 plan, unlimited talk & text plus 3G data up to 5GB and after that back to 2G speed
3G speed data seems no good now days as 4G is in, also prospect of going back to 2G once 5GB is up seems scary
so my take is $30 is best only if talk & text is to be done or else don't take it
$35 plan, unlimited talk & text plus unlimited data at 2G speed, only take it if one talks a lot data speed is no issue
$45 plan, unlimited talk & text plus 3G data up to 5GB and after that back to 2G speed, if you have a smart phone, and your data transfer will not be more than 5GB only than take it
GoSmart plans are good but not that great as they seems at first glance
I'm thinking of getting a Nexus 4 in the very near future, and I'm interested in seeing what might be the best provider for my needs.
My main interest is data. Having unlimited of it would be perfect (actually unlimited, not like 2GB and then shut-off notice or something like that).
I am also interested in tethering. Currently, I would only be interested in using my Nexus 10, and nothing else, but perhaps later on down the road I might get a laptop as well. Just want a plan that doesn't charge an additional fee for tethering (or at the least, a one-time fee; nothing recurring), and allows for tethering even. I don't plan to use huge amounts of data while tethering either, just maybe check some emails, G+, play some multiplayer games (GW2, PoE, etc.), and chat to friends over XMPP and Steam. No "major" downloading or anything like that (or very little of it; maybe the occasional 100MB game might need updating on my tablet like Shadowgun).
Voice minutes isn't too dire for me. Don't plan on talking too much, and if the minutes aren't unlimited, I'd just hope texting is, or I can fallback to Google Voice even.
I've checked out StraightTalk, Simple Mobile, and T-Mobile prepaid. From what I hear, the first two aren't too keen on tethering, and have some invisible data limit that if hit, they can cancel your service (but perhaps I've heard wrong, or maybe this was in the past). There was another plan I checked out (Solavi or something) but their privacy policy on shared info didn't seem too good, and I hear they too don't like tethering and have an invisible data limit.
I'm somewhat interested in T-Mobile's $30 prepaid plan. Unlimited data is pretty nice (the 4G is also nice, but my area is only 2G only according to their map). Not entirely sure on T-Mo's stance on tethering. I don't really see myself using more than 100 voice minutes a month, but if I understand right, it's like $0.33 per minute after that, or I can buy minutes with a T-Mo prepaid card. I currently have an old full-sized T-Mo prepaid SIM card lying around. Hoping I can just make this micro, pop it in, and then sign-up for the $30/month prepaid thing on T-Mo's site without problem.
But simply put, I need a plan with unlimited data, calling/text (doesn't have to be unlimited, but I need them nonetheless) and no strict-stance on tethering. Being under $50/month would be awesome I'm also in the United States, and don't plan on doing anything international, in the near future anyway. Should I go with T-Mobile's $30/month prepaid plan, or is there another provider I should look at instead?
espionage724 said:
I'm thinking of getting a Nexus 4 in the very near future, and I'm interested in seeing what might be the best provider for my needs.
My main interest is data. Having unlimited of it would be perfect (actually unlimited, not like 2GB and then shut-off notice or something like that).
I am also interested in tethering. Currently, I would only be interested in using my Nexus 10, and nothing else, but perhaps later on down the road I might get a laptop as well. Just want a plan that doesn't charge an additional fee for tethering (or at the least, a one-time fee; nothing recurring), and allows for tethering even. I don't plan to use huge amounts of data while tethering either, just maybe check some emails, G+, play some multiplayer games (GW2, PoE, etc.), and chat to friends over XMPP and Steam. No "major" downloading or anything like that (or very little of it; maybe the occasional 100MB game might need updating on my tablet like Shadowgun).
Voice minutes isn't too dire for me. Don't plan on talking too much, and if the minutes aren't unlimited, I'd just hope texting is, or I can fallback to Google Voice even.
I've checked out StraightTalk, Simple Mobile, and T-Mobile prepaid. From what I hear, the first two aren't too keen on tethering, and have some invisible data limit that if hit, they can cancel your service (but perhaps I've heard wrong, or maybe this was in the past). There was another plan I checked out (Solavi or something) but their privacy policy on shared info didn't seem too good, and I hear they too don't like tethering and have an invisible data limit.
I'm somewhat interested in T-Mobile's $30 prepaid plan. Unlimited data is pretty nice (the 4G is also nice, but my area is only 2G only according to their map). Not entirely sure on T-Mo's stance on tethering. I don't really see myself using more than 100 voice minutes a month, but if I understand right, it's like $0.33 per minute after that, or I can buy minutes with a T-Mo prepaid card. I currently have an old full-sized T-Mo prepaid SIM card lying around. Hoping I can just make this micro, pop it in, and then sign-up for the $30/month prepaid thing on T-Mo's site without problem.
But simply put, I need a plan with unlimited data, calling/text (doesn't have to be unlimited, but I need them nonetheless) and no strict-stance on tethering. Being under $50/month would be awesome I'm also in the United States, and don't plan on doing anything international, in the near future anyway. Should I go with T-Mobile's $30/month prepaid plan, or is there another provider I should look at instead?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here in Canada, I'm paying $30/mo. for service which includes unlimited local, canada-wide text and "unlimited" data. They say unlimited, but my speed is severely capped at 5GB (to about 10 kb/s, unusable). Well I don't know too much about US Providers, with the $30 I'm paying it sounds similar to T-Mobile's plan, BUT something I didn't know when I got my service was how limited the coverage would be. Even in Toronto there are spots where data is dropped because of poor reception, and I guess this is why the service is so "cheap" relative to other providers in canada. So I guess what's I'm saying is t-mobile's $30 data might not be as good and reliable as other carriers (maybe). It would be nice to hear from someone who actually has tried this plan though.
I'm using a straight talk att sim that was cut down. I've heard they have a 2 gig limit but I have never hit it. Their service is $50.05 after tax. I don't think you will find your service for less than $50 but curious if you do. I was on t mobile but once new buildings started being put up at my work it was unusable. Att in my area has broad coverage just a clogged network. IMO having unlimited 2g tmobile seems like a waste. If you are on wifi and don't live on YouTube you should be fine.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium
From the press release via Droid Life-
" T-Mobile is the only major national wireless provider to make tablets affordable, connected and mobile right out of the box. There’s no bait and switch, no trial period and no strings attached. T-Mobile is the only national wireless provider to offer tablet owners up to 200 MB of free 4G LTE data every month for as long as they own their tablet, even if they’re not yet a T-Mobile customer.[iii] It’s really as good as it sounds – 200 MB of free data on T-Mobile’s nationwide 4G LTE network. That means each month customers can send approximately 800 Instagram photos, more than 2,500 emails or stream 200 minutes of music – all for free."
This is a great perk for those of us with the LTE Nexus 7 and another reason to get one if you havent already. Just thought Id share the good news. :laugh:
Well you should train your retail store employees. They just told me only the first month was free.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
It looks like you'll have to wait until November 1st. From Engadget's article on same-
"As of November 1st, the no-charge bandwidth will be available for the lifetime of any tablet on the network; customers who pay for data will get the 200MB on top of their existing caps. The company is simultaneously launching a tablet trade-in program that will discount new devices when shoppers bring in old slates, even if they're WiFi-only."
really happy about this. :laugh:
This will be sweet
Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk
so long as i am paying for an expensive phone contract, i will not ever consider an LTE tablet contract as well. If only we could get this is england, it would be great.
What i wish someone would do though, is allow you to buy a second sim if you have an LTE phone contract. If i can tether my tablet to my phone, why can't they just create a system where you can have two sims, linked, and share your monthly data allowance between the two.
That's exqc ly what at&t and Verizon are doing with their plans in the US. The way only problem is that they've priced them so high it only helps if you have many devices. They also don't allow tethering. You generally have to install a 3rd party ROM for that.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
hughlle said:
What i wish someone would do though, is allow you to buy a second sim if you have an LTE phone contract. If i can tether my tablet to my phone, why can't they just create a system where you can have two sims, linked, and share your monthly data allowance between the two.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's widely available here in Germany. I don't use it, because my phone operator has a good entry level offer (unlimited SMS, unlimited calls in my network and another one, 100 minutes into any network and 300MB UMTS data, after that it is locked to 2G speed) for 18€ per month. 300MB is fine for my smartphone usage. But upgrading to 1GB even adds 10€ per month, going to 3GB doubles the cost. But in theory if I had more data volume, I could add another SIM card to that plan and use the data on all devices.
But it was easier and cheaper to get a heavily discounted contract from another operator (Telekom) which has a better network for data and it costs me 14€ per month for 5GB LTE volume.
Wrngway said:
That's exqc ly what at&t and Verizon are doing with their plans in the US. The way only problem is that they've priced them so high it only helps if you have many devices. They also don't allow tethering. You generally have to install a 3rd party ROM for that.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's not exactly true. We switched just my wife's phone to the family share plan and it was the same price as paying for the lowest amount of data + minutes + sms. On the share plan she now has unlimited sms, unlimited, calls, and 1GB of data as compared to 400 minutes, a small block of sms, and 300 MB of data. Not to mention before she did not have tethering and now she has tethering already included. Switched one device and we're already seeing savings.
So, for the same price we got: Unlimited Minutes, Unlimited SMS, 3 times the data, and tethering included (a service we didn't get before). So how is this AT&T pricing too high?
Now if we add my Nexus 7 on the plan it will be only $10 more a month and I will share 1GB of data with her. I don't find that to be priced too high at all. Either way, I'll be taking my free data from T-Mobile and just tether from my phone when I run out.
If i wanted just 200mb from my current provider, it would cost me £2 and would only be available for 24 hours. If i want the data available for a whole month i could get 1gb for £10. It is a joke.
I looked into it in the UK for my provider (02) and looks like they do allow this shared data thing, but only if you have a business contract with them.
LTE tablets are just not going to succeed so long as they are requiring people who already pay for a data plan on their mobile to pay for a data plan on their tablet as well. I will just tether, because name a situation where you have your tablet at hand, but not your phone.
sola fide said:
That's not exactly true. We switched just my wife's phone to the family share plan and it was the same price as paying for the lowest amount of data + minutes + sms. On the share plan she now has unlimited sms, unlimited, calls, and 1GB of data as compared to 400 minutes, a small block of sms, and 300 MB of data. Not to mention before she did not have tethering and now she has tethering already included. Switched one device and we're already seeing savings.
So, for the same price we got: Unlimited Minutes, Unlimited SMS, 3 times the data, and tethering included (a service we didn't get before). So how is this AT&T pricing too high?
Now if we add my Nexus 7 on the plan it will be only $10 more a month and I will share 1GB of data with her. I don't find that to be priced too high at all. Either way, I'll be taking my free data from T-Mobile and just tether from my phone when I run out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I suppose it depends on your situation. I haven't had to go out shopping in a while, but I'm grandfathered into a Verizon Unlimited data plan for roughly $125/mo for two smartphones. I'm stuck in contract until Aug 2014 for now.
For a Verizon share plan, we'd spend roughly $15 more for both phones and 4Gb of data (we use more than 2Gb combined)...assuming they apply our employee discount to the entire account. Adding a tablet is another $10 and we don't need mobile tablet access every month.
If I had to shop now, I'd look at Net10 with AT&T access for 2 phones for $85 and 2.5Gb of high speed data each. Then with the money saved I could get a prepaid tablet plan when I need it from whomever had the best rates at the time.
Of course if you can tether your phone, which I can do with my GS3 right now, then your data might as well be pooled and an extra sim is just a matter of convenience.
I'm hoping things in the US are starting to change for the better. It seems like a racket compared to rates available in Europe.