Cell Phones and Providers

[Leshrak]

One other thing that I'm looking forward to is getting streaming radio in my car. I just bought an FM transmitter that I'm gonna connect to my phone with a stereo cord... muahaha, i'll never have to listen to commercials again.

[Aristotle]

What do you all know about that AT&T Tilt (I believe it is the successor to the 8525)?

What sorts of plan add ons do you need in order to take advantage of its various features (text, getting online wirelessly via 3G or otherwise, using telnet, email, etc.).

[Talsek]

Yes, the Tilt is the successor to the 8525. Regarding data plans, honestly I'd talk to one of their support folks to figure out the one that you'd want. There are a bunch of them, and I don't think the web site's descriptions are always intuitive or accurate.

As an example, I have what they now call the 'PDA Personal Max with 1500 Messages' plan. It's not an enterprise-level plan, yet I use Microsoft DirectPush to sync with a server at home. And it doesn't specify anything about tethering support, yet I have used it to connect to my laptop as they describe in their tethering explanation.

Strangely, some places on the site list both 'Smartphone' and 'PDA' plans, while other places only have PDA plans (in addition to Laptop and BlackBerry plans, which are irrelevant in this discussion). The Smartphone plans are cheaper, but apparently unavailable for PDA phones.

My guess is that $30-40 per month (plus the cost of your voice plan) will let you do just about everything. But since there are so many little variations and the plans change from time to time, it's worth chatting with someone who deals with them regularly. I've found the Cingular Store folks to be really helpful that way. I forgot about them until this message actually!

[Leshrak]

The tilt looks like a solid choice as successor. Damn, i kinda wish I'd waited for it instead of the 8525...

http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2007/0...-gets-unboxed/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTC_TyTN_II

"Unlike its predecesor, the Hermes (8525), this device becomes a GPS navigation system in itself without requiring the use of an external Bluetooth GPS puck or receiver."

That's sweet, it gets GPS data, something mine doesn't do, and google maps works with it (free).

[Aristotle]

Man, $30-40 extra? That sucks ass.

Leshrak, did you say something about a $20 data plan that was just as good?

[Leshrak]

Originally posted by Aristotle
Man, $30-40 extra? That sucks ass.

Leshrak, did you say something about a $20 data plan that was just as good?

Hmm... I just logged into my account and it looks like they got rid of the $35/month "PDA Connect" plan i was referring to. Here are the data plans that they've got listed as available for me to add to my account:

Smartphone Connect Unlimited (19.99/month,
unlimited data) but it lists this as only available for 
certain models (not including the 8525 or tilt)

MEdia Basic (9.99/mo)

400 Messages (10¢/additional messages):
You have the freedom to message any way to any 
one - text, picture, video and IM - without worrying 
what each message costs. That means every message 
counts the same. You can send and receive ANY 
combination of messages. Want to send all picture 
messages? No problem. All IMs? Go ahead and chat 
away - send and receive messages for less than 
pennies per day! 

1MB MEdiaTM Net (1¢/additional KB usage):
With MEdia Net, you can browse the mobile web, check 
your Email, get your sports scores, movie times, 
weather and news right on your mobile phone. Plus, 
you can access the latest ringtones, games, graphics 
and AT&T Mobile Music.

MEdia Works (14.99/mo)
1500 Messages (5¢/additional messages):
5 MB MEdiaTM Net (1¢/additional KB usage):

MEdia MAX 200 (19.99/mo) (this is the plan i have)
200 messages
Unlimited data

MEdia MAX 1500 (29.99/mo)
1500 messages
unlimited data

All of the MEdia bundles say this in the fine print: "MEdia Net and MEdia Bundles are not available on PDAs/Pocket PCs, RIM® devices or LaptopConnect cards."
Funny, because I've got the MEdia MAX 200 bundle with a pocket PC. I doubt a rep would sell it to you on the phone or in the store... I actually had gone in and changed my data plan online AFTER ordering to this, and it's been over 6 months. God i hate cell phone companies.

[Aristotle]

Smartphone Connect Unlimited doesn't seem bad at $20. Does that include unlimited text messages? It would seem weird if it didn't.

And yes, I hate all cell phone companies. There is virtually no competition, they all charge almost identical prices for everything, and almost always find ways to make sure you cannot get the things you actually want and have to either overpay to get the things you want or just take a plan that doesn't include what you want and suffer. Annoying.

[Leshrak]

Originally posted by Aristotle
Smartphone Connect Unlimited doesn't seem bad at $20. Does that include unlimited text messages? It would seem weird if it didn't.

It doesn't say anything about including them, so i would assume it doesn't, they aren't gonna give anything for free . my plan is 20/month and only includes 200 messages...

[Aristotle]

Originally posted by Leshrak
It doesn't say anything about including them, so i would assume it doesn't, they aren't gonna give anything for free . my plan is 20/month and only includes 200 messages...

Yeah, that is probably true. And that's annoying as crap. I wouldn't really need "unlimited" internet access, but some lame pay per minute thing would suck too. I never understand why the text messages have any sort of extra fee over the basic minutes or internet access.

[Leshrak]

Originally posted by Aristotle
Yeah, that is probably true. And that's annoying as crap. I wouldn't really need "unlimited" internet access, but some lame pay per minute thing would suck too. I never understand why the text messages have any sort of extra fee over the basic minutes or internet access.

Well... I definitely needed it the first month, downloading programs and testing out all the cool features (i went to about 20mb total for the month) but since then I've probably used at or around 5-10 mb/month. The problem with the limited plans is the per kilobyte download charge if you go over, if you download just 1 megabyte more than you're allowed, you've just racked up an extra $10 on the bill. It really depends on how much you'll be using it to see whether it's worth it.