Oh man. I hate getting robbed. I'd like to vote with my pocket book, but it appears that all the wireless carriers are in cahoots. I called every provider and they all impose this same "policy".
Here's the deal. I'd like to upgrade my cell phone. I have a PDA phone, and use it to sometimes view documents on the road.
But I'd like my phone to have wifi capability... so that I can grab emails when I am at lunch in a wifi hotspot. I can't justify the additional $30 that the carriers want for their "data packages".
Many phones have wifi capabilities. The new Google G1 is such a phone, as does the Droid, and the I-Phone.
But guess what... ALL of the wireless service providers require that you have a data package if you want to enable a PDA or smartphone. So your base $70 phone service just jumped $30 a month (minimum).
You get charged that extra amount even if you do not want or do not use the data at all.
I bet that there is a term for this. The words that are coming to my mind I can not post.
You can do it yourself as long as it is a compatible phone. At least you used to be able to. Just buy the phone. Call them up. Say your old phone broke, but you got a phone from a friend or want to switch back to your old phone. Give them the number on the back of the phone and have them connect it.
The data plan is what is stopping me from getting an Iphone.
Quote from: Squirl on January 28, 2010, 04:50:50 PM
..... At least you used to be able to. .....
Should and can are not the same.
I worked for one of the cell companies a decade ago. They were very "protective" about their billing and charges. They were also surprisingly vulnerable to certain clever attempts to thwart their system.
It would be nice to know for certain before shelling out the $$ for the new device. The new device may very well be activated properly but there could be a delay in seeing the new charges they may feel they deserve until one or two billing cycles pass. And unfortunately it would be a surprise to me if one could get a truly correct answer from a customer service rep.
That are all in cahoots with each other to some degree.
I may just go out and buy an Itouch for $200. It has a wifi browser built in.
What a pity. Rather than pay for a new $200 phone, and also carry a $200 Itouch, I would pay $500 for a single device that does it all.
-f-
I bought a new cell phone about 6 months ago. It really was a hassle and that's also when I found out about this data plan thing. The salesman told me that I got my phone just before the $30 data plan became mandatory! I bought mine because it has a good calendar system in it that I use for appointments. I didn't want internet/texting and I'm glad I got it because next time I buy a phone, if I want a PDA style I guess I have to buy a data plan? I think this is crazy.
Oh, I do know a way around it but it is kind of ridiculous because you might as well pay for a data plan if you go this way. I initially thought the phone I was buying was $19.99 because I was going to do a 2 year plan. Then I found out that it was only $20 if I subscribed to a data plan. And I still had to sign a 2 year contract but I would have to pay $139 for the phone. (I got lucky because the phone was mispriced, it should have sold for $200, they fixed that right after I got it) There was an option to buy the phone without a 2 year contract but I would have to pay like $500 dollars for the phone! I'm sure this will be the option when data plans are mandatory.
And on top of the sneaky data plan discount there was an activation fee/insurance option/ and other things that I can't remember. I didn't really like the salesman so I started hassleing him and buy the time he got to the final hidden fee he waived it for me, thank heavens.
I've never liked cell phone companies.
I have the Blackberry and the $30 data plan. I like the net and GPS - google maps etc. Google maps hooks into the GPS without having to pay for the extra GPS plan - maybe not as many features though.