[PLUG-TALK] Need phone advice

[John Jason Jordan]

On Sun, 20 Feb 2011 11:21:38 -0800
Bill Barry <bill at billbarry.org> dijo:

>On Sat, Feb 19, 2011 at 1:57 PM, John Jason Jordan
><johnxj at comcast.net>wrote:
>
>> On Sat, 15 Jan 2011 12:30:55 -0800
>> John Jason Jordan <johnxj at comcast.net> dijo:
>> with the smart phones). I am debating whether I will just stick to
>> the minimum 200 MB per month. Most places I can connect to a
>> wireless which does not use up my AT&T data allotment, e.g., PSU,
>> Free Geek, coffee shops, etc.

> Is there a penalty for going over the 200MB per month?
> Data comes in many forms such as email, app installation, etc. All of
> this could quickly add up to 200MB and it would be easy to
> accidentally go over.
>
>"Unlimited" keeps you from having to worry about how much you have
>used.
>
>200MB/month keeps you from giving all your money to AT&T.

As others have mentioned, AT&T no longer offers unlimited data plans. I
just got my new Atrix 4G and the following were the options:

	$15 / month for 200 MB. If you go over 200 MB you automaically
		get additional 200 MB increments for $10 each.
	$25 / month for 2 GB, if you go over 2 GB you automatically get
		an additional 1 GB for $15. BUT, if you don't use more
		than 200 MB they will give you $10 back.
	$45 / month for 4 GB, if you go over it is $<forgot how much>
		for additional increments of 1 GB.

I signed up for the $25 a month deal. I also signed up for the $5
insurance that covers just about everything, including loss, but with a
$125 deductible. I lose phones a lot. 

The sales dude said that everyone uses way more their first month. He
said he would call me after a few weeks to advise me on how much I had
used and to discuss which plan I should be on.

I have not used very much, but I am sure the sales dude was correct
about using more your first month. Lots of installing apps and such.

I discovered that there are subtle ways that AT&T has configured things
so you end up using more data. For example, on my Fedora laptop I set
Firefox to use a blank page for the home page. On the Android browser
this is not an option. You can set your home page, but it must be a
real page on the net. As soon as you launch the browser it will go out
and download your page.

I was expecting not to have to use the data plan much, as usually I am
someplace with wireless. So far I haven't used wireless once. I have no
wireless a home, and haven't been anywhere else where I can connect. So
I may have underestimated how much data I will need.

I also discovered that the advertising lies a bit. I was hoping to be
able to run Firefox and OpenOffice, albeit probably scaled down, and
you can install those apps, but only if you have the dock (which sells
for a ridiculous extra $300).