Zeinzu

My bill is $90 after tax and insurance. Single line.

BenChase7

Cool, dan. :-)

And, good luck with that google text service. It's fast and handy.. hope you can get it working on your phone.

THE W

Unless you go to metro and pay $55 for unlimited all. If you add lines it's $50 a line so it would be $150 for 3 lines. Taxes and fees included, no corporate discount.

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Last edited by THE W; August 24th, 2012 at 08:47 AM.

ravenas

Now that T-Mobile's going unlimited data too, it'll make for an interesting contest in the mobile market.

In this corner you have your smaller unlimited data networks...
They've been declared "dead" and "obsolete" by the industry experts, yet refuse to quit. Sprint has posted a financial loss and totally changed their direction in the broadband wireless sphere (dumping Nextel and Wimax), but their stock went up as financial gurus bet on their "Network Vision" philosophy. Customers rewarded them with the highest marks in customer service just this summer.
Meanwhile T-Mobile was on the mat, down for the count, about to sell out completely to the heavier fighter AT&T. T-Mo's supporters cried foul but knew their days were numbered. And yet before the Referee could reach 10, the judges came in at the last minute and called a halt to the fight. AT&T may be a champ but T-Mo's lawyers got the better end of the "pay for play" deal. with a cash injection and a boatload of new spectrum, T-Mo is back in the game to win it.

vs.

In this corner we have the reigning spectrum champions Verizon & AT&T.
You know them best from their former days as Ma Bell, now separate by Federal decree but still acting like kissing cousins/digital clones. They have the nationwide network to spare, but you'll pay for the privilege to use it. Data is capped, phones are loaded with bloat, but hey, you'll always have a signal. Champ AT&T garnered years of success with an exclusive deal to carry the darling of the tech industry (iPhone). Verizon has a phone for every person and animal on Earth. Both hold their customers with grandfathered unlimited data plans even though they'd rather dump those loyal folks in favor of the new "data share" plans. Yes they nickled and dimed their customers for years with texting plans. Now they will do it using Facetime and Twitter.

Who will win? Tune in this time next year.

Rxpert83

The fight wobt be over anytime soon.

Positions on the leaderboard may be shuffeled, but there wont be a winner.


I thoroughly enjoyed that post though

SEMIJim

The letters "google," as opposed to the dial pad numbers corresponding to "google" (466453)?

Because the text string "google" isn't a valid number?

Jim

SaleenFiend

Which isn't anywhere close to the $150 someone posted above. He prob has some stupid $9.95 recurring charges he hasn't looked into on his book from third party app scams or those texting scams. I get them sometimes and Sprint will credit you and block the charges. I pay less than $100 with my discounts for unlimited everything.

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drexappeal

Lol...no way I could explain that to family members I pay for...hahaha...too complicated.

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drexappeal

Let's talk when metro isn't roaming on other providers' towers. I'm not really comparing metro, virgin, or any other provider that doesn't use its own towers.

ttprodr

I have 5 lines and the 1500min unl data and text,my bill after taxes and 22% corp disc is $233 ,only 3out of the 5 lines got the $10premium data surcharge on.

THE W

Metro does have it's own towers for their home areas but they do roam on other towers for their extended home area.

I don't see why that would matter though.

drexappeal

It wouldn't, if the amount of towers even equaled t-mobile or sprint, but they don't, so metro doesn't charge for call or data roaming?

THE W

For extended home area(sprint) no. For travel talk(verizon) yes.

simcha

I officially take back anything nice I had to say about Sprint.

I have 3G speeds that aren't even usable. I have a super awesome phone that is completely crippled because Sprint can't and won't get its act together.

Customer service is extremely friendly and incompetent. A Customer Service Supervisor gave me an email address and told me to use it in a browser to access a website to look at towers in my area. She had no clue what a URL was. And she eventually transfered me to some trucking company and never did give me a proper URL. Also my 3G speeds here at work (my original complaint) are still no better than dial-up was circa 1997.

Unlimited data means nothing if you can't even use data. Don't get fooled or tricked into signing a contract for 2 years with a corporation that doesn't care at all about their customers. Sprint couldn't care less about what long-time loyal customers like me are experiencing while they "upgrade" their network. They keep talking about a future time where they will have the best network on the planet. Meanwhile we customers in most markets have seen 3G simply die a slow and agonizing death.

Find out what provider has a network that actually operates as advertized. Pay the price that they ask because it will be worth it. Sprint is cheap and unlimited. The problem is that the service is cheap and the problems on their network are unlimited.

Sometimes you get what you pay for.

Buyer beware.

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NYCHitman1

Maybe it's non-functional where you live, but that isn't the case everywhere. I think we've all read enough of your relatively long rants to understand your frustration with Sprint.

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BenChase7

Agreed. Hitting 4 or 5+ threads in the same forum, all within minutes of each other with essentially the same rant is a little ridiculous.

drexappeal

If the t-mobile signal or metro PCS signal were stronger at my house, I'd consider moving over:

Deutsche Telekom in T-Mobile USA-MetroPCS merger talks | Reuters

NYCHitman1

I'm kind of curious how that would even work since MetroPCS is a CDMA carrier. Maybe they only want to acquire them for a merger due to their LTE footprint, but even then.. the footprint is extremely small

drexappeal

Just found this article that explains it a 'bit:
MetroPCS: LTE Could Roam With Verizon, AT&T | News & Opinion | PCMag.com

So, rather than being a "roaming" partner with T-mobile, it'll be under the T-mobile banner. Maybe they split it up similar to how Sprint owns Virgin Mobile and Virgin Mobile is the "pre-paid" branch of Sprint. So MetroPCS gets turned into "T-Metro Pre-paid Mobile"?

SEMIJim

Funny you should mention that. I'd essentially decided to take a pass on the whole smartphone thing (probably still will) when you mentioned Best Buy still had Photons. That got me re-interested, but, somehow, I ended-up looking at T-Mobile. I'd originally dismissed TMO due to (assumed) lack of coverage. Imagine my surprise to find they apparently have better coverage in my area than Sprint--and possibly better than "AT&T".

Jim

drexappeal

That's great, Jim! It'd be a good decision to move over, especially with the merger with Metro on the table, and their bringing back unlimited data (without caps).

NYCHitman1

They have a quality selection of devices too.

SEMIJim

Eh *shrug* Like I said: Probably just going to continue to take a pass on the whole smartphone thing, after all. I've more compelling reasons not to get a smartphone than I do to get one. It's not certain, nor is my carrier choice, which is why I'm still hanging out and commenting, but if you were a betting man the safe money would be on us not doing it.

Jim

drexappeal

Totally understandable. Everybody has to make decisions based on their personal needs and uses, which is part of the reason why I understand that there are so many iPhone loyalists. For them, it suits their needs better than Android does. In your case, it has seemed like there wasn't a truly compelling reason for you to make the smartphone switch. I know many people that still haven't wanted to make that jump.

dan330

it is a natural tech progression... i think everyone will have one.. sometime in the near future.

eventually it will be just a cheap to make a low-level smartphone as it is to make a dumb phone.

plain phones will disappear.

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simcha

Oh, I don't know about that. Take my mother, for instance. She blocks texting on her "dumb phone." She thinks texting is useless and annoying. She thinks that smart phones are too small to be useful for her for surfing the Internet.

She loves her iPad. She uses it for Internet surfing and for reading books, mainly.

I don't see her getting a smart phone anytime soon. She will fight it tooth and nail. For her a phone is a phone. It's not a toy or a computer.

I assume that there will continue to be many people who think like her for the time being and long into the future.

Last edited by simcha; October 3rd, 2012 at 06:41 PM.

drexappeal

Once my generation (Gen X) gets to be senior citizen age, that's when I think majority of people will be on Smartphones. That's still 30 years away, so I think

Only thing that could add to a faster integration to smartphones are inventions like this one...

Meet the PhoneEasy 740, the world's simplest Android phone!

The Baby Boomer Generation is the fastest growing generation using smartphones, but that definitely doesn't mean all of them are enjoying it.

Rxpert83

I'd give it 5 years. 10 max

SEMIJim

We'll see.

Being in IT, I could find a smartphone handy, at times, right now. When I retire, hopefully in a few years, I won't need one any more. In fact: I'm looking forward to getting myself "off the grid" almost entirely. Dump my SOHO "net connection for plain old residential, hand my little open source projects and docs off to somebody else and sell my domains. Dump all my email accounts save one, and that one will probably be a brand new one. Probably replace the server with NAS and switch to a desktop system for myself. If I have a smartphone, by then, I'll almost certainly swap it out for a dumb one. I'll simply have no need or desire for all that complication in my life any more.

I'm really looking forward to it

Jim

dan330

but once it cost the same to make a dumb phone or a low-level smartphone. it will be within 5 yrs. why would manufactures make dumb phones???

eventually.. there will be no NEW dumb phones being made.

SEMIJim

Because having a "smart"phone on a wireless network costs twice as much, or more, than a non-"smart"phone?

Then I guess we won't have wireless at all. We are not going to pay $120-$150/mo. for wireless service. Period.

You read that right: "Not." Up until now it was "Maybe..." Now it's "not."

This thread actually encouraged me to stay away from wireless data entirely. Some might say, or at least think "You don't know what you're missing." Yeah, I do. And, no offense, but I see what becoming addicted to it has done to peoples' sense.

No thanks.

I'll hang around for rebuttals, flames, expressions of injured dignity, etc. , then I'll be taking my leave. At this point I don't think I'll have anything further to contribute to any of the "smart"phone forums, as I'll not be partaking.

Jim

drexappeal

Ooh...looks like Sprint's fighting for it:
Report: Sprint ready to engage with T-Mobile in bidding war for MetroPCS

I didn't even realize that they offered 8 billion at the beginning of the year, but it was blocked by the board, internally! This is going to get interesting. Apparently, T-mobile is going to "best" any Sprint offer, but maybe the board will think twice and let Sprint outbid T-mobile.

dan330

I think there are carriers that will let you activate a smartphone without data... I think it was TMOBILE.

So. What is your issue with smartphones??

Rxpert83

You can't point to one exception to the rule and then totally disregard peoples concerns I could honestly do without a data plan. A WiFi only smart phone that hap a cheap monthly payment because it didn't use carrier data would be just fine.

Granted, that's not the same wants as the user quoted, but to each his own

Last edited by Rxpert83; October 4th, 2012 at 06:12 PM.

SEMIJim

Issues. Plural.

They're expensive. They're fragile. They require overly expensive data plans. No local sync or desktop apps. Poorly-integrated apps. Poor battery life. Poor reliability. Questionable software quality/security.

That's all I can think of, off hand...

Oh, yeah... These things have unsubsidized prices in the hundreds-of-dollars range. How many other things can you buy that cost that much and are considered technologically obsolete within a year or two... or less?

Jim

AndroidSPCS

LOL I beg to differ.

Having suffered through old style PDAs and phones like the Palm Treo / Centro, having local backups / data that were a pain in the rear to sync, and use, there is no way I'd go back.

Smart phones *can* be fragile, but you can use otterbox to keep them protected, or buy ruggedized phones to begin with. Some of them do require expensive data plans, but not all. T-mobile being a prime example where you can take a smartphone and just use calling plans with it. Apps are fairly well integrated, not sure how you measure that...in many cases they are superior to PC based software.

Battery life do need to improve, but my S3 can go 2 days without charging, and that's with medium use. That's pretty impressive considering what I use it for. Reliability has been outstanding with my Samsung S2 / S3. Security is also far better than PCs.

So many of these perceptions really aren't reality, and you could apply them to any technology, such as tablets, laptops, or even home networks.

Once you do go smartphone, and provided you have the desire to learn new technology, it is life changing. I know of no one who switched to a smartphone, used it for a month or so, and went back to a dumb phone. None.

But if you're happy with where you're at, that's fine too. You are just missing out on some killer services that many others find useful, but like they say - you don't know what you're missing until you've had it.

For me, some basic things I take for granted now are reading product reviews while out shopping for things, price comparisons, finding the closest store for a particular need, finding the hours of the store, all things I used to have to call up a family member who's at home - asking them to fire up the PC, and do those things remotely for me, which was a pain in the rear.

Smartphones provide a new level of self sufficiency that is simply amazing, but of course can be misused / abused as well. I hardly text, but I do a lot of video chat with family when I'm traveling for work, plus GPS navigation for hotels / restaurants, and many many other cool things.

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Last edited by AndroidSPCS; October 5th, 2012 at 02:22 PM.

SEMIJim

LOL Beg all you want

I'm still using an "old-style PDA" phone: A Palm Centro. I don't find it a pain in the rear to sync. I plug it in. Tell it to sync. It syncs. No problem. I don't need an expensive wireless plan or an Internet connection to do it, either. And if my Centro dies, I simply restore its backup from the last sync. Done. Don't need Google or anybody for that. My data (backup) is on my computer, which I trust. I do not trust cloud storage. Rule #1 of information security: Control access. I have a desktop app, which, again, does not require Google--or a bloated web browser to access.

You write that as if a smartphone being fragile is a rarity.

You write that as if it's uncommon.

One carrier out of... how many? And you have to buy the phone at full market price to be able to do that.

The only app "integration" is Google having normalized users' identities across their cloud-based services.

Doesn't change the fact that battery life on this things is, on the whole, short.

I'm glad it's working for you, but that's one user and one phone out of a whole class of users and phones. Go look up the user satisfaction numbers for smartphones vs. dumb ones, sometime. I did, recently. Accidentally. (I'd been looking for something else.) The difference is a real eye-opener.

Even were that true: It'd be damning by faint praise, being as MS-Windows is the poster child for poor computer security. But it's not true, particularly on the Android platform.

The tablet point, I'll give you. I have an Android tablet. Not a very good one, mind you, but my experience with that tablet is one of the reasons for my low opinion of smartphones. As for laptops and home networks: My laptop at work has been utterly reliable and so are my networks at home and at work.

I try to avoid saying "never," but I don't think it's gonna happen.

Smartphones impose a whole new level of dependency, in my view. Expensive dependency.

On this, I'll take my leave. You may have the Last Word, if you desire, but I won't be reading it. At this point, since I no longer have any interest in obtaining a smartphone, I can become nothing but a spoiler... or, worse, a troll. So, as promised: I'm taking my leave.

Y'all enjoy your toys. Wish I could join you, because God knows I love toys, but I can't see it. Not this time.

Jim

dan330

SEMIJim... i understand your reason.. you have that right to your opinion.
see you around.

AndroidSPCS

Ditto SEMIjim. Enjoy your non-smartphone.

I have one friend left who refuses to get a smartphone as well. He was the last person I knew to get a cellphone as well. He's a little strange, lacks some social skills (doesn't have many friends), but he seems happy enough to be going to bars all the time to watch football and drink beers. He tried a "feature phone" thinking it was a smart phone, LOL, for about a day and returned it, complaining he couldn't just flip open his phone and answer a call.

Funny enough CNN just hard an article today about "In Defense of My Stupid Phone"... funny article.

Smart phones, at the end of the day, are just another tool to help people organize / manage their lives. Great tools, but obviously not for everyone.

Last edited by AndroidSPCS; October 6th, 2012 at 11:15 AM.

drexappeal

I just hope that, if they do become the majority share holders, they keep prices and plans the same and don't follow the other providers' lead:
Japan’s SoftBank reportedly in talks to acquire Sprint [Update: Sprint confirms]

NYCHitman1

I wouldn't mind a slight increase in pricing, but that is only if SoftBank is able to hasten Network Vision.

drexappeal

I agree, but it depends on how "slight" that increase would be, on a per customer basis. Ultimately, if Softbank's pockets can allow for Sprint a more rapid development on Network Vision, the rewards could be great for both Sprint customers and Sprint. Only time will tell.

NYCHitman1

I was thinking something like $5-10 (maximum) USD per plan.

drexappeal

I'd be ok with that, if it meant that SoftBank's bankroll would push out Sprint's Network Vision faster (and hopefully, even expand further than what Sprint originally projected).

NYCHitman1

Theoretically, there's no reason to think why that couldn't occur. I would assume they would make a serious run at MetroPCS at that time too since they'll have additional backing financially.

I just wouldn't want any structural changes to Sprint outside of SoftBank becoming a majority stakeholder. None of their execs should be coming over here unless it's just to oversee finances.

bearballz

Sprint/Softbank just bought a majority stake in Clearwire and since Metro is CDMA as well I would think it would be a good fit for Softbank to buy them as well.

I believe Metro also has LTE as well.

greenghost2212

When I saw that my Vietnam vet grandad maybe wants a smartphone that's why I think dumb phones are gonna be obsolete

booboo12

Nothing, is good about Sprint. Anyway!

NYCHitman1

Many of us will beg to differ with you on that.

greenghost2212

Me included