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G1 on pay as you go - when?

I picked up a G1 on a pay-as-you-go contract in the T-mobile store in Alt-Tegel (Northwest Berlin) earlier this morning. There's one GIANT problem with getting the phone this way that I'm looking all over for a good solution for still.

The problem is that the phone is sending some kind of communication every 5 minutes - even if you turn off google synchronization. At 9 (euro)cents per instance that adds up to 9,460 euros per year, just to have the phone idle. That's about 15,000 $/yr, for my fellow Americans, at current exchange rate.

There's a poor hack around the problem: Installing "apndroid" from the Android Market allows you to turn off and on ALL non-voice communication by the phone with a single click. So now you're not having your SIM credit emptied continuously; only when you forget to click that tech back off after each use. And you have to click it on before each use. And your expensive smart-phone is stupider than a 10-euro throwaway phone most of the time, because you turned off texts and everything else other than for select moments.

I'm eager to hear if anyone knows a better way around this problem. I've been pretty much sitting in a coffeehouse scouring the web and posting to discussions like these since I got the phone, and nothing yet.
 
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I picked up a G1 on a pay-as-you-go contract in the T-mobile store in Alt-Tegel (Northwest Berlin) earlier this morning. There's one GIANT problem with getting the phone this way that I'm looking all over for a good solution for still.

The problem is that the phone is sending some kind of communication every 5 minutes - even if you turn off google synchronization. At 9 (euro)cents per instance that adds up to 9,460 euros per year, just to have the phone idle. That's about 15,000 $/yr, for my fellow Americans, at current exchange rate.

There's a poor hack around the problem: Installing "apndroid" from the Android Market allows you to turn off and on ALL non-voice communication by the phone with a single click. So now you're not having your SIM credit emptied continuously; only when you forget to click that tech back off after each use. And you have to click it on before each use. And your expensive smart-phone is stupider than a 10-euro throwaway phone most of the time, because you turned off texts and everything else other than for select moments.

I'm eager to hear if anyone knows a better way around this problem. I've been pretty much sitting in a coffeehouse scouring the web and posting to discussions like these since I got the phone, and nothing yet.

Unfortunately that's another example of why this phone is different, in that it was designed specifically to have a semi-constant data connection. That's why in the states they wouldn't sell you the phone without the data plan and a contract: the phone is designed for it, and not having it kinda limits the phone or causes the problem you describe. Best of luck though.
 
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Yep. I've been swapping out the SIM as I roam to different countries. In both the Czech Republic and Hungary, it seems data communication starts disabled on new SIMs, unless you buy a data plan. Or as the at the T-Mobile store in Budapest's Westend shopping center said, "Otherwise, your balance would go gone, very, very quickly."
 
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I recommend WiSyncPlus as a way to control Android's syncing behavior, for saving battery life and/or data usage.

With this app, you can, for example, leave data access completely disabled most of the time, but then once each hour (or once each day), turn the APN on, do a force sync, and then turn the APN back off. It also gives you an easy way to turn the APN on and off as needed. You can set it to turn off the APN every time you turn off the screen, to avoid leaving the APN turned on mistakenly. You could also set it to sync only when you have a WiFi connection. The app is highly configurable and easy to use.
 
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Unfortunately that's another example of why this phone is different, in that it was designed specifically to have a semi-constant data connection. That's why in the states they wouldn't sell you the phone without the data plan and a contract: the phone is designed for it, and not having it kinda limits the phone or causes the problem you describe. Best of luck though.
Whatever the design, I can say that the phone works perfectly fine having data access disabled most of the time. I leave my APN disabled, and sync only when I turn on WiFi. And using WiSyncPlus makes all of that very easy: I have it configured to turn on WiFi when charging starts, turn off WiFi when charging ends, and force sync when a WiFi connection is established. Of course I need to turn on the APN or WiFi when I intend to use a network app.

I think T-Mobile's choice to attempt to force a data plan on you has less to do with technology and more to do with business.
 
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Whatever the design, I can say that the phone works perfectly fine having data access disabled most of the time. I leave my APN disabled, and sync only when I turn on WiFi. And using WiSyncPlus makes all of that very easy: I have it configured to turn on WiFi when charging starts, turn off WiFi when charging ends, and force sync when a WiFi connection is established. Of course I need to turn on the APN or WiFi when I intend to use a network app.

The fact that you need to create an elaborate workaround undermines both of these points:

Whatever the design, I can say that the phone works perfectly fine having data access disabled most of the time.

I think T-Mobile's choice to attempt to force a data plan on you has less to do with technology and more to do with business.

If it worked "perfectly" you wouldn't need such an elaborate workaround, and if it was solely or mostly a business decision to "force" a data connection package -- again, your workaround would be completely unnecessary.

I had a T-Mobile Wing with no data plan, and I can truthfully say it worked perfectly without a data connection. Not sometimes, not most of the time, but all of the time. It was built for active sync, the data connection was a perk, not a necessity. It neither wanted nor needed one and I didn't have to have an elaborate workaround. I simply didn't use data and nothing on the phone required or needed a data connection to work correctly.
 
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. . . .

I had a T-Mobile Wing with no data plan, and I can truthfully say it worked perfectly without a data connection. Not sometimes, not most of the time, but all of the time. It was built for active sync, the data connection was a perk, not a necessity. It neither wanted nor needed one and I didn't have to have an elaborate workaround. I simply didn't use data and nothing on the phone required or needed a data connection to work correctly.

Phones that don't "need" data plans are fine for what they are. G1's and other Android (and Pre, and iPhone) devices do something different than phones, I think. They implement a vision of what it means to be connected in the second decade of the 21st century, which actually does require a constant data connection.

If you don't buy into that vision, that's fine--there are many phones that fit your approach. But a G1 isn't "just" a phone that can do email, SMS, or internet when you so choose. It's a shame that the business model hasn't caught up to this vision, but the idea of per-minute charges for data is antithetical to the idea of constant connection.
 
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Phones that don't "need" data plans are fine for what they are. G1's and other Android (and Pre, and iPhone) devices do something different than phones, I think. They implement a vision of what it means to be connected in the second decade of the 21st century, which actually does require a constant data connection.

If you don't buy into that vision, that's fine--there are many phones that fit your approach. But a G1 isn't "just" a phone that can do email, SMS, or internet when you so choose. It's a shame that the business model hasn't caught up to this vision, but the idea of per-minute charges for data is antithetical to the idea of constant connection.

Dude, did you read my posts? I agree with you.
 
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