Monday, March 23, 2009
Sometimes a phone is just a phone.
Money tiem.
Palm Centro smartphone: ~$25 with "new every two" promotion.
Voice plan: $80/mo for 1400 minutes, extra line, and unlimited calling to 10 numbers. $960/yr
Data plan: $45/mo for unlimited data with secret 5GB cap, +$15/mo to tether to N800. $720/yr
Total: $1,705 for one year.
On the other hand, an equivalent iPhone 3G is $80/mo for voice, $30/mo for data, and a $200 entry fee (even subsidized), so it comes to $1,520/yr. Tethering is currently impossible but we can expect a similar $15 fee, bringing it to $1700/yr. So basically, Verizon is cost-competitive with at&t. I thought I was getting shafted.
T-Mobile's data plan costs $20 less per month, but you only get half the minutes at $80 per month. So basically, phones are expensive. The Palm Centro seems to be a solid choice, given that Verizon has the best coverage.
Well, I guess I might drop the data plan for my phone, which'd save me $60/mo. There's free Wi-Fi most places I need it, so the N800 does pretty well without needing to tether. The Centro is still pretty good at texting, and running Palm apps on it is pretty cool, even offline. I just need to get DosBox working so I can play Prince of Persia. Maybe if I can find a cool Nokia phone that works with Verizon I'll try it out, since they're opening Symbian's source. That'd be nice.
Anyway, end rant. I don't feel as bad about my mobile internet device choices now, at least. ¶ 6:11 AM
Palm Centro smartphone: ~$25 with "new every two" promotion.
Voice plan: $80/mo for 1400 minutes, extra line, and unlimited calling to 10 numbers. $960/yr
Data plan: $45/mo for unlimited data with secret 5GB cap, +$15/mo to tether to N800. $720/yr
Total: $1,705 for one year.
On the other hand, an equivalent iPhone 3G is $80/mo for voice, $30/mo for data, and a $200 entry fee (even subsidized), so it comes to $1,520/yr. Tethering is currently impossible but we can expect a similar $15 fee, bringing it to $1700/yr. So basically, Verizon is cost-competitive with at&t. I thought I was getting shafted.
T-Mobile's data plan costs $20 less per month, but you only get half the minutes at $80 per month. So basically, phones are expensive. The Palm Centro seems to be a solid choice, given that Verizon has the best coverage.
Well, I guess I might drop the data plan for my phone, which'd save me $60/mo. There's free Wi-Fi most places I need it, so the N800 does pretty well without needing to tether. The Centro is still pretty good at texting, and running Palm apps on it is pretty cool, even offline. I just need to get DosBox working so I can play Prince of Persia. Maybe if I can find a cool Nokia phone that works with Verizon I'll try it out, since they're opening Symbian's source. That'd be nice.
Anyway, end rant. I don't feel as bad about my mobile internet device choices now, at least. ¶ 6:11 AM
