GPRS Minutes-Of-Use - Is it Possible? Like Verzon National Access Minutes-Of-Use?

Hello.

I am currently with Verizon and am planning to
switch to Cingular due to the fact that Verizon
cripples Bluetooth functionality and limits it
only to the BT headset and BT sync profiles.

I recently upgraded my wife and son's phones
(they are with Cingular) to RAZR V3. And I
was amazed that my BT capable laptop was
able to bond with the RAZR and was able
to transfer pictures taken by the RAZR from
the phone to my laptop. And I found a
driver which enables the phone to be used
as a modem to connect to the GPRS network,
probably. I did not try that though, because
my wife's and son's plan does not include
data.

On the other hand, I am a Verizon user
because the place I work gave me the
phone with National Access Minutes-Of-
Use so I can connect my laptop or PDA
to our work LAN in case there is a need
for IT support when I'm out and about.

I'd like to move on to a Bluetooth capable
phone but Verizon cripples the functionality
of their Bluetooth phones.

What plan is best for me with Cingular? I
don't use the phone much. I use it for
emergency only, so I don't need a data plan.

Is Cingular GPRS network comparable to
Verizon's National Access?

Thanks in advance.

Take a look at this thread in this group.

http://groups.google.com/group/alt.c...d6390b4582d4cd

You could get away with the MEdia Net unlimited plan for $19.99 per
month and if you have a family plan then you could just add the $9.99
voice plan so you would be looking at $30 per month. If you do not
have the Family Plan then you will need a $39.99 voice plan plus the
$19.99 unlimited data plan. Cingulars EDGE speeds are about 115kbs
about 2 times as fast as dial up service.

Hope this helps.

C C wrote:
> Thank you, wirelessjuan. This will really help me decide
> my next move come May when my Verizon contract
> expires.

And do tell them why you are leaving. Until they realize it costs them
money they will continue to cripple the phones.

"Dave" <daves1955@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:tcDyf.1710$SD3.315@trndny07...
>C C wrote:
>> Thank you, wirelessjuan. This will really help me decide
>> my next move come May when my Verizon contract
>> expires.
>
> And do tell them why you are leaving. Until they realize it costs them
> money they will continue to cripple the phones.

I will surely tell them honestly why I will leave them.
I like their network, no question. I use a data cable
now to connect my laptop or my PDA to the VZW
network. But the emergence of the Bluetooth technology
which can connect a Bluetooth enabled Laptop or PDA,
which I have both, I would like to do away with cable.
BUT because Verizon is crippling BT capabilities
of their BT-enabled phones, I'm moving on to
another carrier. I saw the RAZR's Bluetooth connection
with my laptop in action the day I got my wife and son's
phones during the New Year weekend. It's that
simple and NO NEED of HACKING!

"C C" <someone@atsbcglobal.net> wrote in message
news:5yDyf.17492$or4.12545@newssvr12.news.prodigy. com...
>
> "Dave" <daves1955@verizon.net> wrote in message
> news:tcDyf.1710$SD3.315@trndny07...
> >C C wrote:
> >> Thank you, wirelessjuan. This will really help me decide
> >> my next move come May when my Verizon contract
> >> expires.
> >
> > And do tell them why you are leaving. Until they realize it costs them
> > money they will continue to cripple the phones.
>
> I will surely tell them honestly why I will leave them.
> I like their network, no question. I use a data cable
> now to connect my laptop or my PDA to the VZW
> network. But the emergence of the Bluetooth technology
> which can connect a Bluetooth enabled Laptop or PDA,
> which I have both, I would like to do away with cable.
> BUT because Verizon is crippling BT capabilities
> of their BT-enabled phones, I'm moving on to
> another carrier. I saw the RAZR's Bluetooth connection
> with my laptop in action the day I got my wife and son's
> phones during the New Year weekend. It's that
> simple and NO NEED of HACKING!
>
>

I - and I am sure other readers of this group - would be very interested in
reading about the speeds available when tethering 1) via bluetooth 2) via
USB cable and 3) Infrared.

Can anyone give us some data?

Wirelessjuan wrote:
> Cingulars EDGE speeds are about 115kbs
> about 2 times as fast as dial up service.

Best I've seen is only 58 Kbps so far using the Cingular Connection
Manager (runs between 48 Kbps and 56 Kbps), around 30 KBps with a
standard Windows connectoid.

DecaturTxCowboy wrote:
> Wirelessjuan wrote:
>
>> Cingulars EDGE speeds are about 115kbs
>> about 2 times as fast as dial up service.
>
>
> Best I've seen is only 58 Kbps so far using the Cingular Connection
> Manager (runs between 48 Kbps and 56 Kbps), around 30 KBps with a
> standard Windows connectoid.

With Blutooth. Will try with a $15 www.gomatic.com data cable as
Cingular's V557 won't support file transfers, i.e. pictures from the
phone to laptop.

Cliff wrote:

>>
>
> I - and I am sure other readers of this group - would be very interested in
> reading about the speeds available when tethering 1) via bluetooth 2) via
> USB cable and 3) Infrared.

> Can anyone give us some data?

I can. I tested out boht Bluetooth connection DUN and cable DUN on
Verizon's EVDO network, using a certain device that, with some seem
editing (hint hint) would allow full bluetooth. I'd connect and then
run the mobile speed test on dslreports.com

My results were:

With Bluetooth: max out consistently at 160kb/s
Via USB Cable: reached speeds of 240-245 kb/s consistently.

Latency appeared unaffected regardless of Bluetooth or cable use.

My conclusion: Bluetooth is nice for headset use and for local transfer
of images and files from phone to phone or phone to computer, so I do
wish Verizon would uncripple OBEX. However, for straight data transfer
and DUN connectivity, bluetooth in its current implementation will not
effectively deliver the full speed of the higher data rates that can now
be achieved. You won't notice the difference with GRPS, 1xRTT or
probably even EDGE. But with EVDO (and presumbly HSDPA), if you want to
DUN, you'll need to do so with a cable or suffer with the bottleneck.

The OP seems content to settle for GPRS, and more power to him for that.
But if I'm going to tether, I'd like it to be faster than that,
especially since I know the capability is there. If I want dialup
speed, I can get it for far cheaper than $20 a month nowadays, and the
latency will likely be much improved too.

It's not so bad using the cable with the RAZR V3 anyway, considering the
phone's battery gets a charge off the USB cable when connected anyway
(and the data connection would otherwise consume battery power quickly).

At any rate, I'll stick with Verizon. For some people, not having
Bluetooth is the end of the world. I think it's an interesting
technology that was excellently conceived at the time it was developed,
but was late to being fully accepted and the standard is now showing its
age. My phone is not my laptop; my LAPTOP is my laptop, thus the true
interest I have in any data capabilities of my phone is to hook it up to
the laptop and enable 'net connectivity that way.

Besides, Verizon does permit fully sanctioned unlimited tethering, via
its blackberry devices (which is what I use now).

--
E-mail fudged to thwart spammers.
Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply.

Wirelessjuan wrote:
> Take a look at this thread in this group.
>
> http://groups.google.com/group/alt.c...d6390b4582d4cd
>
> You could get away with the MEdia Net unlimited plan for $19.99 per
> month and if you have a family plan then you could just add the $9.99
> voice plan so you would be looking at $30 per month. If you do not
> have the Family Plan then you will need a $39.99 voice plan plus the
> $19.99 unlimited data plan. Cingulars EDGE speeds are about 115kbs
> about 2 times as fast as dial up service.
>
> Hope this helps.
>

There is a reason it is less expensive. I know a few people who either
have it or tried it and they pretty consistantly see dialup speeds.