Which data plan?

Hi! I have been wanting to buy an att 8525 for a while. One of the things that appeals to me most is internet surfing and I think its great that it has built in wi-fi. However, I know that most of the time there is not always a hot spot around so I have been looking into buying a data plan.
I'm on a students budget so I would like to get the cheapest data plan available. I'm already paying $10 a month for unlimited texting.
Looking on the website, they have a plan for smartphones where you can get 5mb a month for $20. My question is:

How much surfing can I do a month with 5mb and is there a way that I can check how much I've used in order to make sure that I dont go over?

Second:
My friend mentioned that she has a $15 data plan to surf on her phone, im also pretty sure that she mentioned it being unlimited but im not positive if that's even possible or if she's just mistaken.

Are there any cheaper data plans for me out there?

I've been on this search forever and the prices I find here and there are just sooo confusing that I don't know what to do.

Thanks in advance for any help!!!

---

› See More: Which data plan?

With the 8525 you will need the PDA personal feature which gives you unlimited internet and email use. This feature cost $30/mo and is the only way to access the web on that device. None of the PDA Data plans include text messaging, the unlmited text package would be an addition to the PDA feature. There is another PDA package used for enterprise email accounts which runs $50/mo (I doubt this would apply to you).

Unlimited Mobile Web is available for $15/mo on non pda/blackberry devices. This can only be used on a regular devices such as the Motorola RAZR, Samsung Sync, LG Shine, etc.

Hopefully this helps.

Thanks for the response!
What I really want to know is if there is a cheaper way to be able to surf on the go. I don't necessarily need unlimited, which i heard they were trying to limit to 5gb anyway, but maybe you can direct me to a plan that maybe just lets you surf to a certain extent. I want a smartphone for college but I dont think I can afford to pay 40 dollars a month just for internet and text. I don't know if such a plan exists, but if one does and you can help me find it I would be very greatful!
Thanks again!

Another question to ask would be if I just decided not to get a plan but surfed every once and a while how much would that cost. I know its like a penny per kb but in realistic numbers, how much could i surf at a reasonable price?

Nothing is offered for what you want. Their is only one way to access the web on a smartphone and that is with the $30 data plan. Pay per use is not available on smartphones, without the data plan your phone is incapable of connecting to the web.

The data plans for smartphones are are truely unlimited. ATT offers a laptop connect plan that gives laptop users access to the web anywhere there is cell phone coverage on their computer; this runs $60 a month and is a rate plan with a 2yr agreement. You seem to be mixing up the laptop connect and the data connect as the laptop data recently was changed from unlimited to 5gb/mo (5gb is 5 million kb, I doubt many users can exceed this in a month).

Back to your original concern, if you don't want to pay the necesarry fees for web on a smartphone you will have to get a regular handset. Unfortunately there is absolutely no way to get online with a smartphone without the $30 data plan.
If you do go with a regular handset (non-smartphone) you can do pay per use but their is no accurate way to calculate usage. The amount of kb transfered on each web visit varies depending on what is actually on the site. For example, a site with a bunch of pictures will trabsfer many more kb than a site with only a paragraph of text

You will need to sacrifice either $30 a month for data or the convienance of a pda. $30 is a lot of money each month but you can add and remove this feature as often as you please. I recomend stopping into any ATT store as all the reps should be very familiar with data plans and how the work.