PDA/smartphone on a Normal Family Plan

My two years is finally up on my old LG flip phone next week. I'm looking to jump to a Motorola Q or Treo.... BUT... my phone is part of a 4-phone family plan....

What kind of functionality will I miss out on by not subscribing to the data choice or whatever it is?

Honestly, I'm only looking for a qwerty keyboard (would go with the EnV but I don't want a phone that looks like a camera) for text messaging, and perhaps the onboard organizer/calendar.

How would using the internet work? Is it only $5.00 a month per phone? Or would I need to subscribe to a data plan for internet capability with the Q / Treo?

Thanks

Yep, I have a Q with unlimited txt and two phones on a single plan.

You can choose to pay per kb, or get one of the PDA Data plans (addons)

Thanks for the reply

I'm trying to decipher verizon's pricing, and it seems unlimited data is $40 more a month?

Isn't mobile web $5 -- what's the difference?

The unlimited data is for PDA phones and is $40. I believe the mobile web is for a regular cell phone only.

Ok thanks.

Is it unusual to buy a phone like the Q and not get the data package?

The unlimited data plan with Verizon is $44.99 per month. There is a smaller plan for $24.99 per month with a limited amount of MB usage. I would highly recommend paying $20.00 more per month for the unlimited plan as MB are eaten quickly when using Internet Explorer on a PDA unit. Also, if you set up Wireless Sync in order to retrieve your email wirelessly the Motorola Q will consistently be looking for new email every 10-15 minutes and this can use airtime and can be prevented by having a data plan.

Mobile Web is $5.00 per month--it is a much more limited access than the Internet capabilities of a PDA. It does use airtime to use the Mobile Web. If you add Verizon's $15 per month VCAST VPAK it will provide you with unlimited usage on the Mobile Web and will not use your airtime. It will also give you unlimited airtime on Verizon's VZNavigator program.

And yes, the Mobile Web is for a "regular" cell phone only; PDA devices are not Mobile Web capable and are also not Get It Now capable, i.e., you cannot use downloaded programs such as VZNavigator or purchase ringtones from the phone unless you were to perhaps use the Internet capabilities to go to verizonwireless.com to purchase a ringtone.

And yes, it is unusual to purchase a PDA without a data plan as doing a "pay-as-you-go" KB plan can get extremely expensive.

But these data plans are all optional right -- I can just buy the phone for its nice qwerty keyboard + calendar right (with the possibility of upgrading to data down the road)?

Well, technically, they are optional--what I mean by that is yes, you can still use the phone and such with a pay-as-you go plan however you do have to have something on there even if it is pay-as-you-go. You can ask your Verizon representative if they can do a data block on it as these are available now however keep in mind that this blocks ALL data usage.

P.S. I have a Motorola Q and the calendar is EXCELLENT! It's my favorite feature about it!

Will I be able to text message normally with the Q on no data plan?

Yes you will.