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Topic Review (Newest First)

  • 05-03-2007, 06:15 PM
    Todd Allcock
    At 03 May 2007 15:07:37 -0700 Robert A. Fink, M. D. wrote:

    > Sounds like neither of these options is very attractive, but it is
    > necessary that I have data access while traveling. I am going to
    > follow my inbox activity for the next few days to see just how many
    > KB/MB I receive during a "normal" period and that may be the way that
    > I can determine whether I am justified in the expense. I figured that
    > it will cost me about $600 extra per year to take on the "North
    > America" service (or $175 to terminate it).



    Which means about $300 total ($109 for the month plus ETF and taxes.)
    Certainly cheaper than carrying the NA plan for a year unless you'll be
    making multiple trips to Mexico or Canada.


    > Any other ideas? It sounds as if Cingular/ATT has folks by the short
    > hairs.....


    I'm not sure that's fair. Cingular doesn't operate a network in Mexico.
    They pay a wholesale roaming rate to Telcel or Movistar for their
    customers roaming in Mexico, then mark it up and pass it on to you. I
    was as frustrated as you are now with the options available when I
    visited Cancun in January. You might consider a two-pronged approach-
    use the $20/mb rate and set your e-mail program to download headers-only
    so you can manually retrieve just the most important ones to reply to,
    and switch to the overpriced resort hotel's wi-fi if you need to download
    large files and attachments, or do any long web sessions. (Wi-fi is
    usually available in several packages- my hotel sold it in 15 min., 30 min.
    and hourly bundles, usable over a 24-hour period- i.e. you could buy an
    hour but log on for just a few minutes repeatedly over the course of a day,
    or you could buy a full day. At Crown Paradise they charged $7 for 15
    minutes, $11 for 30, $17 for an hour and $35/day, IIRC. I only needed to
    deal with e-mail once a day, so I'd typically buy 15 or 30 minutes,
    download my e-mail, disconnect, reply "off the clock" and log back on to
    send my collective replies. (It took me back to the "good old days" of
    $6/hour a-la-carte Compuserve dial-up plans!)

    By timing it right, I could get two days out of a bundle (i.e. download
    Monday's e-mail at 8PM, then download Tuesday's earlier- like at 6 or 7pm
    and get my replies out before the 24-hour "window" ended at 8PM. I
    just bought a couple of half-hours and used them this way. My wi-fi tab
    for my week there was only about $30 or $40 IIRC.

    Given what a week in Cancun costs, whatever you do, I doubt the data will
    be the most expensive part of the stay! ;-)

    Good luck and enjoy the trip!


    --
    Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

  • 05-03-2007, 06:15 PM
    John Navas
    On Thu, 03 May 2007 15:07:37 -0700, "Robert A. Fink, M. D."
    <[email protected]> wrote in
    <[email protected]>:

    >2. "Data Connect North America" which gives me unlimited data
    >transmission in the USA and up to 100MB/month in Canada and Mexico
    >with an "overage charge" after that (I forget what that is, but 100MB
    >should be enough for me during the 10 days or so that I will need the
    >service. The price for this plan is $109.00/month (I am currently
    >paying $60/month for my present Laptop Connect service, so this would
    >be $49/month extra. The kicker, however, is that I have to take the
    >plan for a year, otherwise I will have to pay a $175 "termination
    >fee".


    Per Cancellations/Early Termination Fee in the Terms and Conditions
    <http://www.cingular.com/b2b/downloads/terms_wirelessDataService.pdf>,
    you should be able to cancel without penalty within 30 days, paying only
    for the month you used.

    --
    Best regards, FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS:
    John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>
  • 05-03-2007, 04:07 PM
    Robert A. Fink, M. D.
    A follow up on some previous questions which I asked here a few weeks
    ago.

    I am getting ready to go to Cancun for a week later this month. I
    have spoken with the Cingular people about data connection there and I
    apparently have two possibilities.

    1. "Standard" connection (GPRS) using my 3G card at 2 cents a KB of
    data. This is $20.00 (US) a megabyte!

    2. "Data Connect North America" which gives me unlimited data
    transmission in the USA and up to 100MB/month in Canada and Mexico
    with an "overage charge" after that (I forget what that is, but 100MB
    should be enough for me during the 10 days or so that I will need the
    service. The price for this plan is $109.00/month (I am currently
    paying $60/month for my present Laptop Connect service, so this would
    be $49/month extra. The kicker, however, is that I have to take the
    plan for a year, otherwise I will have to pay a $175 "termination
    fee".

    Sounds like neither of these options is very attractive, but it is
    necessary that I have data access while traveling. I am going to
    follow my inbox activity for the next few days to see just how many
    KB/MB I receive during a "normal" period and that may be the way that
    I can determine whether I am justified in the expense. I figured that
    it will cost me about $600 extra per year to take on the "North
    America" service (or $175 to terminate it).

    Any other ideas? It sounds as if Cingular/ATT has folks by the short
    hairs.....


    Best,

    Bob

    Robert A. Fink, M. D., FACS, P. C.
    Neurological Surgery
    2500 Milvia Street Suite 222
    Berkeley, CA 94704-2636 USA
    510-849-2555

    "Ex Tristitia Virtus"

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