Calling all American MoDaCo members!

[Guest adamw]

Hi Folks,

I'm lucky enough to be swapping Croydon for California in less than a month with a transfer through my company. ;)

I'm going to be there for a minimum term of two years, and am obviously going to get a mobile when I get there. At the moment, my main concern is with networks. Will my imate jamin work on all networks over there? If not, which ones?

I had a search online and only found T-mobile US. Some of the low end tariffs seem fine for me, about 40 bucks a month or something. They mentioned that they do pay as you go, but there were no prices. Anyone know about pay as you go prices over there?

Hopefully someone can help, even if it's just a couple of links or tips of what to search for.

Cheers

Adam

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

A JAMin on T-Mo is your best bet I think, IIRC they have good flat rate data plans?

I have a similar question, although I am coming out to the US on holiday, and would like to know what options there are for flat rate data while i'm there (only a couple of weeks!)

P

[Guest smeg36]

Here is the info on the T-Mobile prepaid rates. Unfortunately, T-Mobile prepaid doesn't have data options. Paul, if you're only going to be here a couple weeks you really won't be able to utilize the great flat-rate data plans we have. You'll have to use prepaid, and they don't offer flat-rate data for prepaid. Cingular/AT&T is the only GSM carrier that offers data on prepaid, and it costs $0.01/KB. Edited April 23, 2007 by smeg36

[Guest pdtp]

I had this great post all laid out but i lost it wile trying to post. ill post it when i get home form work in anout 2 hrs.

[Guest pdtp]

OK lets try this post again.

I have 3 phones on my account with two of them having unlimited Internet, and i pay $150 (US). i go threw Cingular/ATT. if your going to be in CA then i would suggest you go with either Cingular or T-mobile as they both have the same coverage cus they use the same towers. i do think that cingulars customer service is a lot better, i have never had a complaint about them nor have i ever spoken to someone who's primary language wasn't English. I would also suggest that if your going to be here for 2 years plus that you just go ahead and get into a contract and get a new phone. Right now Cingular is in the process of rolling out 3G to all site and should be done at the end of 2008. Right now we have EDGE almost everywhere and GPRS where ever you can get service. Just to give you an example i once burnt out the phone cus i was streaming http://www.DI.FM on my phone from the Central Valley to Las Vegas (380 miles or 680 Kilometers). It gave up the ghost @ the 1/2 mark on the way back, i think there was about a 30 min stretch were i wasn't able to listen to the music cus the reception sucked.

Paul i do believe that Cingular can get you Internet for a month on a pay as you go phone. The cheapest go plan with unlimited Internet is going to cost you $50 (US) so i don't know if you would find that worth it as there are all sorts of unsecured wireless networks around and you could just as easily go war-driving and get on the net that way.

If i can be any more help let me know.

[Guest smeg36]

pdtp, your post made me go back to the Cingular website and research some more of their pay as you go plans. They have two different types of plans, Pay As You Go and Pick Your Plan. I was looking at the Pay As You Go plans, which stated data was $0.01/KB. When looking at the Pick Your Plan, they also have this option. It looks like they have unlimited what they call MEdia Net. It's the Cingular name for internet, but I'm not certain if it can be used on a Smartphone or PPC Phone. On their contract plans you have to have either the Smartphone Connect or Data Connect plan for Windows Mobile devices. I wonder if the MEdia Net can be adapter for WM like T-Zones on T-Mobile is. Additionally, do they allow access to EDGE or UMTS/HSDPA with the prepaid plans?

Personally, I'd recommend getting the SERO plan on Sprint if you're planning on remaining in the US for the duration. It's CDMA, I know that must be difficult for you to consider. BUT with the SERO plan you get 500 anytime minutes, free nights and weekends starting at 7PM, and unlimited EVDO data (the CDMA equivalent to HSDPA speed-wise) all for $30/month. The downside is the only WM devices Sprint offers right now are the PPC-6700 (CDMA HTC Wizard variant), Treo 700wx, and Motorola Q. That's my $0.02.

[Guest adamw]

Thanks a lot for your input pdtp, smeg36 and Paul.

I'm not sure which option to go for, but at least now I know a bit better what my options are.

I'm very tempted just to get prepaid to start with and see how it goes. The cingular thing looks a good deal on that. Just to make 100% sure I understand - my imate jamin will work on cingular, won't it??

thanks again guys ;)

[Guest pdtp]

It's the Cingular name for internet, but I'm not certain if it can be used on a Smartphone or PPC Phone. On their contract plans you have to have either the Smartphone Connect or Data Connect plan for Windows Mobile devices. I wonder if the MEdia Net can be adapter for WM like T-Zones on T-Mobile is. Additionally, do they allow access to EDGE or UMTS/HSDPA with the prepaid plans?

MEdia Net is the internet for intents and puroposes the only thing i cant do with it is istablish a VPN as they have those ports blocked. I have it on my 8125, Wizard. the data connect is unrestricted access as in you can use VPN. i establish connections wih my laptop and surf the net thre it all the time and i have nvr told me im using to much. my monthly average on MEdia Net is 50 megs. So if you want internet for your phone get the unlimited MEdia Net for $20 (US) and yes it is EDGE, i think it might even be 3G but as i dont have a capable device (nor is it in my home town but it is in the town about 30 min away) i have not been able to test it.

Personally, I'd recommend getting the SERO plan on Sprint if you're planning on remaining in the US for the duration. It's CDMA, I know that must be difficult for you to consider. BUT with the SERO plan you get 500 anytime minutes, free nights and weekends starting at 7PM, and unlimited EVDO data (the CDMA equivalent to HSDPA speed-wise) all for $30/month. The downside is the only WM devices Sprint offers right now are the PPC-6700 (CDMA HTC Wizard variant), Treo 700wx, and Motorola Q. That's my $0.02.

Sprint has gone down hill in a bad way in CA. There service coverage sucks but there internet is really good (when you have service). i had a friend who was on sprint and i switched him over to Cingualr and he loves it. i think when you get here you will see that most of your co workers and friends will all be on cingular or if there getto, Cricket, :D

I'm very tempted just to get prepaid to start with and see how it goes. The cingular thing looks a good deal on that. Just to make 100% sure I understand - my imate jamin will work on cingular, won't it??

thanks again guys ;)

As long as your phone is networked unlocked then yes you will be able to slide the gsm chip in the phone and it will work. if for what ever reason you go with Sprint or verizon then no you will need a new phone.

[Guest Sogarth]

My comments about California:

According to PDAdb, you have both GSM850 and GSM1900, so you should be okay on either Cingular or T-Mobile.

I can't recommend T-Mobile on the West coast. They're using Cingular's old towers, and although Cingular's been building 850 MHz towers left and right, last I checked (a few years ago, when I was on T-Mobile myself), T-Mobile was stuck still using Cingular's 1900 MHz towers.

If you want to use your existing phone, as a result, I'd suggest Cingular. The pre-paid MEdia Net that smeg36 mentioned does, in fact, work on a SmartPhone/Pocket PC (although you might not want to mention beforehand that you'll be using it on such a device ;)) - all of the boards I've ever seen that talk about data for a Windows Mobile device suggest doing that. afaik, their attitude is that data is data - you get access from GPRS through to UMTS with the plan.

About smeg36's suggestion regarding phones: you'd need to take the PPC-6700 off the list. Sprint has deprecated the phone in anticipation of releasing the PPC-6800, so it's nigh-impossible to find the PPC-6700 anywhere.

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

So sounds like i'm knackered for a short term solution?

I'd really like to be able to push mail while i'm out there ;)

P

[Guest pdtp]

So sounds like i'm knackered for a short term solution?

I'd really like to be able to push mail while i'm out there ;)

P

no you will be able to get a go phone with unlimited internet for min. $50 (US) or spend $30 (US) and pay $.01 (US) per kilobite although i dont know how that would work on a pay as you go phone. they have other plans too where you can pay for 1mb, 5mb and so on.

[Guest smeg36]

If you want to use your existing phone, as a result, I'd suggest Cingular. The pre-paid MEdia Net that smeg36 mentioned does, in fact, work on a SmartPhone/Pocket PC (although you might not want to mention beforehand that you'll be using it on such a device ;)) - all of the boards I've ever seen that talk about data for a Windows Mobile device suggest doing that. afaik, their attitude is that data is data - you get access from GPRS through to UMTS with the plan.

Cingular has HSDPA coverage where I live. You mention you can get GPRS through UMTS with the prepaid unlimited MEdia Net. Does this work for HSDPA in the few areas they offer it? I'm going to be reviewing a HSDPA phone in the next few months, and need to get service with HSDPA. Obviously Sprint, a CDMA carrier, won't work with this phone. I was planning on signing a contract with Cingular, then canceling it at the end of the trial. But if I can do the same thing on prepaid that would work much better. I didn't even realize unlimited internet was an option on any prepaid accounts until yesterday. It's a really decent price too.

[Guest Sogarth]

Cingular has HSDPA coverage where I live. You mention you can get GPRS through UMTS with the prepaid unlimited MEdia Net. Does this work for HSDPA in the few areas they offer it? I'm going to be reviewing a HSDPA phone in the next few months, and need to get service with HSDPA. Obviously Sprint, a CDMA carrier, won't work with this phone. I was planning on signing a contract with Cingular, then canceling it at the end of the trial. But if I can do the same thing on prepaid that would work much better. I didn't even realize unlimited internet was an option on any prepaid accounts until yesterday. It's a really decent price too.

Well, that's what I meant by UMTS, which I suppose may or may not have been the right term to use. From what everything I know, though, Cingular doesn't have different tiers for their data, so signing up for MEdia Net should get you everything. But yeah - being able to get unlimited data on a pre-paid month-to-month is definitely pretty cool. ;)

[Guest genaldar]

The only 2 major gsm carriers here are T-Mobile and At&t (formerly cingular, which was formerly at&t). I personally like t-mo, a big reason is because I use the $5.99 t-zones plan on my sda and have pretty much full web access (with a proxy work around). But technically I should be on the $29.99 plan. Which isn't a good deal even if you do a ton of web browsing on your phone, I don't do a lot so if my only choice was $30 or no 'net I'd go with no 'net. I've also never had a billing problem, an issue which I've heard cingular had in abundance.

I just couldn't see spending 60% of what cable internet costs me to get 120k a second (my cable hits 8 megs a second pretty regularly).

[Guest mikeeey]

The only 2 major gsm carriers here are T-Mobile and At&t (formerly cingular, which was formerly at&t). I personally like t-mo, a big reason is because I use the $5.99 t-zones plan on my sda and have pretty much full web access (with a proxy work around). But technically I should be on the $29.99 plan. Which isn't a good deal even if you do a ton of web browsing on your phone, I don't do a lot so if my only choice was $30 or no 'net I'd go with no 'net. I've also never had a billing problem, an issue which I've heard cingular had in abundance.

I just couldn't see spending 60% of what cable internet costs me to get 120k a second (my cable hits 8 megs a second pretty regularly).

i really dont like t-mobile anymore and like cingular because t-mobile makes u protect yourself against them. and what i mean by that is...

lets say u either dont have texting, or u have limited texting. and lets say someone with unlimited keeps spamming you. for every message u recieve that counts as a text. so u can be billed a lot of money if someone keeps texting you. so when u tell t-mobile about this all they say is "you can get our unlimited text package." well if u think about that, you have to pay t-mobile to protect yourself against t-mobile.

now with cingular it only counts when u send texts, recieving them dont count. so being spammed by someone doesnt do anything.

also what i like about cingular is for a family plan u can get 1400 minutes for the same price as t-mobile's 1000 minute family plan.

cingular also has a larger variety of phones, and the best pocket pc's (hermes for example. and the kaiser in later time)

and last but not least, cingular has 3g. t-mobile doesnt. if u want faster internet browsing anywhere then u want cingular

Edited April 27, 2007 by mikeeey

[Guest adamw]

Once again guys, thanks a lot for your help with my questions about networks - I didn't realise it would start such a lively debate :rolleyes:

I've got another question before my move stateside (not much more than a week to go now!). Will I be able to use my wireless modem/router that I currently have here in the UK? I'm no expert (understatement), but I'm pretty sure over here you have different types of modem depending on whether you get your broadband through cable or through you phoneline (ADSL?). I get mine through the phone line if that help.

Hope someone out there has the answer :P

[Guest smeg36]

You should be able to use it. Whether it's cable or DSL you still get an ethernet cable coming out of the modem to plug into the router.

[Guest adamw]

You should be able to use it. Whether it's cable or DSL you still get an ethernet cable coming out of the modem to plug into the router.

Thanks smeg36. So it looks like it will at least be of use as a router if not a modem too.

I think this is my final question now: :rolleyes:

I've got a 'normal' radio that picks up FM / AM and short wave that I'm going to take with me. I've also got a 'digital' (DAB) radio. Is it worth taking the digital one to the states, or have they not yet got a digital radio system, or perhaps already have a system that's incompatible?

Cheers guys

[Guest pdtp]

Im going to say we dont have DAB here the only things we have are AM/FM HD and SAT. SAT has been around for a few years (xmradio.com) and HD is the new thing just coming out over here.

Thanks smeg36. So it looks like it will at least be of use as a router if not a modem too.

I think this is my final question now: :rolleyes:

I've got a 'normal' radio that picks up FM / AM and short wave that I'm going to take with me. I've also got a 'digital' (DAB) radio. Is it worth taking the digital one to the states, or have they not yet got a digital radio system, or perhaps already have a system that's incompatible?

Cheers guys

[Guest dropofdreams]

This isn't actually true, we do have DAB radio if by that you mean it broadcasts the song information over the screen of the radio. Most people out here aren't aware that such a thing exits though I'm guessing. It's available on a few of the channels that I have browsed.