AT&T Plan options, or Ipod Touch or PSP Slim
Hi Everyone,
I currently have a blackberry 8300 curve, which is fine for my purposes. But I dont need it for business purposes or push to exchange, as work provided me recently a blackberry 7800 for business use with monitoring some servers and keeping in communication. That said...since I have the AT&T Blackberry 8300 for personal, I dont use voice much, but I notice I use the data option a LOT. I love to surf the web, read the news, check temperatures, watch traffic (google maps), etc. What I dont like...is I am paying 100 dollars a month for ... nothing (relatively speaking). between the 40 internet plan, and 40 voice (450 minutes yuck), by the time the taxes add up its in the 90's. Compared to maybe other companies/plans out there which could be cheaper.
Since I spend about 25-50 minutes on the phone a month tops, and probably less if I reserved it to personal emergencies and notifications, I realize I hardly use the voice features. The data feature am big on, but its not a huge requirement. Considering my work phone can work on the net in a very crude way to read text news, but its about it.
I am really unhappy with AT&T for a variety of reasons, between their treatment of customers, over pricing, and 2 year contracts, with a well known mediocre EDGE service. I am tempted to pay the money to just cancel the phone and call it even. Why pay 100 dollars a month for voice I hardly use, granted the data is really nice but I dont think I can justify it. Maybe its a guy thing, but I dont get lost so GPS or maps (8300 has no gps) is fun and helpful but never trully needed for me. pulling up a list of stores on the maps would be nice but I am not in a situation to really 'NEEDING' that right now. Email is very nice but not crucial.
I am a gamer though, and I was thinking maybe to get the PSP Slim. It does videos, and music and games. but I am not into handheld games (I have hte ps3, 360 and PC for that), and I dont sit around long enough to really do handheld games (unless I want to play handheld games at home, instead of a 61" 1080P HDTV with my consoles or PC). But it seems to have some flexibity with some hacking features on that might give it more options such as playing old school games, or internet features (assuming I have wifi). Though realistically I would probably use it for hte music portability...but the PSP is obviously more bigger than any sleek and comfortable iphone / ipod touch. But the games would be really fun granted.
My friend does want to help get me the 4GB IPhone since he really likes it, and I would end up paying 220 for it. But it means of course using AT&T and I think I already explained my concerns. But since I do a lot of web surfing for personal, it seems the IPhone might be perfect, it has wifi support and when outside the wifi area (which would always be the case unless I am home) it has data access. But AT&T Plans are expensive for my modest? needs.
Could I get a data only plan? or a data only plan with a pre paid voice minutes? like pay 50 dollars and let it last for 2-3 months. I really dont care for the voice, but the data would be okay, for 30 dollars I am okay with it. 40? Hmm probably too. I had a razer for voice only and even then it was really minimal in use, but I did see myself using the data/web a lot with the blackberry 8300.
Or perhaps I should go with the Ipod Touch? But its not a phone/no data feature, has wifi and does music and movies.
Ultimately I am not big on needing storage 4GB to 16GB either way is 'relatively' okay to me, more like some music ability to listen to at work..movies...maybe if bored sitting on the train, which is nice to have, having instant message ability would be a strong leaning factor (since work has a strict policy with computer usage and no wifi) and I know the IPhone has some messaging ability. I might be concerned though if I did want to put movies, perhaps it would eat up the 4 GB though? Not sure what kinda compression if I wanted to put several 30 minute tv shows or even a full blown 2 hr movie, etc. I wonder if IPhone has a memory stick support...hm dont remember reading about that. Am not a music purist so I dont need the rawest best form of music playing ability, or the largest library of congress size in music storage. But the screen quality / size / usability for web surfing might be the more important factor.
I would like to go for 220 out of pocket for the 4GB phone (or even I had to pay 400) I am okay with...but I dont like the idea paying almost 100 for essentially using data only, and more strictly as a simple luxury when public transportation commuting to and from work and while at work.
Sorry for the really long post, but I do appreciate the time spent reading it and any thoughts on the matter. Thank you!
I currently have a blackberry 8300 curve, which is fine for my purposes. But I dont need it for business purposes or push to exchange, as work provided me recently a blackberry 7800 for business use with monitoring some servers and keeping in communication. That said...since I have the AT&T Blackberry 8300 for personal, I dont use voice much, but I notice I use the data option a LOT. I love to surf the web, read the news, check temperatures, watch traffic (google maps), etc. What I dont like...is I am paying 100 dollars a month for ... nothing (relatively speaking). between the 40 internet plan, and 40 voice (450 minutes yuck), by the time the taxes add up its in the 90's. Compared to maybe other companies/plans out there which could be cheaper.
Since I spend about 25-50 minutes on the phone a month tops, and probably less if I reserved it to personal emergencies and notifications, I realize I hardly use the voice features. The data feature am big on, but its not a huge requirement. Considering my work phone can work on the net in a very crude way to read text news, but its about it.
I am really unhappy with AT&T for a variety of reasons, between their treatment of customers, over pricing, and 2 year contracts, with a well known mediocre EDGE service. I am tempted to pay the money to just cancel the phone and call it even. Why pay 100 dollars a month for voice I hardly use, granted the data is really nice but I dont think I can justify it. Maybe its a guy thing, but I dont get lost so GPS or maps (8300 has no gps) is fun and helpful but never trully needed for me. pulling up a list of stores on the maps would be nice but I am not in a situation to really 'NEEDING' that right now. Email is very nice but not crucial.
I am a gamer though, and I was thinking maybe to get the PSP Slim. It does videos, and music and games. but I am not into handheld games (I have hte ps3, 360 and PC for that), and I dont sit around long enough to really do handheld games (unless I want to play handheld games at home, instead of a 61" 1080P HDTV with my consoles or PC). But it seems to have some flexibity with some hacking features on that might give it more options such as playing old school games, or internet features (assuming I have wifi). Though realistically I would probably use it for hte music portability...but the PSP is obviously more bigger than any sleek and comfortable iphone / ipod touch. But the games would be really fun granted.
My friend does want to help get me the 4GB IPhone since he really likes it, and I would end up paying 220 for it. But it means of course using AT&T and I think I already explained my concerns. But since I do a lot of web surfing for personal, it seems the IPhone might be perfect, it has wifi support and when outside the wifi area (which would always be the case unless I am home) it has data access. But AT&T Plans are expensive for my modest? needs.
Could I get a data only plan? or a data only plan with a pre paid voice minutes? like pay 50 dollars and let it last for 2-3 months. I really dont care for the voice, but the data would be okay, for 30 dollars I am okay with it. 40? Hmm probably too. I had a razer for voice only and even then it was really minimal in use, but I did see myself using the data/web a lot with the blackberry 8300.
Or perhaps I should go with the Ipod Touch? But its not a phone/no data feature, has wifi and does music and movies.
Ultimately I am not big on needing storage 4GB to 16GB either way is 'relatively' okay to me, more like some music ability to listen to at work..movies...maybe if bored sitting on the train, which is nice to have, having instant message ability would be a strong leaning factor (since work has a strict policy with computer usage and no wifi) and I know the IPhone has some messaging ability. I might be concerned though if I did want to put movies, perhaps it would eat up the 4 GB though? Not sure what kinda compression if I wanted to put several 30 minute tv shows or even a full blown 2 hr movie, etc. I wonder if IPhone has a memory stick support...hm dont remember reading about that. Am not a music purist so I dont need the rawest best form of music playing ability, or the largest library of congress size in music storage. But the screen quality / size / usability for web surfing might be the more important factor.
I would like to go for 220 out of pocket for the 4GB phone (or even I had to pay 400) I am okay with...but I dont like the idea paying almost 100 for essentially using data only, and more strictly as a simple luxury when public transportation commuting to and from work and while at work.
Sorry for the really long post, but I do appreciate the time spent reading it and any thoughts on the matter. Thank you!
Windows Vista