What moblie service to get

[Duncan Hudson]

Jeremy wrote:
> I just wanted to give a little "head-up" about Cingular data plans.  They are quite confusing, and I've looked into them in the past and read several forums at Cingular's website regarding the issue.  Essentially, the cheaper unlimited plan (smart phone?) gives you "walled garden" access similar to T-Mobile.  If you sign up for this plan and access the internet via a different method, you will get slapped with a LARGE bill (depending on your usage).  If you sign up for the "PDA" plans, you can essentially access the internet freely, but you are not allowed to tether your phone, and if you do and they catch you (roll of the dice?), then again you'll get a LARGE bill.
>
> And even if you call Cingular and try to ask a sales reps about them, you don't have a great chance they'll know any more than you do about the plans.  If you really want to get some info, I've been told you should talk to the actual "technical support" people as they apparently know a bit more about how the data network actually operates and what is/isn't allowed.
>
> Again, I would like to emphasize that this info was taken from 3rd parties in online forums.  I don't have any first hand knowledge on this topic (yet).
>
> Related to the issue of having to buy a Smart phone with a data plan, I don't think this is true.  You can add and remove plans to your account at pretty much any time.  They don't really care about the device you're using as long as you don't break the Terms of Use.  They want your money...
>   
The Cingular data plans have been discussed ad nauseum over at 
Treocentral.com.  The consensus is that basically all the plans will 
work fine and with the web access to your account you're free to add or 
subtract any of the data plans w/o dealing w/ customer service.  That 
being said, I've been happily using the $19.99 unlimited data plan for 
the last 3 years.  There doesn't appear to be any 'wall' - I can surf 
anywhere, vpn, ssh, pop, imap, etc.  On a monthly basis my usage is 
between 80 - 90 Mb.

Dunc