Minichan

I go for the prepaid phones. I got my T-Mobile phone at Wally world, $50 a month for unlimited text, calls and internet.... With no contracts.

no there is no affordable unlimited data plan.
I remember when dang like 40 bucks felt like too much
I have a super limited data plan now tho and I get by its whatever.

(Edited 12 seconds later.)

> unlimited data/tethering

Only way this is going to work and remember that is what I have done for a living for a lot of years now - Marketing says we need it unlimited. Laws of Physics just does not compute.

AT&T just got busted with cough cough my help (look back to see the trip I made to WDC to FCC & FTC over just that but could not say Y)

After AT&T agrees to pay $105 million buck fine for "services underhanded" Just days later the Federal Trade Commission is formally suing AT&T for the underhanded so called unlimited speed but behind closed doors turned on filters for services (cannot name which ) and no kidding made the speed equal to the best dial up modems which is ha ha very slow if you ever used one.

So K's I have figure out a way to make Marketing at cell companies happy re Engineering solution IF you as a guinea pig are ready to give it a go?

We make small mod to your phone - any phone will do- Just need a super thin optical cable from your house to where you wander and you can have unlimited speed on the cheep side

Need to install a 3/4 Meter Satellite dish on your car to receive new GEO configured to download super speed to you except in rain hard rain or snow it wood have to be about 1.5 Meters in size

Other then that the very ideal of unlimited speed means breaking current Laws of Physics - One exception IF anyone can figure what the one exception wood b

@509,784 (B)
I had looked at that plan. Are the throttled speeds tolerable after the first 1GB is used up? I hope to tether, I don't mind slower speeds, but I'd like to be able to watch YouTube etc without forever loading. My goal is to not pay an internet bill anymore and just go with phone + tethering.

After looking at a ton of plans I'm guessing you'd benefit from Republic wireless, it uses the Sprint network and it's unlimited everything (tethering technically not allowed) for $25 a month. The only caveat is you have to buy a phone from them, but they have a few options, decent prices and good phones. I may go with them, but I'll probably give T-Mobile a go first, since they have no contracts. That's one thing that's gotten better with time, used to be you couldn't get much of anything without a contract.

Anywho, do you happen to know if T-mobile's throttle speed is a tolerable speed?

@509,797 (Syntax)
I could probably survive with 50GB a month or something. I don't know what I actually use, but I'm sure it's a lot more than what's offered in most plans. Wasn't Google gonna do blimps to bring internet to third world countries? The market is demanding more data, shit's gonna happen one way or the other. I've never had a smartphone, I haven't even had a cell phone in probably five years. I'm shocked by how little things have changed, a little more data, and less contracts is all. I'll get it figured out and make do with what I can get, but I am severely disappointed with the options right now.

@previous (Ks !KansasxqvM)
First T-Mobile was up front about how it planned to do the necessary throttle of speed. I hate the way they did it but if I were them and they are also a client - they really had no choice. T-Mobile made the same bs marketing claim and contracts included unlimited and then Legal at T-Mobile decided to use the DO NOT FUCK WITH OUR SYSTEM clause - its more fancy language but that is the bottom line

So top bw users all received a letter telling them the contract in effect was null and void re unlimited speed. AT&T totally lied in ads. For that I bet they will get a record fine and have to refund a lot of money to users- Just hate them truly hate that client with a passion.

You get a breakdown of just how much you use and the reserve so you always have a clue how close you are to Throttle - I can tell you what Sprint - Verizon - and AT&T does but am forbidden from giving out details about T-Mobil but need to say its not a bad company. AT&T is shit and lots of Apple customers sure learned that quickly and worst of all is that when AT&T had the exclusive contract with Apple - the Apple massive use brought the AT&T network almost to collapse - So everyone had call drops and poor connects and slow speed.

Apple crash ran to Qualcomm to make a deal which works just great except it does not help those who still use AT&T - BUGS THE SHIT out of me that I encouraged AT&T to spend several Billion bucks to by super good super useful the best ever spectrum from Qualcomm (they had a block for now defunk video service product) So they pay out of pocket the billions (more then wot u see if u look it up) and then the fuckers just sat on it - Only when Verizon hit with the new cough cough XLTE (its great but its still ole 4GLTE with the more better low freq spectum

Someone will get picky if they read this far down - Old Analog Ma Bell spectrum was 800 MHz and Airtouch now Verizon dropped use of that spectrum and sold it off - dont be picky with me re how they sold it off but they sure did - Total shame cause its the only good spectrum for building penetration - So now AT&T has to fast push for Qualcomm parts to get them into the 800 Spectrum they bought by coincidence from Qualcomm.

Now long term there is a solution which is to complex to discuss without word salad more - comes down to this and its so fuking sad

T-MOBIL has been courted and SEC FCC FTC said hell no to the last deal - So T-Mobile if you pay close attention is the driving force to force all to lower prices re data plans - Sprint gets caught up in major loss of customers and I am forbidden to say much about that - BUT BUT what is fucked is EVERY SINGLE US Carrier is stuck dropping prices which is good? For YOU K's?

Laws of Physics says NO FUCKING WAY THIS GOING TO FLY - OH B4 I forget YES Google has a plan to hard wire lots of places with Fiber door to door - That may appear only good for Netflix/Amazon/Hulu
but there is a plan for you to get lots more via lots more Wi Fi

SEC currently forbids me from one word about any future of Wi Fi other then wot I just wrote - Restrictions end next month unless extended - Next month is also the month the future of lots more spectrum comes to pass MAYBE - Plan is to kick out US Military and Secrete Gov agencies so as to raise maybe $30 -$50? $100 Billion or more in auction fees - You and I only get to see fruits of that after a few year after people get the new frequencies

You are shocked by how little stuff has changed? I from inside view see lots of changes and one that may fuck up everything for a few years is the NEW 4K video that has yet to hit Streams and it will and then you going to see prices jump wayyyy up unless someone figures out how to break laws of Physics

@previous (Syntax)
Google is proving that internet can be fast and cheap, it's the monopolies that have aged infrastructure that are holding internet back. The big companies have worried so much about profit they've ripened themselves to be taken out completely by someone like Google. The writing is on the wall for those guys, and I hope they're paying attention.

I don't know much about the cell networks, but I have every reason to believe it's the same way aging, underfunded and inadequate infrastructure in favor of profit. I guess I should be glad T-Mobile threw down the gauntlet with no contracts and such, it'll be interesting to see how things develop.

@509,813 (Syntax)
Nextel had 800MHz spectrum too, does Sprint still have it?

i have unlimited everything through sprint, they were the only company that wouldn't bullshit me arround with trying to get a plan on their network, at&t wanted 300 dollars and that was before purchase of a phone so i told them to go fuck themselves, t-mobile has a terrible network so i didn't even bother.

@previous (G)
They want a two year contract and it's $80 a month. It's not that bad of a deal really I guess. I'm definitely going to keep them in mind for the future. Atm I'm just gonna test the waters as cheap as I can. My rural location changes everything, cities have 3G and 4G, but out here I think it's mostly 2G (if anything). I might get my hands on a cheap T-Mobile android phone in a few days so I'm gonna probably go with them first. I wish I could have read more about Sprint's plans but their "shop unlimited plans" wouldn't load in any browser. From what I'm reading Sprint doesn't allow tethering either.

I remember back in the day having unlimited data on Cingular and AT&T for just $3.99/month. I would usually tether to my laptop via Bluetooth or USB cable. I also had tens of thousands in rollover minutes, so I would use my phone as a modem via USB mainly. Bluetooth didn't always work with this method. iPhones ruined everything. Honestly, 2G/EDGE speeds were faster than today's 3G speeds! Why? Now everyone on earth has a smart phone watching YouTube or using large amounts of data. When the original iPhone came out, a friend of mine bought it for $800-900 USD; (I don't remember exact price.) When he showed me YouTube, videos would fully load instantly within a few seconds. Not anymore...

@previous ([email protected])
Oh, and I always had "smart" phones, which allowed me to run Java apps. Why was this good? This allowed me to use Skype on my mobile device and use my unlimited calling/texting plan for only $2.99/month! So I had unlimited everything for less than $10 on top of my normal phone bill. Damn, I miss those old days.

@509,962 ([email protected])
Over the years the phone and internet companies worried way too much about profit and now the infrastructure isn't even in place to offer much better, it would cost them billions upon billions to upgrade. It'll likely be a decade or more before we can compete with most of Asia in terms of speed and reliability.

I have a limited understanding about cell phone technology so I might be wrong, but the quality/speed is directly effected by the amount of connections, even if the bandwidth is available too many connections causes like a traffic jam. For example you're downtown and everyone's connected 4G/3G clogging the pipes, you could hit 2G and be better off. IIRC android has the ability to select network (2G/3G/4G).

(Edited 1 minute later.)

@previous (Ks !KansasxqvM)
You're correct. That's why when an emergency happens, cell phone lines get absolutely fucked. Too many users simultaneously, and on some phones, 2G/EDGE is used for calls, which allowed you to use data on your 3G/4G. I noticed on Verizon it doesn't do this (unless they fixed it), however you're able to use data if on wifi. Although, [only] if you're on wifi. Over the years I also noticed that some phones (on Verizon anyway) only let you use the data over wifi if you are connected to the wifi first. I don't know the reasons behind those, just from personal experience and learning.

@509,972 (Ks !KansasxqvM)
Also, I noticed on some iPhones and Android devices you're able to enable and disable 3G/4G as well as cellular data. Others neither or those options or just one of them. No idea why it's not consistent the same throughout firmware versions.

(Edited 10 seconds later.)

@509,910 (Ks !KansasxqvM)

> aged infrastructure
> underfunded and inadequate infrastructure in favor of profit.

I do not see it that way at all re aged infrastructure - Just the opposite - BUT and its a huge BUT - Infrastructure ends up spanking brand new and then gets ripped out quickly to replace it with with
It just that as new stuff goes in its out of date instantly - AND META if you spot this part?


@509,913 (Metæ)

> Nextel had 800MHz spectrum too, does Sprint still have it?

So the answer is YES BUTTTT. So we all see ads on TV and I get copies of ads daily that I wood never see locally - Ads for the Mid West Ads for the East coast - Lots of marketing driven ads making totally outrageous promises and claims.

So IF you see XYZ company saying they have the building penetration spectrum - Sprint for instance the ad is true - BUTTT in reality its only true here and there - The push from 3G and Edge TDMA to 4GLTE

Means only prime locations are running the latest and greatest because there is no way near enough equipment available nor people to install and 800MhZ also means totally new Antennas to be installed and that can end up with delays to get permits plus the current cell site may not accommodate 800 MHz properly. Antennas may require new city permits - HELL they do all over USA and that takes time
cause people in Hood get real butthurt when they see that Antennas are LARGER More Ugly Visible.

> underfunded and inadequate infrastructure in favor of profit.
AS Much as I despise my client AT&T I doubt they had a clue how horrid things wood get when they forced Apple to go exclusive on a prior Iphone roll out - Its the same in any company. Engineering says THIS SHIT WILL NEVER WORK with the load you are planning to jam on to it - Marketing says no worries when we get all those new customers we will have money for engineers to upgrade the system

And of course that may be true re money but then its to late because by the time AT&T was sure they had the cash to go out and upgrade equipment they missed the boat as customers ragged on apple to offer Verizon and Sprint n T-Mobile

Anyway all the equipment is truly brand new and already out of date. Sprint has more of a patchwork then all the rest combined. One city has this and the other that and the other is even different etc

They are under terrible pressure and frankly doing the best they can WITH WOT they have to work with. By the time they get there? Which is all I am allowed to say re Sprint


@509,936 (Ks !KansasxqvM)
@509,962 ([email protected])
@509,963 ([email protected])

I end up wanting to comment and wanting to help and end up between rock and hard place so this is just my opinion ONLY - Yea I do get to see inside in detail but that said its now so fucking crazy that no one I no has a clue how messed up its about to get and its going to be truly fucked up royal soon.

The only truly stable company to trust is Verizon and Yes I AM totally invested and biased and they are of course EXPENSIVE

AND now back in the game of playing catch up protection to keep customers so as of Monday they rolled out price reductions
Sprint is rolling out price reductions
T-Mobile in order to make a good showing to any future owner is really rolling out price reductions BUTTT U might not see it that way - Look for alternate plans and AGAIN I end up really messed up biased on this because a fav client of mine is now KAPUT - Only in limited markets will you find Leap aka Cricket wireless no contract and you need to buy their phones - Wall mart etc

Cricket is now AT&T so soon you get AT&T quality wot ever that ends up being which might be ok for your needs? Can be
T-Mobil is big in the re-sale biz with companies that will have to drop prices any minute to play catch up with the big guys who are rapidly offering more data for less costs

So IF I were K's I would find a used phone cheep that works on a no contract plan and use it for a few months with plan to just wait for the fall out to end and then go with best option

K's if you have read down this far - JUST WHICH PLAN and wot company is best for you? Depends on exactly where you live.

Meowth for instance if you know I5 freeway Orange County south area and were to drive daily and cover all the way down to Camp Pendleton? Then hands down AT&T is the only option which means one day when Cricket is moved over infrastructure wise I bet Cricket is one hell of a deal - will always be cheeper then AT&T and it will ride on as if it were - AS LONG AS FTC keeps them honest

Bottom line ALL OF YOU should ask friends neighbors how well their carrier does on call drop outs and BW - Its truly a GEO issue with one company besting the other in defined areas.

Meta 800 is the very very best - less drop outs more penetration more of everything BUTTTT Sprite which has had 800 longer then anyone (cept back in Airtouch days) 800 and Sprint its S L O W very S L O W and will be for some time

(Edited 2 minutes later.)

@509,974 ([email protected])
if they're carrier phones the carriers probably fucked with that

@509,972 (Ks !KansasxqvM)

> Over the years the phone and internet companies worried way too much about profit and now the infrastructure isn't even in place to offer much better, it would cost them billions upon billions to upgrade. It'll likely be a decade or more before we can compete with most of Asia in terms of speed and reliability.
>
> I have a limited understanding about cell phone technology so I might be wrong, but the quality/speed is directly effected by the amount of connections, even if the bandwidth is available too many connections causes like a traffic jam. For example you're downtown and everyone's connected 4G/3G clogging the pipes, you could hit 2G and be better off. IIRC android has the ability to select network (2G/3G/4G).

In fact you are spot accurate on - What CDMA did was to allow a massive number of people on all at the same time - We at Quacomm used to demo how great this worked by looking at the network for Verizon at the NOC itself (NETWORK OPS Control) Here as a consultant I am set up to be a mini NOC for clients - So we looked at Qualcomm stadium for a great example - One could see how the game is going and if the crowd is going to bail to home re score is just not exciting - Everyone phones home exactly at the same time saying I am coming home have a cold beer ready-

So what happens technically - as more people climb on at the same time the audio quality tends to go down and down and down until it sounds a bit mechanical but does not drop calls

AT&T and Eu systems drop the calls - worst is at freeway over crossings - Change freeways and you switch to the other base station which may be jammed up and cannot take you as add on UNLESS its Qualcomm technology - which is why apple loaded up on Q chips the last two new Iphones but even with that change if the phone is on AT&T the so called 4GLTE does not cut it.

But for ad purposes I can prove AT&T is the best LOL really can and have - WANT phone and data at same time? Something has gotta give

@509,973 ([email protected])
I could explain why and get myself in a world of legal trouble but there are real good reasons why you noticed wot you did.

@509,992 (Syntax)
@previous (Syntax)
Damn, you're the only person that actually understands what I'm talking about on this shit! One of the reasons I hate(d) Verizon is because they [always] had to put their custom firmware limiting functionality in the phones. Basic phones too! I always used providers that ran GSM so I can switch SIM cards easily. I always had throwaway numbers and I also would copy people's SIMs so my phone would be using their SIM and account not my own.

@previous ([email protected])
AND I had a slew of Sim programmers from Q when i was employee - one minute and out of here

Zooooommm----------------------------------->

@previous (Syntax)
I had access to a couple tools to program SIMs, but I had no idea what I was doing. I bricked a couple, cause they're only able to be written on once. When I ran a duplicate SIM on two phones at once, usually calls/texts would only go to one phone most of the time, and both in other times. I figured out that if one phone is off, it won't go to that phone.