basic cellular bill + added taxes ?

-= Hawk =- wrote:

> If you don't use a lot of air time there's no beating T-Mobile. We'll be
> going into our third year of pre-paid service for another $10 in Feb.
> Not counting the cost of the phone $120 for three years cell phone
> service is amazing. Judging by the minutes we've used over these last
> two years and as long as t-mobile doesn't change it's way of doing
> things I expect to get five years of service before having to spend
> another $100 on another block of 1000 minutes.

I don't think they'll change their policy for existing customers that
did the "Gold" thing of $100 for 1000 minutes and future airtime
expiration of one year for all future purchases. That was essentially a
contract when they said that future airtime purchases last a year. What
they _could_ do is to stop selling $10 airtime cards, or no longer offer
the 1 year expiration to new customers.

The problem I have with T-Mobile is that their coverage in my area is
poor. I have no coverage at my house in Silicon Valley, and I'm not out
in the boonies. NIMBYs have stopped T-Mobile and Sprint from putting up
more towers, and at 1900 MHz they need a lot more towers than AT&T or
Verizon to cover the same area. T-Mobile was recently granted permission
to put up a tower near me, on an office building, with the only caveat
being that they needed to shield the equipment from the view of
neighboring residences with some sort of a low wall. They dropped their
plans because of that restriction, which would have added only a few
thousand dollars to the cost.

-= Hawk =- wrote:
> On Wed, 05 Dec 2007 05:57:00 -0500, "Elmo P. Shagnasty"
> <elmop@nastydesigns.com> scribbled:
>
>> In article <_Ar5j.326$vs5.187@fe119.usenetserver.com>,
>> Todd Allcock <elecconnec@AmericaOnLine.com> wrote:
>>
>>> For minimal use, T-Mobile is $100 the first year, $10 (yes, ten) each
>>> additional year.
>> No, after the second year everything expires and nothing rolls over.
>> You're back to $100 every other year, if that's what you're doing.
>
> That's the first I've heard of that in the two years I've been reading
> this group. Odd you're the only person in all that time to bring it up.

That poster is a source of misinformation on a wide variety of subjects.

It's clear that "Gold Rewards Status" isn't something that needs to be
requalified for. Once you're "Gold" you're "Gold" for as long as you
keep the prepaid account. If "Gold" status had to be requalified for
every two years then they would have to have explicitly stated that
fact. See:

"http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/plans/default.aspx?plancategory=4"
"http://support.t-mobile.com/knowbase/root/public/tm22440.htm"

At 05 Dec 2007 05:57:00 -0500 Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote:

> > For minimal use, T-Mobile is $100 the first year, $10 (yes, ten) each
> > additional year.
>
> No, after the second year everything expires and nothing rolls over.

That's incorrect. First you piss on PagePlus for being unavailable for
purchase (which wasincorrect) and then on T-Mo with more misinformation.
What's your interest in this Elmo? Are you a Sprint stockholder?

> You're back to $100 every other year, if that's what you're doing.

No. Not only is that not mentioned anywhere in T-Mo's website or literature,
I can tell you from personal experience that you're dead wrong. As long as
you don't let the account expire, all future refills on "gold" accounts
(over $100 of airtime added) have a one year expiration. I have three
active T-Mo prepaid accounts now that I don't even need, but for $10/year I
can't let them go. One is going on it's fourth year this month (the first
year cost me $25, due to a special Christmas promo T-Mo ran a few years ago
that gave you "Gold" status for $25 instead of $100) so I have invested $45
in that account- $25 for year one, and $10 each for 2 and 3. Another $10 is
due later this month to carry me through 2008.

Todd Allcock wrote:
> At 05 Dec 2007 05:57:00 -0500 Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote:
>
>>> For minimal use, T-Mobile is $100 the first year, $10 (yes, ten)
>>> each additional year.
>>
>> No, after the second year everything expires and nothing rolls over.
>
> That's incorrect. First you piss on PagePlus for being unavailable
> for purchase (which wasincorrect) and then on T-Mo with more
> misinformation. What's your interest in this Elmo? Are you a Sprint
> stockholder?
>
>> You're back to $100 every other year, if that's what you're doing.
>
> No. Not only is that not mentioned anywhere in T-Mo's website or
> literature, I can tell you from personal experience that you're dead
> wrong. As long as you don't let the account expire, all future
> refills on "gold" accounts (over $100 of airtime added) have a one
> year expiration. I have three active T-Mo prepaid accounts now that
> I don't even need, but for $10/year I can't let them go. One is
> going on it's fourth year this month (the first year cost me $25, due
> to a special Christmas promo T-Mo ran a few years ago that gave you
> "Gold" status for $25 instead of $100) so I have invested $45 in that
> account- $25 for year one, and $10 each for 2 and 3. Another $10 is
> due later this month to carry me through 2008.

I can confirm this. Both my parents bought an initial $100 card and then
they just buy another $10 card every year. They've had the service for 3
years.

bruceR wrote:

<snip>

> I can confirm this. Both my parents bought an initial $100 card and then
> they just buy another $10 card every year. They've had the service for 3
> years.

Same with my mother and stepfather. They were conned into converting
from AT&T TDMA/AMPS to AT&T GSM, then went to Cingular when AT&T was
bought out. Coverage sucked with AT&T GSM at the time, and they switched
to T-Mobile prepaid. I walked my mother through unlocking her Nokia
handset from AT&T because she didn't want to enter all her contacts
again. They went from $40/month to about $7/month, and they also got a
bunch of their friends to dump Cingular postpaid in favor of T-Mobile
prepaid as well. T-Mobile works fine where they live. Page Plus would
have been too complicated for them. They want to go to a store to have
someone help them with stuff.

On Tue, 4 Dec 2007 13:31:35 -0800 (PST), SMS wrote:

> 8. Satellite TV boxes need a landline, and satellite TV service is
> much cheaper than cable TV service.

My DirectTV uses my wireless broadband connection. No need for a landline.

Cellguy <cellguy@moto3.net> wrote in
news:19jbnic6iplvn.1l3worlwphwk5.dlg@40tude.net:

> On Tue, 4 Dec 2007 13:31:35 -0800 (PST), SMS wrote:
>
>> 8. Satellite TV boxes need a landline, and satellite TV
service is
>> much cheaper than cable TV service.
>
> My DirectTV uses my wireless broadband connection. No need for
a
> landline.
>

You guys have TV? Why? There's nothing on it to watch except a
constant barrage of commercials. Buy Winrar and get a
Usenetserver.com account. There's no way to ever watch 10% of
the movies, documentaries, music videos or listen to the MP3
files posted every day. How silly it is to listen to that
spamcrapped BILLBOARD in your living room!

I'm still working on BBC-TV to put up a subscription broadband
server for all their channels. I offered to pay my radio and TV
taxes, but they very politely refused. The radio ratings people
called me and asked what my favorite radio station was on a
survey call. "Hmm...That's a tough one!", I said. "I'm torn
between BBC2 and BBC4. I like 'em both!", I mused. "No, I meant
what was your favorite LOCAL radio station?", she persisted.
"Oh, I haven't listened to that string of constant commercials
since 1992 or so.", I replied. "There's nothing to listen to on
radio in America except commercials, the God Squad trying to pry
money out of you or Public Radio, where the academics are trying
to take us back into the Middle Ages of Classical Music."

As we parted, I could hear BBC2 playing from the speakers on her
desktop in the office. She needed a little instruction on how to
make it play...(c; It seemed to make her day!

Amazing. I knew some people were still watching that Livingroom
Billboard. I think it's insane to be brainwashed like that.

Larry
--
Isn't it ironic that the same ISPs that are telling you
you're downloads threaten their networks......
.....are testing 100Gbps TV to sell on the SAME systems?
http://tinyurl.com/27qx3v

In article <Xns99FDB5D2E6FB9noonehomecom@208.49.80.253>,
Larry <noone@home.com> wrote:

> Cellguy <cellguy@moto3.net> wrote in
> news:19jbnic6iplvn.1l3worlwphwk5.dlg@40tude.net:
>
> > On Tue, 4 Dec 2007 13:31:35 -0800 (PST), SMS wrote:
> >
> >> 8. Satellite TV boxes need a landline, and satellite TV
> service is
> >> much cheaper than cable TV service.
> >
> > My DirectTV uses my wireless broadband connection. No need for
> a
> > landline.
> >
>
> You guys have TV? Why? There's nothing on it to watch except a
> constant barrage of commercials. Buy Winrar and get a
> Usenetserver.com account. There's no way to ever watch 10% of
> the movies, documentaries, music videos or listen to the MP3
> files posted every day. How silly it is to listen to that
> spamcrapped BILLBOARD in your living room!
>
> I'm still working on BBC-TV to put up a subscription broadband
> server for all their channels. I offered to pay my radio and TV
> taxes, but they very politely refused. The radio ratings people
> called me and asked what my favorite radio station was on a
> survey call. "Hmm...That's a tough one!", I said. "I'm torn
> between BBC2 and BBC4. I like 'em both!", I mused. "No, I meant
> what was your favorite LOCAL radio station?", she persisted.
> "Oh, I haven't listened to that string of constant commercials
> since 1992 or so.", I replied. "There's nothing to listen to on
> radio in America except commercials, the God Squad trying to pry
> money out of you or Public Radio, where the academics are trying
> to take us back into the Middle Ages of Classical Music."
>
> As we parted, I could hear BBC2 playing from the speakers on her
> desktop in the office. She needed a little instruction on how to
> make it play...(c; It seemed to make her day!
>
> Amazing. I knew some people were still watching that Livingroom
> Billboard. I think it's insane to be brainwashed like that.
>
> Larry

I Have DirecTivo. I don't watch live TV or commercials. 30 second skip.

--
To reply by email, remove the word "space"

Larry wrote:
> Amazing. I knew some people were still watching that Livingroom
> Billboard. I think it's insane to be brainwashed like that.

well of thirty years ago, my dad would turn the TV at 5:30 for the
national news, then 6:00 local news...he like Wheel of fortune at 6:30.
Then the Tonight Show would be over by midnight.

I called it Video Wallpaper.

Kurt <labolide@spacegmail.com> wrote in news:labolide-
DA2740.15124805122007@news.giganews.com:

> I Have DirecTivo. I don't watch live TV or commercials. 30 second
skip.
>
>

That cuts the 1 hour show down to what, 20 minutes, now? It'll cut
a Nascar race down to 30!

Larry
--
Isn't it ironic that the same ISPs that are telling you
you're downloads threaten their networks......
.....are testing 100Gbps TV to sell on the SAME systems?
http://tinyurl.com/27qx3v