Free iPhone WiFi is back (again)

On 2008-05-10, Todd Allcock <elecconnec@AmericaOnLine.com> wrote:
> At 10 May 2008 02:22:51 +0000 Larry wrote:
>
>> Is that an old plan?
>
> No, the $39.99/450 minutes is current. (The "$60" version includes iPhone
> unlimited data.)
>
>> Alltel 800 mins $39.95 NC/SC and some areas in states around
>
>
> Sure- that's a regional plan with extra cost LD, and probably extra cost
> roaming. AT&T's $40 includes N&W, M2M, is nationwide and includes rollover.
>
> What does a $40 national Alltel plan buy?

I think it is 500 minutes, with everthing AT&T offers except rollover.

I don't find Alltel particularly cheap at all, but this may be
because the only prices I pay close attention to there are those for
the "North America Freedom" plan, which includes Mexico roaming. I think
they want $170/month for about the same service that I pay Verizon
$110/month for now (I'd pay that if Verizon dumped me, however, since
it is still a bargain compared to the alternatives...).

Dennis Ferguson

In article <Xns9A9A8F81C7343noonehomecom@208.49.80.253>,
Larry <noone@home.com> wrote:

> > You pay for long distance
> > calls (AT&T customers don't), plus you pay for roaming (AT&T customers
> > don't).
> >
>
> You've got that all wrong, Elmo. From INSIDE my region, I can call any
> phone in the country, including AK and HI without LD charges. As I rarely,
> if ever, go outside my region, I never have roaming charges.

Ah.

And it's no wonder you rarely, if ever, go outside your region.

In fact, you probably don't go much farther than the Waffle House, eh?

In article <Xns9A9A8F81C7343noonehomecom@208.49.80.253>,
Larry <noone@home.com> wrote:

> How many days last month did you spend out of your state and the states
> around your home?....out of a regional plan. Wouldn't twice as many
> minutes or a plan that gave you the same minutes at half the price have
> been a better, more economical deal....

Than what? Than what I have?

No.

Of course, contract/postpaid plans that contain buckets of
minutes--minutes that go to waste--and which lock you into paying no
matter what happens in your life, are for suckers.

At 10 May 2008 17:42:59 +0000 Larry wrote:

> You've got that all wrong, Elmo. From INSIDE my region, I can call any
> phone in the country, including AK and HI without LD charges. As I rarely,

> if ever, go outside my region, I never have roaming charges.

That's not bad, then.

> If I do decide to sneak down to Florida for some fun and games, I buy 100
> mins of nationwide service for $10 either off the alltel webpages or just
> call 611 and have it added on....10c/min nationwide service ONLY WHEN I
> WANT IT.


An ok deal I suppose, if you really need the 800 minutes a month at home.


> The regional plan makes more and more sense every week as every travel
> price, especially fuel, skyrockets, keeping more and more Americans HOME.
>
> How many days last month did you spend out of your state and the states
> around your home?....out of a regional plan. Wouldn't twice as many
> minutes or a plan that gave you the same minutes at half the price have
> been a better, more economical deal....especially now that you know you
can
> call anywhere in the country from inside that region without extra LD
> charges?


Yes, IF you need the extra minutes. The bigger problem, IMO, is that
$40/month has essentially become entry level for cell carriers. I barely
use a third of the minutes T-Mo gives me now, so paying an extra $10/month
the four months of the year I need nationwide minutes makes no sense, since
I'm on the smallest national plan T-Mo offers now.

At 10 May 2008 14:25:47 -0400 Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote:


> Of course, contract/postpaid plans that contain buckets of
> minutes--minutes that go to waste--and which lock you into paying no
> matter what happens in your life, are for suckers.


In your opinion, perhaps, but I find them a necessary evil. In my case, I
want unlimited data for web browsing, e-mail, etc, for both my phone and my
wife's, which no carrier offers on a prepaid plan. Therefore, my low-end T-
Mo family plan and two $6 web add-ons are the cheapest way to accomplish
the task, despite the 700-800 minutes of our 1000 minute bucket left on the
table each month! (We use more than 200 minutes- more like 800-1000
between us, but the majority are to/from our five "favorite" numbers, and
not counted as billed minutes, but would be on a prepaid plan. Of course,
if that were the case, we'd make far fewer calls!)

Todd Allcock <elecconnec@AmericaOnLine.com> wrote in
news:g05omr$36k$1@aioe.org:

> Yes, IF you need the extra minutes. The bigger problem, IMO, is that
> $40/month has essentially become entry level for cell carriers. I
> barely use a third of the minutes T-Mo gives me now, so paying an
> extra $10/month the four months of the year I need nationwide minutes
> makes no sense, since I'm on the smallest national plan T-Mo offers
> now.
>
>
>

I used 182 mins last month off the 800, about 400 mins on M2M and 300 on
N&W plus about 16.2GB of data at $25 to the tablet. I don't track Skype
usage or media streaming riding around in the cars...(c;

At SMS data rates, my Sellphone bill should have been around $612.8M...(c;

On 2008-05-10, Elmo P. Shagnasty <elmop@nastydesigns.com> wrote:
> Of course, contract/postpaid plans that contain buckets of
> minutes--minutes that go to waste--and which lock you into paying no
> matter what happens in your life, are for suckers.

That depends. Contract plans can include services (other than just
"minutes") which are unavailable any other way.

My own plan with Verizon includes roaming in Canada and Mexico, and
phone service in Mexico in particular is dear enough that the cost of
the alternatives will pay for an entire year of the Verizon plan with
3500 minutes of use in Mexico. Since we used that much just in January
we're well into the black for 2008 and I don't particularly care if
the phones go entirely unused some months.

Dennis Ferguson