Rumors of Mandatory Data Plans

cenloe · Thread Author #1 05-12-2009, 04:38 PM

Check it out.

Changes afoot at T-Mobile; smartphones to require data plans, family messaging rate hike : Boy Genius Report

cwong15 · #2 05-12-2009, 08:04 PM

Hmmm ... maybe this is a good time to upgrade my Curve before the mandatory data plans take effect next month. What do others think?

Artemis68 · #3 05-12-2009, 10:12 PM

Yeah it says "new" activations of smartphones, nothing about forcing current users to be on a plan. That would be pretty nuts.

I really don't understand raising the family messaging price though...hmm.

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skyboxer · #4 05-12-2009, 10:27 PM

Ya my son was gonna upgrade to the 8520 but he can't afford a data plan right now. He likes blackberry phones and wants a full keyboard, and now it looks like he won't be able to get it.
I don't get the price increase on something that already should be cheaper than it is now. SMS doesn''t consume bandwidth as I understand it. TMO seems to be nibbling away at reasons for me to stay with them. I hope this price increase allows them to give me some more reasons to stay.

Darko.com · #5 05-12-2009, 10:34 PM

Can't imagine having a Blackberry without a data package. Seems like there are phones out there with adequate QWERTY keyboards. Email, internet etc is why I own a Blackberry. Just my opinion :-)

cwong15 · #6 05-12-2009, 10:36 PM

Another alternative for me is to get my upgrades through ebay, never renewing my contract. The purchase price may be a little higher, but it's still going to be cheaper than committing to paying an additional $24/month for 2 years. It's the cost of the monthly plan, not the cost of the handset, that really counts.

The reason why the data plan is nonessential to me is that I got the BB mainly as a replacement for my old Palm PDA. The other reason for getting the BB is to support my hobby: writing BlackBerry software. Neither PDA nor programming platform functionality requires a data plan. The Internet connectivity and UMA calling I get through wifi is a nice bonus.

skullgame45 · #7 05-12-2009, 10:38 PM

I hope the old family messaging plan price gets grandfathered in! I don't want to have to pay extra just for messaging!

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skyboxer · #8 05-12-2009, 11:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darko.com

Can't imagine having a Blackberry without a data package. Seems like there are phones out there with adequate QWERTY keyboards. Email, internet etc is why I own a Blackberry. Just my opinion :-)

Yeah I tried telling him that a blackberry without a plan is just a fancy phone, and he understands this since he has an 8100 now. I'm not sure if TMO has a QWERTY phone that isn't also a smart phone to them.

mynameismerlin · #9 05-13-2009, 02:23 AM

I hope this is just a rumor!

jamestbrewer · #10 05-13-2009, 03:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cwong15

Another alternative for me is to get my upgrades through ebay, never renewing my contract. The purchase price may be a little higher, but it's still going to be cheaper than committing to paying an additional $24/month for 2 years. It's the cost of the monthly plan, not the cost of the handset, that really counts.

I used to do that for years, never had a contract beyond my original one. But ebay sellers got smart to the game now and phones are way more expensive. It used to be that you could pick up almost any phone that was offered free (or free after rebate) from the carrier for around 50 bucks on ebay. These days, most phones I look for fall somewhere between contract price and full retail.

SpyDude · #11 05-13-2009, 03:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by skullgame45

I hope the old family messaging plan price gets grandfathered in! I don't want to have to pay extra just for messaging!

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

It is, unless you remove it.

maumal · #12 05-17-2009, 12:41 AM

most of the smartphones/blackberry work with data plans. It's different if you have wifi but I don't think is fair from tmobile to make data plans mandatory. I guess they really need more money, hopefully is to make a stronger coverage and more 3G phones.

sk33m0 · #13 05-17-2009, 07:48 PM

right now its mandatory on the g1, and on new sidekicks. as for bb's not sure. but its not just tmo thats doing it. all major carriers are making data for smart phones mandatory as its a MAJOR money maker for the companies.

jamestbrewer · #14 05-17-2009, 08:13 PM

TMo doesn't require it for BB or the G1 right now, you can get a phone and cancel the data plan and just use it as an organizer or with wifi. If you try to use the G1 with a non G1 data plan, you will get an error when trying to connect to the web, or so ive heard. On BB, without a blackberry plan you will have trouble getting access to some of the features or signing up for a non BB plan if they see you have a BB