[Economist101]

ok the thing that stuck out to me was the factthat these people only have a 200meg data plan.....i got 1gig with Bell and im able to upgrade to 6gigs if i want to fork out the extra 10$ but reallly only a 200meg plan?!?!?

There are multiple plans. For example, AT&T offers $15/200 MB as well as a $25/2GB plan.

[adamkesher]

FaceTime is not WiFi only.

The issue is that the device makers work hand in hand with the carriers for marketing purposes and to determine how to structure plans. They sell low data plans to make the phones appear more affordable, however this renders many of the features unusable. These are mass market devices and the majority of consumers are not particularly tech savy (myself included).

I've never used Facetime, but I just picked a random contact on my iPhone and hit the FaceTime button, and received this message, "FaceTime failed, connect to a WiFi network to use FaceTime."

Am I missing something, is this something with the 3G iPad?

[Accidental Post]

The ONLY way FaceTime works over 3G is on a jail broken device.
And once again a feeble attempt to bash the iPhone is without any facts.

Sent from my MD276LL using Tapatalk

[adamkesher]

Here is the link:

New Apple iPhones and iPads turn out to be data hogs - thestar.com

I didn't realize there were people with iPhones limited to 200MB, I use that much by 4pm every day. I have unlimited data with Sprint and I used nearly 8GB last month. My phone bill is about $73 a month. I learned to put it in Airplane mode when I cross the border the hard way, by racking up an $8 charge on 1.8MB of data!

[BlackStormRising]

Must have been on a Jailbroken phone then as I was in the middle of a field on Cape Breton Island when I used it.

Another wireless first to add to the museum?

Guglielmo Marconi in Cape Breton

[sam_b77]

There are multiple plans. For example, AT&T offers $15/200 MB as well as a $25/2GB plan.

Wow you guys should really occupy AT&T or something. I just asked for the 3g plans with my carrier in India and I get 12.5 gb monthly for $25. And they also give a bill shield at $100 of usage. Which basically means of I blow through the 12.5 gb and then I get charged till $100 worth of usage after which the 3g is dropped to 2g speeds so that I will never have to pay more than $100. But I 12.5 gb monthly if more than enough.

[slowrvr]

Can you use FaceTime via another iPhone's hotspot?

[anthogag]

Wow, a 200 MB cap with an iPhone, bahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahah...cough, cough.....bahahahahahahahahahaha

I have 6GB

[Economist101]

Wow you guys should really occupy AT&T or something. I just asked for the 3g plans with my carrier in India and I get 12.5 gb monthly for $25. And they also give a bill shield at $100 of usage. Which basically means of I blow through the 12.5 gb and then I get charged till $100 worth of usage after which the 3g is dropped to 2g speeds so that I will never have to pay more than $100. But I 12.5 gb monthly if more than enough.

Ah, but as you'e indicated in other posts, you don't really receive much in the way of subsidies there, so the disparity isn't quite is extreme as some might think.

Wow, a 200 MB cap with an iPhone, bahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahah...cough, cough.....bahahahahahahahahahaha:

It's not a bad deal for some. My wife has never used more than 130 MB with hers, thanks in part to plentiful wi-fi.

[sam_b77]

Ah, but as you'e indicated in other posts, you don't really receive much in the way of subsidies there, so the disparity isn't quite is extreme as some might think.



It's not a bad deal for some. My wife has never used more than 130 MB with hers, thanks in part to plentiful wi-fi.

True. The subsidy part slipped my mind. But I have a question here. Isn't the subsidy covered by the regular contract for voice?? 3G and net services would be an optional and additional part of service.
So assuming that the subsidy is covered by the 2-3 year lock in, the data plan would seem like a bad deal.

[reeneebob]

It's pretty unfair to compare data use on the current breed of BB's, Android and Apple devices to data use on last gen BB's - because the browsing experience was so bad on them, I remember not using my phone for internet unless I had to.

That said, RIM also compresses data because of running it through their servers - downside, when RIM has an outage, so do you.

I'll take my higher data plan thanks.

Even though I have a 6 Gb plan, I rarely use more than 1 GB even with heavy use. Since I got grandfathered in for the same price as the 1 GB plan, oh well.

I guess I don't understand those who buy a smartphone and have a 200 MB plan. What's the point?

[avt123]

Yes but you need to admit this:

I have run heavy internet use with social feeds running and all within my old cap of 800 MB. An iPhone doing the same stuff will go to approx 1.5 - 2.0 GB. Its a users fault but Apple made the device so that carriers can profit

Users aren't paying Apple a monthly fee for data compression.

[avt123]

Can you use FaceTime via another iPhone's hotspot?

When I had my Droid X I turned it into a hotspot for my friend and his iPhone 4 couldn't use it for FaceTime. I haven't tried with my iPhone.

[Moonbase0ne]

Yes but you need to admit this:

I have run heavy internet use with social feeds running and all within my old cap of 800 MB. An iPhone doing the same stuff will go to approx 1.5 - 2.0 GB. Its a users fault but Apple made the device so that carriers can profit

Really???


War Is All We Know

[llllBULLSEYE]

It's pretty unfair to compare data use on the current breed of BB's, Android and Apple devices to data use on last gen BB's - because the browsing experience was so bad on them, I remember not using my phone for internet unless I had to.

you are wrong on this one buddy. I don't know what kind of old age Blackberry you had, but I can browse the web just as fast on my 9810 as on my sisters iphone4 and the experience is great and the new updated youtube its even more amazing.

[reeneebob]

What part of CURRENT BREED do you not get? I would consider OS 6 and up current breed. OS 5 and prior was painful. Since the claim was that Apple manufactured the iPhone to help the carriers, which means comparing the browser on old iPhones to BBs as well, that's why I said CURRENT BREED. There are still a lot of people using non OS 6 and up BBs, FYI.

Last I checked, a 9810 would be considered current breed. However, some of the posts in this thread were akin to comparing a netbook to a desktop with 8 gb of RAM as far as performance.

Buddy.

BTW thanks for educating me on BB's. I know absolutely nothing about them. I'm certainly not staring at two of them right now or anything. And having used a 9800 as well, I wouldn't say the browsing experience is as robust as on an Android or iPhone. It's good, great compared to prior BB browsers, but I am not a fan of RIM threading their data through their own servers. I still experienced frustration in that two weeks I rocked the 9800 after using an Android device.

[Mrluky]

moiselles, so you have gone over to the darkside,disapointed, for you know not what you do.

[reeneebob]

Oh good lord.

[Economist101]

True. The subsidy part slipped my mind. But I have a question here. Isn't the subsidy covered by the regular contract for voice?? 3G and net services would be an optional and additional part of service.
So assuming that the subsidy is covered by the 2-3 year lock in, the data plan would seem like a bad deal.

The data plan is a bad deal, if by "bad" we mean much better for the carriers than for users. Basically the issue is just how badly one is screwed; of those receiving subsidies, individuals are screwed the worst, followed by people with shared plans (which are screwed in a manner inversely proportional to the number of people on the plan). The people that are screwed the most overall are the ones that buy unlocked phones and then purchase voice and data anyway for what would have been the contract period, since the only way to make unlocked phones worth the initial expense (in the U.S. at least) is to reduce your service cost by an amount greater than the subsidy you would have received. Unfortunately, since there's no discount on service for unlocked phones, reducing service cost generally means skipping service during some months.

So, to sum up the "most screwed" hierarchy, we go from unsubsidized purchasers who purchase service anyway (as most screwed), followed by individual plan users, followed by family plan users (in a manner in which the level of "screwed" is inversely proportional to the number of users on the plan).

[soccernamlak]

I

I guess I don't understand those who buy a smartphone and have a 200 MB plan. What's the point?

Those who are around wi-fi the entire day and don't really use data, but our carriers in the US force us to have a data plan with our smartphones, so it's the cheapest one possible.


Or the person who rarely uses data services on their phone. There are some who aren't addicted

[llllBULLSEYE]

Buddy.
BTW thanks for educating me on BB's. I know absolutely nothing about them. I'm certainly not staring at two of them right now or anything. And having used a 9800 as well, I wouldn't say the browsing experience is as robust as on an Android or iPhone. It's good, great compared to prior BB browsers, but I am not a fan of RIM threading their data through their own servers. I still experienced frustration in that two weeks I rocked the 9800 after using an Android device.

I'm not educating you on BB's.
I'm comparing the 9810 os7 to the IPhone4 web browsing, not the 9800 0S6 you had.
so um buddy.. buddy old pal gotta learn to read a little

[sam_b77]

I'm not educating you on BB's.
I'm comparing the 9810 os7 to the IPhone4 web browsing, not the 9800 0S6 you had.
so um buddy.. buddy old pal gotta learn to read a little

I second your opinion. I had the 9800 and the browsing experience is world's apart on OS7.

[avt123]

I'm not educating you on BB's.
I'm comparing the 9810 os7 to the IPhone4 web browsing, not the 9800 0S6 you had.
so um buddy.. buddy old pal gotta learn to read a little

You are comparing a brand new device to a device that is over a year old. I would hope the browser is as good or better.

From my testing, browsing on iOS 5 on an iPhone 4 is still faster, but barely. Like 1-2 seconds if that. I was going to get the 9900 as a second device because of this until I realized the screen was plastic. No thanks on a touchscreen.

[rfalter]

It's not 'unofficial', it's 'official'. Probably because RIM has become a national embarrassment to Canada......so what is the score......RIM 500 issues, stock down 80%, distant third in sales (and please don't tell me how popular the unit is in Thailand or Malaysia), app store a nightmare, PB write down of millions of dollars.....vs. a problem for Apple? Well now, that certainly evens up the score. I love my BB, desperately want to stay with RIM, but they make it SO HARD to do. I played with the new Motorola RAZR Droid......I am sure it has software glitches as well, but man, what a screen, faster than the speed of light, thinner than a credit card, Google behind it so you know it will get better daily.....and RIM has had what, 10 years to get it right, vs. what, 2 years tops for Android? Something wrong there.....oh yeah, RIM people were sitting on their hands for the last eight years. 'Perception is reality' as the saying goes, and BB 'Fanboys' are defending an indefensible position based on emotion, not business reality. If they think RIM is a keeper, I'd like to see some of them buy the stock now at what, $17, knowing how great a comeback RIM will make. Oh yeah, I saw that artist's rendition of new unit.....people actually thought it was a prototype....it was a DRAWING!!!!! They aren't even close to getting a new OS down, they still haven't fixed issues in OS6/7. LOL.

It almost seems like there has been an unofficial campaign against RIM in the press for the last 8 months.

Nice to see Canada's most circulated paper focusing on Apple's problems for a change!

LINK - need one more post to be allowed to post links. Standby!

[reeneebob]

I'm not educating you on BB's.
I'm comparing the 9810 os7 to the IPhone4 web browsing, not the 9800 0S6 you had.
so um buddy.. buddy old pal gotta learn to read a little

But again, that was MY point. I said current breed and you jumped on me. I was responding to people earlier in the thread who were saying that Apple made iPhones - ALL iPhones - to benefit carriers charging on data plans because at the time people weren't using as much data on BBs. Well, that was OS5 and earlier era, when the iPhone came about. THAT was why I specified current breed of BBs. I know I didn't use my BB as much as I used my Pre, Androids or iPhone 4 because the browsing experience prior to OS 6, which really hasn't been around that long compared to the capabilities of other mobile browsers, was downright awful.