[Shodan775]

This is a great article, I have also met a few people saying that they feel being "ripped off" for paying all the extras to have their emails delivered or simple texting service.

With all the media attention smartphones and their apps have gotten, you’d think they were universally loved. Turns out the next mobile device most wireless service subscribers will buy will be yet another “dumb” phone.

This month, I traded my two-year-old “1G” Samsung Rant in for an Android 2.2 HTC EVO Shift 4G on Sprint. I am (mostly) loving it (more on that soon). I told my friends on Twitter and Facebook that after attending CES, I felt like the last person on earth without a smartphone. Some agreed and welcomed me to 2008. Others, however said they don’t have a smartphone and … surprise, surprise … don’t want one. New research from Compete.com shows my curmudgeon friends are far and away in the majority.

In a survey of 2,639 wireless device users conducted in November, Compete.com found that 65 percent will buy another “dumb” phone when it comes time to replace their existing mobile. Of those, only a tiny percentage will even buy a “quick messaging” phone capable of some smartphone functions like running a browser, similar to my old Samsung Rant. (Click for charts that illustrate survey responses.)

Only 35 percent said they planned to upgrade to the full spiel smartphone. Cost of the phones and the service plans was the biggest concern and with good reason. My 4G phone came with an extra $10 month fee for the privilege of owning it. There is 4G in my town but get this—coverage actually stops one mile short of my house. (I don’t need it while I’m at the house anyway—that’s what Wi-Fi is for.). Another whammy from Sprint is that, even though the device is capable of becoming a hotspot for up to eight other devices, Sprint wants to charge me $29/month to use that function—or $10 a day on an ad-hoc basis.

Respondents didn’t believe that a smartphone offered them any features they needed over what they got with their not-smart phones. Again, that’s reasonable. My old Rant had GPS, a camera, MP3 player, a browser, a full-color screen for watching s-l-o-w video.

Here is an interesting chart:



more here
Saying no to smartphones: most mobile users will buy new 'dumb' phones | Phones | iOS Central | Macworld

[Pete6]

I like owning a SmartPhone and alll that it brings but I am very, very tired of getting ripped off by carriers for the privilege.

[Shodan775]

I think, the worst part is , how they created these categories of "smart phone" "dumb phone" , "feature phone", "quick messaging phone".

It's a scam really , if you really think about it, it is just used for pricing various phones with various features, instead of just calling them all mobile phones. Every phone uses "data" , so the only reason they made data plans as an extra, because some phone user uses more than the other.
There is a balance to be achieved if they really would want to gain more customers, by offering cheaper prices for the data to attract more people and still make a profit, or they can have a smaller (and slowly disappearing) group paying very high prices to pay for the maintenance and bandwith for the data.
It's up to the phone companies to find the right mixture, but if they are driving people away, I'm sure they are not on the right track.

[Laura Knotek]

I would be interested in data only plans, without voice plans. The feature I use the least is the "phone".

[_StephenBB81]

I would be interested in data only plans, without voice plans. The feature I use the least is the "phone".

I have been asking about this at Rogers all the time, I make calls, and stop in at kiosks when I am shopping with women who take far to long in clothing stores...

I would love to grab a new Android "Phone" and use it data only I have no interest in having a 3rd phone number in my pocket

[Pete6]

I have been asking about this at Rogers all the time, I make calls, and stop in at kiosks when I am shopping with women who take far to long in clothing stores...

This problem has little to do with the phone in your pocket. It has however quite a lot to do with the credit card in your billfold.

I too have experienced this phenomenon on many occasions.

My wife infoirms me that there is only one cure for temptation and that, she says is to simply give in to the urge to buy. I have to say, that it does seem to work.

For once, the carrier does seem to be the same as the billpayer .

[Shodan775]

I would be interested in data only plans, without voice plans. The feature I use the least is the "phone".

I would say it's "coming" but not as a phone. It's gonna be like the ipod touch 2, with wifi-connection and skype installed. (or ipad or playbook etc..)

All you need is a wifi connection, and if they would made the effort to have public wifi more widespread across the land, than it would be a no brainer to just to have a wifi device with voip, especially if it would be cheaper cellular voice coverage. In larger cities, like London, I was able to be wifi-connected most of the time just walking around, I would say every 50 steps I was reconnected again, and greatly helped me conserve 3G data usage, which is a theft if you are on an American carrier and go overseas.
Not to mention, the wifi didn't charge me per/MB or GB but by time. I had 10 days (to use up 90 minutes) with unlimited amount of data. For checking emails and messages, I only used like 10 min/day, since downloading the email doesn't take a lot and I can turn off the wifi immediately to conserve my time. I'm not even gonna mention the free wifi hotspots, a no brainer.

[Laura Knotek]

I would say it's "coming" but not as a phone. It's gonna be like the ipod touch 2, with wifi-connection and skype installed. (or ipad or playbook etc..)

All you need is a wifi connection, and if they would made the effort to have public wifi more widespread across the land, than it would be a no brainer to just to have a wifi device with voip, especially if it would be cheaper cellular voice coverage.

The thing is, I would like to be able to use the mobile network, not Wi-Fi, but only pay for a data plan, not a voice plan.

[_StephenBB81]

I would say it's "coming" but not as a phone. It's gonna be like the ipod touch 2, with wifi-connection and skype installed. (or ipad or playbook etc..)

All you need is a wifi connection, and if they would made the effort to have public wifi more widespread across the land, than it would be a no brainer to just to have a wifi device with voip, especially if it would be cheaper cellular voice coverage. In larger cities, like London, I was able to be wifi-connected most of the time just walking around, I would say every 50 steps I was reconnected again, and greatly helped me conserve data usage, which is a theft if you are on an American carrier and go overseas.
Not to mention, the wifi didn't charge me per/MB or GB but by time. I had 10 days with unlimited amount of data.

we don't even have cell service across the land here
so I have little hope of public wifi, though I want a nice 4" Data enabled device,

the 7" playbook will be nice too.

[infamyx]

They force you to buy into these high price data plans, but then block services that would essentially kill them. When they cant block services, they just dont even offer the data only plans as you can completely circumvent the need to pay overpriced voice plans.

If i could get Skype to work on say an iPhone or high tier Android device, spend 30-50 bucks for unlimited data but use Skype for calling or messaging and have it play with Google Voice, id tell every carrier to kiss my *** with these sub 100 dollar phone plans.

[Shodan775]

we don't even have cell service across the land here
so I have little hope of public wifi, though I want a nice 4" Data enabled device,

the 7" playbook will be nice too.

In the UK, O2 (sort of like the ATT for UK) just begun a massive expansion and offering free wifi-service for their customers.

O2 Gives Everyone Free Access to WiFi Hotspots - Bright Side Of News*