[ale] Living without a data plan how feasible is it

Thu Oct 23 09:28:22 EDT 2014

I'll have to google LTE but  IIRC, a friend of my was poking around on 
my phone, trying to enable that, and couldn't do it. I mentioned that 
I'm blind so a friend took my phone while we were out to lunch and 
started checking to see if he could enable anything that might help me 
make better use of it. He spent a considerable amount of time trying to 
fix something with the data connection. He finally gave up. I didn't 
really pay any attention though because the only time I use my data plan 
is when I'm lost. The map app queries Apple's map data to figure out 
where I am.

The original topic is living w/o a data plan. I get lost too often not 
to have live map data but that seems to use kilobypes, not gigabytes. 
Howerver, if you  don't have a data plan, you can still use the GPS on 
your iPhone with Navigon from Garment. It's $40 and comes with 
downloadable map data. I used it for years on an iPod Touch with a 
bluetooth GPS receiver.  There were plenty of instances when I was the 
only person in a group who could get directions because we happened to 
be somewhere where nobody could get a data connection.

ichael Trausch wrote:
> Careful. That's Sprint, and I for one pretty well hate dealing with any of their services. Most other people I have known personally that have used them hate them too. Can't speak for all experiences everywhere but their LTE is as of 3 months ago total, err, shit.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
>> On Oct 22, 2014, at 5:04 PM, Jim Kinney <jkinney at jimkinney.us> wrote:
>>
>> My Verizon contract expires in Feb. They are gonna get dropped instantly. Heard multiple people saying good things about Ting. Gonna look if the OnePlus will run on their network. 99% of my time is in WiFi zone so data use is low. Can make the teen work off his texting bill :-)
>>
>>> On October 22, 2014 4:28:40 PM EDT, Todor Fassl <fassl.tod at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> I got a refurbished iPhone 4S from Ting. My bill has been $15 each month so far ($6 subscription, $3 for up to 100 minutes of voice, $3 for up to 100 messages, and $3 for up to 100Gb). I've never been particularly close to going over the 100 limit on any of the 3 things. I don't know what happens if you do go over. I mean, I don't even know what the next payment level is.
>>>
>>> Yeah, I like ting.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> On 10/22/14 13:50, David Ritchie wrote:
>>>> We have been happy with Ting (sprint Network, BYOD) for my son (bought a
>>>> used Samsung Galaxy S3 device off of glyde.com) .  First bill was $25ish.
>>>> $6/mo for basic line, everything else is pay as you go. This is probably
>>>> better with mutliple lines (plan is next to move wife's Virgin Mobile
>>>> account over to Ting, but will probably need to get another phone if VM
>>>> won't unlock her prepaid one.)
>>>>
>>>> -- David
>>>>
>>>> On Fri, Oct 17, 2014 at 11:15 AM, Calvin Harrigan <calvin.harrigan at gmail.com
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>   +1 for T-Mobile, especially for international travel.  Unlimited text,
>>>>> data, 20cents per minute back to the states from over 120 countries.
>>>>> Coverage oversees was surprisingly good.  No surprises, bill was exactly as
>>>>> expected.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On 10/17/2014 10:56 AM, Greg Clifton wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> For some cheap plans, also consider Republic Wireless. They run on Sprint
>>>>> Network, which seems to have pretty good coverage. You can only use the
>>>>> phones that they sell, because they set the phones to ALWAYS prefer WiFi.
>>>>> Then when you in a WiFi free zone, you can talk on the Sprint network. This
>>>>> allows them to offer some very low priced plans (incluing data) since you
>>>>> are rarely actually using Sprint's bandwidth. If you are mostly in the
>>>>> city, you should haved no concerns about either WiFi or Sprint coverage.
>>>>> The wife was on Sprint via Kroger's iWireless for a couple of years, and we
>>>>> found that the coverage was pretty good even out in the boonies.
>>>>>
>>>>>   If you travel outside the USA, T-Mobile is definitely the way to go, no
>>>>> data roaming charges. They also have a 4 phones for $100/month plan,
>>>>> inclusive of unlimited talk, text and ample data for most mere mortals.
>>>>>
>>>>> On Fri, Oct 17, 2014 at 10:19 AM, JD <jdp at algoloma.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>> On 10/17/2014 08:42 AM, Charles Shapiro wrote:
>>>>>>> +1 for T-Mobile.  Buy your phone used on swappa (http://swappa.com ).
>>>>>> A BYOD
>>>>>>> no-contract plan is currently $68 a month with 3 GB of data.
>>>>>> t-mobile has daily unlimited plans for pay-as-you-go people for either
>>>>>> $2/day or
>>>>>> $3/day for 3G. These have unlimited talk+text+data (though 2G data is
>>>>>> limiting
>>>>>> and non-secure alone).  If you don't need the phone too much, enabling
>>>>>> that from
>>>>>> the normal P-A-Y-G plan can save $$$hundreds yearly.  If you have wifi
>>>>>> everywhere, do you really **need** data when around ATL?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On travel, I enable 2G t-mobile for the 7 days I need it. $14 - not bad.
>>>>>> In a
>>>>>> new city or one I haven't been in recently, it is convenient and saves
>>>>>> hassles.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Paying 10x more for convenience has always been the way of the world. No
>>>>>> different with cell phones, just like getting a 7-Eleven candy bar is more
>>>>>> expensive than walmart or a beer at the GA-Dome.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Of course, some people need the "status" for their jobs and I completely
>>>>>> understand that. After all, if you can't afford $1200/yr for a family
>>>>>> cell phone
>>>>>> plan, why should I let you install and configure $4M worth of equipment
>>>>>> into my
>>>>>> business?
>>>>>>
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>>>>>
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>> --
>> Jim Kinney
>> Linux Systems Analyst
>> Physicist/Brewer
>> http://jimkinney.us
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