Which phone do you use? (poll and discuss)
 

I created this post to ask readers which phone they used. My answers are there and the questions are as follows:

1. Do you use your Internet Tablet with your phone for Internet access?
2. What kind of phone do you have?
3. Was it easy to get working?
4. Who is your service provider?
5. How affordable is your data plan?
6. What else should users know about that phone/provider/plan?

Especially with the holidays approaching - it's a good time to talk gadgets.

Re: Which phone do you use? (poll and discuss)
 

1. no
2. Some old Nokia with a Tracfone plan.
3. Very
4 Tracphone
5. Very affordable; I spend less than $100 a year on phone calls.
6. I spend a lot of time at my house, so usually have wifi. I don't need to use my N800 while driving. I use it while jogging, but for mp3 files on an sd card. I rarely use the cell phone.

Re: Which phone do you use? (poll and discuss)
 

Thanks geneven! I will clarify, though - this was more targeted toward Bluetooth DUN: Using the phone/service for internet access.

Re: Which phone do you use? (poll and discuss)
 

1. Yes
2. Blackberry Pearl 8130
3. Yes
4. Verizon Wireless
5. $30 + $15 (data + tethering) in addition to $40 for voice.
6. Coverage and speeds are great, but could be cheaper. Especially the $15 for tethering is a rip off.

1. Do you use your Internet Tablet with your phone for Internet access?<br />
<br />
Yes, when there's no wifi nearby.<br />
<br />
2. What kind of phone do you have?<br />
<br />
Nokia 6555i (3G)<br />
<br />
3. Was it easy to get working?<br />
<br />
With OS2007, somewat difficult.<br />
With 2008, not a bit of a problem...th Wizard at first boot walked through all the steps flawlesslessly.<br />
<br />
4. Who is your service provider?<br />
<br />
AT&amp;T, Cingular, or whatever they're called this week.<br />
<br />
5. How affordable is your data plan?<br />
<br />
I got the MediaMax $19.95 &quot;unlimited&quot; plan. Personally, I think it's highway robbery, but I'm enjoying the anywhere Internet.<br />
<br />
6. What else should users know about that phone/provider/plan?<br />
<br />
Well, strictly speaking, it's not a plan where you're supposed to tether a PDA-like device, but an AT&amp;T CSR said that, unless it's abused, no one will do anything...I've streamed Internet Radio through it; last month I pulled down over 125 MB of data. ;^)

Re: Which phone do you use? (poll and discuss)
 

I'm going to try, but currently no

Moto SLVR v7
I tried it and it synced, but I never bothered to actually try using the internet via the GPRS, so I don't know it if "really" works or just says it synced
MetroPCS
5$ monthly forr unlimited data

Unless you have an unlimited data plan, using the n800 with your phone is moot since you still have to worry about charges.

Re: Which phone do you use? (poll and discuss)
 

1. Do you use your Internet Tablet with your phone for Internet access?

Yes. In my opinion, allows the use of phones over Bluetooth was genius.

2. What kind of phone do you have?

Nokia N95.

3. Was it easy to get working?

Yes. But see below for changes I had to make.

4. Who is your service provider?

T-mobile.

5. How affordable is your data plan?

An extra $4.99 for the data plan.

6. What else should users know about that phone/provider/plan?

I had to change the settings. I changed the access point name and I added a proxy for HTTP and HTTPS.

Re: Which phone do you use? (poll and discuss)
 

1. Yes
2. Nokia N80 (max 384 kbps)
3. Very easy
4. DNA
5. 9.80 euros per month, unlimited GPRS/EDGE/3G/HSDPA
6.

Re: Which phone do you use? (poll and discuss)
 

1. Yes
2. LG VX8600
3. Very easy
4. Verizon Wireless
5. No data plan, hacked phone to just use minutes. Free on nights and weekends.
6. Procedure to hack CDMA phones to use EVDO dun is readily available on Howard Forums.

Re: Which phone do you use? (poll and discuss)
 

1. With Nokia 770 - frequently - whenever I can't find a wifi hotspot (way too often). Extremely useful when we've been on vacations.
2. Motorola V557, about 2 years old now. Pairing was idiot simple.
3. Relatively. Someone posted a script on connecting to the Cingular service here at ITT for OS2005 and I've used it since (currently on latest OS2006). I didn't get the built-in Cingular/att client script to work, since I have one that does work, it's what I use.
4. Cingular/att
5. $20/mo (probably same plan as Thoughtfix's) for unlimited data (MediaNet service). I am not sure if it's really intended for use with tethered devices vs the phone itself (handy for Google's mobile services) but it's worked for me.
6. Wifi is much faster. No idea unless/until I upgrade to a newer phone if we have faster service in this area.

Re: Which phone do you use? (poll and discuss)
 

1. Yes

2. Samsung SGH-A717

3. Very easy.

4. AT&T (former Cingular customer)

5. $20/mo for "Unlimited" data access tacked on to some form of a Family Plan.

6. The Samsung phone is a 3.5G phone, and it connects and tethers with the N800 perfectly. 3G coverage for my two primary cities of operation is very good, so 98% of the time I'm in a 3G area when I'm mobile. My only complaint about the phone is that the battery life while using 3G is slightly limited (4-5hours browsing).

Re: Which phone do you use? (poll and discuss)
 

Yes.

Motorola i875

Yes, thanks to YoDude.

Boost Mobile

Extremely. It's free.

The unadvertised data plan, while free, is slow.

Re: Which phone do you use? (poll and discuss)
 

1=> Yes
2=> 8525 & i607 (when I need to tether)
3=> Yes
4=> AT&T
5=>Affordable, but I don't follow the TOS
6=>The phones I'll change depending on what I need. Service is pretty good most places I go, 3g is now in most areas I visit. The plan I have (currently the iphone plan) offers unlimited data, but not tethering. I have always had heavy data usage on my account no matter what the phone and plan have been so I'm not overly concerned with AT&T coming after me.

Re: Which phone do you use? (poll and discuss)
 

1.) I think cell phones are *the* most intrusive invention *every*. People oughtta be treating them like an embarassment and take calls in a quiet corner away from others, but now they take precidence over actual human contact in the fact that people take calls right in mid conversation with a live person. Put the Blackberry into the mix and you're down to behaviour that makes me wanna punch people in the face. They're bound by draconian contacts to their carriers and people should wholesale boycott them.

Please ignore me. :o:o

Re: Which phone do you use? (poll and discuss)
 

Ha. This has less to do with cellphones (which are an incredibly useful invention with regards to connectedness and safety), and more to do with the fact that most people are generally stupid. :)

Re: Which phone do you use? (poll and discuss)
 

As my favorite professor once said, "Most people are C students. Remember that and you'll do fine."

Re: Which phone do you use? (poll and discuss)
 

1. Only when not in range of wi-fi
2. Nokia N95-3 (The US model with more RAM and US 3G on AT&T's HSDPA network)
3. Yes.
4. AT&T
5. Not very. Around $70 a month total (don't even bother asking how much the phone cost...a LOT!)
6. The only US 3G game in town at the moment.

Re: Which phone do you use? (poll and discuss)
 

Double post by accident so I'll put my info..

1. Do you use your Internet Tablet with your phone for Internet access?

Yes, when Wifi idn't available. (rarely)

2. What kind of phone do you have?

Motorola Q

3. Was it easy to get working?

Yes, via PDAnet

4. Who is your service provider?

Verizon

5. How affordable is your data plan?

Not very (thus PDAnet). But Verizon does have EVDO service up here in NW Montana. Pretty amazing.

6. What else should users know about that phone/provider/plan?

The Q is nice, but battery life sucks. The N800 is the first mobile wireless data device I've bought where battery life actually exceeded my expectations. :D

Re: Which phone do you use? (poll and discuss)
 

1. Yes, a lot
2. Nokia N75
3. Yes
4. AT&T
5. No idea: company pays
6. I could not use tablet defaults, but it was no problem getting it working.

Re: Which phone do you use? (poll and discuss)
 

I'll ignore your typo, but you might be amazed how much I agree with you.

Re: Which phone do you use? (poll and discuss)
 

1) Yes
2) Palm Treo 680
3) No and yes. Just following the setup wizard paired the phone and tablet via Bluetooth, but OS2007 doesn't have the right settings for T-Mobile Internet (USA). After changing the APN and dial up number, it worked:
http://www.transformedplanet.com/blo..._t-mobile.html

4) T-Mobile. I travel enough I want a GSM phone, and I refuse to endure AT&T's horrible customer service. Plus, T-Mobile has a cheap international plan. Admittedly, EDGE is very < UMTS, but I've been told AT&T's UMTS coverage in the Phoenix area sucks anyway.
5) T-Mobile Internet (again, EDGE is as fast as they get) is $20/mo.
6) As I mentioned, T-Mo is EDGE-only, so being connected via Treo means I have to stick to quick e-mail checking, the mobile version of Google Reader, and the occasional Mauku update. But if I need to check my e-mail quickly, or double check what time the movie starts, it's not bad.

Re: Which phone do you use? (poll and discuss)
 

Yeah, that's the t-zones plan. T-Mo's dirty little secret is that anybody with a GPRS- or EDGE-capable phone automatically has Internet access, but unless you pay for the $20/mo unlimited plan, their firewall blocks you. They do however, have an HTTP proxy, so you can actually get to the Web w/o paying any extra. But I often use SSH, FTP, IM, and other stuff, so I spring for the extra $20/mo.

Re: Which phone do you use? (poll and discuss)
 

1. Yes
2. Samsung A990
3. Yes
4. Verizon
5. DUN Bluetooth
6. Verizon didnt disable bluetooth DUN on a990. It is slow. but If you need internet...you can get it... no data charges...just minutes+

+This is from my own personal experience. please take caution that you may incur data charges when enabling DUN for A990. I am not held responsible for any charges you may incur or receive.

Re: Which phone do you use? (poll and discuss)
 

1. Do you use your Internet Tablet with your phone for Internet access?
Yes, every day at work as most interesting sites (and my yahoo email) are blocked by our company filters

2. What kind of phone do you have?
Palm Treo 700p

3. Was it easy to get working?
Yes, paired first try via N800 wizard (both OS2007 & OS2008 beta)

4. Who is your service provider?
Sprint PCS

5. How affordable is your data plan?
Very (IMO) $15/month unlimited access

6. What else should users know about that phone/provider/plan?
You need to load a simple tiny library patch to enable the phone as a modem, otherwise you have to pay Sprint an additional $49/month for a phone as modem plan.

Re: Which phone do you use? (poll and discuss)
 

1. Yes, everytime I am not in the lab
2. Sony Ericsson K618i (UTMS/WCDMA) soon the V640i (HSDPA)
3. A breeze (i just had to change the APN to reflect my data plan)
4. Three Italy
5. Very affordable: "Naviga3" - 9€ a month / 50mb a day.
6. it rocks so far, cheap and fast

Re: Which phone do you use? (poll and discuss)
 

1. Do you use your Internet Tablet with your phone for Internet access?
No

2. What kind of phone do you have?
New HTC Touch Dual

3. Was it easy to get working?
No Idea

4. Who is your service provider?
T-Mobile

5. How affordable is your data plan?
(Very) 25 euro for text and call time + 9.50euro unlimited gprs plan

6. What else should users know about that phone/provider/plan?
Its has Windows :)

Re: Which phone do you use? (poll and discuss)
 

1. Yes
2. Sony Ericsson W950i (UMTS only) (not enough battery power for powering UMTS for more than 2,5 hours)
3. As smooth as it could be...wizard found phone and it works
4. One(Austria)
5. 20€ for 3GB with full speed and then they slow down UMTS to about 64kb
6. It could be a lot better: HSDPA on the phone, a cheaper plan with more traffic volume, but it is okay

Re: Which phone do you use? (poll and discuss)
 

1. yes quite often
2. sony ericsson k610i (3g, umts)
3. quite easy. just remember to add external id to dial number
4. Mobile one
5. $22sgd/month for 5gb 512kbps ($15 usd)
6. much less power hungry on the n800 as compared to wifi. speed slower but still good. able to hit 550kbps or 60kB/s easily.

Re: Which phone do you use? (poll and discuss)
 

1: yes
2: actually Sony Ericsson Z1010 (UMTS), waiting for my provider to deliver Nokia E51, which I will have for free (see point 4)
3: absolutely, with all of the OSs I tried (from 2005 to 2008 so far :D )
4: TIM (italy)
5: actually very, I'm going to subscribe a plan with 10 hours/month of included internet access, may be enough for my use. Plus 250 min/month plus 100 SMS/month for 30€ (phone comes for free)
6: TIM has the widest coverage in Italy, I thought in the past to subscribe Three Italy like Anidel did, but my wife has a phone and she's almost always roaming on TIM in our city :| (but for phone calls is free of course, she's not a geek ;) ) so, though Three has a very good data plan (the one explained by Anidel) I'll stick with TIM

Re: Which phone do you use? (poll and discuss)
 

1. Do you use your Internet Tablet with your phone for Internet access?

Yes when away from my house wifi


2. What kind of phone do you have?

MDA Vario 2 (pocket pc phone)


3. Was it easy to get working?

At first it was a nightmare as my phone only had bluetooth PAN. So I found some software that made my phone into a wifi gateway. Now my surfing speed is on par with my home network connection. Pages load in seconds.


4. Who is your service provider?

T-Mobile in the UK


5. How affordable is your data plan?

£12.50 with 1 Gig limit a month. That is on top off the usual monthly cost. In all I'm paying £47.50 a month!

Rob

Re: Which phone do you use? (poll and discuss)
 

1. Yes
2. Nokia 6120c (3G+)
3. A piece of cake
4. T-Mobile UK
5. £7.50/m 1GB traffic allowance
6. I think the 6120c is the perfect complement of the N800 because of it's size and support of 3G+

Re: Which phone do you use? (poll and discuss)
 

1. Yes
2. Nokia 6131
3. Yes
4. Telmore (Denmark), TIM (Italy), Vodafone (Italy)
5. Telmore €0.50/Mbyte GPRS, TIM €6/Mbyte EDGE (offer €20/100Mbyte), Vodafone €1.50/hour GPRS (offer €20/100hours)
6. I use the Telmore dataplan little due to the Mbyte pricing. I used TIM in Italy for a month, but they didn't inform me when the 100Mbyte ended and just silently switched me to the €6/Mbyte plan, and then ran my prepaid account into a €200 deficit which I have refused to pay. TIM is a fraud. Stay clear of them for data access in Italy. Vodafone is great. Pricing per hour is good, and the price is not exorbitant compared to the other Italian providers. I was unable to use the 100 hours in a month there.

Re: Which phone do you use? (poll and discuss)
 

1. Do you use your Internet Tablet with your phone for Internet access?
Every single day.

2. What kind of phone do you have?
Sony Erricson K800i

3. Was it easy to get working?
No. This particular phone has an odd quirk. With most phones when you tether with them for net access you have to enter a set of details specific to your phone company. One particular setting causes problems for this phone. Normally you'd have to set GPRS APN address: general.t-mobile.uk but if you do that on a k800i it won't connect at all. You have to leave it blank which I've never had to do before.

4. Who is your service provider?
T-Mobile UK

5. How affordable is your data plan?
£12.50 a month for 3gig of data.

Re: Which phone do you use? (poll and discuss)
 

I really want to pair a phone with my tablet for an always on connection. Sadly my current carrier(Helio) does not support tethering at all and all the US carriers that do have it are either insanely expensive(AT&T @ $59.99/Month just for the data connection) or have phones that do not interest me (sprint/verizon).

Hopefully T-Mobiles 3G announcement on December 6th will be conducive to my always-on connection goals =)

Re: Which phone do you use? (poll and discuss)
 

1. Do you use your Internet Tablet with your phone for Internet access?
Anywhere and anytime there is no Wifi access, which means almost all the time except at home, family and friends - including at work during meetings :-)

2. What kind of phone do you have?
Second-hand Nokia 6280. The phone is only a 3G modem (and occasional crappy camera), I don't make voice calls with it.

3. Was it easy to get working?
Very, much more so than under Windows, thanks to Maemo's setup wizard and proxy support.

4. Who is your service provider?
Orange (the actual French mother ship, ex-France telecom)


5. How affordable is your data plan?
I think very. It's not actually a data plan but an option for a prepaid call card, charged to the card's credit.
It costs 6€ (8-9 USD) for 31 days. You can let it lapse if not needed and activate it later at will.
It supports all the carrier's networks (GPRS/EDGE/3G/3G+) depending on the phone.
It gives you unlimited Web (http) access by default. Unlimited https comes by configuring a proxy. Full, unlimited IP connectivity if you go to the trouble of seting up a VPN to a DSL landline.

6. What else should users know about that phone/provider/plan?
Now don't you go thinking France is a mobile data Eldorado. Data plans are actually very expensive, including all of those called "unlimited" that are actually limited in usable ports and have a traffic cap.
This is a hack, plain and simple. The "unlimited surf" option is supposed to work only for connections to the Orange World mobile portal - it's just that their setup has been broken from day one and lets all Web traffic through unbilled. The proxy for https is normally for enterprise data plans, but works here too. And it supports the CONNECT method so OpenVPN goes through.
It's been that way for almost two years for those in the know. It may stay or it may go, but hey, it's only a prepaid card :-)

Re: Which phone do you use? (poll and discuss)
 

1. Occasionally
2. T-Mobile SDA
3. Connected easily without having to mess with settings
4. T-mobile
5. $19.99 Total Internet
6. I considered providers carefully. Most of T-mobile's competition have superior (3G) data service, especially in my market (metro NYC), but data was one concern among many. I use my phone internationally, so Verizon and Sprint were out. That left AT&T and T-Mobile. AT&T had better data, but a more onerous tethering policy. I know that the $19.99 Unlimited MediaMax works, but I understand that tethering technically would violate your TOS. Their stance over the NSA situation from a year or so ago also played a role in my decision (but a very small one).

I went with the T-mo total internet plan over the $5.99 T-zones plan again because of the TOS issue as well as the fact that I wanted it to just work with a minimum of fuss. It's not that I'm unwilling to play with settings, I'm under the impression that T-mo shuts down the proxy server every now and then, so the $5.99 plan is not guaranteed to work all the time.

With all of this being said, the T-mo plan works best for me because I tether only occasionally, so a tethering plan on another provider doesn't make sense for me. If my situation changed (for example, a new job that required a longer commute on mass transit), I would certainly consider paying for 3G with unlimited data and tethering.

Re: Which phone do you use? (poll and discuss)
 

1. no(dont have mine yet) yes on other devices like my laptop

2. HP Ipaq HW6515

3. very easy ipaq has easy tools to share the connection

4. tmobile in the US and Vodafone in Portugal

5. Tmobile sux, $10 for only 32 min(12 month exp), internet access is slow and very costly
/
Vodafone rules, even on international roaming it is still more reliable and cheaper than cingular, 15cents a minute for all networks, free in-calling, free text, no contracts, internet access at 1.8mb/sec for only a logon fee of 2 euros after that it is free and unlimited!

6. see #5:rolleyes:

Re: Which phone do you use? (poll and discuss)
 

I feel your pain Rob!! I'm currently looking at a T-Mobile (UK) just SIM 20 + web'n'walk Max combined plan that works out to £42.50 per month! Anyway, to matters at hand:

1. Do you use your Internet Tablet with your phone for Internet access?
Didn't really consider it until I read your article. Was intent on using an Nokia N95 8GB for outdoor hsdpa roaming and an HTC Tytn II as an hsdpa modem for my laptop indoors. Will look into a Nokia N810 + N95 8GB combination now though!

2. What kind of phone do you have?
Will be using an Nokia N95 8GB

3. Was it easy to get working?
Haven't tried it yet, but I'm sure it will be.

4. Who is your service provider?
T-Mobile (UK) using their 'just SIM 20' + 'web'n'walk Max' combined plan. Gives me unrestricted internet access with a 'fair use' policy of 10GB per month.
Even though just SIM 20 allows me 300 minutes of calls and 500 SMS messages a month, I will be using Truphone for all of my telephone calls. Why get SIM 20 if you're not going to use it, you ask!! Well, it was the only way I could get to use my own N95 8GB without having to purchase a branded one from T-Mobile!

5. How affordable is your data plan?
£42.50 per month!!

6. What else should users know about that phone/provider/plan?
If you want access to hsdpa internet 'on the go' whilst retaining the right to using your own unlocked/unbranded hsdpa phone here in the UK, then a 'just SIM' + 'web'n'walk' plan is the only way to go. The only other mobile broadband players here in the UK, Vodafone and 3, force you to purchase one of their branded/voip locked phones!!

Re: Which phone do you use? (poll and discuss)
 

1. Do you use your Internet Tablet with your phone for Internet access?
About half the time - other half over wifi

2. What kind of phone do you have?
LG AX8600, CDMA, EVDO

3. Was it easy to get working?
Worked first time I set it up.

4. Who is your service provider?
Alltel

5. How affordable is your data plan?
Not very - T-Mobile is cheaper as is Sprint, but T-Mobile has almost no high speed (3g) or even EDGE coverage around where I travel and live and Sprint customer service is very poor in my experience.
Cost for web is $6.00 a month, add unlimited web minutes for $10.00. Not really intended for 'tethering' but works fine.

6. What else should users know about that phone/provider/plan?
They are a great alternative to the big guys (AT&T, T-Mo, Sprint, Verizon) and with roaming agreements with Sprint and Verizon, you get service just about everywhere.

Re: Which phone do you use? (poll and discuss)
 

1. Do you use your Internet Tablet with your phone for Internet access?
Yes - I have it set up to connect automatically I leave my home wi-fi connection. The N800 then connects via Bluetooth with my phone.

2. What kind of phone do you have?
Nokia N95 with 3G connection

3. Was it easy to get working?
Very easy - no problems

4. Who is your service provider?
T-Mobile (UK)

5. How affordable is your data plan?
Pay around £12 for a 3GB per month, but never been told if I have gone over. I also use the modem off the phone to connect to a laptop to do some big downloads.

6. What else should users know about that phone/provider/plan?