Cheapest Plan for N900 WITHOUT Internet?
 

I am probably going to get the N900. I am shackled to Sprint for the next 8 months or so, and can't afford to just add on another monthly charge, so I am going to use the N900 only when WiFi is available, mainly in my house.

But I would like to be able to make occasional phone calls from my N900, and not even carry my Centro with me.

So, basically I would like to use my N900 like a Tracfone or something similar.

What's the cheapest plan that would allow me to do that?

I'm in the US, in the Los Angeles area.

Sorry if this duplicates some discussion. I looked and didn't find.

Re: Cheapest Plan for N900 WITHOUT Internet?
 

If your not prepared to pay for internet, then dont buy an internet tablet?

Re: Cheapest Plan for N900 WITHOUT Internet?
 

I wouldn't even bother with a plan if your use is going to be that little. Buy a sim card from T-mobile for $7 and use pay as you go.

http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/plans/prepaid-plans.aspx

Re: Cheapest Plan for N900 WITHOUT Internet?
 

That's a VERY clever response. Are you suggesting that I throw out the N800 and N810 I already own?

Re: Cheapest Plan for N900 WITHOUT Internet?
 

ye or get a job

Re: Cheapest Plan for N900 WITHOUT Internet?
 

Ack, the vandals are among us! You don't need to be a weatherman to know which way the wind blows!

Re: Cheapest Plan for N900 WITHOUT Internet?
 

How do you know he doesn't have a job already? What if he can't find a job (or an additional job, or a better job?). Especially in CA where they're being hit hard by the recession right now.

Re: Cheapest Plan for N900 WITHOUT Internet?
 

People with jobs can afford £5/$10 a month for an internet plan.

Re: Cheapest Plan for N900 WITHOUT Internet?
 

As I said, I'm already paying Sprint a monthly fee. Does everyone have plenty of money to pay for several cell phone accounts at the same time?

Re: Cheapest Plan for N900 WITHOUT Internet?
 

Where do I find the $10 a month internet plan that doesn't involve switching to another carrier while I have to continue paying for the one I'm on now?

Re: Cheapest Plan for N900 WITHOUT Internet?
 

Probably in Europe.

Pay as you go would probably be your best bet. Or reduce your Sprint plan and split the difference with the n900 plan (probably not worth the hassle).

Re: Cheapest Plan for N900 WITHOUT Internet?
 

It´s not $5 or $10 a month for a data plan. Especially not if you are getting a second line with another carrier to be able to use the N900.

Then it is $30-$40+ for the phone subscription + $10-$30 for the data.

Anyway, what´s it to you guys? We don´t all need to be smartasses.
I did the same with my N95 the first 7 month I had it.

In reply to the OP. Your cheapest option is probably to use it with at&t´s prepaid Gophone service, that allows you to use as little as $15 a month on the N900. That can be used for talk/data/sms.

Data will be sh*t expensive (4.99 per 1mb or 19.99/100mb), but still overall cheaper than a new contract while you wait for your Sprint to finish. Then you´d probably I guess go to T-mobile :)

Re: Cheapest Plan for N900 WITHOUT Internet?
 

I don't think there is a $10 internet plan from TMobile. You need to have voice plan before you can add on the $10 (web2go), $25 (I think this one is now 30-35 after Project Black though).

The internet only plan starts at $35 a month.

Re: Cheapest Plan for N900 WITHOUT Internet?
 

I probably WILL switch to tmobile after I have served out my term with Sprint :)

Re: Cheapest Plan for N900 WITHOUT Internet?
 

I suspect that DanielWilson and Bidybag are the same person, judging from mentality, spelling, reading comprehension.

Re: Cheapest Plan for N900 WITHOUT Internet?
 

Because more than one person shares my opinion it automatically means were the same person? No need to be angry because your living off benefits in a council house without a job.

Re: Cheapest Plan for N900 WITHOUT Internet?
 

Here's an idea:

Re: Cheapest Plan for N900 WITHOUT Internet?
 

Seconding the T-Mobile pay-as-you-go. It's the only cellphone service I've used for at least several years, and I'm entirely satisfied with it. (That's largely in Seattle, but I've had good luck with it elsewhere in the US, too.) (I just wish they had a similar data service, where you prepaid for a certain amount of Gigabytes.)

Re: Cheapest Plan for N900 WITHOUT Internet?
 

What kind of a jerkass comment is this?

Regardless of whether you make 15,000 / 25,000 or 125,000 a year there´s no need to waste extra $30-$50 a month when you don´t need to. In fact anyone with a good financial judgement will try to save themselves as many expenses as possible.

Maybe you´re one of those man-hating "fiscal conservatives" who yell about social welfare and leaches when someone talks about saving a dollar here or there, but doesn´t have any idea of what a balanced budget or responsible spending means. (hint: $500 billion war/year is not fiscally responsible)

If you can save your self $40 a month in 3-4 places that´s $120-$160 a month, $1500-$2000 a year. You can do a lot of more fun things than paying for largely unused services with that money. Like vacation with your spouse and children, or buying 4 more N900´s.

If you don´t see the rationale in keeping costs down, you may send me a $50 check per month and I´ll be happy to rid you of a portion of your paycheck.

Re: Cheapest Plan for N900 WITHOUT Internet?
 

sweet jesus.... take it easy. He just asked a question.

Re: Cheapest Plan for N900 WITHOUT Internet?
 

I second trying to get out of the Sprint plan. If you have a spouse/child/SO that can stay on the network, you can probably just be honest and explain the situation to the CSR and explain how by letting you off now, they can keep the other contract on.

Also, if you don't mind lying, you can almost always talk your way out of a contract. One of the above posters suggested having someone say you are dead, which I guess you can go for. I think the more common lie is to say "oh I'm going to be out of the country for the next 7 months on sabatical, is there any way I could end this contract without an ETF?"

Finally, since you happen to be a Sprint member, you should know that there is currently money from a class action lawsuit available over Early Termination Fees. You should look over the details yourself, but if you were discouraged from leaving your contract before October due to ETFs, you're entitled to some cash, and at the very least, you should be entitled to 6 months of 300 free text messages. You can see the settlement website here: http://www.sprintetfsettlement.com/php/home.php

Re: Cheapest Plan for N900 WITHOUT Internet?
 

OFF-TOPIC @GENEVEN

If I'm remembering right, you've been dissing the N8x0 tablets for a while now (praising, instead, for example, Kindle as something you would prefer carrying around). So I'm curious: why are you getting an N900?

Re: Cheapest Plan for N900 WITHOUT Internet?
 

Another vote for TMO's prepaid. If you don't already have a TMO sim card I'd grab their $20 Nokia 1208 prepaid from Walmart instead of $15 for just a sim card and a $100 card. The $100 card will get you a straight $0.10 per minute and is good for a year.

If was stuck with another contract I might being doing the same thing.

Re: Cheapest Plan for N900 WITHOUT Internet?
 

Actually it's better than for a year. If you refill with *any* amount by the end of the year, your leftover minutes carry over into the next year.

Even without a stop at Walmart, you can go online and get a good deal on T-mobile prepaid with a phone thrown in. But right now their inexpensive telephone offerings -- both Nokias -- are Out of Stock; I suppose they're emptying the shelves to replace them with a deal on the N900 :rolleyes:

Re: Cheapest Plan for N900 WITHOUT Internet?
 

I think T-Mobile prepaid is the best plan, as someone else already mentioned. If you don't talk much, it could cost even less than $15 a month. A while back I bought $100 of prepaid minutes on T-Mobile and that lasted me for a year - so it was about $8/mo.

Re: Cheapest Plan for N900 WITHOUT Internet?
 

Well, I'd like to have a complete set (except I don't have a 770).

I do think that the Kindle is a much better value, overall. But it really isn't a phone, and I need a phone. I only want to carry one device, and I can use the N900 to call AAA if my car breaks down. Tmobile has always seemed to me to be the least awful mobile phone company. And the N900 seems to me to be the least awful phone/tablet combo in release.

I like open source and have been running Linux for quite awhile; I started with Slackware back in I think the 1980s. In those days I knew nothing about Linux, whereas today I know... almost nothing.

Buying it might be a big mistake; I've made mistakes before.

I am nearsighted in a way that works well with small tablets. So, though I would buy a bigger tablet if there was one that met my specs, there isn't one. In a way, it seems to me that the N900 is the only choice, limited though it is.

Maybe I'm getting one because the hype worked on me. That is entirely possible.

Re: Cheapest Plan for N900 WITHOUT Internet?
 

T-mobile prepaid. $100 a year with VOIP in WiFi areas covers all my needs.

Re: Cheapest Plan for N900 WITHOUT Internet?
 

But doesn't T-Mobile charge $1 per day PLUS 10 cents per minute?

I know boost mobile is only 10 cents per day with out the daily connection fee . . . with out that daily connection fee it would be worth it . . . but with it ?????


thats $30 a month BEFORE you add the minutes used?

Re: Cheapest Plan for N900 WITHOUT Internet?
 

Is their another GSM company out their in the USA . . . . I am in Manhattan . . . . where thier is wifi "almost" every where . . . I just need some pre paid minutes to get me by when their isn't wifi . . . I am at home most of the time and have a skype $3 per month unlimited plain that I use in the house . . . It would be GREAT if I could save $70 a month and only pay for what I use outside of the house . . . . Anybody know of any good cheap gsm companies for voice that would work on N900?

Re: Cheapest Plan for N900 WITHOUT Internet?
 

The plan with the daily fee is the Sidekick plan. However, there is also another plan called the "Pay As You Go" plan which doesn't have any daily fees. You strictly pay for the minutes you use. (about $0.11/minute or so, $0.10/text msg) The only downside is that the minutes expire. If you fill the account with $100, then the minutes will last a full year.

I'm on this plan, and they also include free access to yahoo. This works great for me as I can get news and access my email while not connected to wifi at home or work. So my overall cost is $8/month. The next year will be even cheaper as I won't have to put in $100 to keep minutes from expiring within a year.

Re: Cheapest Plan for N900 WITHOUT Internet?
 

Wow really??!?!?!?! That sounds so great . . . FREE YAHOO!!! I guess I will have to setup a forward so I could check my email but that is SOOO awesome!!! Do you use skype via wifi on your N900??? If so how is the call quality? Is it good enough to use as your primary phone number? :D

Re: Cheapest Plan for N900 WITHOUT Internet?
 

There are three prepaid plans from Tmobile, and the great thing is that you have access to all three with minimal cost for switching. They are Sidekick, Pay by the Day, and Pay as you Go. If you join any one, you can switch to any of the others. They each have their advantages depending on your pattern of use. I tend to have a few days in which I use the N900 via Tmobile as phone or for Internet a lot and most days I don't use it at all because I am home with other phones and with Wireless. So Pay by the Day works best for me; I would say I end up paying $2 a week.

I use Skype via wifi on my N900 and have had video Skype-to-Skype calls from California to Moscow that worked ok.

The quality of Skype calls has never been all that great for me; I'm hoping they will improve. I have better results with my Vonage phone.

Re: Cheapest Plan for N900 WITHOUT Internet?
 

NOOOOO!!! I am not paying for an internet connection, i use only wifi and i use it many hours a day for surfing the web. I pay only for sending sms.

Re: Cheapest Plan for N900 WITHOUT Internet?
 

Wind mobile just launched in Vancouver. They offer a pretty competitive package. $15.00 ($7.50 for the first 6 months) there data plans are competitive and compatible with the n900 frequency, but there ad hock data use is a little steep at +- $4 per megabyte. My n900 just found a new home.

Re: Cheapest Plan for N900 WITHOUT Internet?
 

I use tmobile for cell calls (sipgate on wifi) and GV for SMS, even while on tzones. I don't see how I can beat that if I don't want a data plan.