PDA plans for cellphone

[ddubois]

I'm thinking about upgrading my generic piece o' crap candy bar cell phone into a AT&T Tilt smartphone, but it looks like I'd be required to get a PDA plan for the mail in rebate to qualify. I'm not sure exactly what that includes. I don't need/want to get another email address, or even get my email through my phone at all, but I do want to be able to occasionally look things up on the web, get directions from google maps (Tilt has a GPS), download 3rd party games/apps, etc.

The two most obvious plan choices are "PDA Personal 20 MB" and "PDA Personal Max with 1500 Messages", but what perplexes me is how could I possibly be expected to make a two-year commitment to a threshold of data usage when I have no idea what 20MB really means? I mean, it's not like minutes, where a normal human can figure out how much of a talker they are; they're expecting me to not only gauge how much I'll be browsing, but what the sizes of the web pages I'd be downloading would total up to in kilobytes?! Anyone with empirical experience know if 20MB is enough?

Right now we pay $50 a month for "FamilyTalk Nation 500 Rollover & 5000 Night/Weekend Minutes" for our two cell phones, and I don't like the idea of all of a sudden paying $95 a month just so I can google something once a week.

[XXXNoahXXX]

here's an idea!

get the lower one, figure out usage, then upgrade if needed since they always let you do that!

shocking!

[ddubois]

OK, I didn't know that.

Is this additional $35-$50 fee for a "PDA plan" standard fare for all carriers?

[mbillie1]

I know with Sprint, any PDA except a blackberry you can get a $15 unlimited data package which covers pretty much everything except the music store / TV stuff (which you wouldn't likely use anyway)

[Cubswin]

Sprint Sero FTW

$30 for 500 minutes and:

Unlimited Sprint Vision or Power Vision (Vision for Vision phones, Power Vision for Power Vision phones)

Unlimited data

Unlimited Mobile to Mobile

Unlimited Sprint Picture Mail

Unlimited Roaming

Unlimited Text (Per SERO website: "Unlimited text messaging included with all plans through 12/31/07")

Unlimited Nights & Weekends (Starts @ 9PM if signed up before 12/03/06, 7 PM for those after)(6 PM nights & weekends for $10/month).

Nationwide Long Distance- Crystal Clear Calls

Voice Mail

Caller ID

Call Waiting

Numeric Paging

Three-Way Calling

[klaching]

sero is def. the way to go... plus you can email ecare and get free incoming first min... 6pm nights, school discounts, etc etc.. i pay 27$ a month after taxes for all that and i haven't paid a bill in the first 9 months of the plan because of service credits.. it's a long thread but def. worth it

[ebranig]

[ QUOTE ]
sero is def. the way to go... plus you can email ecare and get free incoming first min... 6pm nights, school discounts, etc etc.. i pay 27$ a month after taxes for all that and i haven't paid a bill in the first 9 months of the plan because of service credits.. it's a long thread but def. worth it

[/ QUOTE ]

agreed with SERO, though I wasn't able to get FIMF or 6pm nights (I have 7pm). Great service, and I have a MotoQ.. unbelievable price.

[ddubois]

What's the cliff notes on that 500 page thread? I need two phones, one for wifey.