[vox] re: cell phone contracts

[Cylar Z]

I'm with Cingular - just got a new camera/web-capable
phone. I forget what my monthly calling plan is (I'm a
second phone on someone else's account), but I did get
unlimited web-browsing capability added for $19.99 and
have no complaints. They also have a metered web
access plan for $10/mo. I think the phone itself was
around $300 retail, though you may be able to get a
better deal as a new customer.

I have no complaints about either aspect of the
service - it's good since they just merged with some
other carrier (I forget which one) and have a much
larger network now. But I can tell you that if you go
this route, I strongly recommend the unmetered
plan...and make ABSOLUTELY SURE that this is what the
salesperson signs you up for. The one that helped me
somehow screwed up on this part, and we got a nasty
little surprise when we opened our cellphone bill at
the end of the first month. It took a phone call to
Cingular, plus a return visit to the salesperson, to
get everything straightened out. Now that it's done,
however, it works great. The other nice thing is that
the web capability works wherever you would normally
be able to make a voice call.

Good question about the SSH client; I have no idea. I
know that *I* wouldn't trust a cellphone carrier's
network to provide me with a secure encrypted
connection to my Linux box, as it is my understanding
that cellphone transmissions are notoriously prone to
being intercepted, even with the recent advancements
in the technology. Maybe the other list readers have
additional insight on this topic.

Matt

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>    1. cell phone contracts (Peter Jay Salzman)
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Message: 1
> Date: Sat, 25 Nov 2006 13:58:14 -0500
> From: p at dirac.org (Peter Jay Salzman)
> Subject: [vox] cell phone contracts
> To: Linux User Group of Davis <vox at lists.lugod.org>
> Message-ID: <20061125185814.GA25374 at dirac.org>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
> 
> My cellphone contract with Verizon is up, and I'm
> looking around for new
> cellphone deals.
> 
> I'm currently paying $40 (300 min, free calling at
> 9) for truly bare bones
> basic service.  That's the cheapest plan, AFAIK,
> that Verizon has.  It
> sucks.
> 
> Went to the Verizon store, and it appears that the
> very cheapest I can get
> voice and data for is $80 (I really want to be able
> to access google and
> wikipedia from my phone).
> 
> 
> Just took a look at Sprint.  Their cheapest calling
> plan is $30 (200 min,
> free calling at 7) and an astonishing $15 for
> "unlimited web and data".
> 
> 
> By the looks of it, Verizon's pricing is just
> absolutely awful.
> 
> 
> I was wondering if anyone knew of any other
> cellphone carriers I might want
> to look at that may be competitive with Sprint or of
> any contract deals
> they've heard of that might be interesting.
> 
> I've never had web/data access on a cellphone
> before.  Is it possible to
> upload some kind of ssh client onto a phone?
> 
> Thanks!
> Peter
> 
> -- 
> How VBA rounds a number depends on the number's
> internal representation.
> You cannot always predict how it will round when the
> rounding digit is 5.
> If you want a rounding function that rounds
> according to predictable rules,
> you should write your own.
>               -- MSDN, on Microsoft VBA's
> "stochastic" rounding function
> 
> Peter Jay Salzman, email: p at dirac.org web:
> http://www.dirac.org/p    
> PGP Fingerprint: B9F1 6CF3 47C4 7CD8 D33E  70A9 A3B9
> 1945 67EA 951D
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> End of vox Digest, Vol 30, Issue 10
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