phones

[gusl]

AT&T offers me the following plan. per month:
* voice: 450 minutes, $40
* text: 200 messages, $5
* data: 2GB, $25
This would add to $70 (plus tax).

But because of a 20% discount for Columbia people, it becomes $56/month (plus tax).

I have a few hesitations:
* Is AT&T actually a good carrier?
* Does it have a good signal if you're indoors? Everybody is saying that T-mobile doesn't.
* Do they have acceptable customer service? Some say that Verizon doesn't.

... and finally: I want a phone with Android and a sliding physical keyboard, and for which I'd pay less than $100/year in comprehensive insurance (including theft, screen breakage, liquid damage, etc), with at least 1GB in storage. It would also be nice if the phone can tether.

They think they can make it work on any US phone, as long as it is unlocked.

What phone should I get?


---

ToDo list:

Done:
* Columbia ID
* all paperwork for the Stats department
* cash cheque

ToDo:
* buy AC
* buy bike
* close Bank of America WA branch account; open an account in NY, so I can update the address. But maybe I should use another bank altogether. I like PNC, but I'd probably have to pay every time I use an ATM. OTOH this might not be much more than what I'd pay in monthly fees to other banks.
* register for orientation events, which started today!!

Comments

[easwaran.livejournal.com]

If you're in NYC, I've only heard awful things about AT&T coverage.

I believe all Android phones can tether. Both T-Mobile and Verizon have good Android models - I don't know if AT&T has caught up. (I suspect that the HTC G1, available on T-Mobile, would meet your specs - I don't know how much it would cost to insure, but since it's been around about a year and a half it's probably cheap enough by now.)

Verizon customer service sounds awful, but I think I've actually never had to deal with them. T-Mobile is supposed to be very good that way though.

For coverage, I suppose you would ideally find friends with each carrier and have them scout out your apartment and a few other places you're likely to spend time.

[gustavolacerda.livejournal.com]

<< If you're in NYC, I've only heard awful things about AT&T coverage. >>

what sorts of awful things, and from how many people?

[tedesson.livejournal.com]

Swype soft keyboard, and voice search reduce the need for a real keyboard on android phones. I have the real keyboard, but use it less now.

My service is through Verizon. I've heard NYC coverage for all carriers can be spotty, so you'll want to ask a local expert.

[gwillen.livejournal.com]

I do not think Verizon Android phones can tether. I don't know about other non-T-mobile. I know that at least my T-mobile phone can tether.

[gustavolacerda.livejournal.com]

my understanding is that AT&T can work with *any* unlocked phone.

[simrob.livejournal.com]

False. If you get PDANet (which charges you $30 to buy the version that lets you https, but which will gladly let you http for free forever) you can tether your iphone. I believe that's still true on the new Android OS, it's certainly true for my pretty-new LG Ally.

[demarko (from livejournal.com)]

this is true as long as the unlocked phone supports the band AT&T has (I don't know them off the top of my head, I suggest using teh Googlez)

[demarko (from livejournal.com)]

this is actually mostly unfounded. I thought I was going to have shitty AT&T coverage when I got to NYC but I've actually been quite pleased with it. I only found out later that they're been upgrading all their cell-towers in the area.

As far as the comparison with other carriers goes: if you really want testicular cancer by age 40, I suggest Verizon, they get signal in some places in the subway that makes me think their output it HORRIFYING.

T-Mobile will reflect higher data speeds than AT&T in Manhattan because less people have T-Mobile, that's Networking 101. There have been moments where I wander in to bits of Manhattan where I just can't get a 3G spot.

Still don't understand why you would want a physical keyboard. Physical keyboard can't change, how would you type characters and modifiers used in Portuguese on your English physical keyboard. Don't you have RSI anyway?
I agree with the below comment, Swype makes me hesitate for a second about my iPhone, it's pretty damn good.

[gwillen.livejournal.com]

Oh, I guess I was thinking of the built-in tethering that was added in Froyo. For the record, though, as someone who used it for about six months, PDANet is a buggy piece of shit. There are alternatives, but the good ones require root on the phone, which I don't know whether it's obtainable for Verizon phones.

[gustavolacerda.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the info. Is there any proven link between cell phones and cancer?

I imagine that the issue of typing accents is orthogonal to the type of keyboard used. Am I wrong?

No, I don't have RSI, but even if I did, it would be something you should be careful about mentioning on the public Internet. Outing people without their permission is not cool in my book. Seriously.

[easwaran.livejournal.com]

My Droid lets me tether on Verizon. I just use PDAnet as the app, which I also had to install on my computer.

[easwaran.livejournal.com]

Also, does it matter whether or not you're using a Verizon phone? They're broadcasting their signal whether you have a phone or not.

[extensionality.livejournal.com]

The main thing to watch out for is that while all unlocked GSM phones will work on T-Mobile or AT&T, they use differing bands for their 3G signals. So there are some phones that are 3G on ATT only, and some on T-Mobile only.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_wirehead_/]

it's also noteworthy that pdanet doesn't have a Linux version.

[rdore.livejournal.com]

I have an ADP1, which is essentially the developer version of the G1. So it started unlocked and rooted. I use the wireless tether app (requires root) which works well, and doesn't require any software on my computer. I did have to do updates on the phone to get the tether app to work. It does have a keyboard (though I don't know if it is possible/how to get accented characters). On AT&T, one is limited to EDGE except for occasional roaming, as it doesn't have the same type of 3G as AT&T does (it has the T-Mobile kind). I'm also not so sure how easy they are to get. I inherited from a friend who has done some cell phone development, and switched to using a Nexus One (which he got free at some conference). You can (or at least used to be able to) buy them from Google, but they were like $400. One might be able to get a used one somewhere.

[demarko (from livejournal.com)]

I mean, it doesn't matter, I'm just saying it's kind of terrifying when I see Verizon users texting from a certain distance underground

[demarko (from livejournal.com)]

no, last I heard there was no real connection.

I would imagine that it's true, I just like my soft keyboard being language context-sensitive. It's been really useful to me when switching between english and spanish.

geez, sorry. I thought that's why you had hired me when I was a freshman, apparently I was completely wrong and I apologize.

[gustavolacerda.livejournal.com]

I hired you because the web server was coming down ASAP, so I wanted to split the labour.

[bhudson.livejournal.com]

Last I checked, Verizon is CDMA while AT&T and T-Mobile are GSM. This matters for international travel.

At least until recently, CDMA and analog service had better coverage than GSM in North America. This may not matter to you -- it did to me when I was hiking or in small towns. Verizon kept saying they'd pull the plug on the analog service (they were the only shop), so that would eliminate their competitive advantage there.

AT&T knows that there's other countries out there. Verizon doesn't. As in, the one publishes all their long distance and roaming rates online, whereas the other will tell you with a straight face that it's impossible to call Canada from your cell phone in the US.

People are annoyed at AT&T because they sold lots of iphones without having the network capacity to deal with it. They have been building network capacity like mad. I never had trouble with voice in NYC. The data network was useless down on Wall Street during working hours (and the same in the Chicago Loop).

For customer service, I found that AT&T didn't require me to deal with customer service representatives as often; usually things worked well enough, or I could do things online. Verizon frequently fucked up badly enough that I had to get humans in the loop.

[bhudson.livejournal.com]

I've also never heard of anyone being touchy about RSI.

Genital warts, sure, but that's different.

[bhudson.livejournal.com]

Oh, and you asked if AT&T is good.

No.

But then, most of the competition is worse.

[bhudson.livejournal.com]

Oh^2, you're coming from Canada. You will be AMAZED at how awesome and cheap cell phones are.

[demarko (from livejournal.com)]

this was my reaction.

[demarko (from livejournal.com)]

just like AT&T is practically useless in Cupertino, Palo Alto, a large part of the Mission District and downtown SF

[gustavolacerda.livejournal.com]

The point is that you should never talk about someone else's health on the public Internet without anonymizing them, unless you have their permission.

I am especially concerned because DeMarko has done similar things in the past, and I'd rather draw the line on the side of too much respect-for-privacy.

[gustavolacerda.livejournal.com]

and what is this talk about "genital warts"?

[gwillen.livejournal.com]

Does PDAnet work reliably for you? I really found it to be buggy as hell.

[easwaran.livejournal.com]

I don't remember ever noticing any problems with it, but I think it's been a few months since I've tried to use it - it's possible that one of the updates broke it. My only problems in the past were due to poor 3g reception in hotels occasionally.