Droid Does

[AmpedNow]

http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/28/the- ... s-changed/

Game changer, indeed.

[Lester]

Head-on direct attack at AT&T's billing... smart move.



http://www.billshrink.com

[AmpedNow]

What's with all of the 5GB plans?

I thought those prices were unlimited everything, including data.

Droid data plans start at $29.99, but I don't know if it's unlimited.

[Lester]

I wonder if that's to counteract tethering (if/when it becomes available for the iPhone).

[genlock]

what is tethering?

(I don't even have a cell phone)

[Lester]

Some smartphones (newer blackberrys are an example) allow you to "tether" your laptop to the phone (via usb or bluetooth) to access the Internets on your laptop. iPhones can do it through a hack called "jailbreaking"... a lesser hack existed that has since been rendered moot.

[genlock]

One of these days I am going to get one of these new-fangled phones.
I understand Verizon Wireless has the most developed network in my area.
But they have crappy phones. AT&T has the iPhoneand limited network . Sprint customer service
is legendary for it's crappiness. Nextel and some of the others work on the interstate
and quit 2 miles off the highway. I could be persuaded by an unlimited data plan
wheras I could monitor the DX cluster, e-Mail, and a few web sites. Tethering sounds
like it could be handy if you have a small laptop/netbook. Those things are cheap now.
I will monitor the situation.

Another factor may be the sale of Verizon wirelines to Frontier in this area.
iPhone has devices where you plug in your cellphone to charge it when you get home and
the charger connects the cell to your existing wired house system of phones.
Also connects to the house LAN for updates and synchronization of phone lists and scheduler.
That would be handy. Verizon might not have that yet as they are a couple years behind
on the customer end of things.

[AmpedNow]

They claim that 95% of internet users use less than 5GB per month, so it's plenty of data for the average bear. People who use over 5GB are considered "heavy users".

This might have been true 5 years ago, but in a world of Youtube, Pandora, iHeartRadio, Skype, Hulu, and gaming, it doesn't take long to burn through 5GB of data.

I would need an unlimited data plan, as I would use it for listening to a lot of radio that's not available here, in addition to web browsing and posting.

It's amazing how cell phones have evolved to the point that making actual phone calls are a minor part of the package...

[AmpedNow]

Droid attacks!






There's also an Android forum now.

http://androidforums.com/

[CoolBreeze]

Data-gobbling, dollar-munching iPhone bug unearthed

The $15,000 download

By Rik Myslewski in San Francisco •

The reason why you found an enormous but unexpected iPhone data-connection charge on your phone bill may have been discovered in Estonia.

From Cult of Mac comes word that Estonian blogger Oliver K. has discovered a bug in Safari for iPhone that will leave open a Motion JPEG video stream even if you close the Safari app. The resulting continuing stream can quickly add up to multiple expensive megabytes of unexpected data transfer when your iPhone is downloading data from a 3G or EDGE network.

And "expensive" is a gross understatement. In a blog post (Google translation) describing his testing of the bug, Oliver K. noted that a connection kept open in this manner resulted in a download of over 740 megabytes in little more than an hour. AT&T charges $0.0195 per kilobyte of data transfer when a subscriber is traveling internationally without an already-pricey Data Global Add-On plan, so a 740MB-plus download would run to nearly fifteen thousand dollars.

Try explaining that phone bill entry to your significant other.

This bug would not be apparent to iPhone users who subscribe to unlimited data plans, but such rogue streaming could put added pressure on, for example, AT&T's already overloaded 3G network.

To be sure, Motion JPEG is not a commonly used web codec, but it is used by many webcams. So, Safari for iPhone users, should you choose to view a webcam on your Apple handheld, make sure to navigate to another page after doing so. Oliver K. says that doing so is the only way he knows to interrupt the stream.

Apple did not respond to our request for comment on this report.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/11/04 ... _jpeg_bug/

[Ace Purple]

I'm a loyal Verizon guy, and I'm hoping for good things with the Android 2.0. I've been holding out for some time with my LG VX8300.

[Waveguide]

Genlock said:
Another factor may be the sale of Verizon wirelines to Frontier in this area.

Verizon Wireless and Verizon Core ( Wire LIne). Are ran seperate...... for now.
"V" core is selling its wire line business from West Virginia to the west coast.
Ah..... now the hook...... the big "V" will own most of Frontier at the end of that sale day.....
Not a secret, just read Wall Street.
Just a new name, so to speak.......

[Hoosier Daddy]

Bring back

[AmpedNow]

I don't know about this whole Frontier thing... I was looking forward to FIOS. Now we'll never get it, or anything like it in the near future.

Verizon is still expanding its wireless service in WV, though. But not nearly fast enough.

I'm tempted by the Droid, but I'm kinda sick of Verizon... As of 11/15, they will have a $350 ETF on their smartphones. Outrageous. Never mind that they're already the most expensive carrier.

Sprint is looking like the best overall value. $70 for unlimited mobile-to-mobile calling to people on the Big 4, unlimited text and data. Plus they have voice and data roaming on Verizon.

[AmpedNow]

I'm a loyal Verizon guy, and I'm hoping for good things with the Android 2.0. I've been holding out for some time with my LG VX8300.

It's hard not to be loyal to them when you have experienced their national coverage firsthand... I'll never forget having solid bars while going through the Mojave Desert, which really is in the middle of nowhere. Roaming is never an issue.

But here in WV, they're still average at best. They never seemed to really care about this state. The irony is when you consider the company's origins, it's part of their back yard.

A Blackberry or Android phone on Sprint is looking pretty good... You still get the benefits of roaming on Verizon's network without paying their prices.

[Lester]

Verizon Droid Tethering Will Cost You
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/a ... t_you.html

[cgarison]

But wait, there's more! That $30 a month data plan grants you the ability to use an 'unlimited' 5Gb of data...as long as that data doesn't come from a Microsoft Exchange email server. If you want the privilege of connecting with an Exchange email account you have to pay $45 a month for the 5Gb of unlimited data.

Well there is the reason I will stick with my AT&T WinMo with its MEdiaNet Hack for $100.00 and not stuck with the unlimited 5GB of data.

[Lester]

Exchange through the iPhone: Zero dollars.

(No comment on tethering. )

[Bob Campbell]

I still don't understand how they'll ever fit a dial on one of them cell phone thingys.
I'll try figurin' it out after I learn how to use my new videographic cassette tape recording and playback machine.

On a related note, how many folks on here have done away with land line phones?

And when we all get brain tumors will we switch back?

[genlock]

I have worked with tube-type videotape machines.
2" tape, about the size of an F-250.