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Since a while ago - in the UK at least.

I'm on t-mobile, and pay £20 for six months of "unlimited" data and pay something like £5 a month in calls and texts. Overall I'm less than £10 a month which works out as much cheaper than paying a subsidised price for the phone and a hefty monthly bill.

See internet boosters here
http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/mobile-phones/price-plans/pay-as-you-go/boosters/

A quick look on t-mobile.co.uk suggests that's partly true -- Blackberry phones are probably good value for money (though I've never used one) : there are cheaper Android phones, but they're perhaps disappointing to use..?

http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/pay-as-you-go/mobile-phones/

TFA referenced in the TFA says: "Browsing means looking at websites and checking email, but not watching videos, downloading files or playing games."

They should be reminded that all our "browsing" is harder to find in plain text format because of all the Flash feature-creep, let alone the ads. CNN news gives us all a hard time with all these ad-prepended videos, and Yahoo is starting to do that too.

Interesting, they claim "Unlimited internet for 6 months" for £20. The fine print then reads (as per the /. story) "This Booster comes with a fair use policy of 500MB a month.". Comparatively speaking that actually isn't a bad deal, but is quite simply not unlimited - I'm rather tired of this kind of very blatant false advertising; at least the pay monthly plans are upfront about £x for y MB/month.

I've made a complaint to the ASA, and I suggest any other UK residents reading this do the same.

many people bought the Huawei U220 USB data modems a couple of years ago and use the T-Mobile service just for data. These were sold as "broadband replacement" services and cost GBP25/month on contract. There's no way I'm paying that much for 500Mb pcm. My data volumes usually are in the 1.5Gb per month for work and the odd yum -y update that sneaks by unnoticed.

I have one plugged into my Draytek Vigor home office router as a backup for when the broadband service goes down - it has a Solwise high gain antenna attached to it. I also have one plugged into my work Linux laptop ("it just works" with network manager).

TFA referenced in the TFA says: "Browsing means looking at websites and checking email, but not watching videos, downloading files or playing games."

WTF? I was sold "mobile broadband" - it's a data service, nothing is mentioned about browsing at all.

I was thinking of the T-mobile Pulse (Huawei U8220):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-Mobile_Pulse
http://wiki.modaco.com/index.php/Huawei_U8220
http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/pay-as-you-go/t-mobile-pulse-payg/

Unfortunately, a quick look at ebay suggests you'd pay about $100 USD more over there (the reverse of the usual situation!).

There's also a Pulse Mini (U8110), with a smaller (& resistive) touchscreen for 80 GBP:

http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/pay-as-you-go/t-mobile-pulse-mini/

There are other cheap PAYG Android phones over here too - O2 has the LG Optimus for 120 GBP, Three has something called the 'ZTE Racer' for around 100 GBP, etc. We even do pretty well on net tariffs - 20 GBP will buy you 6 months worth of net access on T-mobile (not the best network, but adequate where I live). Of course, we pay more for pretty much everything else...

I was thinking of the T-mobile Pulse (Huawei U8220):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-Mobile_Pulse
http://wiki.modaco.com/index.php/Huawei_U8220
http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/pay-as-you-go/t-mobile-pulse-payg/

Unfortunately, a quick look at ebay suggests you'd pay about $100 USD more over there (the reverse of the usual situation!).

There's also a Pulse Mini (U8110), with a smaller (& resistive) touchscreen for 80 GBP:

http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/pay-as-you-go/t-mobile-pulse-mini/

There are other cheap PAYG Android phones over here too - O2 has the LG Optimus for 120 GBP, Three has something called the 'ZTE Racer' for around 100 GBP, etc. We even do pretty well on net tariffs - 20 GBP will buy you 6 months worth of net access on T-mobile (not the best network, but adequate where I live). Of course, we pay more for pretty much everything else...

To highlight the issue Apple faces, T-Mobile is selling an Android phone for £100. That's a pay as you go phone (i.e. no contract) and its just one Android handset of many on the market. It it might not be the greatest phone ever but its a smart phone for £100 ffs.

If someone's budget stretches further there are Android phones from different providers, from different manufacturers, sporting different form factors, and featuresets. What they all have in common is the same core OS and a high degree of compatibility. None of this would matter if Android wasn't an extremely capable OS but it is. Some manufactures do a better job of extending it than others, but at the end of the day you can find some excellent Android handsets and things are only going to get better.

In the UK under The Distance Selling Regulations ( http://www.oft.gov.uk/advice_and_resources/resource_base/legal/distance-selling-regulations/ ) All mail order companies, including on-line sellers must give you a seven (working) day cooling off period during which you may return your purchase for a full refund. For a phone you would be expected to pay the tariffed cost of any calls etc that you made but during the time you had it but nothing for the phone, no penalty and the contract would be cancelled. All networks also offer SIM only contracts where you may use your own phone. T-Mobile UK for instance offer both monthly sim-only plans: http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/mobile-phones/sim-card/pay-monthly/ and pay as you go 'free SIM' plans http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/free-pay-as-you-go-sim-cards/

In the UK under The Distance Selling Regulations ( http://www.oft.gov.uk/advice_and_resources/resource_base/legal/distance-selling-regulations/ ) All mail order companies, including on-line sellers must give you a seven (working) day cooling off period during which you may return your purchase for a full refund. For a phone you would be expected to pay the tariffed cost of any calls etc that you made but during the time you had it but nothing for the phone, no penalty and the contract would be cancelled. All networks also offer SIM only contracts where you may use your own phone. T-Mobile UK for instance offer both monthly sim-only plans: http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/mobile-phones/sim-card/pay-monthly/ and pay as you go 'free SIM' plans http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/free-pay-as-you-go-sim-cards/

There usually is, from the mobile operator's website.

Oh, look what I found! Just because the great unwashed don't know about it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

The problem is that no one in North America is implementing a European-style cell billing system.

No, the problem is that the US doesn't distinguish between landline numbers and mobile numbers. We pay to receive instead of having the caller pay out the rear for the privilege of calling a mobile phone.

Go actually compare rates in North America and Europe. You'll find that European providers offer lower-priced options, and that there are more prepaid options as well. But in the price categories that most people in the US pay, US carriers are actually quite competitive.

T-Mobile UK offers 1GB of mobile data, 1000 minutes, and unlimited SMS for £40.50/mo (about $66/mo).

Sprint offers "unlimited" (realistically, 5GB) of mobile data, 450 minutes, and unlimited SMS/MMS for $70/mo. The 450 minutes looks really bad until you consider the fact that Sprint doens't count calls made after 7pm, on weekends, or to any mobile phone in the US against that total. Only calls made to landlines on weekdays before 7pm count.

Which is better? If you call landlines a lot, the T-Mobile UK plan is better. If you use lots of mobile data or mostly call mobile phones (or at night or on weekends), the Sprint plan might be better.

The point is that it isn't a huge gulf like people seem to believe.

I had that same problem, but then I got a deal and now it's 4p/min to almost anywhere.

"Mobile carriers may start giving away netbooks for free"

Eh? This has already happened in the UK, without any carrier-specific crapware installed.

Why do carriers hate tethering so much?

Bits are bits, whether the phone's OS uses them or a tethered laptop.

I've got a feeling that it's less to do with bandwidth (they have plenty of it, really) and more to do with this...

T-mobile itself has a hyphenated domain name... : http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/ what's the deal about domain name hyphenation being considered retro?

As I'm from Britain, I looked at Three, T-Mobile, O2, Orange, and Vodafone.

The ones you link to are CDMA modems, which only work in US, Canada and one or two other countries. The rest of the world uses GSM based networks, and the modems for them are USB.

No idea. T-Mobile's website doesn't even say which versions of Windows it's compatible with let alone mentioning Macs or Linux

This is untrue. The T-Mobile UK website seems very clear, complete, and helpful compared to others. There are per-device FAQs.

The USB stick FAQ (under "Web'n'Walk device if the direct link doesn't work) says it supports "Windows Vista, XP, 2000 & Apple Mac OSX 10.2.6 or higher."

Before anyone claims that T mobile say no such thing;

September Offers

It says "UNLIMITED* internet access with no run-on rates"

Further down there's a link "* Subject to fair use"

Following the link lists 15 different tariffs with their various terms and conditions. There's quite a lot of small print there...

I was looking at this one;

September Offers

It says "UNLIMITED* internet access with no run-on rates"

Further down there's a link "* Subject to fair use"

Following the link lists 15 different tariffs with their various terms and conditions. It's not immediately obvious which applies to the one you were just looking at.

Which site were you looking at? Was it the UK one?

I think it's aimed at occasional users. I like the idea that I can pay a couple of quid and use when I'm travelling occasionally. However, what puts me off is the outrageously expensive USB stick you need to get. It claims to be a 'memory stick' as a well as a modem but it is really a microSD card adapter and it does not appear to come with a card. I would not pay more £20 for such a device.

You have to pay twice as much to use VoIP (see here). Otherwise, even over a VPN, they detect the statistical signature of the packets and insert a latency which makes VoIP unusable.

It is definitely statistical, because if you do "wget --limit-rate=2.5k http://huge/file.bin" over the VPN at the same time, the latency doesn't get inserted -- presumably because the overall VPN traffic no longer matches the VoIP statistical signature.

et's all agree that the US is part of the Third World when it comes to mobile phone service (and broadband, too). Anyone who has spent time in Scandinavia, Korea, Japan, or other advanced countries knows that we usually pay more and get less for our money.

T-Mobile UK Web N Walk is £7.95 ($16) a month extra on pay monthly (both flext and Ufix plans), with a 1GB a month fair use limit. There are also Web N Walk Plus and Max options on flext with 3GB and 10GB limits respectively. There is also a £1 a day option (also available on the Pay As You Go plans). Looking at the T&Cs only flext Max doesn't specifically disallow internet voice calls.

The attractive data roaming deals you're talking about only apply to Vodafone's data-only tariffs. Have a look at their roaming website. As an example, I selected Germany and an Anytime 1000-1200 tariff, and the data roaming charges were £10/MB. Compare with T-mobile, which charges £7.50/MB. They're on a relatively even footing.

The iPhone will not come with a data-only tariff. Apple may negotiate for lower data roaming charges instead of the Apple Tax which is included in the AT&T contract, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

T-Mobile offer 2 different UNLIMITED 3G data plans (http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/mobile-phones/inte rnet/laptop/):

£29.99 inc VAT = without VOIP

£44.00 inc VAT = with VOIP

By comparison, Vodaphone's cheapest unlimited 3G data plan costs £62 inc VAT.

O2 also charge £62 inc VAT.

Due to laughably poor website design, I am unable to quickly retrieve Orange's charge but I recall them, too, being considerably more than T-Mobile.

This suggests to me that T-Mobile's £30 "unlimited" plan has been set at a very competitive level on the presumption that they will also make a certain amount of money on calls being routed through them. I would also suggest that a VOIP user will burn through considerably more bandwidth than the average 3G data user, allowing them to charge less to people they know won't be VOIPing.

It's worth noting that the comments below the linked-to article reveal that Truphone also has problems running on Vodafone and Orange networks.

Anyway, at this point, I want 3G access to my laptop and £30 is about right, if I was a heavy user of VOIP I might consider the extra £14

The problem is prohibitive data prices - at £4 a megabyte from Orange, I literally can not afford to use it.

You might want to investigate T-Mobile's Web'n'Walk plans. I've switched over to them from Vodafone, for specifically this reason. i pay about £7.50 more per month that I paid under Vodafone, but I have a 2gig data transfer limit instead of paying £1 per megabyte.

Cheers,
Ian

Minimum term contact and credit check applies. Compatible handset required. Fair use policy applies: Relax + web 'n' walk and Flext + web 'n' walk price plans provide unlimited internet surfing on mobile handsets in the UK. To ensure a high quality of service for all our customers, they are not to be used for other activities such as (but not limited to): modem access for computers, internet based video/audio streaming services, peer to peer file sharing, internet based video download and internet based telephony. If such use is detected, notice may be given, after which network protection controls may be applied which will result in a reduced speed of transmission.

Minimum term contact and credit check applies. Compatible handset required. Fair use policy applies: Relax + web 'n' walk and Flext + web 'n' walk price plans provide unlimited internet surfing on mobile handsets in the UK. To ensure a high quality of service for all our customers, they are not to be used for other activities such as (but not limited to): modem access for computers, internet based video/audio streaming services, peer to peer file sharing, internet based video download and internet based telephony. If such use is detected, notice may be given, after which network protection controls may be applied which will result in a reduced speed of transmission.

Sorry, 0.75p per k.
http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/Dispatcher?pf=Call+every one&nmid=pas_pp_plan_ews_paym_mixit_details&nmid2= ctl_pas_pp_details&ppid=117&menuid=ctl_pas_pp_chan ge_plan

(I've just been looking at bundles, which are priced in pounds, and I confused my units...)

*shrug*

We're keeping an old conversation alive ;-)

I'd suggest looking at prices in other countries. My british cousin spend about 12 pence per text message; thats ~20 cents. Incoming calls are free, but her average rate for outgoing is about 10 pence. That's about 18 cents per minute.

Plus she pays an 6 pound monthly fee, which i feel is rather alot.

T-mobile UK rates: http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/Dispatcher?menuid=phones _opp
O2 UK rates: http://www.o2.co.uk/personal/choosetariff/0,,111,0 0.html

Keep in mind 1 pound = ~1.8 dollars

These prices are pretty representative of Europe; I just got back from UK, France, Holland.

I'm too lazy to find Japanese or S. Korean prices, but I've heard they are similar. I know first hand that cell phones in Africa and the Mid East (GSM, of course) are _vastly_ more expensive than here. I've been in Ethiopia, Egypt, Iran, and Dubai, and its _expensive_.

Our service is shitter. But we pay less for it ;-)

Don't let their names fool you. Virgin radio is no longer part of the "Virgin Empire", it's a company of SMG Radio.
It used to be a part of Bransons' group, but he sold it. SMG just licenses the use of the name.

see the Virgin Radio website for details on this

Virgin Mobile does not operate their own network either, it's a virtual mobile network operator, which basically means they provide their own branded version of the T-Mobile network. Strange thing is that T-Mobile does offer 3G services, but apparently Virgin Mobile doesn't.

Actually I lied. Sorry. It's 30p/minute on Pay as you go at the most. 10p/minute if you spend over £20 a month.

Thats not roaming by the way, thats just calling another network. Roaming is when you go, say, abroad and your phone connects to another companies network. When that happens the pricing gets rather horrible as you have to pay a small portion of the incoming call (which is more in line with the US, and we hate!).

And in the meantime operators will sell you sucky res cameras for your overpriced phone. Oh and charge you an extra 20 ukp a month to send them to your one friend who was conned into buying one too.

And in the meantime operators will sell you sucky res cameras for your overpriced phone. Oh and charge you an extra 20 ukp a month to send them to your one friend who was conned into buying one too.