 Review by tcp1 
Posted: 1.5 years ago
member for 9.6 years, 431 visits, last login: 129 days ago
 Herndon,Fairfax,VA
 $29 per month (12 month contract)
 about 1 days
 "Cheap Unlimited data, Wi-fi access, easy to use, good customer service."
 "Slow, high latency."
 "Good if you need something for cheap, occasional use."
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(ratings match consensus)
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I've had T-Mobile EDGE (and previously GPRS) for about 3 years now, and while it's not as good as my Sprint Mobile Broadband, it does get the job done in a pinch.
I used it for the first year on a Sony-Ericsson T610 with the "internet only" plan, which gave me GPRS access.. I used the "VPN Access" variant, which allows you to connect with no restricted ports to a corporate network, etc. This was $29.99 without a voice plan, on a 1 year contract.
Speeds on this plan were about 40 down / 20 up, (GPRS, not EDGE) and latency was actually decent.. I used it mainly for IRC and e-mail; but web browsing was a true pain - pretty much equivalent to a slow dial-up connection. I still use this phone occasionally since it connects reliably using bluetooth DUN on my sony Vaio; the Dash (see below) uses a PAN and not DUN for bluetooth, and for some reason my Sony hasn't agreed with that.
Bluetooth does seem to slow down EDGE, but it doesn't seem to make a big dent in the already slow GPRS on the T610.
In 2006 I upgraded to EDGE with a T-Mobile Dash. While speeds have gone up, (about 160-230 down, 30-60 up), latency has also increased - significantly, in my opinion.
You CAN browse the web on Edge, but it's slow. T-Mobile used to have an image compression proxy that really did help with web browsing, but that seems to have been shut off for a while now. I'm able to stream XM radio over edge directly on to my Dash at 32kbps with nary a hiccup, at 64kbps it's pretty reliable (but does stop and buffer occasionally.)
The speed is bursty - not continuous. I will get bursts of 200+kbps during a download, but inevitably they'll slow down and end up averaging right around 90-100kbps average.
The Dash is nice in that in Internet Connection Sharing mode it's a normal RNDIS USB device. I was able to hook it into my Clearwire wireless router that I use with my Sprint U727 for EVDO, and it worked just fine.
With the 19.99 unlimited internet add-on plan, you get access to T-mobile's hot spots as well, which is helpful - albeit it drains the battery on the Dash pretty quick. If you want to use the hotspot feature, I'd bring your laptop.
T-Mobile's customer service has always been good to me. Very polite and helpful.
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