JoelC707
join:2002-07-09
Tucson, AZ
clubs:
| reply to Oleg
Re: $54,000 Cell Phone Bill
When you have absolutely nothing else to turn to it can be useful. For example Nextel offers the same ability but instead of having a usage cap it just utilizes your cell minutes (you pay $15 a month for the data plan that has this option though). I used it many times in 2004 to 2006 but haven't used it recently. In every case I used it, it was because I was unable to connect via any other means (or those methods were more expensive).
In 04 I used it in Texas and even though we had a landline I never could find any local numbers for Bellsouth or Mindspring/Earthlink so I used my cell then. In Florida after Hurricane Wilma I was down there with my dad and neighbors helping clean up and we were living out of our trucks in a Walmart parking lot due to all the hotels were full, I used my cell then to keep in touch. I've also used it while on the road (another person driving) and needed to check on something or I was bored and wanted to find something to entertain myself with (and the driver and other passengers as well, hey as long as it isn't something the other driver has to see it is fine).
I'll admit the speeds were less than stellar though. I saw speeds on par with a 28.8 or 33.6 modem on average though in theory it could go up to 64K I think. I've since switched over to the Sprint side of the house. I now have a better phone that supports EVDO and can download at broadband like speeds. I've never been able to do a speed test but it loads web pages just as fast as my 8 meg Comcast connection so it's good enough for me. Plus the new phone supports bluetooth and USB so I can more easily use it as a modem tho I don't have that feature enabled yet. |
