A 500 MB Question

[Shades]

Looking at improving my cost benefit ratio on my Blackberry phone...I've been with Rogers for quite awhile but some of the new Bell plans look a little better.
My question is....is 500 mb personal email, instant messaging and internet browsing alot...or a little? If I do any browsing, downloading off the internet on my BB Rogers charges an arm and two legs! What could one do with 500 mb? I would be interested in accessing stock quotes throughout the day...as an example.
Thanks folks
As always, the wit and wisdom of TERB is appreciated.

 

[Goomer]

I have a 500mb plan with Telus for my iPhone 3GS. Unless I'm doing serious surfing, or using data intensive apps, 500mb seems fine for me. Emailing, IM and web surfing is not that data intensive, so it should suffice. If you want to start viewing lots of YouTube videos, or watching porn, then that's another story. The same thing would apply if you plan to tether your laptop and surf.

Just keep an eye on your data usage so you don't go over, but I think for your uses, 500 should be fine.

Cheers

Goomer

 

[r_s426]

BB has a higher compression rate for data than other PDA plans, so 500 M will get you farther on a BB than on a iPhone, for example.

Do you have access to wifi at home or at work? If so, if you get a BB with wifi, that will really mitigate your data usage.

I just left Bell and BB. One month I went over on my data allowance and got killed on data charges. I called up, and they told me that I could add unlimited data for $5 a month, so I went with that. Don't they have that option anymore?

One of the biggest data hogs is GPS Navi. If you use that, then you really need a good plan.

 

[Hobbyer]

Get 500MB to start, monitor usage. Wait until Rogers has a 6GB/$30 special when new blackberry/iphones launch (they have for the past 2 times), and then upgrade since it's a$5 incremental difference for worry free surfing.

However, I have not come close to exceeding 500MB on an iPhone. Your battery will run out before you can stream that much data on a 3G network, lol. When I'm home I use WIFI.

Like r_s426 a BB will consume less due to compression.

 

[Shades]

Thanks for the input...appreciate it. I think I would probably be able to stay within the 500 mb. for my use pattern...not too many girlfriends text messaging me
Is there really a 6G phone on the horizon? Would it make sense to wait for it or go with the 3G system?

 

[catchin_zzz]

I'm tardy to the party but here's my story anyways.....I got on the Roger's 6 GB for $30 plan last year when the 3G iPhone came out. I use it for email, checking websites, text messaging, watching youtube videos, etc. I would say my usage is fairly typical. Since October 2008 (yup over a year!!!) my usage is at 410 MB sent data and 7.8 GB received data. I can only conclude that it would take A LOT of web surfing to even come near the 6 GB limit.

 

[BernardMadoff]

Looking at improving my cost benefit ratio on my Blackberry phone...I've been with Rogers for quite awhile but some of the new Bell plans look a little better.
My question is....is 500 mb personal email, instant messaging and internet browsing alot...or a little? If I do any browsing, downloading off the internet on my BB Rogers charges an arm and two legs! What could one do with 500 mb? I would be interested in accessing stock quotes throughout the day...as an example.
Thanks folks
As always, the wit and wisdom of TERB is appreciated.

Think of 500 mb as someone saying 'hey I'll give you 500 pennies!!', instead of $5.00

It's not that much, but for an average user who does light browsing it is more then enough.

 

[Goomer]

I concur. 500mb is quite a bit of data usage, unless you plan on doing lots of Youtube viewing, or other data intensive use. My plan is 500mb, and I haven't come close to it. Now I'm not getting hundreds of emails every day on it, but I think my use is fairly typical. Regular browsing (not just light browsing, but daily web use) and email use is not going to rack up to 500 megs. In addition, texting hardly uses any data at all, so there's no point in even counting it. All of this is especially true if your smartphone has wifi and you use it a lot at home, or at other wifi zones.

The only reason that someone would need more than that, is if they're doing alot of video viewing, and tethering their laptop to their phone. Otherwise, there's no point in paying more for more data, since you're not going to use it, even if it's only $5 more....you would be pissing the $5 away for no reason!

 

[Hobbyer]

Note that real SMS texting, not the "internet" trickery variety counts towards your messaging plan NOT data plan. 500MB, 6GB data plans have no bearing on this.

like don't get a 6GB data plan send 1000 SMS msgs and get a $150 bill (15 cents each without a msg plan).

 

[Goomer]

I have an app for the iPhone (free download) called what'sapp. It allows free texting (using data, not SMS services) between iPhone/iTouch users anywhere in the world. All of my friends are now using iPhones, and just about everyone has installed the app. Saves me from having to use SMS services, saving me a few bucks.

You are right, SMS texting is not part of the data package. If you want to do texting, then I suggest getting a texting plan. For me, it makes no sense since I hardly text, and especially since me and all of my friends discovered this wonderful app!

It is downright criminal how the cell companies charge additional texting fees for those on data plans. Come on now, texted messages are literally a few bytes, and they charge you extra for that, while you have a 500 megabyte data plan. That is simply outrageous, and I won't pay it! Charging extra for those not on data plans, ok, that makes sense. But for a smartphone user already paying far more per month than a regular cell user, charging them extra for tiny 5 word text messages and not including it in their data plan is just criminal, IMHO.

 

[Hobbyer]

I have an app for the iPhone (free download) called what'sapp. It allows free texting (using data, not SMS services) between iPhone/iTouch users anywhere in the world. All of my friends are now using iPhones, and just about everyone has installed the app. Saves me from having to use SMS services, saving me a few bucks.

You are right, SMS texting is not part of the data package. If you want to do texting, then I suggest getting a texting plan. For me, it makes no sense since I hardly text, and especially since me and all of my friends discovered this wonderful app!

It is downright criminal how the cell companies charge additional texting fees for those on data plans. Come on now, texted messages are literally a few bytes, and they charge you extra for that, while you have a 500 megabyte data plan. That is simply outrageous, and I won't pay it! Charging extra for those not on data plans, ok, that makes sense. But for a smartphone user already paying far more per month than a regular cell user, charging them extra for tiny 5 word text messages and not including it in their data plan is just criminal, IMHO.

Agreed 100%. We in Canada already pay too much for mobile services. I think they were gonna charge people to RECEIVE SMS too unless they had a texting plan, not sure if that actually fell through.

I have a 250 sms plan which is generally enough unless I start having a conversation over SMS, then it can exceed easily. Unfortunately, phone companies know this habit so no way are they gonna give it out for free with a data plan. I read somewhere that the average teenager sends in excess of 2000 SMS per month.

 

[r_s426]

Agreed 100%. We in Canada already pay too much for mobile services. I think they were gonna charge people to RECEIVE SMS too unless they had a texting plan, not sure if that actually fell through.

I have a 250 sms plan which is generally enough unless I start having a conversation over SMS, then it can exceed easily. Unfortunately, phone companies know this habit so no way are they gonna give it out for free with a data plan. I read somewhere that the average teenager sends in excess of 2000 SMS per month.

I just signed on with Telus.... yes, they were going to ding me for incoming texts unless I had an SMS plan. I use SMS so much, that I had to get a plan anyway.

It's not just teenagers that can go over 2000 SMS per month. I am in my mid 30's and I can top 2000 easily. I have a lot of female friends that are in their 20's though. Texting just seems to be a staple with them.

 

[r_s426]

I have an app for the iPhone (free download) called what'sapp. It allows free texting (using data, not SMS services) between iPhone/iTouch users anywhere in the world. All of my friends are now using iPhones, and just about everyone has installed the app. Saves me from having to use SMS services, saving me a few bucks.

You are right, SMS texting is not part of the data package. If you want to do texting, then I suggest getting a texting plan. For me, it makes no sense since I hardly text, and especially since me and all of my friends discovered this wonderful app!

I have had Apple computers since the early 90's. If a third party developer came out with an innovative application or utility that enhanced the Mac OS, Apple had a habit of stealing their idea and integrating it into future updates.

I am hoping that they do something similar with what'sapp. IMHO, the only thing that BlackBerry has that Apple can't match is an integrated "BlackBerry Messenger" type application. Well, that and the Blackberry handles e-mail a bit better.

 

[Goomer]

I don't have a texting plan, so yes, I have to pay .15 every time I receive one. Fracking ridiculous since I have no option to reject the message! I hardly use texting, and since I have discovered what'sapp for the iPhone (and told all my iPhone toting friends and family about it), I only use it. Texting has never been a big thing for me, and I avoided adding a texting plan when I got my iPhone recently because it is one expense that I can avoid.

As to the BB messenger app built in, I've heard that it's very good. I've never used it or had a BB so I can't personally comment on it. Does it use SMS or the existing data plan? If SMS charges are avoided, then this is a good thing!

As to Apple integrating chat, I think the only reason they didn't do so was to appease the cell phone providers. This may change now that Apple has a commanding presence in the cell market, giving them much more clout to do what they want. Many expected some kind of iChat app to have been built in to the OS, and I think it's just a matter of time before they do it.

 

[r_s426]

Goomer, BB Messenger is totally free if you have a BB. I don't think that it counts against your data plan, but I may be wrong.

It's pretty much just like MSN or Yahoo, etc. One advantage/disadvantage (depending on your point of view) over SMS is that a contact can tell when you have read their message. Outgoing messages get marked delivered, and then read once the other person has actually opened up the chat window.

Apple has stood up to the record companies/television networks over pricing and DRM on iTunes. They have had to bend a little at times, but not as much as you might expect. So, they may take on the cell phone companies over taking away some of their cell phone business.

Besides, BB has gotten away with it and they have a huge market share as well.

 

[jamilv]

I have a blackberry bold and share a plan with 500mb with my brother. We both use it for instant messaging 24/7, both use 2 email accounts with the phone and Im not sure about him but I do a TON of web browsing (checking game scores, facebook, youtube, etc, etc.) and between the both of us we barely crack the 200mb barrier.

We only did one month because streamed a whole season of the Office from a website to my phone haha

 

[mmmikey]

in all honesty, a BB user will almost never crack that 500mb ceiling (possible with tethering)
the $6/30gb plan isnt available for non-rogers employees as of right now, unless you get their retentions/loyality department to add it on for you. as for bbm, u do require a data add on to use it.

for the iphone, i remember an app that emulates the BB PIN, for those of u with an iphone may want to check out the app store and see if its still available.