06.03.08
Im Moving….
Please continue to come visit me in my new blog home on blogger.com
I have taken a while off from this whole blogging thing and have started again at
http://gossipgirl8486.blogspot.com/
JOIN ME!!!!!
11.10.07
More Prorated ETFS Announced!
T-Mobile today announced it will begin to prorate early termination fees (ETFs) next year. Though exact details will not be announced and introduced until the first half of 2008, ETFs will decline over the course of a T-Mobile contract. T-Mobile joins Verizon and AT&T, both of which introduced pro-rated ETFs earlier this year.
11.05.07
Bloggerwave
So I’ve recently ventured into the world of paid blogging on my live journal. I can’t do it here since my blog would be deleted 
. So far I’ve found one company that actually does what it says it will do… Pay me to post on LiveJournal! What’s so awesome about this? Its awesome because it pays me to play online in my down time and I couldn’t ask for anything more than that could I?
Bloggerwave is a website that connects bloggers and advertisers. The bloggers blog about whatever the advertiser wants to advertise and they pay the blogger. This site is aspiring to be the biggest and the best adveritsing media on blogs. So If you have a xanga, livejournal.. pretty much anything besides a wordpress I would highly suggest this if you like to blog alot and if you like to make money.
You can check it out here or if you would like to check out more of what the ads look like you can check out my livejournal.
11.04.07
An Honest Review of T-Mobile’s HotSpot@Home
Around the time of the I Phone launch, T-Mobile came out with what the New York Times said was the best product of our time; The T-Mobile Hot Spot @ Home. T-Mobile’s Hot Spot @ Home service is not a rate plan in itself, but an add on to your current rate plan. This service is supposed to provide unlimited calling on any public Wf-Fi network, and perfect signal. When it first debuted it was 9.99 for a single line, and 19.99 for a family plan.
I personally have this service, and I have an honest and upfront review of the product. First I would first like to tackle the handsets and equipment. The service is only available on 3 handsets at this point. The first to be available was a Nokia 6068 which is a flip phone with camera, memory card slot, Bluetooth, music player, and an FM radio. The next phone was a small Samsung t409 flip phone with a 1.3 mega pixel camera, no memory card option, and Bluetooth. The last handset option is a Blackberry Curve which boasts two color options gold or silver, all Blackberry functions, Bluetooth, 2 mega pixel camera, music player, and memory card slot. The handsets available are functional enough, but with only three options it is very limiting to the consumer. Also the service requires that you have a router for it to function, which is perfectly acceptable. The problem with the router is that you cannot use your own and still have good results. T-Mobile had to have Linksys make a special router for the service that will cost you 49.99. The company claims to give a rebate for the router, but I have yet to receive mine after 3 months.
Price is another issue, as I stated before, when the service first came out along side the I Phone, it was 9.99 and 19.99. Now that the service has been available, and not as successful as T-Mobile had hoped for, the price has gone up. The price is now 19.99 for a single line, and 29.99 for a family plan. I can see this being a beneficial product for people that have only cell phones and no home phones, or families with teenagers that talk on the phone more than any normal person should, but this pricing is crazy for a flopping product. The only way I can see paying this much for a product at the new rate would be if you constantly go over your minutes more than the twenty or thirty dollars that the service costs.
Availability is another down fall for the product, not everyone is allowed to have it on their plan. The plan is not available to people of certain credit classes. T-Mobile has what they call “Smart Access” Accounts. This is an account created for people with less than perfect credit that didn’t ask for a deposit, but has a spending limit and a limit on features. The company also has “Flex Pay”. On this program you pay for your rate plan in advance, and have the option of not having a contract. This plan also limits your feature availability. The company is cutting down on its own customer base, and that is ridiculous. The service is ran through high-speed cable, DSL, or satellite internet, so people without it, cannot have the Hot Spot @ Home service.
Reliability is a huge issue with this service. I have not found this service to be totally reliable. There are days where it works fantastically, and then there are days it doesn’t work at all. The handsets are supposed to switch from cell tower usages to Hot Spot @ Home service seamlessly; however a call is dropped during the switch 7 out of 10 times.
The biggest issue I have had with this service is billing. My first month with the service my bill was normal, my second month the bill was out of control. I gave a phone to my teenage daughter, who of course talked for days. I don’t think I saw her put the phone down once. Keep in mind the Hot Spot @ Home service is unlimited. Each time a call was made from home the phone screen said T-Mobile Hot Spot so the call was supposed to be free. We got charged international rates for every call made on our Hot Spot @ Home service. It took 2 months, 4 trips to the store, and probably a million calls to customer care to get the billing fixed.
Over all I would say that at this point in the time the service isn’t worth the hassle and the limited selection of phones.
11.02.07
T-Mobile’s Flex Pay Program
As most of us know, cell phone companies ask for a deposit if your credit is bad, and if you don’t want to pay the deposit you can’t get a contract. T-Mobile has been a pioneer in keeping people with even the worst credit connected to those that matter most. First T-Mobile rolled out a Smart Access Plan that didn’t ask for a deposit, they simply required that you pay your activation fee in store. The Smart Access Accounts limited what rate plans and features you could have, and also set your account up with a spending limit. Once you went over your minutes by so many or you had downloaded a certain ammount of games or ringtones your account was suspeneded before the balance got too high.
Now after many problems and customer complaints about said accounts T-Mobile has decided to do away with that program. However, current subscribers won’t be able to migrate to the new plans until the middle of 2008.
Flex Pay is T-Mobile’s answer for the credit challanged people of the world. With Flex Pay you do not pay a deposit, or an activation fee. You only pay for your rate plan up front every month, the cost of the phone at purchase, and a $5 a month controll charge. This account still limits features that you can have, but it doesn’t limit your rate plan. Whats cool about this service is, unlike prepaid, you can get a discount on your handset, and you can get myfaves, night and weekends, mobile to mobile, data, and text for a regular price.
The only down side to the plan is overage minutes. Once you use all of your anytime minutes the phone shuts off leaving you with only your myfaves and night and weekends. You have to go to a store to purchase a pre-paid refill card to obtain more anytime minutes. Also if you wish to download ringtones or games you must prepay for them at the store or over the phone with a credit card in ammounts of $10, $25, $50, or $100.
10.31.07
INpulse Set to Rival FlexPay
Verizon is offering a new set of INpulse prepaid plans. There are three basic offerings that charge daily access fees between $0.99 and $2.99 only when the service is used, plus per-minute fees. INpulse customers will also have access to V CAST-compatible phones and services, such as navigation or Verizon’s music store. Most phones offered by Verizon Wireless can be paired with the INpulse prepaid plans, with the exception of PDAs and smartphones, and will receive the same rebates as those bought by post-paid customers. The plans will be available starting November 1.
If you ask me this new revamp of the old pre paid rate plans is just to rival T-Mobile’s Flex Pay Plans. I’ll give you more on Flex Pay in my next post.
10.29.07
T-Mobile Sees the Light With New Shadow
Today T-Mobile announced its newest Windows Mobile 6 Smartphone, the Shadow. The HTC Shadow is a slider with a SureType keypad and quad-band GSM/EDGE radios. T-Mobile and Microsoft developed a user interface overlay that users can use to access most of the phone’s features without diving into Windows Mobile. The D-pad doubles as a scroll wheel to navigate through the menus. It also has stereo Bluetooth and a 2 Megapixel camera, expandable storage with the microSD slot up to 4 GB, and Wi-Fi, but not Hot Spot @ Home. It is compatible with MyFaves, and goes on sale October 31st for $150 with two-year contract. T-Mobile has also recently reduced its unlimited data plan pricing from $30 per month to $20. This is the first phone in a “planned franchise of phones” under the Shadow brand exclusive to T-Mobile.
Reducing the price of the data plan was a good move for T-Mobile. Their target age group for the phone is from 18-30, this age group is normally just getting their careers started and don’t have the extra cash to burn each month. I’ve seen the phone itself, and I have to say that its really not that impressive. The phone itself is just a basic slider with Windows Mobile 6.0 which has had many issues. The scroll wheel to navigate through the menu actually spun the wrong direction. I’d scroll left, and it would move right!
10.27.07
AT&T to Delay Media Flo Services until 2008
Two days ago AT&T said they will now launch MediaFlo services in early 2008. (BOO!) MediaFlo streams programming from a number of TV channels to phones over its own set of spectrum. The company had originally claimed they would launch Qualcomm’s TV service by the end of this year, however they claim the delay is it to fine tune the service. AT&T did not mention what sort of changes or adjustments need to be made. Verizon has been offering MediaFlo service for over 6 months.
So I’m wondering if AT&T has bitten off more than the company can chew, and thats the reason for the delay since no other explaination has been given to us, or if they simply don’t know how to manage time and stick to a scheduled release date. In the battle of CDMA vs. GSM right now the winner is CDMA.
10.24.07
Blackberry Goes Facebook!
Here is some exciting news for all of you crackberry addicts that have facebook. Earlier today RIM (Research In Motion) announced a new application that will give users access to a mobile version of the Facebook social networking web site. The application takes advantage of RIM’s push-based email systems to send messages and notifications instantly to users’ BlackBerries. Icons on the phone will also allow users to alter their status, add friends, upload pictures or send messages. The application is a free download and will be available later today.
This is good news for most everyone in the world from the ages of 18-35. I’ve had a Blackberry for ages now and I’ve grown to hate the third party downloads for internet usage. Gone are the days of operamini, and hello RIM Facebook!
10.21.07
Virgin Mobile Announces New Phone
On the 19th of this month Virgin Mobile announced that it has begun selling the Kyocera Wild Card, a sideways opening clamshell that has a full QWERTY keyboard. Like the Cricket Lingo, the Wild Card is based on Kyocera’s M1000. It is an update to the SwitchBack, and has a 1.3 megapixel camera, speakerphone, and Bluetooth. It is available in retail stores for $100 and will be available online beginning October 24.
From what I have seen of the phone its much like the LG VX9800, the early version of Verizon’s Envy. The features are the same, and the over all look, design, and functions are all the same. the only thing that really varies is the color of the phone.
