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Cell phones forum: Buying my first cell phone

by: decimalhead December 9, 2012 11:56 AM PST

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Buying my first cell phone

by decimalhead - 12/9/12 11:56 AM

I hope to get help here. I want to be able to tether my laptops to my cell phone. Is Virgin mobile the way to go? I don't have a land line and it would be so cool to be able to be online anywhere I want. I'm just thinking now that if I take my phone with me on the road I would not be able to keep downloading movies at home...any info would be helpful.


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Dead on arrival.

by R. Proffitt Moderator - 12/9/12 11:59 AM

In Reply to: Buying my first cell phone by decimalhead

All the carriers I know drop the speed as you pass 2GB of data. Or you get hit with higher fees.

Some folk new to this are upset about it all. So let's be sure you know about the limits first.
Bob


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PS we have a few Virgin Mobile phones now.

by R. Proffitt Moderator - 12/9/12 12:17 PM

In Reply to: Dead on arrival. by R. Proffitt Moderator

Again, the 2GB speed drop is documented, not a surprise except to those that don't read the pages. It's great to tether with (I use EasyTether.) But a single movie download will blow your data package up.

Bob


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You will have to pay for this extra feature

by Pepe7 - 12/9/12 12:14 PM

In Reply to: Buying my first cell phone by decimalhead

As was suggested, VM/most if not all prepaid services won't cut it. Sprint is the least costly that gives you the most capacity for downloading IME. The others will likely either throttle you or cut you off. Legitimate tethering and capacity as such will cost you more unfortunately.


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continued...

by decimalhead - 12/9/12 1:18 PM

In Reply to: Buying my first cell phone by decimalhead

2G then throttled down? my at&t at my mom's gets throttles down it seems.... but I am allowed 150 gigs per month, sometimes I go over and get a 10 dollar charge for 50 more gigs....that's why I said "2 gigs then throttled down?"


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CONTINUED...

by R. Proffitt Moderator - 12/9/12 1:31 PM

In Reply to: continued... by decimalhead

Each plan varies. You get to dive in and read the fine print. And if you download a movie from a torrent, you could find yourself in trouble as we know that's tracked.
Bob


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Translation of what Bob is saying ;)

by Pepe7 - 12/9/12 9:29 PM

In Reply to: continued... by decimalhead

ATT does not typically throttle their fixed broadband/DSL connections, FWIW. They simply bill you for the overage. Works out better on their end instead of chasing a moving target per se.

Cellular is different. They either slow you down (='throttle'), or cut you off completely. Mobile bandwidth is a more scarce commodity, hence it being treated, at least at this point in time, a little differently.

Bottom line? You need a carrier/price/service point that allows you some of the amenities you seek.


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