Cell phone data plan recommendations (US)

Hi all,

I have a Nokia 2730 that I use for testing CommCare apps. I am based in the
Boston, MA (USA) area. Up until this point I have been using the phone
off-line (without a SIM card and without network access). I am looking for
the cheapest cell phone plan to buy for my testing. I do not need a voice
plan, however, I suspect it is difficult to find a data-only plan. I know
AT&T has the GoPhone plans but they force you to buy voice minutes which
expire if not used--seems wasteful for what I am doing. Any
recommendations?

Best,
Stephen

Hi Stephen,

For our office's test devices usages, we used t-mobile's programs. We had a
data only, unlimited plan. This predated their 3G rollout so we suspect
that they've differentiated their offerings since then. Ballpark I think
was 30-40 a month just for data a-la carte. I think 3G phone plans are
probably comparable. Note, that we just found out that tablet devices (like
a samsung galaxy tab, or any device that Tmobile arbitrarily deems as a
non-phone device are even further separated into other data plans). For
Nokia devices though either standard phonedata plan should be fine.

looks like they added a 200 meg/month plan for $25/month.
http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/plans/cell-phone-plans-detail.aspx?tp=tb1&rateplan=Even-More-webConnect-200-MB-Plan

The benefit of these plans is I think you could switch to month to month vs
being locked into a contract..

Hope this helps,

Dan

··· On Sun, Feb 20, 2011 at 6:03 PM, Stephen Lorenz wrote:

Hi all,

I have a Nokia 2730 that I use for testing CommCare apps. I am based in
the Boston, MA (USA) area. Up until this point I have been using the phone
off-line (without a SIM card and without network access). I am looking for
the cheapest cell phone plan to buy for my testing. I do not need a voice
plan, however, I suspect it is difficult to find a data-only plan. I know
AT&T has the GoPhone plans but they force you to buy voice minutes which
expire if not used--seems wasteful for what I am doing. Any
recommendations?

Best,
Stephen

I would also love to know if anyone has found a go-phone like prepay
plan that works for data-only in the US. Please chime if if you've
used something like that.

-Clayton

··· On Sun, Feb 20, 2011 at 6:32 PM, Daniel Myung wrote: > Hi Stephen, > For our office's test devices usages, we used t-mobile's programs. We had a > data only, unlimited plan. This predated their 3G rollout so we suspect > that they've differentiated their offerings since then. Ballpark I think > was 30-40 a month just for data a-la carte. I think 3G phone plans are > probably comparable. Note, that we just found out that tablet devices (like > a samsung galaxy tab, or any device that Tmobile arbitrarily deems as a > non-phone device are even further separated into other data plans). For > Nokia devices though either standard phonedata plan should be fine. > looks like they added a 200 meg/month plan for $25/month. > http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/plans/cell-phone-plans-detail.aspx?tp=tb1&rateplan=Even-More-webConnect-200-MB-Plan > The benefit of these plans is I think you could switch to month to month vs > being locked into a contract.. > Hope this helps, > Dan > > > > > On Sun, Feb 20, 2011 at 6:03 PM, Stephen Lorenz wrote: >> >> Hi all, >> I have a Nokia 2730 that I use for testing CommCare apps. I am based in >> the Boston, MA (USA) area. Up until this point I have been using the phone >> off-line (without a SIM card and without network access). I am looking for >> the cheapest cell phone plan to buy for my testing. I do not need a voice >> plan, however, I suspect it is difficult to find a data-only plan. I know >> AT&T has the GoPhone plans but they force you to buy voice minutes which >> expire if not used--seems wasteful for what I am doing. Any >> recommendations? >> Best, >> Stephen >