Okay, I'll start off with this- I'm not big on phones. That being said, heres what I'd like.
My mother has asked me to price out family plans. I was in the market for a new phone for some special features, so now I need some help.
Carrier: Cingular or US cellular. I've asked around, these appear to be the only two up here that have good coverage. (verizon not included for reasons of pure evil)
We need 4 lines. Two will be just basic, mother and sister communication for arranging rides, roadside emergencies, 'running late' calls, etc. Nothing special, at all.
Line 3 will be the same, but it will need to include text messaging, maybe 60 a month outgoing tops.
Line 4 is the fun part- mine. I need mobile email. I'm also building a computer into my car for my job, and need the ability to drop the phone into a charging cradle (that i'll mold into, or bolt onto, my dashboard) and give the car-computer an internet connection, via the phone.
I'll also need unlimited data, as a '20 MB' plan would probably last me no more than a week. (I'd be downloading lots of client data, possibly pictures, definately maps, and syncing with an IMAP server every few minutes)
So, for the first three lines, a basic phone would be fine.
For mine, I dont know what I need. I'd perferr to be able to easily write up an email on the phone, or just as easily drop the phone into the dash and write one up on the car-puter, so i'd like a QWERTY keyboard- BUT:
Its come to my attention that many carriers have unlimited data plans for 'smart phones' that are half the cost of the unlimited data plans for the pda-phones.
I need to know if these can be used to provide a computer with a connection.
If they can, I'd give up the qwerty keyboard in a heartbeat to save $20 a month, as long as I can still read email on the phone. Or even just get notified that I HAVE email on the phone, because I'm never far from my car when working, and I'll always be back at it within the hour.
Also, if I can get those pcmcia slot cards that attatch to the service that could be SHARED with the phones service, instead of requiring its own, that would be ideal, of course.
I do hope this is in the right section!
(I'm located in Maine, if it matters)
My mother has asked me to price out family plans. I was in the market for a new phone for some special features, so now I need some help.
Carrier: Cingular or US cellular. I've asked around, these appear to be the only two up here that have good coverage. (verizon not included for reasons of pure evil)
We need 4 lines. Two will be just basic, mother and sister communication for arranging rides, roadside emergencies, 'running late' calls, etc. Nothing special, at all.
Line 3 will be the same, but it will need to include text messaging, maybe 60 a month outgoing tops.
Line 4 is the fun part- mine. I need mobile email. I'm also building a computer into my car for my job, and need the ability to drop the phone into a charging cradle (that i'll mold into, or bolt onto, my dashboard) and give the car-computer an internet connection, via the phone.
I'll also need unlimited data, as a '20 MB' plan would probably last me no more than a week. (I'd be downloading lots of client data, possibly pictures, definately maps, and syncing with an IMAP server every few minutes)
So, for the first three lines, a basic phone would be fine.
For mine, I dont know what I need. I'd perferr to be able to easily write up an email on the phone, or just as easily drop the phone into the dash and write one up on the car-puter, so i'd like a QWERTY keyboard- BUT:
Its come to my attention that many carriers have unlimited data plans for 'smart phones' that are half the cost of the unlimited data plans for the pda-phones.
I need to know if these can be used to provide a computer with a connection.
If they can, I'd give up the qwerty keyboard in a heartbeat to save $20 a month, as long as I can still read email on the phone. Or even just get notified that I HAVE email on the phone, because I'm never far from my car when working, and I'll always be back at it within the hour.
Also, if I can get those pcmcia slot cards that attatch to the service that could be SHARED with the phones service, instead of requiring its own, that would be ideal, of course.
I do hope this is in the right section!
(I'm located in Maine, if it matters)