Tried to buy new 700w

[joeybcdt]

I finally decided on a Treo 700W. Went to Verizon to add a line and buy it. I didn't want internet access, $44.00/month extra, because I thought I could just use a WIFI card and get access for free where I need it. Salesman tells me it doesn't work that way. If I don't have an internet plan I'd have to disable a bunch of features, like text messaging, ect, or the 700 would run up my minutes.

Is this true? I'm already paying for 2 cell phones, adding a 3rd, later a 4th, DSL at work, Cable at home, plus all the ma bell phone lines. Just trying to save a buck.

Joey

[Budman45]

I could be wrong but i believe you can get the pay as you go plan. I dont know what all that includes or what the prices are but that would allow you to use a WiFi card for your enternet usage and not be charged for a data plan.

[terp]

Originally Posted by joeybcdt

I finally decided on a Treo 700W. Went to Verizon to add a line and buy it. I didn't want internet access, $44.00/month extra, because I thought I could just use a WIFI card and get access for free where I need it. Salesman tells me it doesn't work that way. If I don't have an internet plan I'd have to disable a bunch of features, like text messaging, ect, or the 700 would run up my minutes.

Is this true? I'm already paying for 2 cell phones, adding a 3rd, later a 4th, DSL at work, Cable at home, plus all the ma bell phone lines. Just trying to save a buck.

Joey

Verizon offers the following data plans (charges are based on data transfer, not minutes used - although the phone does dial up to the network for data usage it does not eat up your minutes)
(1) Unlimited for $45/mo
(2) 10 or 20 megs for $25/mo (not sure the exact plan)
(3) Pay as you go for $.015 per KB

Pay as you go can get very expensive...for example, my first month I used pay as you go. I ended up using a little over 6 megs, which resulted in over $90 of fees. My recommendation...if you only plan on visiting web sites built for mobile phones (i.e WAP sites) you should be allright as far as data usage goes for a pay as you go plan. But, once you start visiting no-WAP sites you'll start getting very high data transfers and your usage will go up very fast...it's amazing how quickly a few non-WAP site visits can blow up that number...a lot of sites are 150-250k per page. I do have to say, though, that the 700w downloads and renders the sites pretty fast for the most part.

Additionally, if you have a pay as you go plan you can retroactively add one of the other two plans to your account if your usage is abnormally high and you know that you'll be getting hit with high usage charges. The data plans can be added and deleted at will, as there is no corresponding contract term as there is with the calling plan.

Texting plans are completey separate from data and calling plans. You can't get text messages over your WiFi connection.

WiFi can be used instead of a data plan, but you'll only be able to use WiFi where you can get a WiFi signal. Verizon's data service can be used practically anywhere you can get cell reception.

The caveat here is that if you rely on your WiFi card for data: (a) it's not available everywhere (b) you cannot send or receive calls or texts while the WiFi card is plugged in. The WiFi card will disable any phone/messaging functions (c) if you plan on getting a WiFi card I would recommend not getting the Palm card because of its size. It sticks out above the antenna on the 700w and could cause some issues if you put it in your pocket. I would think that eventually the card will losen the internal mechanisms of the SD slot as it gets banged around.

Plus, the Palm WiFi card doesn't have any storage on it. I've heard there are WiFi cards coming out with built in storage, albeit minimal storage (i.e. 512 MB).