Why worry about Data Plans when you have WIFI

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BigRWellington

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#23776 8-Jul-2008 20:20

Am I missing something, but I always thought the data plans would be expensive so I wanted an iPhone with no data plan as I can access the internet via WIFI in most places.

I am confused by the following statement from vodafone:

"You can get a You Choose plan on an iPhone 3G but you will not be able to access the web without a Broadband Plan for Mobile."

As you can access the internet via WIFI surely the statement above is untrue.

:-) Cheers

manhinli

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#144982 8-Jul-2008 20:21

BigRWellington: Am I missing something, but I always thought the data plans would be expensive so I wanted an iPhone with no data plan as I can access the internet via WIFI in most places.

I am confused by the following statement from vodafone:

"You can get a You Choose plan on an iPhone 3G but you will not be able to access the web without a Broadband Plan for Mobile."

As you can access the internet via WIFI surely the statement above is untrue.

For the "when you're out-and-about" web. You know, via 3G or GPRS...

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BigRWellington

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#144985 8-Jul-2008 20:26

So are people really expecting Vodafone to undercut themselves and have mobile data via 3G etc at a cheaper price just because of the iPhone?

I'm not defending them as their pricing has made me think twice, maybe three times about whether to buy and I'm still undecided but really it is competitive pricing next to similar featured phones.

Sure they hyped it, but what did we expect.

3G data rates have always been a premium rate in NZ and until we have mass adoption of 3G phones in NZ I can't see this coming down.

I think a bit of a reality check is in order.

:-) Cheers

freitasm

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#144989 8-Jul-2008 20:30

BigRWellington: I'm not defending them as their pricing has made me think twice, maybe three times about whether to buy and I'm still undecided but really it is competitive pricing next to similar featured phones.

I think their handset price is ok - even if you buy it outright, in which case you can just get a data plan that suits you. The problem is that for the cheaper handsets options you are severely limited in the plans available. And that's what gets most people.

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BigRWellington

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#144997 8-Jul-2008 20:39

So if compared to an equivalent phone say the nokia N95.....which is also lacking a lot of the appealing features of an iPhone

I would have thought the iPhone would come out on top for a number of reasons.....touch screen, itunes compatibility, pda features, internet access......

I guess really that I feel the price is reasonable for what is a premium product.

:-) Cheers

freitasm

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#145002 8-Jul-2008 20:41

BigRWellington: So if compared to an equivalent phone say the nokia N95.....which is also lacking a lot of the appealing features of an iPhone

I would have thought the iPhone would come out on top for a number of reasons.....touch screen, itunes compatibility, pda features, internet access......

I guess really that I feel the price is reasonable for what is a premium product.

Except for the touch screen, and the fact that the N95 plays MP3 and other formats instead of the locked down DRM iTunes format, you will find the N95 have Internet access, WiFi, PDA and even a built-in SIP client for VoIP - which you won't find on an iPhone.

Seriously, the N95 is a good competitor on this area.

And I don't even like Symbian!

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BigRWellington

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#145012 8-Jul-2008 20:48

And with the N95 we are comparing the right sort of product.

It is unfortunate that Vodafone won't be sharper with the pricing, but lets see what happens over the next few months. If we get an uptake of 3G phones maybe prices will slowly come down for data.

The only unfortunate thing about that will be all the early adopters locked into high price contracts. Unless Apple offer a rebate liek they did with AT & T customers on the fiirst Gen iPhone

:-) Cheers

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alsta

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#145041 8-Jul-2008 21:21

freitasm:
BigRWellington: So if compared to an equivalent phone say the nokia N95.....which is also lacking a lot of the appealing features of an iPhone

I would have thought the iPhone would come out on top for a number of reasons.....touch screen, itunes compatibility, pda features, internet access......

I guess really that I feel the price is reasonable for what is a premium product.

Except for the touch screen, and the fact that the N95 plays MP3 and other formats instead of the locked down DRM iTunes format, you will find the N95 have Internet access, WiFi, PDA and even a built-in SIP client for VoIP - which you won't find on an iPhone.

Seriously, the N95 is a good competitor on this area.

And I don't even like Symbian!

The iPhone will play MP3s happily.....

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#145047 8-Jul-2008 21:30

I know that. My point was that "iTunes" is not a feature that would make other smartphones less interesting...

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alsta

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#145050 8-Jul-2008 21:35

freitasm: I know that. My point was that "iTunes" is not a feature that would make other smartphones less interesting...

I suspected as much, just keeping you honest.

Also, as (admittedly in the US) iTunes is the biggest retailer of music, surely the lack of integration with said biggest retailer on the N95 is a mark against it?

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billgates

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#145064 8-Jul-2008 21:49

freitasm:
BigRWellington: So if compared to an equivalent phone say the nokia N95.....which is also lacking a lot of the appealing features of an iPhone

I would have thought the iPhone would come out on top for a number of reasons.....touch screen, itunes compatibility, pda features, internet access......

I guess really that I feel the price is reasonable for what is a premium product.

Except for the touch screen, and the fact that the N95 plays MP3 and other formats instead of the locked down DRM iTunes format, you will find the N95 have Internet access, WiFi, PDA and even a built-in SIP client for VoIP - which you won't find on an iPhone.

Seriously, the N95 is a good competitor on this area.

And I don't even like Symbian!

+ 5 Mega Pixel Camera, Video Calling, Pxting and a true GPS that does not uses data to take you to places....something of which Iphone is missing.....

Do whatever you want to do man.

richms

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#145083 8-Jul-2008 22:07

BigRWellington: Am I missing something, but I always thought the data plans would be expensive so I wanted an iPhone with no data plan as I can access the internet via WIFI in most places.

I am confused by the following statement from vodafone:

"You can get a You Choose plan on an iPhone 3G but you will not be able to access the web without a Broadband Plan for Mobile."

As you can access the internet via WIFI surely the statement above is untrue.

You are missing a big thing. - wifi sucks.

There is no seamless roaming between hotspots - 3g will hold connections open even when you drive between many sites.
No standardized authentication mechanism in use on public hotspots, so fire up the browser before you can use anything else on the wifi access point.
No guarantee of what ports will be open/closed - at least with 3g you know what your getting.
No over the air encryption on public hotspots - so ssl is a must, not many isps provide it - xtra lead in that area using it for both pop and smtp.
No single billing method - different operators have different billing, some by time, some by data, some by the week, some by the hour, some use a credit card, some with an ISP account etc etc
no guarantee of no interference - 2.4Ghz is wide open to have anyone crap all over it and theres nothing you can do about it.
If your at a friends place you have to add their wifi to your device to use it, assuming they let you theres the problem of network keys, adding the mac address to the router/dhcp server, and then you still have no real QOS to speak of.

So yeah, wifi is a non starter when not at home or work IMO.

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freitasm

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#145173 8-Jul-2008 23:55

alsta: Also, as (admittedly in the US) iTunes is the biggest retailer of music, surely the lack of integration with said biggest retailer on the N95 is a mark against it?

I doubt it's a big problem. Users can buy DRM-free MP3 from Amazon and from Napster, and both offer a large selection. So why bother?

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richms

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#145337 9-Jul-2008 12:30

and itunes is really poor when your music library starts to hit 50-60000 tracks, becomes real sluggish.

Also how about he-aac+ support on the iphone? When you only have 8 or 16 gigs, you want to fit all you can on, and the normal ipods and itunes will only play the mono low-fi part of those files, n95 and the n80 played them fine.

Richard rich.ms