Computer, Gadgets and All Things Digital

Verizon Data Plan now consists of a four-tier option. Starting July this year Verizon Wireless replaced unlimited data plan with a four-tier pricing option, a move that has also been adopted by its rival AT&T leaving Sprint the only carrier to offer true unlimited data plan. Sprint’s Everything Data plan offers  unlimited data access which also comes with a 450 minute calling plan, starting at $69.99 per month. 

Verizon now offers a four-tier data plan pricing starting at $10 per month for 75MB of data. The second plan costs $30 per month for 2GB, the third option costs $50 for 5GB of data and the most expensive Verizon data plan costs $80 per month. In case customers go over their monthly data access limit they will be charged $10 per GB of data.  Smartphone users such as iPhone, BlackBerry and Android phones will need to choose the four but the first option.

Verizon Mobile Hotspot Plan

Verizon also imposed new pricing for mobile hotspot service. Previously smartphones users with mobile hotspot capability are allowed to use the service without limitations, this Verizon new data plan affects those who use smartphones as a portable Wi-Fi hotspot (such as Verizon’s Motorola Droid  X mobile hotspot). Verizon imposes old customers who want to use a mobile hotspot feature additional charge that costs $30 per month for unlimited data access. New customers who use mobile hotspot feature after July 2011 will need to pay $20 per month for 2GB of data.

Currently the carrier offers several devices with mobile hotspot feature such as Verizon Mifi 4501 3G/4G mobile hotspot
and Samsung 4G LTE mobile hotspot device. Starting last year the carrier also  rolled out a number of  4G smartphone with mobile hotspot capability such as the HTC Thunderbolt, LG Revolution and Samsung Droid Charge. As stated above Verizon data plan is for data only, meaning you need to but separate  minute plan. Another major US carrier that offers unlimited data plan is T-Mobile which costs  $79.99 per month for 2GB of data . Once you go over the data allotment the speed, however, will be throttled-down to 2G speed.  Considering the data cap,  Verizon new data plan seems fit into those not using internet access too frequent.

T-Mobile Linksys WRT54G-TM Home Wireless Router is a Wreless-G broadband router that is boasted by Linksys  as three devices packed in a single box. Of course, first and foremost the device is  a wireless access point that enables you to connect Wireless-G or Wireless-B devices to the network.  There is also a built-in full-duplex 10/100 switch that consists of four ports  to connect your wireless Ethernet devices. You can connect four computer clients  instantly and build wireless networks as large as you want. Lastly , the router allows your network share a high-speed cable or DSL Internet connection. The T-Mobile Linksys WRT54G-TM  Home Wireless Router can also function as a DHCP server and  features a built-in  NAT technology to safeguard against unwanted Internet intruders is compatible with VPN pass-through, and can be set up to filter internal users’ internet access.

T-Mobile Linksys WRT54G-TM Home Wireles

Linksys WRT54G-TM T-Mobile Home Wireless Router is a 54 Mbps wireless router with much faster speed than the standard and widely used routers  commonly present in homes, company network and public Wi-Fi hotspots. The router speed is approximately  more than four times faster than the standard Wireless-B (802.11b) devices. Yet because they share similar 2.4 GHz radio band, Wireless-G devices can interoperate with existing 11 Mbps Wireless-B devices.

The Linksys/T-Mobile WRT54G-TM uses the WRT54GL technology designed specifically fit into into  T-Mobile’s specs for UMA access from WiFi –enabled T-Mobile phones. This router has several improvements compared to the WRT54GL router – such as 8 MB of FLASH memory, and 32 MB of RAM even though the processor speed stays  the same at 200 MHz.

Even though  this router has not been manufactured  for more than two years yet  it is a great  choice of DD-WRT and also other alternative Linux-based firmware.
We  use the router  for a WDS MESH network  and to our  surprise  the router provides for us with excellent  coverage all over our home. The main benefit of WDS is that the same SSID is utilized by both routers and as such enables you to roam. Operating DD-WRT the transmit power could be adjusted from 1 – 251 MW, and the processor can be overclocked up to 250 Mhz.

This router is  one of the final WRT54G models in which the antennas can be conveniently replaced  which can be quite handy if you want a high-gain omnidirectional antenna.

The  Linksys WRT54G-TM T-Mobile Home Wireless Router firmware is indeed resources-hungry and needs a lot of RAM that Linksys exclusively made these units with 32 Mb of nvram and 8 Mb of RAM. This  is essentially  like getting a WRT54G. The  Linksys WRT54G-TM T-Mobile Home Wireless Routert is essentially  a WRT router so there will be  no surprises there. If you are looking for a DD-WRT capable router this router is the right one to grab.

AT&T iPhone plans include data plans and calling plans. AT&T, along with Verizon, as you might have been aware, are currently the only two US carriers to sell the smartphone even though rumors have been circulating wildly that  Sprint iPhone will land before Christmas this year . Meanwhile let’s look at what you need to know about and what’s at stake should you decide to buy or switch to AT&T iPhone plans.

AT&T iPhone (Credit : AT&T)

AT&T iPhone Plans : Data Plan Costs

Apple maintains a strict pricing for the iPhones and as a result,  you will expect the same price tags no matter you want to buy them  from AT&T or from other carriers all over the world. This, I assume, has to do with Apple marketing ploy to keep the phone image as an exclusive brand.  The US is no exception , iPhone 16G  sells for $199 and its sibling the 32GB model costs $299.  AT&T still sells the old model, iPhone 3G 8G,  at much cheaper price for $49.9.  And as with other contract plans AT&T iPhone plans require a two-year contract with hefty termination fees.

Calling  Plans

AT&T phone plans for iPhone users are the same as with users who own other phone brands. The plans are generally divided into two categories; individual plans and family plans. See the bellow table to see the two plans that suit your need.

Tabel : AT&T Individual Cell  Phone plans (Source : AT&T )

Tabel : AT&T Family Phone Plans (Source : AT&T )

AT&T iPhone Plans : Data Cost

AT&T iPhone plans require both a calling plan and data plan. The data plan for AT&T iPhone users consists of a three-tier plans with  the cheapest plan costing  $15 per month for  200 MB of data. The plan is ideal for iPhone users who  surf the net not too often, send e-mail, and visit social network sites. The plan also consists of unlimited usage with AT&T Wi-Fi Basic access and Visual Voicemail to listen to voicemail messages. In case you  go over the allotted 200 MB an additional 200MB will be automatically provided at a rate of $15 for each additional 200MB.

The second data plan for AT&T iPhone users is the Data Pro which costs $25 per month for 2GB of data. The plan is aimed primarily at  iPhone users who access the internet not just browse the web but also stream music, download videos, files. If you  go over 2 GB data cap an additional 1 GB is automatically provided at a rate of $10 for each additional 1 GB.

The most expensive data plan for AT&T iPhone users is DataPro which costs $45 per month for 4GB of data. With Data Plus plan you can use your iPhone 4 and iPhone 3Gs operating system to tether internet connection over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, essentially turning your iPhone into mobile hotspot . AT&T iPhone mobile hotspot plan or for the reason I still do not know is called  iPhone personal hotspot instead , enables you to share internet connection over Wi-Fi with up to three Wi-Fi enabled devices  is only available for iPhone 4 users while internet tethering via Bluetooth can be done with iPhone devices running iOS 4.0, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, or iPhone 4. Like the two other  plans in case the  4 GB data cap  is exceeded, an additional 1 GB is automatically provided at a rate of $10 for each additional 1 GB. So basically AT&T iPhone plans are the same as those for Android and other smartphones.

AT&T mobile hotspot phones are growing at a quick pace at AT&T ,  as the second largest US carrier, like other providers aggressively markets the lucrative data plans . On March 2011  AT&T allowed its  iPhone users to tether their smartphones with up to three devices . AT&T mobile hotspot on iPhone unfortunately only works on iPhone 4 and iPhone 3Gs phones running on the latest Apple iOS (iOS ver 4.3).

Currently there’re at least four AT&T mobile hotspot smartphones customers can purchase with a two-year agreement. Several smartphones such as Samsung Infuse and HTC Inspire come with built-in tethering feature while select smartphones needs an app to acquire mobile hotspot capability like other mobile hotspot devices.

AT&T mobile hotspot phones and Data Plan

Data Plan

Currently AT&T customers are able to tether their phones which requires separate subscriptions costing $20 a month. The extra cost is on top of AT&T Data Pro plan of $25 per month, thus, in order to use AT&T mobile hotspot feature on their smartphones users need to spend $45 per month. In case users go over their quota cap they can buy additional data for $10 per GB. AT&T mobile hotspot subscription for use on a smartphone is slightly cheaper than that of using a dedicated AT&T mobile hotspot device such as   AT&T Mifi 2372 mobile hotspot and AT&T Mobile Hotspot Elevate 4G which cost $50 per month for 5 GB of data and $10 per 1GB in overage data use.

AT&T mobile hotspot phones Line Up

HTC Inspire, Samsung Infuse, Samsung Captivate, Pantech Crossover are among AT&T mobile hotspot phones currently available for those who want to turn their phones into a Wi-Fi hotspot. Several of them run on Android 2.2 platform (Froyo) and some on the Gingerbread (Android 2.3) and do not need additional app to make them  mobile hotspot phones. HTC Inspire is the first 4G smartphone to land at AT&T and the first to feature mobile hotspot capability.

HTC Inspire
HTC Inspire sports a sleek design and comes with an 8-megapixel camera , dual LED flash, in-camera editing, live picture effects, and a 720p camcorder to record  high definition. It has  16M color TFT display which  offers images with enhanced 480×800 pixels as well as a 4.3-inch class touch screen panel with HTC Sense User Interface (UI) and multi-touch input support.

HTC Insipire :( Imaga Credit : HTC, AT&T)

The Inspire runs on the powerful  1Ghz Snapdragon processor and is powered by Android 2.2 (Froyo) . Recently HTC launched an OS  upgrade, enabling HTC Inspire users to upgrade the smartphone OS to  the latest Android platform (Gingerbread)

Samsung Infuse 4G

Like HTC Inspire Samsung Infuse 4G is an Android smartphone and is among ther first AT&T 4G smartphones with mobile hotspot capability . The Infuse  runs on a 1.2 GHz Hummingbird processor, other features include   8–16 GB internal Flash memory, a 4.5 inch 480×800 pixel Super AMOLED Plus capacitive touchscreen display, a 8-megapixel camera and a 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera.

Samsung Infuse (Image Credit: AT&T ,Samsung)

Customers who bought  a 2011-released Android phone including  the Infuse 4G, is eligible to update their OS to latest  Android operating system (Gingerbread). Either AT&T will roll out the update to the phone over-the-air (possibly via Wi-Fi) or the user may need to download the update to a computer and connect the phone to the computer to install the new OS.

Samsung Captivate
Touted as one of the best alternatives to iPhone 4 by PCmag.com the Captivate measures 4.18 x 2.5 x 0.39 inches (HWD) and weighs  4.5 ounces, it’s slim yet averaged-size. The Samsung Captivate sports  a bright Super AMOLED screen, running on a 1GHz processor, 16GB of onboard memory. The phone delivers superb call quality, full wireless options, and a High definition video capture.

Samsung Captivate 4G (Image Credit: AT&T ,Samsung)

The Captivate offers one-stop your social media services, messages, personal and business e-mail, calendars and contacts. It is designed around Messaging and Contacts, both of which initiate the sending and receiving of information–whether it is e-mail, instant messaging, social network updates or SMS messages. Moreover, calendar information from portal calendars, including Google Calendar, and social media services are shown together in a single calendar with two-way synchronization.

Pantech Crossover

Crossover is the first Android phone released by Pantech. The phone runs ona 600MHz processor, features a full slide-out QWERTY keyboard, a 3.1-inch touchscreen display, support for 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi networks, a 2GB microSD card, a 3-megapixel camera, and a 1,500 mAh battery good for up to five hours of use.

Pantech Crossover (image credit : AT&T)

It might not deliver the best specifications, however , it does come with an reasonably priced option. The phone sells for $49,9 with a two-year contract and is currently one of four AT&T mobile hotspot phones.

AT&T, the first US carrier to sell the iPhone, offers mobile hotspot capability for its iPhone that supports up to thee devices. The number of devices users can share AT&T cellular network is less than those offered by AT&T mobile hotspot devices such as AT&T Mifi 2372 mobile hotspot. AT&T mobile hotspot with the iPhone 4 is  not called  mobile hotspot yet iPhone personal hotspot instead.  This is, according to Apple website, because the iOS 4.3 only supports three devices for, however, aside from the three clients connected via Wi-Fi hostspot  you can tether your iPhone 4 with two other  devices over USB or Bluetooth connections.

The iPhone personal hotspot update included in March’s iOS 4.3 update turns a GSM-based iPhone 4 into a portable Wi-Fi hostspot  that can share AT&T wireless internet connection up to three devices. For those still using iPhone 3Gs running previous iOS version , you can still enable mobile hotspot on your device by using  quite simple tricks, see the following link for details : turn iPhone 3Gs into mobile hotspot.

How to Enable iPhone Personal Hotspot

Before you can turn AT&T iPhone to a personal hotspot you need to enable the iPhone personal hotspot on your AT&T account. You can do this by calling the carrier customer service (611 on your iPhone) to activate the feature or alternatively and the most convenient way is by loging in to your account via AT&T website or you can use it via a free app to that you can use to access your account. AT&T’s iPhone  Personal Hotspot requires that you buy AT&T’s DataPro data plan, which costs  $25 per month for up to 2 Gigs of data use. To use the iPhone Personal Hotspot you need to spend additional  $20 per month in additional service fees. This additional costs however increase your up monthly data usage to 4 Gigs of data which is a fair deal. The good news is if you opt for the personal hotspot option and you’re traveling to areas covered by AT&T hotspot you will be able to surf the net over  its Wi-Fi hotspot without having to pay additional cost, thus you can save on your data quota.

You are able to switch between enabling and disabling  iPhone personal hotspot plan  at anytime without being charged with additional cost. You may also switch between DataPro and the cheaper 200MB DataPlus plan in case you want to quit  the Personal Hotspot option.

Setting up your iPhone 4 as a Wi-Fi hotspot is simple and straightforward. You can enable the personal hotspot by going to Settings, and tap General -> Network -> Personal Hotspot. Once the iPhone personal hotspot is turned on you will notice its menu at the top level of the Settings app. Currently only the iPhone 4 can connect via Wi-Fi, USB, and Bluetooth to share wireless internet  via the Personal Hotspot feature. The iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G are limited to a single Bluetooth connection and USB.

Iphone personal Hotspot Screenshot (Image Credit: Apple)

Securing Your iPhone Personal Hotspot

iPhone personal hotspot supports WPA  encryption and you will be prompted to enter passkey or password before you can turn on the personal hotspot. You need to use a hard-to-guess passwords which can include letter, symbol and number just in case someone wants to hack into your personal hotspot.

Unlike Verizon iPhone personal hotspot which suspends data service (the clients are still kept connected though)  when there is a phone call until you accept or reject the call, AT&T iPhone personal hostpot will keep the your iPhone data service alive when there is a call and all the devices will stay connected no matter you accept or reject the call. With your iPhone personal hotspot active you will also be able to  switch between a Wi-Fi connection for to access the internet access. You can do this by navigating to  the Wi-Fi setting, and tap a button—Disconnect Wi-Fi Clients—a button which will only be displayed when there are client devices connected to your Wi-Fi hotspot.

Via : Macworld

Verizon offers two prepaid phone plans to suit your needs with the most expensive plan including unlimited texting and unlimited minutes. The provider jumped on the prepaid bandwagon only after the two other major carriers (AT&T and T-Mobile) did so. The carrier boasts the most extensive nationwide coverage and competitive prices.  Verizon prepaid plans are divided into two plans; prepaid monthly plans and prepaid daily plans both of which require activation fees which cost $35 and $25 respectively.

Verizon prepaid plans do not require contract service agreement. Customers can buy the plans with credit card or debit card auto pay on their website,  by phone or by visiting nearby Verizon Wireless stores.

Verizon Prepaid Monthly Plans:

The plan includes unlimited mobile to mobile calling with other  Verizon Wireless customers which currently stand at around  80 million according the carrier’s latest data. The plan also includes  unlimited night and weekend minutes that customers can use to make calls to other US carriers and  unlimited texting on the talk & text plans.
Verizon applies three-tier pricing for the monthly plan, each costing $64.99, $84.99 and 94.99 for talk and text monthly access respectively. The Talk- only monthly access costs  $44.99, $64.99 and $74.99 respectively.  The $94.99 plan carries unlimited anytime minutes and unlimited texting. The plan requires the activation fees which cost $35.
See the bellow table for details:

            Table : Verizon Prepaid Monthly Plans Price

Customers will be charged Per-Minute Rate After Allowance if they have  used all Anytime Minutes or does not enough funds for their Monthly Access. Per-Minute Rate After Allowance only applies to voice calling. Anytime Minutes, Unlimited Calling, Mobile to Mobile Calling/Messaging with other Wireless Customers, Night & Weekend Minutes, and Per-Minute Rate After Allowance rates are for domestic calls/messages from within the Verizon Wireless, thus if a customer roams outside Verizon network , She/ He will be subject to 20 cents/ minute roaming charges.
The plan includes basic and additional features such as 3-way calling, call forwarding, caller ID, call waiting, voice mail. In case you refill your account before it expires your remaining account balance will be carried forward.
Verizon prepaid monthly plan also provides separate data plans for its prepaid customers charging  $30 per month if you use smartphones or BlackBerry to access the internet and  99¢ per day for mobile web access over a 24-hour period.
Monthly data plan requires a subscription to a Monthly Prepaid Plan and Email/Data and Web service, both of which will renew automatically on the same date every month. Unlike the voice calling, there is no extra  denomination for the data plan, in  case  you don’t  have sufficient funds in your account to cover the monthly charges for your Prepaid Plan and Email/Data and Web service at the time of renewal all data services will be terminated.

Verizon Prepaid Plan: Pay As You Go (Daily Plan)

Like its monthly plan sibling, Verizon prepaid daily plan offers three pricing tiers. The first option is the pay-as-you-go which costs 25 cents per minute and 20 cents per text message. The second  option costs 99 cents per day which includes 10 cents per minutes and  10 cents per text message. The third option costs $1.99 per day and offers unlimited minutes and 2 cents/ text message. The second and the third options includes unlimited unlimited mobile to mobile calling with Verizon customers. See the bellow table for details:

Table : Verizon Prepaid Daily Plan Price

Verizon daily prepaid phone plan also  includes basic and additional features such as 3-way calling, call forwarding, caller ID, call waiting, voice mail.
Once activated, your  account balance of  the daily prepaid plan  will expire based on initial payment or in 60 days, whichever is longer.  Night Minutes are from 9:01 p.m. to 5:59 a.m. Weekend Minutes are from 12:00 a.m. Saturday to 11:59 p.m. Sunday.

Like Verizon monthly prepaid plan all rates for calls and messages only apply for customers who makes phone calls, send and receive messages within Verizon network. Customers who roam outside the carrier networks within the US will need to pay 20 cents per minute in roaming charges.

Verizon also offers two prepaid unlimited texting packages called Text Bundles . The first option costs $10 per month that has Unlimited Mobile to Mobile Texting with other Verizon Wireless Customers. The second options costs  $20 per month which includes unlimited texting to anyone on any US carriers.

Data Plan and other services

Verizon charges 99¢ per day of use (24–hour period) for prepaid data plan There is also $30 per month data plan available for monthly prepaid users who use smartphones or BlackBerry for mobile data access. Verizon prepaid plans also include many features you can also find on contract plans, bellow are the highlight of them along with their prices:

• V CAST Music – 99¢ / song via PC; $1.99 / song via phoneRingback Tones – 99¢ per month & $1.99 per Ringback Tone/Year
• Picture and Video Messaging – 25¢ per message
• Domestic Long Distance Included (airtime charges apply)
• International Text Messaging – 25¢ per message sent, messages received are same as calling plan
• International Roaming – Voice Calling
• 69¢ per minute from Canada, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin islands
• 99¢ per minute from Mexico
• $1.99 per minute from Bermuda
• International Roaming – Text Messaging
• 50¢ per message sent
• 5¢ per message received
• 411 Search – $1.99 per call plus airtime

Minutes Expiration

Minutes expire based on the denomination, the more expensive the minutes you buy , the longer the plan expires. The  $15 to $29.99 prepaid plan expires in 30 days, $30 to $74.99 expires in 60 days, $75 to $99.99 expires in 90 days while  $100 and above expires in one year.

Pros and Cons

Pros: The Verizon prepaid plans offers several options, enabling you to choose the one that fits into your needs with the most expensive plan including unlimited minutes and text messages. Other advantages of buying a Verizon prepaid phone plans is that Verizon does not charge additional cost for domestic long distance calls and  you will likely be covered by the carrier network whenever you are on the go  since Verizon is one of the major US networks to have extensive nationwide network coverage.

Cons: Verizon prepaid plans require activation fees and its prepaid daily plans comes with daily access charge which can make the service costly.

Verizon prepaid phones

Verizon offers various phones from feature phones for basic use to smartphones and BlackBerry devices. Feature phones are available  for both monthly and daily plans, while smartphones and BlackBerry devices, are available on the prepaid monthly plans only. Verizon prepaid smartphones  includes Motorola Citrus,Samsung Continuum And Vortex smartphones, while BlackBerry devices includes BlackBerry Curve 3G 9330 and BlackBerry Storm2 9550 smartphone. Feature phones with affordable prices currently available for Verizon prepaid plans customers includes Samsung Gusto, LG Accolade, Pantech Jest,  LG Cosmos etc.

Like Boost Mobile prepaid phone plans and Virgin Mobile prepaid phone plans, Cricket prepaid phone plans are particularly aimed at youngsters and mind-budget mobile users. The plans do not require any service contract agreement, meaning users can switch plans or quit the plans without having to pay the termination fees.  In addition to the standard prepaid plans for single users,  the carrier  offers family plans for 3, 4 or 5 lines of service that costs  $99.00, $132.00 and $165.00, respectively. Like those offered by bigger carriers  the Cricket family plans include unlimited talk, unlimited text messages , voicemail and other basic services such as caller ID, call waiting and 3-way calling. Users can also use purchase web access that costs $5.00 per month per line.

Cricket uses CDMA technology and currently serves around 4 million customers in the US in around 27 states. Though Cricket network is limited to the 27 states, it  partners with MetroPCS to use the latter’s network,  enabling its users to roam over the MetroPCS without additional charge. It also offers  the so-called  “Premium Extended Coverage”, a paid roaming plan,  to provide nationwide coverage thanks to agreements with other wireless carriers.

All Cricket cell phone plans include free long distance, but you will incur additional charges when roaming outside the Cricket’s  coverage area. If users  are outside of Cricket coverage, they  will see a roaming indicator on the phone. This indicator varies from one phone to another , some phone  use the letter “R”, some say “Roaming” while some phones will display an icon. If your  plan doesn’t have any roaming minutes you  will not be able to make or receive the call and you will not have to pay for  roaming charges.

Cricket Phones

Currently Cricket  offers basic phones as well as high-end smartphones such as Sanyo Zio, Samsung Suede and  Blacberry Curve. The carrier also offers Android-run phones such as Huawei Ascend, LG Optimus C, Samsung Indulge and Huawei Ascend II.

Cricket Cell Phone Plans

All Cricket cell  phone  plans offer unlimited anytime minutes which is divided into  five plans. Cricket also offers unlimited text messaging with all plans yet picture messaging , video messaging,  3-way calling, mobile web and call forwarding  and other basic features are not  for the $35 per month plans. Unlimited text and picture messaging are available with the $2 and $3 PAYgo plans.

1. $35 Monthly  Basic Plan
The cheapest Cricket phone  plan which costs $35 a month with unlimited minutes, including long distance calling and unlimited text messaging, it however  does not include other basic features such as picture messaging, video messaging, call waiting, 3-way calling, mobile web and call forwarding.

2. The $45 Monthly  Plans

The second plan costs $45 per month  which includes basic features not available for $35 per month plan such as picture messaging, video messaging, call waiting, 3-way calling, mobile web and call forwarding. The $45vplan is one of Cricket’s  most popular cell phone  plans.

3. The $55 Monthly  plan
The plan includes advanced features that is required for  Android smartphone users such as  HTML browser, Google Mobile Service, mobile email and Android market.

4. Cricket’s $55 monthly plan for  BlackBerry users
The BlackBerry plan includes services incorporated in  in the $55 dollar plan for Android phones and the standard BlackBerry services like , BlackBerry Messenger, push email and BalckBerry internet services.

5 Cricket’s $55 monthly plan for  and Muve Music phones.

The plan is designated for Muve music phones users which features  unlimited ringtones, ringback tones and song  downloads. Other services offered for this plan are similar to the other three $55 monthly plans.

Cricket Family Plans

As mentioned above Cricket offers family plans for 3, 4 or 5 lines of service for $99.00, $132.00 and $165.00, respectively. Cricket Family Plans include unlimited talk and text  messages, voice mail, 3-way calling ,caller ID and other standard features. Mobile web 411 directory assistance can be added for $5.00 per month per line.
You can get a Cricket family plan to save on your monthly bill with two other friends and you will get unlimited minutes,  text messages and web access  for $99.99 per month and if the two friends or family members  split  the bill you will  only pay $33.33 as apposed to $45  by yourself. These prices however don’t include the phone cost (which can be quite pricey since Cricket does not subsidize phones) and  tax on your bill.

Cricket Family Plans includes the following services:

1. Unlimited anytime and night-and-weekend minutes
2. Nationwide  long-distance calls, Text messages, and  Premium extended Cricket coverage
3. Other standard features such as voicemail  Caller ID, call waiting, three-way calling.

T-Mobile No Contract Plans are one of the most attractive prepaid plans offered by a US major carier. T-Mobile USA offers one of the most competitive prepaid phone plans  (no contract plans) for those planning on switching to hassle-free prepaid plans with the cheapest plan starting at $10 per month.  You can start by purchasing  TMobile prepaid cards,   buying  minutes and starting talking  and sending text messages straight away . If  you run out of balance you can simply come back and buy more minutes. It is  a convenient way to stay connected with no monthly payments and  no additional  fees. With T-Mobile no contract plans you simply  pay for prepaid credits online or alternatively you can purchase a minute card at  T-Mobile retail stores.

When signing  up with for T-Mobile no contract plans you will get  a starter kit which  includes a phone, basic accessories and starter minutes and the phones. T-Mobile prepaid plans also offers the so-called Gold Bonus,  bonus minutes that you can get  if you buy minutes in bulk. You will get an 15% extra minutes on the rest of your purchase if you purchase  the $100 card for 1000 minutes that can be used over a period of one year.

T-Mobile No Contract Plans: Two Options To Choose From

Currently there are two T-mobile prepaid phone plans  you can choose from. The first option  is the Pay as You Go plan and the second one  is monthly4G plan. The Pay as You Go plan is aimed at heavy voice ant text users and infrequent web surfers while the second T-Mobile no contract plan, monthly 4G plan, as the name suggests, is for smartphone and  heavy web users,

T-Mobile Pay as You Go  Plan Prepaid Plan

The Pay as You Go plan has four-tier pricing with cheapest  plan costing  $10. The 30 dollar card has 160 minutes, the 50 dollar card has 400 minutes, and the 100 dollar card, which is the most expensive plan,  includes 1,000 minutes. If you purchase a 100-dollar refills you will get 15 percent more minutes on the refill cards.  See the bellow table for details:

Table 2 : TMobile Pay as You Go Plan (Credit : T-Mobile)

T-Mobile No Contract Plans : Montly4G Plan

The plan is suitable for casual to heavy internet users who want to save them from the hassle of a contract plan. The second T-Mobile no contract plan is perfect for surfing the internet, checking email, and staying connected  to your social network. Like the Pay as You Go Plan, T-Mobile offers a four-tier pricing with the cheapest option costing $15. The 15-dollar plan consists of  unlimited text and minutes for 10 cents each. The 30 dollar plan includes 1,500 minutes or text messages and 30MB of web access. The 50 dollar plan also has unlimited talk and text, plus 100MB of data. The most expensive one, the 70 dollar plan has  unlimited minutes, text messages, and 2GB of data. See the bellow table for details:

Table 2 : TMobile Montly 4G no contract plans (Credit : T-Mobile)

Prepaid Phones

T-Mobile No Contract Plans either The  Pay as You Go or Monthly4G offers a wide variety of phones from basic phones , messaging phones to top-notch Android smartphones. Currently basic phones and messaging phones on T-Mobile shelve include Nokia 1616 , LG GS 170, Nokia X2, Samsung t359  and other phones that fit into those needing them for basic use such as  making calls and sending texts. For the complete list visit the following link : Cheap T-Mobile Phones With No Contract Plans. There are also middle to high-end smartphones  such as Samsung Galaxy S 4G, LG Optimus T, BlackBerry Curveto choose from  T-Mobile No Contract Plans.

Currently Verizon Wireless  is the only U.S. carrier to offer the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play, the first Sony Ericsson Android game  phone, touted to be the PlayStation on the go . On July the carrier cut the price of the Xperia Play in half from the initial price of $199.9 to $99.99 with two-year service agreements. US carrier subscribers, however, can get a taste of the game phone by buying the unlocked version. Yes, if you are an  AT&T, Sprint  or T-Mobile subscriber you can still  buy the unlocked Sony Experia Play at Expansys or Amazon.  Expansys sells the smartphone for $439.9 while Amazon sells it at a higher price at $464 up to $470.85.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play Key Specs and Features

The Xperia play is the only certified PlayStation phone  and comes with the standard set of PS control buttons.  The Xperia, just like  the PlayStation has  the usual D-pad, and X, O, square and triangle action buttons. Unfortunately the smartphone  can not  run classic PlayStation games out of the box. Instead, Sony Ericsson is working with developers to create titles for this new platform.

The Sony Ericsson Xperia Play sports a  4-inch capacitive touch screen and measures 4.68 inches by 2.44 inches wide by 0.63 inch and weighs at 6.17 ounces,  one of the heftiest smartphone on the market. The smartphone runs on the latest Android version (Gingerbread) and is powered by  1Ghz dual core processor for smooth multi tasking. It sports a 5-megapixel back camera and  comes with 8 GB micro SD storage.

Just in case you are not familiar with what the game phone offers, bellow you will find the key features, technical specs of the Sony Ericsson Experia Play:

• Operating System : Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)
• Memory  400 MB internal memory expandable up to 32 GB, 8 GB included microSD card (2 GB taken up by pre-loaded games)
• GPS navigation capabilities via Google Maps Navigation plus optional VZ Navigator service
• Wireless-N Wi-Fi networking (802.11b/g/n)
• 3G Mobile Hotspot capability allows you to create a Wi-Fi hotspot
• 1 GHz Snapdragon processor (Qualcomm MSM 8655)
• 4-inch multi-touch display (854 x 480 pixels, 16 million colors) with accelerometer plus proximity and ambient light sensors.

One notable downside of the Xperia Play is that it does not support HDMI port, a standard  feature that can be found on other most recent smartphones.

The unlocked versions currently  being on sale  at  Amazon and Expansys can be used on any GSM-based carriers, meaning even if up until now the Xperial play has not arrived yet at Sprint, AT&T and TMobile you can use it on any carriers, like a friend of mine who is using his Sony Ericsson Experia Play on TMobile .

Virgin Mobile Broadband- the Virgin Mobile Broadband2Go -currently offers three devices to suit your need: an Ovation MC760 USB (wireless modem device that connects to a computer), a Virgin Mobile MiFi 2200 mobile hotspot  which allows up to five clients to connect via Wi-Fi and ZTE Peel 3200, a sleek and thin  sleeve that slides right onto your iPod Touch to share  3G connection to the  iPod and one  other device. The MiFi 2200 costs  $149.99 , the Ovation costs $79.99 and the Peel 3200 sells for $29.9. Virgin mobile broadband plan works on Sprint’s 3G network , thus Virgin Mobile users may expect more or less the same connection speed as if they were on Sprint 3G network. Just like Virgin prepaid  phone plans, there are no contract agreement and  activation fees attached  to the service, meaning  users can quit anytime if they feel they are not satisfied with the carrier service.

Users  can pay for Broadband2Go Plan with cash (Top-Up), credit, or debit. Currently Virgin mobile prepaid internet service is available  in more than 4,300 cities (including 480 airports) across the US. To see if you  have Broadband2Go coverage in your area, check out Virgin  coverage maps here.

Virgin Mobile Broadband Vs Verizon, Sprint, AT&T and TMobile Plans

Virgin mobile prepaid broadband internet plan is  currently one of the cheapest mobile broadband plans in the US compared with what other major US carriers offer. In comparison, Verizon’s mobile broadband plan costs  $60 with  5GB data cap while Sprint 3G-only broadband internet costs  $60 for 5GB and $60 for unlimited web access  if your areas is covered by Sprint’s 4G network.  AT&T Dataconnect plan charges $35 for 200MB of data cap and $60 for 5GB while  T-Mobile webConnect plan  charges  $25 for 200MB and $40 for 5GB.

Virgin Mobile’s MiFi 2200 Mobile Hotspot

Virgin Mobile’s MiFi 2200 is essentially a new name for  the Sprint MiFi 2200 Mobile Hotspot since it is the same Novatel Mifi device and is using the same network Sprint (Virgin’s parent company) uses.  Virgin Mobile USA  currently  offers unlimited 3G broadband  for $50 per month, with no contract and no activation fees using  Sprint’s 3 network. Not quite unlimited though, because once users reach 2.5Gb of data usage the speed will be throttled-down to 256 KBps, which is quite enough to do basic web access such as browsing, email and chat.
There are also small denomination plans with data caps aimed at infrequent broadband internet users.  The cheapest plan costs $10 for 100MB of data which can be used for 10 days and the second one : the  $20 per month prepaid broadband plan with 500 Mb data cap.

Virgin Mobile’s Ovation MC760

Virgin Mobile’s Ovation MC760 USB modem is the successor of Broadband2Go modem . The USB wireless modem sells for $79.9, and just like its Novatel Mifi 2200 sibling it comes with no contract and activation fees.

Virgin mobile also implements exactly the same three-tier pricing with the unlimited prepaid internet broadband plan costing $50 a month, 2,5 GB fair usage and a throttled-down speed of 256 KBps for unlimited use if the quota has been reached.  There are also small data plan with the cheapest denomination plan costing $10 for 100MB (active for 10 days): the  $20 per month plan with 500 Mb data cap.

Virgin Mobile ZTE Peel 3200

The ZTE Peel is mobile hotspot device that you can share Virgin mobile 3G internet connection with your  iPod Touch and one other Wi-Fi enabled device. The device is more like a stripped-down version of a standard mobile hotspot device since it is only able to provide internet connection to two devices and has shorter  battery life. According to Virgin on average, the battery is able to provide up to 2.9 hours of usage when connected to a single device. Another drawback of the device is that users can not use it for USB tethering, when connected to a computer it will be only charged, strangely Virgin does not provide the USB cable in the package, so if you want to buy the Virgin Mobile broadband using the Peel you need to purchase a USB cable if you want to connect it to the computer.
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