|
So, the nGage will probably be sold (maybe to the Gods via bbq, not sure if these have resale value anymore) and replaced with something new. It needs to be totally bonus but right now Orange are doing free 3G for 3 months on 12 month contracts so I get 3 months of 384/128 broadband in 3G reception areas (and Orange have bother to turn on their 3G antennas in Oxford, unlike a few other companies, who suck) with a 1GB/month cap (normal price: £88/month - they're still being stupidly priced buggers for 3G I see). Right now I've found an ok deal, I don't really care about free mins or even that many free txts but I have to spend £25/month to get the cheap handset prices so 120mins (anytime&anynetwork)/250txts is £25 (I have now started paying £15/month on my current contract so that isn't so bad) and the cost of a new handset is £30 if I got fo a nokia 6330 (crappy 1.3MP camera, full speed 3G, no crappy video chat, bluetooth for WoW on the go via free data service, Series60 so apps still work from my nGage - including games, faster CPU than nGage so xvid videos play back with better fps, miniMMC so no using my old MMCs but it comes with a free 64MB one and I can always get larger card on the cheap). So, 3 months of browsing the forums on my lappy at work (suck on that proxy from hell!!!) and getting a bit of WoW in my lunch breaks and a phone that is almost identical to my existing one but 1cm shorter, less comfortable for games, and has a crappy camera will set me back an extra £10/month and £30 initial outlay (minus if I get any money for the nGage, ebay is not kind to them I'm guessing). But I'd have to pay a shedload if I wanted to use the data after 3 months and I'm tued into a 12 month contract. What do you guys think? Anyone seen anything beter or see a massive problem with my plan? Do you think other networks will pull their finger out and actually get good, affordable, data plans up for 3G speeds sometime soon? Will the prices all crash as 3G data becomes cheap as chips to provide and everyone wants to use it to get those free mp3 and video news that the services offer without paying an arm and a let for the data costs? |
3G data services
-
Shivoa 6,314 posts
Seen 2 years ago
Registered 20 years ago -
How much you want for the NGage? -
Well, I know what T-Mobile are doing, and its a bit different to Orange and Voda. We're not really doing "3G" as such, just introducing new services (that are 3G but we just don't really mention it) and charging you for them if you want them (and you have the right handset), so its just business as usual really.
I don't think any one network is going to be noticably different for 3G for a while, except perhaps 3. Dunno about them, but they certainly were giving a load away free. -
Ginger 7,256 posts
Seen 2 weeks ago
Registered 19 years agowait for HSDPA and then data will get *much* cheaper.
And it'll be sold like DSL as well, but probably a bit more expensive. -
bainbrge 1,687 posts
Seen 5 months ago
Registered 19 years agoI get the impression that you get gouged for 3G - the plans seem targetted towards business users who will likely negotiate much reduced prices anyway.
Perhaps the telco's are worried that wifi has reduced the need for 3G data? I believe you can get an account with boingo for $20 pcm that allows unlimited access to their WAP's (ooer), which seem very numerous even in darkest newcastle upon tyne. -
Shivoa 6,314 posts
Seen 2 years ago
Registered 20 years ago>wait for HSDPA and then data will get *much* cheaper.
Cool, how long?
>How much you want for the NGage?
It has Sonic game plus all the usual (charger, got a cheapo docking station for it - power only, not data, USB hookup, hands free bit is probably lying around somewhere with the original box but I'd have to check) and I'll throw in a 256MB MMC card (no changing the card for games, just dump all the games and emulators and stuff on one card). I'd say it was probably still worth £80 delivered. Not sure if you're thinking in the same ballpark but it is rather a nice smartphone IMHO (despite the press) and even has a few perks over the QD with the mp3 player and radio built in.
SIM free and network unlocked in case you're worried about that. -
terminalterror 18,932 posts
Seen 6 days ago
Registered 20 years agoIf I were you I'd wait until you can buy 3G smartphones. The upcoming SPV C550 may have 3G. There will certainly be some smartphones with 3G eventually. -
Don't know about the other networks, but 3G smartphones will be available on T-Mobile very soon indeed. -
jrolla 219 posts
Seen 14 years ago
Registered 17 years agoGinger wrote:
wait for HSDPA and then data will get *much* cheaper.
And it'll be sold like DSL as well, but probably a bit more expensive.
pffff HSDPA. the mobile operators havent even started to get any decent level of ARPU from 3G yet they aint gonna start rolling out HSDPA for a long while, and that is to say that is even going to become popular amongst competition from WiBro / WiMax / EDGE etc etc etc
t-mobile i believe are the best bet for a business user for 3G, the other networks are more consumer orientated -
Ginger 7,256 posts
Seen 2 weeks ago
Registered 19 years agojrolla wrote:
OK, i'll bite
Ginger wrote:
wait for HSDPA and then data will get *much* cheaper.
And it'll be sold like DSL as well, but probably a bit more expensive.
pffff HSDPA. the mobile operators havent even started to get any decent level of ARPU from 3G yet they aint gonna start rolling out HSDPA for a long while, and that is to say that is even going to become popular amongst competition from WiBro / WiMax / EDGE etc etc etc
t-mobile i believe are the best bet for a business user for 3G, the other networks are more consumer orientated.gif)
Wimax/Wibro are currently pipe dreams for mobile data. They support bugger all in terms of mobility - eiher intra cell and especially inter-cell (802.16e is the most unstable POS standard ever). How is it going to look to a user if every time he crosses a cell boundary there's a massive pause while his handset gets a new IP address...
HSDPA (and data in general) will be much more useful when the phones shown at 3GSM this year drop, and people can pay X euros/pounds/dollars etc for an itunes/napster subscription which works on their phone. All they'll have to do is click the song and it'll download. Or choose Itunes radio and it'll play music from whatever genre etc they want.
All with a massive great dose of IMHO of course! -
old_boy 150 posts
Seen 12 years ago
Registered 17 years agoWhat do people really feel consumer demand is for mobile broadband access? Yes it would be cool to watch videos or play some higher bandwidth games on a mobile but does anyone think that this would be anything more than a novelty?
For my part, I would like a cheapish always on mobile connection. But I wouldn't really like to pay more than £5 per month for such a service. Thoughts?
Edited by old_boy at 10:29:34 04-03-2005 -
Ginger 7,256 posts
Seen 2 weeks ago
Registered 19 years agoold_boy wrote:
If I knew that I'd be a rich man
What do people really feel consumer demand is for mobile broadband access?
Seriously, I think the opportunity to have an ipod like device in your pocket with always on access to any song you wanted (or at least in the iTunes directory) would be worth a chunk of money, maybe 10/15 per month. That would probably include all other data you could want as well.
I'm not sure of the economics of it, but I'm certain that data costs will come down very quickly, and people will start to use it only when it becomes:
cheaper, easier to use, more interesting to them.
With the third point being the most important, natch... -
Shivoa 6,314 posts
Seen 2 years ago
Registered 20 years agoGrr, stupid postal system. Still haven't got my phone yet but it is looks quite tasty (double the CPU speed of the ngage and ilk, more onboard memory and also based on Symbian 8 rather than 6) compared to my nGage, despite some older apps probably not going to work properly on the 2.1 version of Series60.
So, any interest in buying a nice shiny nGage/256MB MMC (new one uses half size MMCs), SonicN? -
Is your new phone one of these?
Tasty if so.
C'mon, people; trust me on this, the Ngage is a very good mobile platform for emulation & gaming. It's just the specific Ngage games themselves which give it the bad rep. -
Shivoa 6,314 posts
Seen 2 years ago
Registered 20 years agoRetroid wrote:
Yep, should be arriving at work tomorrow (stupid delivery companies that don't do weekend delivery and refuse to accept no signature, 'cos obviously everyone will a full time job can take a day off work just to lick up a package or travel to the 'local' depot 15 miles away in the middle of nowhere).
Is your new phone one of these?
Tasty if so.
Shame that it is getting some TV adverts right now as it probably won't get the geek following that it requires to get some nice custom series60 freeware. -
Shivoa 6,314 posts
Seen 2 years ago
Registered 20 years agoIt arrived and I'm no longer sick in bed (with NTL screwed internet connection, I get the feeling that free upgrade didn't quite work as I've got on/off internet that keeps timing out). Quite a cool phone, lots smaller than the ngage actually and the camera really works. Not an indoors camera, obviously but there is a flash extension you can get which has an external battery which would probably fix that and it does about as well as my Sony, corrently set for long exposure, does with the flash off when indoors (plenty of noise in the image but you can still make out what is going on except for windows where the high brightness just burns to white).
Mobile data is quite cool, high ping high bandwidth which is a bit strange and will probably make my lunchtime attempt at WoW unplayable (but not as unplyable as yesterday where I couldn't do anything with the stupid net connection - sorry guys, just as we were about to start that quest it went downhill and I couldn't get enough of a connection to contact you, or even use EG) but it makes using the net at work on my lappy easy.
One quite annoying change from the nGage, it doesn't use a miniUSB port and the one it does use (with the proprietry cable) doesn't connect as a mass storage device, you need to install the nokia drivers and PC suite. Major step back from the ngage and I hope someone makes a 3rd party USB driver for the Mac so I can actually use the memcard. Also, the memcard for this one has to be a dual voltage, reduced size, MMC. Like those are incredibly popular. And it saves all of about 3 cubic mm of volume by using that. I preferred having to take the battery out to this. Obviously the nGage QD upgrades of external hotswap memory card and not side talking are here to stay (I am actually missing side talking, it makes it so much easier to get the earpiece just at the right place to get good volume) -
What have you tried to install on it so far? I'm aware of the SMS emulator getting a minor alteration for it to run on your new lovelyphone, but other than that I don't know what differences the slightly newer version of the S60 OS would make.
/Still prefers the button layout on the Ngages for gaming / emulation -
bainbrge 1,687 posts
Seen 5 months ago
Registered 19 years agoSo Shivoa, what are you paying per month for the data? -
Nada. Zip. Nooooothing! For 3 lovely months. \o/
.gif)
Sometimes posts may contain links to online retail stores. If you click on one and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. For more information, go here.
