tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20629800.post-76287669850476171762007-05-31T13:30:00.000-05:002007-06-01T10:57:28.418-05:00Yesterday, my wife and I had an ultimate Frisbee game scheduled for 6:30pm. It was our third pre-season game. Our first two games took place at "Kennet fields." For some reason, I thought that our third game was scheduled to take place at "Stetson fields."<br /><br />So it's 6:15 and we pull in to the Stetson Middle School. There were several sports fields, but every one of them was already occupied by either softball players or lacrosse players.<br /><br />We spent at least 20 minutes driving and walking around the school looking for our fellow ultimate Frisbee players. No luck.<br /><br />It would have been the <span style="font-style: italic;">perfect </span>time for me to make use of my mobile phone's Internet capabilities. My phone has a 3-inch touch-screen and a slide-out keyboard. Packed in its holster, my mobile phone <span style="font-style: italic;">should have </span>been ready to rumble, bridging me to the Internet so I could get help.<br /><br />Unfortunately, I don't have a data plan. Why? They're just too expensive!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.cjmillisock.com/uploaded_images/mda-757509.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://www.cjmillisock.com/uploaded_images/mda-757505.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Am I just being too cheap or are these plans still too expensive for casual use? I would <span style="font-style: italic;">love </span>to check my Gmail, read my Google Reader feeds, navigate Google Maps, have access to my Google Calendar, browse Digg, and otherwise just surf the Internet, <span style="font-style: italic;">all on the go.</span><br /><br />My phone allows it (I have the T-Mobile MDA).<br />I <span style="font-style: italic;">definitely </span>could benefit from the use of it (like yesterday).<br /><br />It's just too expensive! My phone bill is currently about $80 per month, and adding a data plan would add $30. I just can't justify paying $30 per month for this. Am I alone here?<br /><br />Why isn't the cost of these data plans coming down? The iPhone is <a aiotarget="false" aiotitle="rumored" href="http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/apple-rumor/iphone-data-plan-at-30-264207.php">rumored</a> to have a $30 data plan. <a href="http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service//cell-phone-plans/data-connect-plans.jsp">Cingular</a>'s data plans range from $35-$45. Verizon's data plans range from $30-$40. <a href="http://www1.sprintpcs.com/explore/servicePlansOptionsV2/DataPlans.jsp">Sprint</a>'s data plans range from $40-$60.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Update.</span> Turns out, <a href="http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/services/services-list.jsp?catId=cat1470003&catName=Messaging+and+MEdia+Bundles">Cingular</a> has a pretty nice plan at $20 (Unlimited MEdia Net Data and 200 Text/Video/Picture Messages). Thanks for the heads up, readers!<br /><br />Maybe it's just me, but I won't be adding a data plan to my account until the cost comes way down. I <span style="font-style: italic;">might </span>consider it at $15 per month. At $10 per month, I'd switch carriers to get the mobile access to the web. But for now, I'll have to do without.<br /><br />PS: My wife and I made it to our ultimate game. We ended up calling a buddy of mine, who was near a computer and was able to look up a phone number for us. Turns out, our game was at Kennet fields, 15 minutes away.CJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02334936756648727605noreply@blogger.com