confused about Cingular data plans

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.cingular (More info?)

Since my "Media Net Pay Per Use" plan apparently only allows the phone
(WAP.CINGULAR.COM), but not a tethered computer (ISP.CINGULAR.COM), access
to the internet, I asked the support person to sign me up for tethered
GPRS access. A session with that used 3MB in 22 minutes (roughly
19.2Kbaud) with ping times ranging from 900 to 3800ms. Extremely painful.
On return home I find under My Features that I've still got Media Net Pay
Per Use, plus "Data Connect" and "EDGE WIRELESS CA ELA" for $0, and "Data
Connect 5MB" at $19.99/mo. At www.cingular.com/media/media_net_purchase I
see "Media Net" packages ranging from Pay Per Use to Unlimited at $19.99,
with no indication whether any of these let you tether or not. There's
also "Media Basic" and "Media Works" bundles which add text and multimedia
messages, which I rarely or never use, and, under Media Works ($19.99/mo),
5MB of Media Net. No mention of "Data Connect" or which packages support
tethering.
How can I find out what I actually have, and how can I get what I want,
which is occasional remote tethering, preferably at a low price when
not using it.
What about speed? I've seen things here saying 190Kb is typical for
GPRS, but others say you get 1-4 slots at 9600 baud/slot, which would be
38.4Kbaud maximum. I'm using a Nokia 6200 - would be newer phone make
a difference?

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.cingular (More info?)

tmoran@acm.org wrote:
> Since my "Media Net Pay Per Use" plan apparently only allows the phone
> (WAP.CINGULAR.COM), but not a tethered computer (ISP.CINGULAR.COM), access

That's a difference in sales pitch, not much in functionality, although ISP
allows some "acceleration".

> Connect 5MB" at $19.99/mo. At www.cingular.com/media/media_net_purchase I
> see "Media Net" packages ranging from Pay Per Use to Unlimited at $19.99,
> with no indication whether any of these let you tether or not. There's
> also "Media Basic" and "Media Works" bundles which add text and multimedia
> messages, which I rarely or never use, and, under Media Works ($19.99/mo),
> 5MB of Media Net. No mention of "Data Connect" or which packages support
> tethering.

Isn't that odd... ;-)
The data connect plans only appear on the business pages.
There is the $80 ISP.cingular plan and a $44 plan for unlimited PDA access.
http://www.cingular.com/sbusiness/data_connect
There is the $20 WAP.cingular plan on the MediaNet pages.
https://www.cingular.com/media/media_net_purchase

It's also a little tough to spot which phones do tethering, since it isn't
obviously differentiated from in-the-phone WAP-web access.

> How can I find out what I actually have, and how can I get what I want,
> which is occasional remote tethering, preferably at a low price when
> not using it.

I think Media Works at $19.99 with the WAP login is going to be fine for
me, because I do want the messages. If I didn't want the messages, I would
get unlimited MediaNet with the WAP login. That will give me 5MB of data
in the plan, and additional KB pay-as-you-go, which I think will work out
for me. You can see your daily usage on line at cingular.com.

If I go out of town on a business trip, I might change to unlimited, and
then back when I get home.

> What about speed? I've seen things here saying 190Kb is typical for
> GPRS, but others say you get 1-4 slots at 9600 baud/slot, which would be
> 38.4Kbaud maximum. I'm using a Nokia 6200 - would be newer phone make
> a difference?

Different phones are different, and so is the effect of other data usage on
the same cell site. I get anywhere from 3KBpS on a GPRS-only site to 9KBpS
on an EDGE site with my V551.

Earlier, John Navas <spamfilter0@navasgroup.com> wrote:
> The V551 is only EGPRS (EDGE) Class 4, which is significantly slower (up
> to about 100 Kbps) than Class 10 (up to about 150 Kbps), the maximum
> supported by Cingular.

A Google search of alt.cingular.cellular for "EDGE/GPRS Shootout: V551,
GC82, Z600" from John Navas. http://makeashorterlink.com/?G1DB23E8B

The instructions about WAP verses ISP logins can be found on many pages.
John has some "phone=specific" pages that apply generically, on his web
site. http://navasgrp.home.att.net/tech/cingular/

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Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8,-122.5

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.cingular (More info?)

tmoran@acm.org wrote:
> to me that WAP and ISP are very different things. No?

They are different logins. I can tether and log in with WAP. I can't log
in with ISP.

I have MediaBasic, which was added without comment when I bought the phone.
I didn't ask for it. I believe that a WAP login is buried in the phone,
for it to browse the web. I don't know if it's important, but I went
http://www.cingular.com/media/media_net and enabled my MediaNet account.
John mentions something you should specifically ask for by phone, but I
didn't do that. I cannot log in with ISP, but I can log in with WAP.

I currently have MediaBasic and MediaNet 1MB, which gives unlimited
data for one month as a sign up promotion.
https://www.cingular.com/media/media_net_purchase

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Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8,-122.5

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.cingular (More info?)

> While Cingular prefers that WAP be used for phone
> only, it actually works with tethered phones for all intenet protocols
> and sites of interest.
When I tried WAP.CINGULAR.COM, my phone screen said "You must sign up
for GPRS first". When the support guy had signed me up for whatever he
signed me up for, and I had changed my connection name to
"ISP.CINGULAR.COM", then things worked. So I take it you are saying I
didn't need to change from WAP to ISP? That's interesting, but what would
be even more interesting would be how I can pay less than $19.99/mo in the
many months when I don't tether or use multimedia messaging, or send a
thousand text messages, and how I can get more than 5MB in a month when I
take a trip and do tether.
Still confused.

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.cingular (More info?)

tony is correct. it costs $24.99/mo to get "Media Net Unlimited" which
uses the WAP system and can be tethered to a computer.

it is unlimited & there is no cost per kb. it does not use an http
accelerator.

username: WAP@CINGULARGPRS.COM
password: CINGULAR1

there is no unlimited data $19.99 feature I'm aware of. sorry I didn't
make the feature name clear.

I recommend you find out what you are signed up for. If it is not
"Media Net Unlimited" you may see big charges when you exceed your
monthly kb allocation. There'll be no penalty to change your feature to
"Media Net Unlimited".

as these things are "features" not "plans" they can be turned on & off
at will without penalty by calling CS.

Dave

I've heard that using isp.cingular... always results in kb charging but
I've never tried it.

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.cingular (More info?)

You may be right. I no longer see Unlimited Media Net as an availible
option for my particular existing account.

However, when I look at
https://www.cingular.com/media/media_net_purchase , it is listed at
$19.99.

I'd call CS & ask if the unlimited option is only for the first month.
If it goes beyond the first month it is a worthwhile thing to have.

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.cingular (More info?)

dmartin@newarts.com wrote:
> You may be right. I no longer see Unlimited Media Net as an availible
> option for my particular existing account.

Unlimited data used to be part of the MediaWorks package, which includes
messaging and data. That is now 5MB data, and there is no unlimited
MediaWorks package. There is still unlimited MediaNet, though.

> However, when I look at
> https://www.cingular.com/media/media_net_purchase , it is listed at
> $19.99.

> I'd call CS & ask if the unlimited option is only for the first month.
> If it goes beyond the first month it is a worthwhile thing to have.

I didn't phrase my "first month" comment correctly.
Any of the Media Net plans are given unlimited access for one month as a
promotional special until September 24th.

What I meant to say is that either Cingular should extend this "first
month" offer permanently, or a wise individual user might select unlimited
if they intended to do any tethered usage, until they determined what their
level of usage was going to be.

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Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8,-122.5