by Frank McPherson, author of How To Do Everything With Windows Mobile

 
Ok, to get the obvious question out of the way, yes, I did place my order for a T-Mobile G1, aka the Gphone. However, there is good news and bad news amongst the river of news that has flowed through Google Reader today.

First, the good news is that I will be able to get T-Mobile's G3 service for the same monthly price as I pay today. T-Mobile has two price plans for the G1 data service, one is $35/mo for unlimited Internet and text messaging, the other is $25 per month for unlimited Internet and 400 text messages. Today I pay $4.99 per month for 400 text messages and $19 per month for unlimited Internet. Now, with the G1 data plan I believe I do lose access to the T-Mobile Hotspots, which is curious since the G1 has Wi-Fi. Hotspots is currently bundled in my $19 per month Internet access and I don't see why that couldn't continue. Isn't AT&T providing Hotspot access to iPhone customers?

Bad news with the data service is that Gizmodo has found fine print indicating that T-Mobile states that if I use more than 1 GB of data per month they may restrict my data rate to 50 kbps, which is less than what I get today on Edge. That is not acceptable!

Also found out that the G1 will not support tethering so I won't be able to use it with a laptop computer. I think the fine print that Gizmodo found is T-Mobile's back up plan knowing that since Android is largely open source some developer is going to figure out how to tether. If you tether you are really likely to use more than 1 GB per month. I think at some point T-Mobile will have to get real and support tethering, probably with a higher monthly data plan.

Despite these negatives I want to be an early adopter, primarily because I am becoming frustrated with the lack of much new with Windows Mobile. News that came out today that Windows Mobile 7 is even further delayed didn't help.

Labels: 2008, android

posted by Frank at 9:41 PM

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