tzones or proxy on dash, blackberry, or shadow?

DK1000 · Joined: 29 Dec 2007 Posts: 5

Hi,

I was in my local T-Mobile store today, and I was looking at
especially the Dash and the Shadow which I heard are pretty much the
same phone. They said I needed the $20 a month Internet plan, that I
couldn't use the $4.99 unlimited t-zones plan I presently have. Right
now I have a Nokia 3650, and can more or less surf the "regular" Net
with Doris Browser. I read to put a proxy in the phone that it will
work. Will I be able to use t-zones and/or the proxy with a Dash or
Shadow, if I only kept the $4.99 a month plan.
I use that feature very sparingly, just in urgent situations, and did
use it at all for example the last 2 months. I can't justify paying
$20 monthly for a feature I only use once in a while. Does T-Moble
require you to get the $20 plan? That's the feeling I got. Thanks much.

Archived from group: alt>cellular>gsm>carriers>voicestream

BruceR · Joined: 25 Jul 2007 Posts: 132

No, they don't reqire it. Yo can still use TZones. You can use the web
unlimited when using WiFi.

DK1000 wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I was in my local T-Mobile store today, and I was looking at
> especially the Dash and the Shadow which I heard are pretty much the
> same phone. They said I needed the $20 a month Internet plan, that I
> couldn't use the $4.99 unlimited t-zones plan I presently have. Right
> now I have a Nokia 3650, and can more or less surf the "regular" Net
> with Doris Browser. I read to put a proxy in the phone that it will
> work. Will I be able to use t-zones and/or the proxy with a Dash or
> Shadow, if I only kept the $4.99 a month plan.
> I use that feature very sparingly, just in urgent situations, and did
> use it at all for example the last 2 months. I can't justify paying
> $20 monthly for a feature I only use once in a while. Does T-Moble
> require you to get the $20 plan? That's the feeling I got. Thanks
> much.

Todd Allcock · Joined: 25 Jul 2007 Posts: 793

At 28 Dec 2007 17:55:30 -0800 DK1000 wrote:

> I was in my local T-Mobile store today, and I was looking at
> especially the Dash and the Shadow which I heard are pretty much the
> same phone. They said I needed the $20 a month Internet plan, that I
> couldn't use the $4.99 unlimited t-zones plan I presently have. Right
> now I have a Nokia 3650, and can more or less surf the "regular" Net
> with Doris Browser. I read to put a proxy in the phone that it will
> work. Will I be able to use t-zones and/or the proxy with a Dash or
> Shadow, if I only kept the $4.99 a month plan.

Yes. My wife uses the proxy on a Dash, and I do on my MDA.

Having said that, there are somethings that don't work the proxy- like
streaming audio/video, downloads over 900kb, and any internet apps (other
than e-mail) that don't use HTTP (like a Usenet newsreader, for example!)

> I use that feature very sparingly, just in urgent situations, and did
> use it at all for example the last 2 months. I can't justify paying
> $20 monthly for a feature I only use once in a while. Does T-Moble
> require you to get the $20 plan? That's the feeling I got. Thanks much.

Just tell them (as I did) that you don't want to buy any data plan for the
new phone, but wish to keep the $4.99 plan anyway for when you use the SIM
in your 3650, and you realize that the $4.99 "won't work" with the Dash or
Shadow.

That gets them off your back (there's a new "rule" at T-Mo that reps aren't
supposed to activate the $5 plan on Windows Mobile phones, so you're better
off playing dumb and "agreeing" it won't work.)

DK1000 · Joined: 29 Dec 2007 Posts: 5

On Dec 28, 9:48 pm, Todd Allcock wrote:
> At 28 Dec 2007 17:55:30 -0800 DK1000 wrote:
>
> > I was in my local T-Mobile store today, and I was looking at
> > especially the Dash and the Shadow which I heard are pretty much the
> > same phone. They said I needed the $20 a month Internet plan, that I
> > couldn't use the $4.99 unlimited t-zones plan I presently have. Right
> > now I have a Nokia 3650, and can more or less surf the "regular" Net
> > with Doris Browser. I read to put a proxy in the phone that it will
> > work. Will I be able to use t-zones and/or the proxy with a Dash or
> > Shadow, if I only kept the $4.99 a month plan.
>
> Yes. My wife uses the proxy on a Dash, and I do on my MDA.
>
> Having said that, there are somethings that don't work the proxy- like
> streaming audio/video, downloads over 900kb, and any internet apps (other
> than e-mail) that don't use HTTP (like a Usenet newsreader, for example!)
>
> > I use that feature very sparingly, just in urgent situations, and did
> > use it at all for example the last 2 months. I can't justify paying
> > $20 monthly for a feature I only use once in a while. Does T-Moble
> > require you to get the $20 plan? That's the feeling I got. Thanks much.
>
> Just tell them (as I did) that you don't want to buy any data plan for the
> new phone, but wish to keep the $4.99 plan anyway for when you use the SIM
> in your 3650, and you realize that the $4.99 "won't work" with the Dash or
> Shadow.
>
> That gets them off your back (there's a new "rule" at T-Mo that reps aren't
> supposed to activate the $5 plan on Windows Mobile phones, so you're better
> off playing dumb and "agreeing" it won't work.)

Thanks Bruce and Todd for the input. I'm kind of leaning toward the
dash as it has a "full" keyboard. Will the proxy use EDGE if
available, or just GPRS. (My 3650 only has GPRS). Also, is the camera
adequate on these phones (Dash, Shadow) or is the camera sub-par. I
read reviews they're not real great. Thanks again,

Dan

BruceR · Joined: 25 Jul 2007 Posts: 132

DK1000 wrote:
> On Dec 28, 9:48 pm, Todd Allcock wrote:
>> At 28 Dec 2007 17:55:30 -0800 DK1000 wrote:
snip
> Thanks Bruce and Todd for the input. I'm kind of leaning toward the
> dash as it has a "full" keyboard. Will the proxy use EDGE if
> available, or just GPRS. (My 3650 only has GPRS). Also, is the camera
> adequate on these phones (Dash, Shadow) or is the camera sub-par. I
> read reviews they're not real great. Thanks again,
>
> Dan

Re: Shadow. Yes on EDGE; the camera does a credible job but don't throw
out your Nikon. I carry a seperate camera when I'm sightseeing or taking
family photos but the phone's camera is perfectly adequate (and about as
good as my Motorola v6) for the occassional snapshot of an unexpected
event or to photograph samples of things.

Todd Allcock · Joined: 25 Jul 2007 Posts: 793

At 29 Dec 2007 12:08:49 -0800 DK1000 wrote:

> Thanks Bruce and Todd for the input. I'm kind of leaning toward the
> dash as it has a "full" keyboard. Will the proxy use EDGE if
> available, or just GPRS. (My 3650 only has GPRS).

It'll use EDGE, but the proxy slows things down a little. It still Beats
GPRS though. (My MDA replaced my 3650!)

> Also, is the camera
> adequate on these phones (Dash, Shadow) or is the camera sub-par. I
> read reviews they're not real great. Thanks again,

I think the 0.3 MP camera in the 3650 outperforms the 1.3MP camera in the
Dash or my MDA. I haven't tried the Shadow yet, but given HTC's track
record with phone cameras, I'd assume it's lousy.

DK1000 · Joined: 29 Dec 2007 Posts: 5

Thanks again,

I'll try the explanation that I'll still use my 3650 to access t-
zones. I assume you're allowed to have as many phones as you want per
account but only one active SIM card. If worse come to worse, I can
always get the phone on eBay.

As far as cameras, my first 3650 seemed to take great pictures, then
that phone developed problems, would no longer charge, so I got
another 3650, and the pictures weren't as good. I noticed that phone
had an older version of firmware also, and now somehow the lens got
"cloudy", as the pics are awful. As long as the Dash or Shadow can do
as good as my second 3650.

DK1000 · Joined: 29 Dec 2007 Posts: 5

I bought the Shadow phone after all today (Sunday) from a local T-Mo
store. I told them I wanted to keep T-Zones as I said I'll want to
swap the sim card between the new Shadow and old Nokia 3650, and I
will use the T-zones on the 3650, as I don't want to use the new phone
at work. They said that's fine, I have to pay a buck more a month for
T-Zones as I was grandfathered in at $4.99 but the new plan changes
it, as I also went to the $49 Promo plan with 1500 anytime minutes,
free N&W, and LD, and the old plan for the same price was the Regional
3000 plan with no N/W or LD. Howver they said I can never go back to
the Regional 3000 plan, even though it's still offered, they said you
can only be on that plan once. I also got a 2 year contract.

The promo plan is a 2 year contract as it's a promo they said, and the
new phone 2 years, but they don't add to 4 years luckily. I had to
make up my mind as they said the promo price was ending 12/31. I got
the phone for $149 but I have a $50 mail in rebate bringing it to
$99.

So far I made and received some calls, and the handset volume is great
compared to the last 2 phones I had. I didn't do much with the camera
yet. I tried getting online, I thought I was on my wi-fi connection,
but think I was really on t-zones as it was a bit slow, don't know if
gprs or edge at this point, hopefully edge isn't that slow. But now I
can't get on at all, so I have to work on that and RTFM and play with
the settings. Thanks everyone for their help. Happy New Year.

DK1000 · Joined: 29 Dec 2007 Posts: 5

I went and traded my Shadow in for a Dash 2 days ago - Jan. 10. So far
I like the Dash a lot better, no freeze ups, speaker quality a little
better - not great - but better than the Shadow. I like the landscape
layout. Especially for the web, email, etc. Only problem is playing a
video in full screen, it turns it on it's side, with the two sides cut
off a bit. The screen display is not as crisp as the Shadow, but it's
adequate.

It's much easier to type on the Dash vs. the double click keys of the
Shadow. My only gripe is that somehow the number keys on the Dash
could have been a little bigger, kind of rough if you're dialing a
phone number. But then I understand that would mean a bigger phone,
and the layout of the keyboard would be interrupted.

No freezes yet, my Shadow frozen up twice the first day I got it. The
Dash does seem almost as fast as the Shadow given less onboard memory,
if not faster sometimes. I did install a 2 GB memory card also. Free
memory however seems to vary between 3500K and 18000K sometimes with
no rhyme or reason, even with all apps closed via the task manager.
The Shadow would give between about 50000K and 68000K.

The battery seemed to come from the box at 100% on both phones.
However the Dash battery stayed at 100% for about 6 hours, under light
duty. The Shadow would have fallen to perhaps 94%. However both phones
started dropping nore rapidly, once the battery readout did start
going down in %,

I think the Dash may have lasted about 150% or more doing similar
tasks as on the Shadow. I'm hesitant to say twice as long. Even though
the Shadow started dropping faster at 50%, the Dash dropped like a
rock literally. When I woke up today, it still had 40% charge, and
about 60% about 8 hours earlier. It just sat overnight, ready to
receive calls but no Bluetooth, Wi_Fi, or extra apps running.

When I got uo, I started playing with it, and as I said really dropped
like a rock could see it dropping about 2% a minute. At that point, I
put W-=Fi and Bluetooth on just to drain the battery more so I could
do a full charge. Within minutes I got the low battery warning, and
then the critical battery warning about 2 minutes after that. About a
minute later, I plugged it in to my PC via the USB cable to charge it.
I also turned it off and put the SIM in my Nokia 3650 while the Dash
is charging.

I did not like the battery dropping like that after 50% or 60%, but
until it got to that point, again, probably 50% more life than the
Shadow going to almost complete discharge.

So now I'm doing a full recharge with the phone off, hoping to
condition that battery. And I bought a car charger if I need a charge
on the road. Down the road I may order a spare battery.

I have until tomorrow - 1/13 to decide to return this, but I think
I'll keep it, I just know to recharge the battery when the battery
level drops to 2 bars. Both the Dash and Shadow) have 4 battery bars
at 100% charge, and drops to 3 bars under 80%, and 2 bars at about
under 60%, may be 70% on the Dash, so may be better to go by bars
displayed.

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