$29.95 1200 anytime minutes / 3000 texts / 100mb Data on Verizon Wireless Network! (Page Plus) NO CONTRACT!

Quote from cizastro : Total phone newb here, but exactly what does 50 MB equate to on a phone? Say I were to get one of those U750 (Samsung) or LG Dare, would it drain data like people mentioned about the Android or is that a completely different circumstance? I'm basically looking to get a new phone that I can talk & text on and maybe surf the web every now and then (not all the time). Would 50 MB be enough to do that?

You haven't really told us anything. What does "surf the web" mean to you? Checking email? Youtube videos? News reports? Those all use different amounts of data.

Quote from cizastro : Total phone newb here, but exactly what does 50 MB equate to on a phone? Say I were to get one of those U750 (Samsung) or LG Dare, would it drain data like people mentioned about the Android or is that a completely different circumstance? I'm basically looking to get a new phone that I can talk & text on and maybe surf the web every now and then (not all the time). Would 50 MB be enough to do that?

Just about any PagePlus compatible phone will let you talk and text. The following is a good rule of thumb and general reference regarding the 50MB data usage you are alloted with the 1200 plan:

How much data is 50mb?

While an exact estimate or exact numbers cannot be given, the following are some general figures to help you figure out how much data this plan will deliver for you on average, so that you can plan accordingly:

1 hour of web
browsing = 20MB

1 minute of streaming
video = 4MB

100 average emails without attachment = 1MB

1 average MP3
download = 5MB

NOTE:
A kilobyte(kb) is a unit of measurement for data. There are 1,024 kilobytes in 1 megabyte(MB). Amount of data used while Web browsing varies based on the complexity of the Web page itself, the number of graphics or multimedia on a page, the quality of the graphics, and the device used.

Quote from shhaggy : You haven't really told us anything. What does "surf the web" mean to you? Checking email? Youtube videos? News reports? Those all use different amounts of data.

Sorry, by surf the web I'd probably just check Facebook/E-mail and the occasional sports scores. Highly unlikely that I'd use it for Youtube videos or anything like that.

EDIT - Thank you Vig, that was very helpful!

Quote from cizastro : Sorry, by surf the web I'd probably just check Facebook/E-mail and the occasional sports scores. Highly unlikely that I'd use it for Youtube videos or anything like that. EDIT - Thank you Vig, that was very helpful!

You're welcome

Also remember to visit the mobile websites of facebook (e.g., http://m.facebook.com/) and your email in order to minimize your data usage.

Quote from cizastro : Sorry, by surf the web I'd probably just check Facebook/E-mail and the occasional sports scores. Highly unlikely that I'd use it for Youtube videos or anything like that. EDIT - Thank you Vig, that was very helpful!

Quote from Vig2000 : You're welcome Also remember to visit the mobile websites of facebook (e.g., http://m.facebook.com/) and your email in order to maximize your data usage.

You should be fine. Facebook has a mobile app that won't use much data. mlb.com and all of it's team sites have mobile pages. For most of these sites, your phone will usually automatically load the mobile version (for some windows mobile phones, IE has an option to set for that).

If the hold music cuts out on their 800 line, does that mean I've been disconnected? This is a little odd...

Quote from Vig2000 : If anyone is looking for a great phone recommendation, I really recommend the LG Dare. I was previously using the very old LG EnV, but it was starting to die on me. Luckily, my girlfriend had a spare Dare lying around, so she gave it to me. The touch interface took a little time to get used to, but I really like this phone. Not only is it feature-rich, but it's also very stylish.

I have an LG Dare on PPC and would agree it's a good option if it seems like the right kind of phone for you. (Some people who send a lot of texts might want a real keyboard. That's not me.)

CNET review of LG Dare [cnet.com]

As long as you get a phone with a clean ESN (one that Verizon doesn't think is stolen or defaulted) you should have no trouble activating it. You can check ESNs using online services.

Pros: Good call quality. Very good battery life. Big screen, which is great if you want to see photos, use features, or read stuff (vs write stuff). Semi usable camera. Takes microSD cards to expand memory for music, photos, video, etc. Works fine for me as a music player, though it's no iPod - if you had a lot of music it would be cumbersome. Micro USB charger plug, makes it easy to have cables to use with chargers, laptops, car, USB hub, etc. - no proprietary plugs means less gear to carry and makes it easier to charge it anywhere. Size is small enough for me.

Cons: Screen is unreadable in daylight. It's very easy to punch the wrong keys on the keyboard, though maybe with more practice some would not have that problem. Camera is very slow to shoot and store photos, and quality isn't good enough to make me not want to carry a real camera too.

A handwriting interface was a stupid idea when Palm started it ages ago, and it still is, so I haven't tried it at all.

The newest versions of bitpim (link) [bitpim.org] support the LG Dare, so there's a lot you can do easily with that. Especially transferring contacts from Outlook to the phone.

General PPC issues:

The PPC web proxy is messed up, borders on unusable - always redirects to MSN.com. I'm going to look into setting up my own proxy. Too messed up to use most of the time.

See the wiki [howardforums.com] for info on how to set up the proxy.

And email doesn't work either, at least until I get the internet working.

Quote from theimage13 : If the hold music cuts out on their 800 line, does that mean I've been disconnected? This is a little odd...

No, it doesn't mean that. I seem to recall it was sporadic, or maybe your closer to someone answering.

I need to note that I've never experienced horrible wait times, not the best but not intolerable either, no a rude rep.

Everyone should go here for phone recomendations/ideas:
http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/...r=r&ca_2=y
I can't imagine using a non-smart phone that can't sync with my PC, doesn't have wifi, GPS, or a QWERTY keyboard. The XV6800 is probably the least expensive phone with those abilities (roughly $85), plenty of newer & sleeker options available as well. Some older discontinued Alltel phones may also work, but that's up to you to determine.

Edit: Also, Winmo phones manufactured by HTC generally have the best/most options for custom ROMs.

Quote from buzzy : I have an LG Dare on PPC and would agree it's a good option if it seems like the right kind of phone for you. (Some people who send a lot of texts might want a real keyboard. That's not me.) CNET review of LG Dare [cnet.com] As long as you get a phone with a clean ESN (one that Verizon doesn't think is stolen or defaulted) you should have no trouble activating it. You can check ESNs using online services. Pros: Good call quality. Very good battery life. Big screen, which is great if you want to see photos, use features, or read stuff (vs write stuff). Semi usable camera. Takes microSD cards to expand memory for music, photos, video, etc. Works fine for me as a music player, though it's no iPod - if you had a lot of music it would be cumbersome. Micro USB charger plug, makes it easy to have cables to use with chargers, laptops, car, USB hub, etc. - no proprietary plugs means less gear to carry and makes it easier to charge it anywhere. Size is small enough for me. Cons: Screen is unreadable in daylight. It's very easy to punch the wrong keys on the keyboard, though maybe with more practice some would not have that problem. Camera is very slow to shoot and store photos, and quality isn't good enough to make me not want to carry a real camera too. A handwriting interface was a stupid idea when Palm started it ages ago, and it still is, so I haven't tried it at all. The newest versions of bitpim (link) [bitpim.org] support the LG Dare, so there's a lot you can do easily with that. Especially transferring contacts from Outlook to the phone. General PPC issues: The PPC web proxy is messed up, borders on unusable - always redirects to MSN.com. I'm going to look into setting up my own proxy. Too messed up to use most of the time. See the wiki [howardforums.com] for info on how to set up the proxy. And email doesn't work either, at least until I get the internet working.

buzzy, you summed up the Dare's pros and cons perfectly! i think the biggest con is the touch keyboard...i switched to the Dare after using an EnV for over three years...the EnV had a very nice physical keyboard, and i'm still trying to adjust to the Dare's touch keyboard...and you're right, it's very easy to punch the wrong keys on the keyboard, but i am getting better! you should see my girlfriend text using the predictive text feature...it's ridiculous how fast she is...but a quick question for you: how did you get the internet to work on your Dare? i can't seem to figure that out...

EDIT: Nevermind, I just saw your edited post above regarding Bitpim...I'll try that procedure to see if I get the internet working...

Quote from buzzy : And email doesn't work either, at least until I get the internet working.

Well, I have tried the mobile email. Hotmail and Verizon email do work without the internet working, but Gmail doesn't work straight out of the box. At least for me.

I just switched to PP from the "Big Red Machine" and I love it! No more big bills for me!

Thanks to all of those here who had great information and tips!!

Quote from cizastro : Sorry, by surf the web I'd probably just check Facebook/E-mail and the occasional sports scores. Highly unlikely that I'd use it for Youtube videos or anything like that. EDIT - Thank you Vig, that was very helpful!

Here are some other mobile sites:

Quote from SethRogaine : I just discovered these mobile sites last night and thought I would share. Some came from here: Linky [pcworld.com] Amazon [amazon.com] ebay [bonfiremedia.com] fandango [fandango.com] Wikipedia [wikipedia.org] accuweather [accuweather.com] MLB [mlb.com] Remember to use Opera Mobile with Opera Turbo for the best data usage (Turbo compresses the websites on Opera's servers before they are sent to your phone, reducing data usage). Enjoy.

Facebook has a decent mobile site, too. You should be able to surf quite a bit if you stick to mobile sites and a Windows Mobile phone. If you want to do something like Google Sync, setting it to manual syncing will improve your battery life and data usage. And Google Sync is awesome. Check it out if you haven't already. Good luck.

I've been on P+ for a few months and I love it. I bought a Blackberry 8703e before they banned them, and then flashed it to 4.5 and ended up never having data. A fluke caused me to reset it to 4.2 and suddenly data works! Would would have known?! I went for 6 months without my nice data plan and now I have it! Hooray. P+ has never dropped a call, or missed a text message and never delayed it. I get excellent coverage and have never had any problems besides going on the Chicago northside in my friend's basement. The network is solid!

Opera mobile is awful, and I use the Bolt Browser now. Sometimes the whole page still doesn't load though.

I hope they allow Blackberries back again, I would love to have a more modern one. The 8703e has survived numerous drops (including a two flight stair drop which crippled the power button) but I have never worried about it stopping to work. I don't have to charge it for days on end and its got a standard microUSB plug. This is one of the best pieces of hardware I have ever owned for sure. It helps that its so big and ugly as well, I never worried about someone wanting to steal it.