[Discuss] Verizon wireless "mandatory" dataplan

[sweetser at alum.mit.edu (Doug)]

My wife and I both have Xperia Ray Android smart phones (think tiny
for a smart phone with a good camera).  Both were purchase unlocked
for about $250 and run ice cream sandwich (the 4.0 version of the
android OS).  Our carrier is T-Mobile, using their pay-as-you-go, no
data plan.  We both have wifi at work and wifi at home.  In a year's
time, we pay T-Mobile $400 for all our minutes (4x1000).  The only
time I could imagine really needing data might be to do GPS-like
stuff.  I bought Copilot that downloads the maps to the phone, so now
that is a non-issue.  I don't need to write email except at home or
the office.

I don't Verizon wants to talk to you unless you show up with $50+$10
taxes per month, and they easily push things to a $100 or more.  Data
in the car is not worth the cost.
Doug