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02 November 2007 @ 11:37 am
As most of us know, cell phone companies ask for a deposit if your credit is bad, and if you don't want to pay the deposit you can't get a contract. T-Mobile has been a pioneer in keeping people with even the worst credit connected to those that matter most. First T-Mobile rolled out a Smart Access Plan that didn't ask for a deposit, they simply required that you pay your activation fee in store. The Smart Access Accounts limited what rate plans and features you could have, and also set your account up with a spending limit. Once you went over your minutes by so many or you had downloaded a certain ammount of games or ringtones your account was suspeneded before the balance got too high. 

Now after many problems and customer complaints about said accounts T-Mobile has decided to do away with that program. However, current subscribers won't be able to migrate to the new plans until the middle of 2008. 

Flex Pay is T-Mobile's answer for the credit challanged people of the world. With Flex Pay you do not pay a deposit, or an activation fee. You only pay for your rate plan up front every month, the cost of the phone at purchase, and a $5 a month controll charge. This account still limits features that you can have, but it doesn't limit your rate plan. Whats cool about this service is, unlike prepaid, you can get a discount on your handset, and you can get myfaves, night and weekends, mobile to mobile, data, and text for a regular price. 

The only down side to the plan is overage minutes. Once you use all of your anytime minutes the phone shuts off leaving you with only your myfaves and night and weekends. You have to go to a store to purchase a pre-paid refill card to obtain more anytime minutes. Also if you wish to download ringtones or games you must prepay for them at the store or over the phone with a credit card in ammounts of $10, $25, $50, or $100.  
 
 
29 October 2007 @ 03:29 pm

Today T-Mobile announced its newest Windows Mobile 6 Smartphone, the Shadow. The HTC Shadow is a slider with a SureType keypad and quad-band GSM/EDGE radios. T-Mobile and Microsoft developed a user interface overlay that users can use to access most of the phone's features without diving into Windows Mobile. The D-pad doubles as a scroll wheel to navigate through the menus. It also has stereo Bluetooth and a 2 Megapixel camera, expandable storage with the microSD slot up to 4 GB, and Wi-Fi, but not Hot Spot @ Home. It is compatible with MyFaves, and goes on sale October 31st for $150 with two-year contract. T-Mobile has also recently reduced its unlimited data plan pricing from $30 per month to $20. This is the first phone in a "planned franchise of phones" under the Shadow brand exclusive to T-Mobile.

Reducing the price of the data plan was a good move for T-Mobile. Their target age group for the phone is from 18-30, this age group is normally just getting their careers started and don't have the extra cash to burn each month. I've seen the phone itself, and I have to say that its really not that impressive. The phone itself is just a basic slider with Windows Mobile 6.0 which has had many issues. The scroll wheel to navigate through the menu actually spun the wrong direction. I'd scroll left, and it would move right!

 
 
 
14 October 2007 @ 03:06 pm

The Samsung T639, a quad-band GSM/EDGE and WCDMA 1700 clamshell, is on sale at select T-Mobile stores in New York City. The T639 was given 3G approval by the FCC in July and is the first phone to be compatible with T-Mobile's 3G network, even though the network is not yet up and running. T-Mobile won 3G licenses in the 1700 MHz band in the 2006 AWS auction and is currently working on building out its 3G network. The T639's availability indicates that T-Mobile is preparing to launch its 3G network in some markets in the near future. We are looking at somewhere early to mid 2008, which isn't that far off. The markets that will launch first are normally the LA Market as well as New York City. When the network is launched the T639 will first immediately be able to take advantage of advanced voice coverage. There has been some speculation that T-Mobile will take a radical approach to its 3G and use it only to improve voice calling. I for one hope they take 3G into their data, we all know they need too. 

 
 
 
 

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