3 ms·

It's been two months since I canceled by data plan

13 points by southpolesteve 15y ago

acabal 15y ago
Sometimes I feel like some sort of leper amongst the tech crowd because not only do I not have a smartphone, but I haven't even had a functioning cell phone for over a year now. There have been times when a bare-bones cell would have been useful, but most of the time I just work without it. Business communication is over Skype or email. Thing is, I spend so much time on my laptop doing computery stuff that the last thing I want is to have yet another fully-fledged computer in my pocket to nag me all the time. I find the lack of cell phone to be freeing in a way. The downside is that I have to turn down lots of mobile-based work :)
spacemanaki 15y ago
The biggest reason I would probably not be able to go through with this is that I'm pretty sure Verizon (maybe most carriers?) will not let you use a smart phone without the data plan. I just don't think I can go back to one of those horrid "feature phones" for basic cell phone things like calls and texting.
- technomancy 15y ago
  Sounds like a great excuse to find a less abusive carrier.
  - spacemanaki 15y ago
    Heh, I can't argue with that.
- gtracy 15y ago
  That's exactly what happened to me. But if you don't have the data plan, why would you need the phone? Two things I really like about my new feature phone... (a) phone quality is better (b) it's smaller
vectorpush 15y ago
Doesn't utilizing Google Calender API over SMS conflict with the spirit of canceling the data plan? It feels like hacking around a self imposed problem.
- gtracy 15y ago
  It lets me check my calendar in the morning. An important use case, but not something that would generate habit throughout the day.
typicalrunt 15y ago
I'm waiting for the time when carriers realize that everything should be a data plan. Voice is just bits and bytes anyway, so why not roll up the voice minutes into the data plan?
- pvarangot 15y ago
  Maybe because they are already charging that way, getting premium profit out of their bits, and people paying for them and are mostly happy with the product. I mean, if Facebook was charging per wall post and had managed to be massively used as it is today, it would be insane to ask them to go "open bar".
- Steko 15y ago
  Carriers realize this. They also realize they get more money from the current setup as we transition from generations that are used to paying for voice to a more digitally minded consumer base. The ipad plan is a pretty good data only no contract plan. My wife lost her phone so I gave her my iphone and bought a 3g ipad2 and used a cheap prepaid phone while I waited for 4S/5. That ran about $40 a month instead of the $80+/month you get with a smartphone contract.
jrockway 15y ago
I turn notifications off excepts for texts and calls from my friends. Otherwise, my cell phone is a push-only device. Who cares if someone mentioned me on Twitter? Who cares if I have an appointment? Who cares if some bank wants to sell me some bullshit product? Not me, so I opt out. I just want to use Google Maps and read my RSS feeds on the train.

Sometimes I feel like some sort of leper amongst the tech crowd because not only do I not have a smartphone, but I haven't even had a functioning cell phone for over a year now. There have been times when a bare-bones cell would have been useful, but most of the time I just work without it. Business communication is over Skype or email. Thing is, I spend so much time on my laptop doing computery stuff that the last thing I want is to have yet another fully-fledged computer in my pocket to nag me all the time. I find the lack of cell phone to be freeing in a way. The downside is that I have to turn down lots of mobile-based work :)

spacemanaki 15y ago

The biggest reason I would probably not be able to go through with this is that I'm pretty sure Verizon (maybe most carriers?) will not let you use a smart phone without the data plan. I just don't think I can go back to one of those horrid "feature phones" for basic cell phone things like calls and texting.

technomancy 15y ago
Sounds like a great excuse to find a less abusive carrier.
- spacemanaki 15y ago
  Heh, I can't argue with that.
gtracy 15y ago
That's exactly what happened to me. But if you don't have the data plan, why would you need the phone? Two things I really like about my new feature phone... (a) phone quality is better (b) it's smaller

vectorpush 15y ago

Doesn't utilizing Google Calender API over SMS conflict with the spirit of canceling the data plan? It feels like hacking around a self imposed problem.

gtracy 15y ago
It lets me check my calendar in the morning. An important use case, but not something that would generate habit throughout the day.

typicalrunt 15y ago

I'm waiting for the time when carriers realize that everything should be a data plan. Voice is just bits and bytes anyway, so why not roll up the voice minutes into the data plan?

pvarangot 15y ago
Maybe because they are already charging that way, getting premium profit out of their bits, and people paying for them and are mostly happy with the product. I mean, if Facebook was charging per wall post and had managed to be massively used as it is today, it would be insane to ask them to go "open bar".
Steko 15y ago
Carriers realize this. They also realize they get more money from the current setup as we transition from generations that are used to paying for voice to a more digitally minded consumer base. The ipad plan is a pretty good data only no contract plan. My wife lost her phone so I gave her my iphone and bought a 3g ipad2 and used a cheap prepaid phone while I waited for 4S/5. That ran about $40 a month instead of the $80+/month you get with a smartphone contract.

jrockway 15y ago

I turn notifications off excepts for texts and calls from my friends. Otherwise, my cell phone is a push-only device. Who cares if someone mentioned me on Twitter? Who cares if I have an appointment? Who cares if some bank wants to sell me some bullshit product? Not me, so I opt out. I just want to use Google Maps and read my RSS feeds on the train.