Many years ago I signed up for data service to a mobile device with Verizon. At the time, verizon had the best network, and there were only a very few companies providing this service.

Whats are my options, today? Anyone out there have a data service plan from someone other than the main carriers (Verizon, Sprint/Nextel
AT&T, T-Mobile) ?

How about Boost or Cricket and such?

If you have a GSM handset, can you shop among data service providers as easily as you can shop among voice service providers?

i love my alltel Blackberry everyone BUY ONE!

I'm assuming alltel is a cell service provider - thats how out of the loop I am. Are they GSM?

Really depends on the location, and what you need it for, and what kind of device you are looking for?
I have used them all,
Verizon
T-Mobile
Att
Sprint/Nextel

I have tried them all as i supported an international based company that needed the devices for data, and also needed the best coverage..

OK so Verizon is Just USA, you will not get service unless you pay for world service with verizon...
Verizon data is only on the device, all of the others will allow you to use your device as a modem, so if you have a netbook you can connect to the internet through your device. ATT will also allow you to use the device as your modem, and talk on it as a phone as well, which is a really great feature..
Verizon has the best service on the coasts... NYC, CA, Boston.. but in the middle of the country, you really have spotty at best service.. I didnt have service at all in Ky, and had to find and use a pay phone..
T-mobile depending on the plan will allow free roaming, which makes it pretty good, since you can run on ATT's network and Sprints network at different locations in the states.. In London they have the best service i have seen in a US based phone.
ATT although not always 3G always has service, their are spotty locations that are usually within walking distance of in service out of service, they also have some of the best phones, The Nokia phones, although not the flashiest have been about the best ones for service i have ever used. Where as the motorola Que phone which looks the same as some of the older Nokia Data phones had about the worst service out their..
Sprint has interesting service, in that either you have full service or you have no service.. Their phones are a combination of the Tmobile and the Att phones. Sprint seems to work real well in area's where you wont have any other providers available, also have the best customer support i have dealt with.. Good to the point that i lost service for a week while in New mexico, and they credited me back the amount for the week.
Alltell wireless runs on ATT's network
Boost runs on Sprints network

Hope this gives you something to go on...

NOTE: if you have phone you have Data service, if you have no phone service you will have no data service... Unless you have ATT since they use two radio's to connect...

GSM is the 2G technology used by AT&T/Cingular and others. It has all but been replaced in the last couple years.

Coming from a verizon motorola smartphone to an iPhone on AT&T and then breaking that and going to a Blackberry 9000 on AT&T. I wish I had been on AT&T with a blackberry the whole time. The iPhone was nice and the apps are killer - the whole thing was so nicely integrated, but there was always something lacking in the day-to-day stuff I use like the planner and contacts folder that the blackberry is perfect on.

not to mention you can tether a blackberry right off and you have to hack the iPhone to do so. I get internet on my laptop all over...

The one thing I love about AT&T I never realized was the case until my buddy was confused how I looked up yellowpages while on the phone with my mom was that Verizon cannot simultaneously do data and voice. AT&T can. And while AT&T has severely spotty 3G coverage, it's the fastest when you get it and AT&T actually has 2.5G networks called their edge network that is just as fast as Verizon's 3G so coverage is not an issue. I also have data coverage far more than my girlfriend with her verizon phone though her voice range seems to be better.

I'd say go AT&T. You may not need the blackberry or anything, but data on at&t is far better than it ever was on Verizon for me.

Couldn't have said it better myself..

Are you saying that you cannot get a data service plan without also getting a voice plan?

Thats one of my questions. I was under the impression that T-mobile has a data-only plan available for smartphones (not just usb dongles...) which is available to someone who doesn't have a voice plan with them. I know this is something which should be easy to clarify with a rep, but after speaking to several reps who confuse 3G with wifi, I'd rather not mix my confusion with their confusion.

You mean it has been replaced for data usage, right? GSM is still common for voice, right?

Long ago, phones were categorized into GSM, TDMA, CDMA, and the frequency they broadcast on.... GSM phones on a certain frequency could be used on any GSM network on that frequency - and that was basically the whole story (at least as any consumer need know) about network compatibility.

Where does data service fit into this? I had assumed that all phones that (a) use GSM for voice and (b) are 3G capable - would all be compatible on the same network, for data - whatever it might be called.


For example, (as I understood it...) verizon was CDMA, and they had the EVDO network for their 3G. I thought that all CDMA phones that were 3G capable used EVDO, and so voice compatibility with verizon's network implied data compatibility. Is this wrong? Or wrong as a general rule?

All I want to know is how to shop for hardware and service separately, know what I'm doing regarding network compatibility, and get data service without paying for voice service (And verizon is out of the question, since they don't support SIMs).

As far as data service being 'categorized' along with the GSM/CDMA/TDMA labels....

It looks like AT&T and T-Mobile both use GSM. And they both use EDGE. And they both use UMTS/HSDPA.

I have no idea what this means, but this seems to support the idea that I can expect a 'GSM phone' that has more advanced data ability to be usable (for data) with any carrier (that provides data service) that normally provides voice service to GSM phones.

So if someone got a smartphone from AT&T, they should be able to switch to Tmo (and the other way), and the data service would work well on either network....am I getting this right?