Thinking of getting the Sprint SERO plan

[ghost recon88]

Sprint has their SERO program rolling now, with 500 anytime minutes, and free night and weekend for $30 a month. Also up through 6/19, they have unlimited texting. I'm thinking I'm gonna get the plan anyways, but I heard you could use one of the Power Vision phones as a broadband modem on your computer.

Has anyone done this? If so, what are your connection speeds like? And do you get charged extra if you use too much bandwidth? For example lets say I left my phone at home all day hooked up to my computer downloading torrents, thats pretty much using bandwidth 24/7, would Sprint add some special charge on my bill for abusing their service?

Or...does anyone know of a cell service that does offer unlimited high-speed through your cell phone, and that you can hook up to a computer?

Any input or thought would be great. The reason I'm considering a phone with high-speed is that the only high-speed we can get where I live is Comcast, and it's $60 a month!

 

[Cdubneeddeal]

I've never used my A920 as a modem but I did ask a CSR what the speeds would be like and thankfully they were honest and said it would be like 56k (This was instore). As far as the bandwith charges, I would call Sprint to ask as I'm not sure. Once I heard about the connection speeds, I quit asking questions. $30 a month for 500 anytime is great! What time does the free nights start? 7 p.m.?

 

[ghost recon88]

9PM

 

[Jawo]

You will not want to use DUN for torrents. I have the EVDO RevA Wireless broadband card, and they best I get is 1.5 Mbps. Thats megabits, not megabytes.

HowardForums is a great site with everything you ever wanted to know about phones.

 

[ghost recon88]

well I don't want to look through all that, $50 a month is almost as much as Comcast. Are there any other major providers out there with broadband cards where the service is only $30-40?

 

[RichieZ]

cingular, if you add mediamax 200 on top of your voice plan its only $20/month. YOu can pop the sim into a 3g aircard.

 

[ghost recon88]

hmm, so thats $20 on top of your normal bill? I'm looking for something where the whole bill is $40 or less...

 

[RichieZ]

Originally posted by: ghost recon88
hmm, so thats $20 on top of your normal bill? I'm looking for something where the whole bill is $40 or less...

My bill is acutally just about $47 per month for my cell and the internet service. I have a $30 voice plan (400 anytime 1000 night/wkend) and then the $20 internet plan, after the 20% discount + taxes its likes 47.33

EDIT:
Now that I see what you want it for, you might as well sign up with comcast. Its a business tool I use when I'm at a hotel or at the airport, I would never consider using it as a primary connection. Plus this is totally against their TOS and you would be sure to get caught.

I've used up to about 2GB per month and had no troubles, but I'm sure if I hit 10GB i would be flagged.

 

[QueBert]

Originally posted by: Jawo
You will not want to use DUN for torrents. I have the EVDO RevA Wireless broadband card, and they best I get is 1.5 Mbps. Thats megabits, not megabytes.

HowardForums is a great site with everything you ever wanted to know about phones.

is 1.5 supposed to be bad? Honestly that's higher then AT&T's basic DSL plan out here. We're talking a cell phone, 1.5mb is pretty damn good

 

[ghost recon88]

Originally posted by: RichieZ

Originally posted by: ghost recon88
hmm, so thats $20 on top of your normal bill? I'm looking for something where the whole bill is $40 or less...

My bill is acutally just about $47 per month for my cell and the internet service. I have a $30 voice plan (400 anytime 1000 night/wkend) and then the $20 internet plan, after the 20% discount + taxes its likes 47.33

EDIT:
Now that I see what you want it for, you might as well sign up with comcast. Its a business tool I use when I'm at a hotel or at the airport, I would never consider using it as a primary connection. Plus this is totally against their TOS and you would be sure to get caught.

I've used up to about 2GB per month and had no troubles, but I'm sure if I hit 10GB i would be flagged.

Its against their TOS to hook it up to your PC and use it as a modem, yet it has that capability which doesn't involve any cracking or anything? Their full of crap! Also for me there was a $150 deposit, is that normal for a cell phone contract???

 

[Wonderful Pork]

Originally posted by: ghost recon88

Originally posted by: RichieZ

Originally posted by: ghost recon88
hmm, so thats $20 on top of your normal bill? I'm looking for something where the whole bill is $40 or less...

My bill is acutally just about $47 per month for my cell and the internet service. I have a $30 voice plan (400 anytime 1000 night/wkend) and then the $20 internet plan, after the 20% discount + taxes its likes 47.33

EDIT:
Now that I see what you want it for, you might as well sign up with comcast. Its a business tool I use when I'm at a hotel or at the airport, I would never consider using it as a primary connection. Plus this is totally against their TOS and you would be sure to get caught.

I've used up to about 2GB per month and had no troubles, but I'm sure if I hit 10GB i would be flagged.

Its against their TOS to hook it up to your PC and use it as a modem, yet it has that capability which doesn't involve any cracking or anything? Their full of crap! Also for me there was a $150 deposit, is that normal for a cell phone contract???

To use dial-up networking (DUN) you need to have a $40 Phone-as-modem (PAM) plan on Sprint. If you do not have this plan you do have to use a "hack" to use your phone as a modem to connect a computer to the internet. Not to mention, the "unlimited" data connect plans are actually limited and they could terminate your contract or even charge you for each kb you use, which would be a massive bill.

That said, I don't think a phone running 3G connected to a computer would be a good permanent internet connection. On my phone you cant get calls/txt while using 3G (i know there are hacks to enable this but it eats my battery real quick) so the phone would essentially be useless. For 5-10 minutes while at an airport or something I could see it, but not full time.

 

[QueBert]

Originally posted by: ghost recon88

Originally posted by: RichieZ

Originally posted by: ghost recon88
hmm, so thats $20 on top of your normal bill? I'm looking for something where the whole bill is $40 or less...

My bill is acutally just about $47 per month for my cell and the internet service. I have a $30 voice plan (400 anytime 1000 night/wkend) and then the $20 internet plan, after the 20% discount + taxes its likes 47.33

EDIT:
Now that I see what you want it for, you might as well sign up with comcast. Its a business tool I use when I'm at a hotel or at the airport, I would never consider using it as a primary connection. Plus this is totally against their TOS and you would be sure to get caught.

I've used up to about 2GB per month and had no troubles, but I'm sure if I hit 10GB i would be flagged.

Its against their TOS to hook it up to your PC and use it as a modem, yet it has that capability which doesn't involve any cracking or anything? Their full of crap! Also for me there was a $150 deposit, is that normal for a cell phone contract???

I had Sprint for years (and loved them) if they're asking for a despot it's because you have bad credit. Sprint is pretty lenient with requiring them. $150 is good, I remember when I got Sprint I had checked with Cingular (well Pacbell back then) they wanted $400 bucks! You pay Sprint $150 and as long as you stay in good standing when the contract is up you get the money back + interest.

I have Verizon now and I use my Q for my primary internet, it's not Cable fast but I hit 100k/s which is fine by me, I technically can't teather without paying them an extra $15 a month, but I already pay $120 so they can blow me, I just don't download massive amounts.

Not sure how Sprint is today but back when I had them and 3G was new, I tethered my phone and was on Emule a lot, needless to say a CS person called me and they wern't happy with my abuse of the service. I had the option to pay for 15 gigs of usage I had acquired over 3 months @ 1cent per k or have 3g totally banned from my account. Needless to say I never had 3g after that point

 

[ghost recon88]

Ok well I just got the plan tonight, and the reason it as $150 is because I just got my credit card last year, and haven't started building credit on it. As far as teathering goes, I did not get the $15 data plan, because I don't see much point in using it as a dial-up modem. Now reguarding high-speed, can I teather on it, without getting charged? Do I need to use a mod on the Sprint Razr in order to enable it? or is it an easy hookup via USB?

 

[erwos]

Originally posted by: ghost recon88
Ok well I just got the plan tonight, and the reason it as $150 is because I just got my credit card last year, and haven't started building credit on it. As far as teathering goes, I did not get the $15 data plan, because I don't see much point in using it as a dial-up modem. Now reguarding high-speed, can I teather on it, without getting charged? Do I need to use a mod on the Sprint Razr in order to enable it? or is it an easy hookup via USB?

First of all, you need that $15 data plan if you want to access the Internet, whether it's "on-phone" or through tethering via Bluetooth DUN. If you don't buy it, they charge you by the kilobyte, which will most assuredly not be friendly to your wallet.

Now, let's assume you shelled out that $15 (which, IMHO, is an amazing deal). You now have permission from Sprint for your phone to eat as much data as it wants (eg, on-board apps), but not to use DUN (aka, tethering). Almost all Sprint phones have firmwares which will flag your phone as using DUN if you do so. Don't assume they can't tell, because they usually can.

From my experience, Sprint has tended to be easy-going about using DUN on the $15 plan, AS LONG AS you don't consume much bandwidth. Grabbing a few meg of data isn't going to bother them, and even if they notice, you can plead ignorance to get the charges dropped (once). But if you were planning on doing any serious downloading, they'll smack you for it, and very hard. Don't cheat.

However, even if you go for the $40 plan, they'll probably cancel you after the first month. No one has cell infrastructure that can really handle constant torrent usage like you're describing. More to the point, you probably wouldn't like the experience, either - EVDO Rev.A has far less bandwidth and way more latency than the average cable broadband connection.

At the end of the day, you get what you pay for. If you want good service, pay for good service.

 

[ghost recon88]

So then is there anything you can buy from Sprint that will allow teathering? Without them charging you by the kb? I mean I see they have their laptop card which has broadband, but that service is some $50 a month!

 

[erwos]

Originally posted by: ghost recon88
So then is there anything you can buy from Sprint that will allow teathering? Without them charging you by the kb? I mean I see they have their laptop card which has broadband, but that service is some $50 a month!

Yes - you pay them $40 a month for the "phone as modem"plan.

 

[ghost recon88]

Ah, theres no way I'm gonna pay $40 a month. I think I'm just gonna order Comcast, and split the price with my parents that way we each end up paying $30 a month. Plus with Comcast, I can have multiple computers hooked up at the same time.

 

[oldman420]

I use sprint as my pc internet connection. I get downloads as high as 120 kbs and uploads at 30-40 kbs. I pay 40 a month for the service it is called "phone as modem" and is NOT part of any regular plan, but it is worth it as I can get online anywhere I get a signal and on any computer.

you do need a power vision phone to use it however.

 

[ghost recon88]

Yea, I see that option, but again, thats $40 a month, and I can split the Comcast bill with my parents, pay $30 a month, and get cable speeds.

 

[blackangst1]

OK although you guys mean well, youre absolutely WRONG. Please refer back to the origial question...SERO plans. This is >>not<< a regular Sprint plan. I've been on SERO for 2 years, so will give you the truth:

First, as of about a month ago, it's quite a bit harder to get. Not impossible, but difficult. That said, here's the facts: $40/month gets you 500 anytime minutes, unlimited texts, unlimited mobile to mobile in Sprint network, free nights/weekends starting at 7, and UNLIMITED data. UNLIMITED. I have a Moto Q and use my internet daily. Sprint's data network is about the fastest out there, same as Verizon's in technology. I average about 256-512k connection so about the same as an entry level DSL connection. You *can* tether depending on the phone.

Google will give you a few other resources about SERO, so Im not going to link specific sites.

 

[cvrefugee]

Originally posted by: blackangst1
OK although you guys mean well, youre absolutely WRONG. Please refer back to the origial question...SERO plans. This is >>not<< a regular Sprint plan. I've been on SERO for 2 years, so will give you the truth:

First, as of about a month ago, it's quite a bit harder to get. Not impossible, but difficult. That said, here's the facts: $40/month gets you 500 anytime minutes, unlimited texts, unlimited mobile to mobile in Sprint network, free nights/weekends starting at 7, and UNLIMITED data. UNLIMITED. I have a Moto Q and use my internet daily. Sprint's data network is about the fastest out there, same as Verizon's in technology. I average about 256-512k connection so about the same as an entry level DSL connection. You *can* tether depending on the phone.

Google will give you a few other resources about SERO, so Im not going to link specific sites.

The SERO 500 plan is $30/month, not $40.

 

[blackangst1]

Originally posted by: cvrefugee
<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: blackangst1
OK although you guys mean well, youre absolutely WRONG. Please refer back to the origial question...SERO plans. This is >>not<< a regular Sprint plan. I've been on SERO for 2 years, so will give you the truth:

First, as of about a month ago, it's quite a bit harder to get. Not impossible, but difficult. That said, here's the facts: $40/month gets you 500 anytime minutes, unlimited texts, unlimited mobile to mobile in Sprint network, free nights/weekends starting at 7, and UNLIMITED data. UNLIMITED. I have a Moto Q and use my internet daily. Sprint's data network is about the fastest out there, same as Verizon's in technology. I average about 256-512k connection so about the same as an entry level DSL connection. You *can* tether depending on the phone.

Google will give you a few other resources about SERO, so Im not going to link specific sites.</end quote></div>

The SERO 500 plan is $30/month, not $40.

Well, yeah for some reason I was thinking about taxes and crap