Help picking carrier and Iphone

[rebangbog]

Hey! what a great forum. SOOO glad I found it.

I am a classical pianist/cancer survivor w/ a lot of financial limitations. My ex is kicking me off of his plan as of Jan. 16. Currently with Verizon, non smart phone. (more about me on my facebook page.)
I do all my scheduling on line at my piano studio website. All admin, marketing, etc. on a Mac.Am trying to get into social networking to promote a new fundraising project to reduce my 6 figure post treatment debt.

I am trying to find the least expensive way to be able to access my calendar in a mobile device. Seems Iphone is the answer. But what is the best approach:

new contract w/ ATT which I figure will run me $75/mo + tax for voice, data, text. Phone will be $140 + tax because of the lovely 'activation fee'.

buying used/unlocked phone somewhere or other, then getting new contract w/ T Mobile. Maybe also getting a free phone through T mobile in case I can't get I phone to work right away? I haven't really researched all the charges on this. Did see posts about 'edge' service which seems like it would be cheaper.


So, I would love hear opinions about what I should do. I am not sure which choice is the best blend of convenience/less hassle vs. cost. I am leaning towards ATT but will call T Mobile tomorrow. I would LOVE to know what other people think. I need to move on this in the next 2-3 days.

Thanks in advance!!!

 

[Alli]

Prices for monthly service at T-Mo are a fraction of what you'll pay on AT&T. You can get any phone you want on ebay to use on T-Mo, but it uses a different frequency than AT&T, so you will not get fast data with an unlocked iPhone no matter what you pay.

 

[rebangbog]

This is a great help. But what does 'fast' data mean? Will I be able to pull up a web page w/o video or music and 3-4 screens of entry within about 3 minutes? (this is what I need for web based calendar access).

I will call T Mobile today to see what they say about it too. But would love any knowledge you have about it -seems you would be more relieable!
r

 

[rebangbog]

Got my Iphone about 2 weeks ago and love it

I bought it on Ebay. Then got T-Mobile w/ the cheap $5 internet. It works great!!

 

[flyingember]

the faster internet is 3g. Edge is close to dialup in speed. 3g is faster than many home internet connections.

if you go with AT&T your phone will always work.

to go with tmobile you have to jailbreak and unlock the phone which you're not always going to be assured of being able to do and updating the phone to get the newest features may be months behind. it requires much more technical skill to handle. there's been countless stories here about jailbreaking messing up, they restore and are locked out of t-mobile.

as far as your calendar, it needs to support a technology the phone does. such as there's no flash on the phone so if the calendar uses it you won't be able to access it. if you can mention where your calendar is at that would be helpful

 

[rebangbog]

you are right about technical savvy

...because just last night I foolishly upgraded w/ the new firmware. Now the phone doesn't work... I am going to try to unlock w/ redsn0w and point it to the older firmware by following directions at IClarified. If it doesn't work I am going to have to wait until someone figures out how to jailbreak the new Apple 'upgrade'. Meanwhile I will have my sim card in the free phone TMobile gave me when I signed up.

Also, the web browsing is very slow. But it's too late, I have signed a two year contract w/ TMobile. Oh well, it's the price I pay for impetuosness (clicking the 'yes' button w/out researching about Iphone upgrades first.). After having been through cancer treatment for 1.5 years, nothing else seems too serious.

The calendar should eventually work on the phone - I can export from my site to Google's calendar utility which then syncs w/ Ical.

 

[rebangbog]

How?

Great. How? please share some details...