Unlimited T-Zones vs. unlimited GPRS data

First off this is a fantastic forum, glad I have found it and hope i will be able to contribute and assit.

I am new to Samsung (v205) and GSM (T mobile 600 min + unlimited nts/wkds). I am an ex QUALCOMM employee that has decided to give the competition a shot. So far I am pleased, though I am a bit confuesed about this set up and data services.

With Verizon I was able to make data (WAP browser access at 14.4, send receive email) calls that utilzed my airtime minutes, can I do this with T-mobile? I would like to play with my camera and WAP browser while utilizing my unlimited off peak minutes. Or am I limited and must I pay for t zones (which looks to me to be a gimmicky, limited, internet access) or the GPRS data package?

What is the differnece between unlimited t zones and unlimited GPRS data?

I have been told a couple of different things from t mobile, hoping ya'll can straighten me out.

tia
eric

Since U.S. carriers still haven't figured out how to market DATA quite yet, the plans and what you get for your $$ is very vague..
Unfortunately our good T-mo sources no longer work there so cant find out exactly whats up in the So-Cal market, which is a carrier market swap/share area in which they are using Cingulars network.

...but to give you some BASICS and further confuse you

. Cingular offers GSM DATA several ways.(T-mo therefore should be identical)

CSD/HSCSD (Circuit Switched Data) is much like you were used to where a dial up # is used and charges are done by airtime/minutes.

Initially they had a CSD Data Plan that was $4.99 monthly plus $.15 minute and minutes were NOT taken from your pool but I believe that is NO LONGER and the above is the ONLY CSD data plan offered.

The other is GPRS in which charges are done by MB data xfer (down/up)
This is basically what the Tmo,Cing,AWS(only offers GPRS) talk about and what T-zones is based around.
T-zones is Tmo's marketing name for there GPRS data. So '*unlimited Tzones and *unlimited GPRS data' is the same. But take note *unlimited in Tmo's lingo is 10mb while quite a bit is NOT unlimited. And they are not specific on how much data there NON-Unlimited tzone plan includes either.

Tzones(T-mo),mMode(Aws),WirelessInternetExpress(Cing) is the names they use there GPRS data which is geared for the advanced data user but also the average 'JOE'. It has 'preset' Linkis and menus to make navigating around a bit more user friendly.

CSD data wasn't really geared for the 'average JOE' because you had to know WAP gateways and use a dialup ISP which meant entering settings and such.

Cingular did and still does offer it (CSD) so I believe you should have access w/T-mo. You will just need to find someone who knows the correct settings.

Hope that made some sort of sense..Tried to keep it from becoming a book but yet still explain the difference.

Dialup data will probably linger around till the carriers get their GPRS and next gen data 'EDGE' equipment/plans/marketing in place. Then i'm sure they will do away with it.

tGuise

If you dont mind answering was curious about your Qualcomm experience.
Like what(you did),how long (you were there), and how come (your no longer)

Tele - thanks for the input on gsm/gprs data, makes sense. Hopefully I can get circuit switched working so I am able to play using unlimited/off peak airtime, then I will rely upon GPRS for peak and "real" data usage.

As for working at QUALCOMM, it was great - a wonderful company. Drop me a note at bb5999@yaho.......... and I will gladly answer your questions and elaborate on my 3 yrs there.

thanks again for the help
eric

Your welcome!

If you dont figure it out before hand ill ask around to see if I can gather any info on 'tmo' parameters.

When you have UNLIMITED evenings and weekends, CSD is like 'top secret' when it comes to the carriers which makes no sense since it basically uses the same resources a VOICE CALL does. Guess they figure you cant talk as long as you can surf

Definitely will give you a jingle...

I think the code to get into your wap profiles is *#87927# You should have a CSD profile already in there..This utilizes your airtime minutes...If you dont have a CSD profile you can create one...Here is my settings:

Voicestream CSD

Home Page = http://wap.myvoicestream.com
Security = Non-Secure
IP Address = 10.168.200.50
Bearer = Data
Login Name = wap
Dial Up Number = +19132440821
Data Call Type = ISDN

Hope this helps

Gleem - Thanks, once I have the settings straightened out how do I diferentiate between initiating a dial up (CSD call?, circuit switched) and a GPRS data session?

Example - with verizon I had to toggle the data settings so I would either connect with Quick Net Connect (CDMA lingo) for 14.4 circuit switched or 1x which was simliar to GPRS (faster, no dial up session)

tia
eric

All you need to do is get into your wap profile via the code and switch pfrofiles

Okay so I tried to create a CSD profile based on my Earthlink account but for some reason when i hit the T-Zone button, it always tries to connect via the GPRS profile. Anybody know how I can change it so it doesn't keep trying to switch back? Thanks.

perhaps there is some confusion here.

I am not trying to dial up to a traditional isp, though this should certainly be possible.

I am going to (hope 2) use cds to access data through the t mobile gateway, on my handset.

As for using your isp i do not know the settings off hand, though this should be something that is easy to come by.

Just to confirm, are you attempting to connect your phone to a laptop/PDA and then dial up to earthlink, in essence using the phone as a modem?

Unlimited T-Zones vs. unlimited GPRS data

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