Hello... I have been looking for a new Cell phone (I have not had one in a while) originally I was going to get a Nextel simply because a lot of my contacts have Direct Connect... I was looking at the i930... but I ran into the PPC-6700 while looking at phones online and the PDA functionality / PC likeness it has is very appealing to me, what can I say im a computer nerd so it seems perfect for me (plus I am a Graphic Artist & Web Designer so I am always on a computer, why not have one in my pocket lol..)

Anyway... Data service is something like $50.00 / mo. from what I have found looking around and I cannot at this time justify paying $100 on a cellular bill, are a lot of the reasons to love this phone data-service dependent in your opinions? I know PDA's have been around since before they were easily online accessible or integrated into phones so I figure it will make a good planner and contact storage device but without the Data service I wont be able to use it for e-mail, web, etc. obviously.

I saw that you can get Data service where you pay something like $15/mb which seems absolutely insane, I probably eat up a mb of bandwith surfing the internet in 45 seconds so that seems a little crazy to me... how long could 1mb of data transfer actually last anyone who uses this phone? I also saw some service which was $20 for 10mb of transfer or something along those lines (keep in mind I was looking at the Verizon version of this phone, which comes in black... I wish the Sprint version did) and some of these prices may be Verizon's service charges.

Anyway, how many people here use this phone without the data services? Am I all alone here or does everyone here feel that paying $100/mo or more on your cell phone bill to be perfectly ok?

I guess money isnt a huge issue, I make decent money considering what I do... but it is a little unsettling paying the same amount as I pay for my 6mb cable internet which will get used 1,000x more than the phones connection.

Will the $20 version of the data service give me a decent amount of usage or will I have it all used up in 3 days? If anyone can post real-time data usage per month they experience so I can get an idea maybe that would help me out.

Thanks a lot for the advice! I really would like to buy this phone today or tommorrow and I want to know if the data service is a huge necessity considering it costs more than the cellular plan I have picked out

Awesome phone reguardless which is definately why I want one!

Also this would be my FIRST PDA, I have never owned one or really gotten to use one so that is why I am asking the question... I am sure it will have a lot of use without going online but I want to be sure

One reason I really think I need data for is weather though, I want a weather forecast on my Today screen, im assuming that requires the data service and weather.com or something?

well, i just got my 6700 about a week ago and i have the pay per kB which i do not use, one feature i liked about this phone above the Treo 700 is the WiFi connection. you said you are into computers so you probably have a wireless internet connection around the house or office and i know they are making the whole world WiFi eventualy, so you will have some internet access for free. about the e-mail, i dont know about that yet, i am still SLOWLY learning the phone. After a week of owning this phone i would have to say it is a verry good phone and all the support you could ever want on this page. thanks guys.

I use the phone without a data plan. I tried the pay as you go data but that was a BIG ripoff. I tried Instant Messaging that way (I was sold by VZ that data usage would be very low doing this) however it used about 3/4 a MB in an hour and all I sent / received was 3 short IM's.

Anyways, I'm with you that the data cost is way too high. However, in my office and at home I use WiFi, no problem there. It works well for me.

Additionally, I seem to rack up data charges (little bits here and there) and the worthless VZ customer service / data service help don't know why so I've had them cut off data from there end. This seems to work however I haven't checked in a week so who knows. I can turn it back on in any cost plan at any time. Apparently, there's plans which customer service has which aren't sold at the store or on the web, basically a few MB's or so for X $'s.

Basically, surfing the web at ~ 3" X 3" isn't my idea of fun however there are things I really want when on the road such as streaming music and the ability to occassionally look something up which is the biggest loss however, here in the NYC area I can much of the time jump onto an open hotspot including in many stores as needed.

BTW, yes you can receive email pretty cheaply. I have 250 msgs for $10. Larger batches of email are even less. AOL IM is now being done via AOLIM mobile forwarding which comes in as a text message so I've kinda got that covered. Only thing there is that you show up as a mobile user to others so you look like your on the road.

The PDA in of itself is decent. Ive had a bunch and this is a significant upgrade from my old Treo 600 phone. The PDA functions are very good, the screen is very good, etc. I've added Wisbar 2 and Wisbar Advanced Desktop and that's great fun for customizing the decent screen. Also, I sync via USB cable and that does the job for me. Do I need wireless sync via EVDO, absolutely not.

I've got Pocketweather and it updates when I'm sync'ing which is kinda often so for me that's not an issue.
Good luck!

Thanks for the replies... I didnt think logically about the weather, I can probably download forecast data from my pc every now and then and take it on the road with me like you said... forecasts dont usually change too extensively over the course of a day or two so I guess I can still have my weather.

Also, I guess there are PCS Vision plans (Im so confused about all these different plans to be honest... cellular data stuff has never been something I looked into very well) but apparently for $15/mo according to someones post I just read on here I can get unlimited internet, sirius radio, and abc news or something... I checked the coverage map and mobile broadband via sprint or verizon is not even available in my city ( lol, cost doesn't matter afterall I guess! ) but PCS is available the whole way thru... and as far as I can tell from reading PCS and Vision are in the same coverage areas? I just cant get the fastest broadband speeds?

When I talk to the Spint person they will be able to tell me for sure I guess, but I like dealing with normal people and learning from you guys more than those people... I dont really like dealing with phone companies to get information more than I need to

The phone sounds great though... still looking forward to grabbing one assuming I can get enough service here to make it worth while... if this PCS Vision unlimited / $15mo plan is what I think it is, and is available I can justify that - what I could not justify is an ADDITIONAL $49.99 on top of my voice costs

Hey all, I've had my Verizon 6700 for about a month now. The Wi-Fi on it is great, and the wireless sync software that comes with it is awesome.

I racked up >20MB in my first month on the unlimited data plan, mostly playing around with it but I called and dropped it to the 10MB plan just yesterday @ $24.95 a month. Using the Wi Fi, I can live without syncing for half an hour while I commute between home and office.

I'd really like to drop the data plan alltogether and if I can get my charges usage down to just Wi Fi in the next 30 days, the EVDO is gone.

I love the PDA. The phone is a little bit difficult without a keypad but otherwise a great tool.

In a way im glad the EVDO isnt even available in my city now that I checked the coverage information... so now I dont need to make a decision lol.

I get unlimited data from sprint for 39.99. That being said, if you aren't going to get a data plan, this is not the phone for you.

I agree with this statement. If you like the idea of the interface but do not plan to use data or any software that depends upon it, perhaps you should check into a SmartPhone instead of this device.

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Shi Kai Wei: XV6700/SCH-i730/XV6600/SCH-i600

I just moved from the Sprint Samsung i500 which was more a phone first, with a Palm OS for PDA second. The 6700 to my thinking is more a PDA first and phone second. I agree with the above posts, I wouldn't use this phone without data, as there are devices that are easier to use as a phone.

guys, 99% of the pda's out there don't have a data connection and some of us need a PDA first and a phone 2nd. I personally don't know why anyone would spend $50 or more for internet on a 3" screen. I've been there and it's a joke. Perhaps you all have your businesses pay for it but some of us aren't in that mode. Yes, if it was "free" for me it would be great however it's not.

Let's clear some stuff up here:

EVDO (really fast wireless internet connection, average of 400-700kbps) = Sprint POWER Vision = Verizon Mobile Boradband

1xRTT (slower internet connection, 144kbps max) = Sprint Vision = Verizon National Access

Regardless of which data speed is available in your area, Sprint will cost you $15/month for unlimited data and Verizon is $45/month for the same (yes, I know, big difference in price). If EVDO is available, the phone will automatically use that and if not, it will use 1xRTT. Either way, you pay the same price. The 6700 is not compatible with the Sirius radio or any TV offering offered by Sprint or Verizon. There are 3rd party programs that you can add to the 6700 to add that functionality but you will need a Sirius satellite radio subscription to make them work, for example.

What you need to keep in mind, is that many users who DO use the data plan do not necessarily use it ONLY to browse the Internet on a tiny screen.

Some use it for the 'reachability' factor. This would be messaging features not typically found on a standard phone.

Some use it for the data factors. Being able to reach FTP files for PC support; Streaming news feeds; Streaming Video; Weather forecasting; Blogging; etc.

Some do all of this over Wi-Fi without an additional data plan. Some do not have Wi-Fi connected most of the time and require the data plan.

The point, is that the original poster mentioned that they really do not plan on using the unit for data period.

If you have no need for data, why use this phone? One could easily use a SmartPhone with a Storage Card for database storage, etc.


But hey, if he wants to spend the money because of the coolness factor, then I totally understand!

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Shi Kai Wei: XV6700/SCH-i730/XV6600/SCH-i600

That's kind of true. if you want to use your phone as a modem for your laptop, it gets a bit more expensive. The Sprint PAM (phone as modem) plan with unlimited data is $39.99/mo at the moment. Verizon has a problem with "phone as modem" and will cancel your plan if you exceed a certain amount of data transfer, even if you have an "unlimited" plan. If you intend to use the phone as a laptop modem with any degree of regularity, you have no real choice other than to go with Sprint.

I own a business that provides managed network support and I use my data plan in 3 important ways:

1) I get my email regardless of my location.
2) I can use my phone to provide a roaming broadband connection for my laptop.
3) I can access my desktop using GoToMyPC from just my cell phone if I need to, and access my entire network from there.

These are incredibly powerful tools in the business world.

Now, if you are just looking for a kewl phone and thinking that you are going to "surf around on the internet for fun from your cell phone screen," then you probably don't have a real need for a data plan. In addition, I'd say this isn't the phone for you.

I use it to carry around to sync my phone book, appointments, notes, undread email, play mp3's, data backup and on and on plus use it as a phone. You may not do any of that but hey, that's your call. Frankly I like the phone for that stuff although with what's comin out on the market that includes a working GPS perhaps this wasn't the phone for me (CDMA?) One thing though, I'm not on the road the majority of the time so remote access isn't something I really need. The one drawback to this whole thing was WM5 / AS 4.1 and if I knew how much they bite compared to ealier versions I may have gone a different way.

Eh... I want the phone because I want a PDA, this phone is a PDA... at this current time I am also looking for a Cell phone, why would I go out and buy a cell phone and a PDA seperately from each other when I can just buy a piece of equipment that is both? A PDA is basically an organizer without the pen and pad of paper... sure I dont want to look at websites at 320x240 resolution because that is worthless... but I am interested in it as a PDA and as a Cellular telephone. My question is... would you all prefer to carry around two clunky objects on you at all times or just one? Thats why Id like a PDA / Phone, easy concept to grasp lol.

I wasnt saying I do not want the data features, I was saying I couldnt justify spending $49.99 on them... at the time I created this thread I had no idea I could get unlimited Data for $15.00 all that I could find on sprint.com was $49.99 unlimited data, hell for $15 I will add it to my service but yeah, not to browse websites @ 320x240 when I can do it at 2046x1536 @ home

Sure if I want to look something up real quick or I want to show someone an image on my website or something, yeah it would be cool to hope on the web browser real quick. Grabbing files off my PC at home, using e-mail, instant messaging, or downloading files to throw on the PC when I get home... etc etc would be cool to me though.

As long as I can setup my pop e-mail servers for my ISP and my imap servers for my 4 websites in the mobile outlook express to check my 5 e-mail accounts on the road that would be a very nice feature though... assuming I dont need to use some worthless sprint e-mail on the phone (i cant imagine I would) then I would love to use it for e-mail too.

Like I said... $15.00 for unlimited data, Sign me up... $49.99... forget it.

I do not use a laptop (I could really use one and benefit from it, but I dont have one) so I do not need a capable service where I can use the phone as an external modem either.

I am also guessing I can store a hell of a lot more contact information per contact in a PDA type phone than I can in a standard phone? Seems like I would be able to have a more extensive contacts database in something like this over a standard cell phone... like addresses, phone numbers, e-mail addresses, website if applicable, etc. etc. per contact... is all of that stuff in there?

I think I am going to the Sprint store to take this baby for a test drive... oh yeah another big factor is that I am getting an incredible price on the phone if I opt for it (under $300) but its not a public offer or anything otherwise I would share... I mean hell, thats cheaper than the i930 I was going to buy... not like im paying $599 for this thing or something.

Just got back from the Sprint Store... very slick phone, I think I like it...only handled it for about 3 minutes just to get a feel of it.

good luck with it.

pooshda- I agree with you except for the data part. But at least with the 6700, you'll be set when you make the decision to get the service. In the meantime, as you said you can at least connect via wifi. I do here with EVDO becaise it allows me to download big files much faster. I just wouldn't have the 6700 without EVDO service.
I do read the blogs and I do google for instant information, news updates and have weather radar and forecasts, podcasts to listen to, news to read, all because I have the service. No, I don't surf the web and spend lost of tiem with big websites not designed to work on a PDA WM5 screen. But that is not all the internet is about for me. I also have my security cameras for my business on screen via the internet EVDO service- As for the cost, yes, expensive, but I do have it as a business expense but I own the business, all of it, so in effect it does come out of my pocket and it is worth it. You may discover, not having it is like you'll miss out on 60% of what it can do for you if you had connection anywhere. Going into an internet cafe is like entering a whorehouse in TJ Mexico with no protection.

BTW- there is a myth that the world will all be wifi. Ha ha! If that happens, the'll need a new technology because wifi is not secure within the lan. If you think people are getting into your system now, wait until you share your wifi connection not just with people you trust in your home, but with everyone on your neighborhood node! There is no security between machines on your side of the Wifi router. It is ethernet security which is no security. There are other technologies, that are more appealing than wifiwans. It's why I stay out of internet cafes!