What Phone Data Plan Do you Have?
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I have Verizon, and I grandfathered in my unlimited data.
The data that I use is mostly GPS. I take pictures onsite, and do my reports at home.
The data that I use is mostly GPS. I take pictures onsite, and do my reports at home.
"I told myself to quit you; but I don't listen to drunks." -Chris Stapleton
I have a family plan me, my sister and her family, and my parents who all pitch in money for our phones on AT&T. My share is $30 a month, so I give my sister a lump sum of $360 a year for my share. For data specifically, we all share 12 gb. It's not an issue for us since we're typically connected to wifi when we're at home and at work.
Shopping the Greater Denver Area, Colorado Springs and in-between in Colorado. 33 year old male and willing to travel!
I have unlimited data on Sprint. As more MSC's develop USABLE apps, I think it will come in handy.
I don't know what is what when it comes to these technical terms, but I just bought a data plan that allows me 5gb/month.
Would anyone know if that's enough to complete a few shops a week requiring phone internet access?
For $10 more, I could have gotten 10gb/month.
Would anyone know if that's enough to complete a few shops a week requiring phone internet access?
For $10 more, I could have gotten 10gb/month.
Just try the plan you have now and if it isn't working for you, upgrade. I'm sure the cell phone company will be more than happy to take more money from you.@shoptastic wrote:
I don't know what is what when it comes to these technical terms, but I just bought a data plan that allows me 5gb/month.
Would anyone know if that's enough to complete a few shops a week requiring phone internet access?
For $10 more, I could have gotten 10gb/month.
I have unlimited everything through a company plan so I don't pay attention to usage at all. Except if my battery is running low.
I went the last two years with just 1G per month. I would take pics with my camera and upload them at home. I am always on home wifi unless I"m on the road, and then I turn my data off until I need it so my background apps don't use it all up. So with that said, I've upped to 2G and will see how many gas stations I can do with the app on it. Since we can wait until we get home to wifi to upload and finalize the shop with the app I don't anticipate a problem. However, if I needed it I wouldn't let $10 stop me. That's just one gas station and I can knock out 5 a day easily.
@shoptastic wrote:
I don't know what is what when it comes to these technical terms, but I just bought a data plan that allows me 5gb/month.
Would anyone know if that's enough to complete a few shops a week requiring phone internet access?
For $10 more, I could have gotten 10gb/month.
Last year I had several months where I did 200+ gas station audits in a month including uploading photos. The few times I went over my 8GB plan it wasn't by much. 5GB should be more than enough for now.
There are reasons that a body stays in motion
At the moment only demons come to mind
At the moment only demons come to mind
I use AT@T and take pictures which I upload at home using my home computer. I'm not big on too many app's.
I pay $25.00 a month and have a deduction for auto pay.
I pay $25.00 a month and have a deduction for auto pay.
Live consciously....
I have a free phone thru mystery shopping that I get 500 MB a month free data. I have never used it all. I also just have the phone set to use the free wifi when available and at home have fios which it uses. 5 GB should be plenty and if you can go prepaid that is usally cheapest at like $45 a month AT&T unlimited talk text and like 3 or 5 GB data.
Shopping Western NY, Northeast and Central PA, and parts of Ohio and West Virginia. Have car will travel anywhere if the monies right.
@CoffeeQueen wrote:
I went the last two years with just 1G per month. I would take pics with my camera and upload them at home. I am always on home wifi unless I"m on the road, and then I turn my data off until I need it so my background apps don't use it all up. So with that said, I've upped to 2G and will see how many gas stations I can do with the app on it. Since we can wait until we get home to wifi to upload and finalize the shop with the app I don't anticipate a problem. However, if I needed it I wouldn't let $10 stop me. That's just one gas station and I can knock out 5 a day easily.
I'm slightly confused.
I'm not very good with understanding technology, so I hope you'll forgive me if I'm missing something or stating something incorrectly.
I have a cell phone that has 5G of internet access (is that what they call data?) per month. If I have a shop and take a picture on my phone, I thought I HAVE to upload it using my phone's internet access, no?
I have WiFi at home too. But are you saying that I can just take pictures on the road and use my house WiFi to connect my phone to the internet and upload that way? I thought your home WiFi (I have Verizon Fios) is totally separate from what your phone can do/has.
Am I wrong or missing something? Thanks a bunch.
Hi, the Data(internet) you use on your phone accesses your cell plan whenever you are not on WIFI, at home or elsewhere. It only uses data when you upload the picture to your report, usually from home(wifi). You do not use data to take pictures only when you are connected to the internet. I run every app under the sun on my iPhone and 5GB is enough for regular mystery shopping. I am with Verizon and we have a 20GB plan for 4 people. We sometimes do go over into our "unlimited" data, which is much slower and not optimal for running any large apps.
@LeslieKay111 wrote:
Hi, the Data(internet) you use on your phone accesses your cell plan whenever you are not on WIFI, at home or elsewhere. It only uses data when you upload the picture to your report, usually from home(wifi). You do not use data to take pictures only when you are connected to the internet. I run every app under the sun on my iPhone and 5GB is enough for regular mystery shopping. I am with Verizon and we have a 20GB plan for 4 people. We sometimes do go over into our "unlimited" data, which is much slower and not optimal for running any large apps.
Well, this is going to sound very obtuse and I don't blame you or anyone if you think I'm hopeless!
But, you said above that the data accesses the internet when I'm not on WiFi.
Do you mean that I CAN you my home WiFi to upload those pictures, instead of my phone internet (data)? Because if so, then I'd be more than happy to just take pictures on the road for shops and bring them home to upload to the net using my home WiFi connection.
But I thought house WiFi connections (I have Verizon Fios) don't connect to your phone and that's why you have to buy phone internet (or data if that's what they call it). Am I wrong?
Sorry for the confusion. Tech dinosaur here!
Yes, you connect to the internet from home(wifi) under settings on your phone. Usually, you sign in once and then whenever you are in the wifi vicinity it will automatically start using wifi. The data plan is for using the internet when not on wifi.
@LeslieKay111 wrote:
Yes, you connect to the internet from home(wifi) under settings on your phone. Usually, you sign in once and then whenever you are in the wifi vicinity it will automatically start using wifi. The data plan is for using the internet when not on wifi.
DOH!
I could have saved my $$$.
Although, are there shops that definitely would require internet access away from the home? Maybe I can do those this month since I already bought data for the month.
My family shares 10G and we have a teenager.
I use my data for continual hotspot on the road. I've also used it for writing reports. I'm the only person in the family that hasn't gone over her 2000 a month, My niece gets gobsmacked every couple of months because she blows out the 10G for all of us. She is required to pay for it with chores. When she blows it huge, normally in the summer, her chores get intensive.
I haven't gone over my 2K with connecting to the iPad, starting reports and writing a few on the road.
'
I use my data for continual hotspot on the road. I've also used it for writing reports. I'm the only person in the family that hasn't gone over her 2000 a month, My niece gets gobsmacked every couple of months because she blows out the 10G for all of us. She is required to pay for it with chores. When she blows it huge, normally in the summer, her chores get intensive.
I haven't gone over my 2K with connecting to the iPad, starting reports and writing a few on the road.
'
Live your life in such a way that when your feet hit the floor in the morning; the devil shudders...And yells OH #%*+! SHE'S AWAKE!
I use MetroPCS's 1 GB plan which slows down to 3G for $30 and came with a free phone. The plan includes Hotspot. I Hotspot/wifi my Samsung S6 from Sprint which I purchased on Swappa dot com for $200. The MetroPCS phone is used as an extra phone number, texting notes to and GPS.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/08/2017 11:48AM by sstazz.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/08/2017 11:48AM by sstazz.
I've been with Republic Wireless for over 3 yrs now. Unlimited voice and text for $10/month, data is unlimited also via WiFi which is almost everywhere I mystery shop. After taxes it's $12.38/mo. Let's keep this a secret, okay? 
I have Straight Talk. I have unlimited talk, text, and data. The data slows down after you use 5G of data a month. I shop only part time, but I never go over 2G a month. This plan costs $45 a month.
I had Verizon for about 12 years before I finally ditched them for Project Fi. Check them out if you haven't heard of them -- it's google, but they use Sprint and T-Mobile towers. I literally (and consistently) pay HALF of what I paid Verizon for the same usage. I also get free international data (well, it's charged the same as US data is -- I mean free as in "it doesn't cost anything additional"
You pay a flat fee for calling/texting ($20/month) and then each 1GB of data you use is charged at $10. And it is pro-rated to the penny. So you have to sign up for at least 1GB/month ($30/month bill)...but if you only use .5 GB, you will get a $5 credit on your next statement.
Also, FYI, the taxes/fees are super minimal -- a couple of bucks a month. Their customer service is fantastic, and while their network isn't quite as good/extensive as Verizon, it's worth the $40/month savings and the free international data!
If you're interested in signing up, you can get $20 off with this link: [g.co]
You pay a flat fee for calling/texting ($20/month) and then each 1GB of data you use is charged at $10. And it is pro-rated to the penny. So you have to sign up for at least 1GB/month ($30/month bill)...but if you only use .5 GB, you will get a $5 credit on your next statement.
Also, FYI, the taxes/fees are super minimal -- a couple of bucks a month. Their customer service is fantastic, and while their network isn't quite as good/extensive as Verizon, it's worth the $40/month savings and the free international data!
If you're interested in signing up, you can get $20 off with this link: [g.co]
@shoptastic wrote:
@CoffeeQueen wrote:
I went the last two years with just 1G per month. I would take pics with my camera and upload them at home. I am always on home wifi unless I"m on the road, and then I turn my data off until I need it so my background apps don't use it all up. So with that said, I've upped to 2G and will see how many gas stations I can do with the app on it. Since we can wait until we get home to wifi to upload and finalize the shop with the app I don't anticipate a problem. However, if I needed it I wouldn't let $10 stop me. That's just one gas station and I can knock out 5 a day easily.
I'm slightly confused.
I'm not very good with understanding technology, so I hope you'll forgive me if I'm missing something or stating something incorrectly.
I have a cell phone that has 5G of internet access (is that what they call data?) per month. If I have a shop and take a picture on my phone, I thought I HAVE to upload it using my phone's internet access, no?
I have WiFi at home too. But are you saying that I can just take pictures on the road and use my house WiFi to connect my phone to the internet and upload that way? I thought your home WiFi (I have Verizon Fios) is totally separate from what your phone can do/has.
Am I wrong or missing something? Thanks a bunch.
Apologies if someone else already answered this but I'm kind of on the run. However, I take the pictures and I have my cloud settings to only upload when WiFi is available. So when I get home, I make some coffee and by that time (using my home WiFi) the pictures have uploaded to One Drive. I go into the new folder and separate them all out into their own folders which takes ten minutes tops. You do not have to use data, if you have WiFi at home. Check your WiFi settings on your phone, it will connect to your Fios and save your data for when you want to upload on the road or for GPS. These are my main two uses of data. You can also use WiFi anywhere that has free WiFi, to upload your pictures, although my home WiFi is so much faster that I find it annoying to wait at McD's.
I have found a few places that have fast WiFi, Lowe's usually does, if you can park at a AT&T and use theirs it's usually fast. That being said, if you have a good plan and affordable deal, you can save yourself a lot of hassle by uploading pics as you go. Most companies have their own apps now and that is a time saver if you can do those reports and not have them waiting when you get home.
It depends on how many shops you do and if you use wi-fi from McDs or others. For me, I found wi-fi not to be reliable and I try to do most, if not all, of the reports as I go or when I have a break between shops. Yes, I occasionally complete a report on the pretty much abandoned highways between one shop and the next. I had Verizon and that is the best service but I switched to TMobile about a year ago and it's half the price for almost the same service $75 for unlimited everything for my phone and 5gb for my tablet. I go way over the 16gb Verizon plan because of the apps, shops and my daughters sending and expecting video all the time.
We switched from T-Mobile to Ting Mobile. I looked over our usage from the past year and found we were not using our minutes and texts as much. T-Mobile was $109 a month for our two phone with unlimited everything, we were grandfathered into an old plan. Our first month with Ting was $76 including taxes and fees. You pay for only what you use. Base price is $6 a month per phone then text, calling and data added in. My husband went over on the base data so it cost us more, we used close to 3gb. Most of the time I'm on home wi-fi or using Google voice for texting now, so I figure I will cut down on the usage even more.
When you go home or go into anyplace that has free WiFi, make sure you are logging into their Internet so you aren't using up your own data. You go into your settings to log in to free public WiFi. But be wary of ever using public WiFi for any sensitive info such as banking, etc.
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