What's missing from the 700p news coverage?

[Bob Russell]

Has anyone noticed that something has been basically missing almost completely from the coverage of the new Treo 700p announcement? Before I get going, I should first make it clear that we've had some great coverage as always. The mobile device web community is great, and a resource that sometimes causes us to take the awesome information for granted. It takes a lot of hard work, but there are a lot of people that work hard to provide great sites and information for us.

But, still, the feature list of the 700p is repeated endlessly. That's good to see and even exciting for those of us that are considering a purchase. And there are lots of comments about what was left out (like wifi and the bluetooth profile that lets you listen to music with a bluetooth headset). And there has been a lot of discussion of the exclusion, for now, of customers in Europe who are looking for a GSM device.

But the cost of about $400 after specials and service plan commitments has even been discussed as well as the fact that we will probably pay more if we want to use it for DUN (i.e. connecting a laptop to the internet using the phone's internet connection).

I have only seen one brief mention so far (TreoCentral here and here) about data plan costs! That will probably cost you more than the phone by the time you are finished, and anything less than an unlimited plan is likely to be expensive and painfully limited in quota. We have all learned how to get the voice approximate details of voice subscription costs from various carriers, but the data plan remains a mystery to most of us.

So here's a challenge to the various Treo-focused sites, Palm Addicts, 1Src, Brighthand, PalmInfocenter, PDA24/7, CNet News, major newspapers, tech journals and all the other media outlets. All great sites! But for a really great scoop, how about doing some of the tough research for us to help early 700p buyers understand our choices so we can pick a provider in a more informed way? Costs, types of plans and services, signal coverage, DUN charges, etc. That's the kind of information that we really need! And it's also the kind of info that would have prevented me from making the mistake I made when I chose the wrong provider for my Treo 650.

Anyone up to the challenge? It may not be easy, but it sure will be valuable!

Update: Here's one more article hinting at price (via Palm Addicts).

[paulkbiba]

PC World had a good little article on this and here is the meat:

"Verizon says it will sell the 700p "within the next few weeks" for $400 with the purchase of any voice/data plan. Sprint (which says the 700p will be in its stores by the end of the month) is asking $550 with the purchase of a one-year plan, $500 if you commit to a two-year contract. Sprint will sweeten the deal for those who sign up for two years with a $100 service credit, but you only get the credit when you activate the phone, and you still have to pony up the $500 up front. However Verizon does not appear to offer a one-year option; its voice-data bundles require a two-year commitment.

Verizon's cheapest voice and data plan cost $80 a month for 450 minutes of voice calls (with unlimited calls to other Verizon Wireless phones) and unlimited data. Alternatively, you can forgo voice call service and pay $45 a month to use the Treo 700p for unlimited data only.

To use the 700p as a wireless modem (connected to a PC by either USB cable or Bluetooth), you must add an additional $15 a month if you've got a voice and data plan, $30 a month if you only have the $45 data-only plan. Those fees would bring your monthly tab to $95 for voice, data, and wireless modem services on Verizon Wireless, or $75 if you don't want any voice service

Sprint can beat Verizon on monthly charges if you get Sprint's cheapest voice plan ($30 a month for 200 minutes of talk time), its cheapest Power Vision pack ($15 for unlimited data and a little bit of TV service) and the current promotional offer of unlimited Phone-as-Modem service for $40 a month. That comes to $85 a month."

The full article is here: http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/002083.html

The high DUN charges clearly show, to me, why Palm left out, or was required to leave out, WiFi. The carriers, I'm sure, didn't want anything that could subsititute for this fee-based service.

I'm currently on Sprint and even though I'm only about 40 miles from New York City I can't get EVDO service here, according to Sprint's map. EVDO is, as a matter of fact, pretty limited in both Verizon and Sprint at the current time. I saw a great chart recently on the Web showing a comparison of the EVDO cities with both Verizon and Sprint, but I've forgotten where it was. My memory is that the coverage was very limited for both carriers and both of them covered about the same number of cities. If I can find it again I'll post it here.

Given this situation there is nothing that would make me want to switch from my 650 to a 700. I'll be looking at the 700w when my plan runs out or I might move over to Cingular so that I can get GSM and then tap into the great number of phones that are available in Europe. I must say that the Nokia 9300 seems very interesting, or one of the new HP units with built-in GPS.

Something that really made me have second thoughts about GSM was a business trip my wife took to London last month. She has a Cingular GSM Treo and whenever I dialed her number here in the States I got her immediately in London. If I hadn't known she was on a trip I would never have realized she was overseas.

[Bob Russell]

Thanks for spotting that Paul, and for the very nice summary of the expected charges.

Fortunately, the maps indicate that Sprint has EVDO coverage in my areas. (Of course, actual practical usage may not be as complete as a map shows.) And as much as I'd like to use DUN, I don't think it's worth $40/mo or more to me. So the Sprint deal with phone-only data plan sounds pretty good to me. I have to consider myself lucky to be in the right place (at least for now.)

One disadvantage, I think, for Sprint is that you can't change your plan anytime you like, but you can do that with Verizon.

Verizon charges a flat fee of around $180 for breaking your contract, but Sprint is more reasonable as they prorate it based on how long you have gone into the contract.

My Verizon plan doesn't ever charge me for roaming in the us which is nice, so I don't have to keep checking my phone to make sure I'm not roaming. Don't know about Sprint.

Don't know how many people this might affect, but corporate discounts are differently applied also, I think. Not sure, but I think Verizon only applies it to the voice plan costs. If you work for a large company, be sure to ask them if there is a discount available. (Or if you are considering a switch to a different carrier, maybe they are even willing to negotiate and allow a corp discount for others to get them to switch? I don't know, just thinking it might make sense. But at any rate, I don't get the idea that Verizon deals much on anything. They seem to be more of a take it or leave it sort of a company.)

Verizon does have pretty good customer service, though, and their Asurion phone insurance is the same cost for all phones so it's a pretty good deal for a Treo. And, to my surprise, I had a great experience when I had to use it for my Treo 650 replacement. Don't know what kind of insurance is offered by Sprint or how well it works.

[paulkbiba]

Well, Sprint has never had a problem with my changing plans or with adding or subtracting stuff from my present plan. I don't pay for roaming either. I'm not sure about Sprint pro-rating the termination fee. They don't mention this in their plan description.

As to insurance, the cost is the same for any phone and the one claim I put in, a couple of years ago, was handled very promptly. The insurance is $6/month.

[Bob Russell]

Thanks Paul... Just another example of how Palm Addicts has some of the most well-informed writers on the web!

And one of the best things about following Palm Addicts (which all MR readers know by now is my favorite Palm site), is that not only do you get the input and viewpoints from writers like Paul, but you also get coverage and links to what everyone else is saying about the Palm world. Palm Addicts is one-stop shopping for everything you want to know about Palm!

[Jimmie Geddes]

Great article Bob. What I am waiting to find out is how Sprint is going to charge you for using BT DUN. Currently with my Treo 650 I use BT DUN and don't pay anything extra. When my DSL was out for a week I used my Treo 650 and PowerBook and used Sprint's network without having to sign up for PAM service (phone as a modem). So if you really used BT DUN a lot you might be better off sticking with the Treo 650, because it looks like Sprint is going to make you sign up for PAM with the Treo 700p.

[radleyp]

Bob, David Pogue was very enthusiastic in his review of the 700P yesterday in the New York Times, but he warned that the cost of service is likely to be VERY high, far more in a year than the cost of the unit itself. Because I don't need wireless every moment of the day, I am having serious second thoughts about buying this new Treo. Philippe Radley

[Bob Russell]

Originally Posted by radleyp

Bob, David Pogue ... warned that the cost of service is likely to be VERY high, far more in a year than the cost of the unit itself. Because I don't need wireless every moment of the day, I am having serious second thoughts about buying this new Treo. Philippe Radley

I can relate to what you are thinking. I don't use data on my Verizon 650 because of the data charges.

There is some good news, though. If you are lucky enough to be in a good location for voice and data coverage, Sprint seems to have some good plans if you are willing to forgo the DUN capabilities. Sprint with DUN, based on Paul's comments, would get you voice + unlimited (nonDUN) data for as little as $45/mo, which certainly seems to be in a range that the typical consumer might consider.

It looks, however, like Voice + Data + DUN is going to bring the bill into the $80-$100 range with either carrier, which means you either don't mind high monthly cell bills, or you are really going to get great use from the DUN. For many business customers or those that travel a lot, that seems like a good option to have, but not for most of us.