vB Easy Archive - 8125 Price on Premier

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8125 Price on Premier - Go for it or NO?
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Posted by: boboso

Through our premier web site we can get the 8215 for 49.99 (refurb) or 149.99 for a "non" or new 8125. I am currently on the fence with a PDA/Phone combo (looking at Treos`- our cost $270 at the moment)... I do not mind the OS change.

Questions:

1. Should I go for it? I do not have to extend my plan at all. I just switch the sims. Cost is what it is, phone only.

2. I like the wi-fi, as I do not wish to purchase a $40 plan that should either cost less (like the SmartPhone plan @ $20). Can I disable use of the phone/ Cingular network (i.e. data use via Edge etc) and only use the wi-fi when I want to check email or use internet? I do not wish to get charged for data usage. Use the voice plan for phone, and the wi-fi for "when I need to access".

PS - as many of you have mentioned. I discussed this today at a Cingular store with a sales rep. When asked, "if I access the email and internet the same on a smartphone as I do with a PDA phone, why charge more?" He lauged and said it was Cingular's way to make a buck or 20. I asked about the BlackJack (being a smartphone OS) and he agreed and would have set me up on the spot with the Smartphone plan. I explained that is great but Cingular would probably change it back to PDA and charge me data usage...

Posted by: wuman82

I say you go for it. $49.99 is a very good price for the 8125.

However, you know if you are buying through premier you have to extend your contract by 2 years right?

If you go through the buying process, at the very last step it asks you to agree to a 2 year contract, otherwise you can't complete the purchasing process.

Posted by: boboso

Quote:

Originally Posted by wuman82

I say you go for it. $49.99 is a very good price for the 8125.

However, you know if you are buying through premier you have to extend your contract by 2 years right?

If you go through the buying process, at the very last step it asks you to agree to a 2 year contract, otherwise you can't complete the purchasing process.

Thanks, not to worried about the two year extension... One thing holding me back is I am thinking of doing the MediaMaxx 200 add on (feature) so wi-fi may not be needed. I will probably order, if I hate it etc, no real loss...

BTW - any info only how to use wifi only?

Posted by: nepali

Quote:

Originally Posted by wuman82

That is not true! I have "upgraded" my phone twice through my premier account and my Contract End Date still reflects the original date.

Posted by: SunnyE

Just got a refurb from premier for $49.99. Its a great deal !

Posted by: blutruck

Wirelessly posted (cingular 8125: HTC-8100/1.2 Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.5; Windows CE; PPC; 240x320))

I purchased one last month. It takes a little getting used to but it is a pretty good phone. Get a 2 gig mini sd card for cheap at newegg. lots of good info on this site. to use wifi just turn wifi on and connect to your access point. nothing special. I'd go for it.

Posted by: wutitizshorty

Quote:

Originally Posted by nepali

That is not true! I have "upgraded" my phone twice through my premier account and my Contract End Date still reflects the original date.

seriously? Explain plz

Posted by: matt839009

yes please do. I was looking into upgrading to the 8525 through premier and NOWHERE on the page does it say contract extension. Heck I am on an anrp plan and on a fan account at the same time some how... I was wondering how that was going to work.
I can get all the way to the enter credit information page without any mention of a contract. Maybe the contract extension is based off you company's plans with cingy

Posted by: boboso

Thanks

for all the information. I am still wondering if the phone can use wi-fi only for data (like when I am at home or at a wifi access point - bookstore etc) and not incur any data use on phone via edge/gprs etc. Data only over wi-fi...

I do not want to pay for a data plan as 1) I can always find an access point when I really need to.. 2) Do not want to pay the $40 (PDA unlimited) when $20 (Media Max) does the same thing. Yeah, I could "cheat" and get the MediaMax, but for my limited email, and internet use via phone, I don't think I need it. I wish Palm would come out with a wi-fi unit as I like the Palm OS (used to it) Until Cingular and others get their data plans straightened out, I'm out.

Posted by: blutruck

Quote:

Originally Posted by boboso

Thanks

I use wifi at home and I have not signed up for a data plan. You will not incur data charges for using wifi.

Posted by: boboso

Quote:

Originally Posted by blutruck

I use wifi at home and I have not signed up for a data plan. You will not incur data charges for using wifi.

Thanks! That what I wanted to hear, but how do you get the device to go to one versus using data minutes. I have heard that the phone will default to the Edge or GPRS when accessing the internet even if wifi is available and set up.

Posted by: Mr. Bond

Quote:

Originally Posted by nepali

That is not true! I have "upgraded" my phone twice through my premier account and my Contract End Date still reflects the original date.

From my understanding, it depends on the agreement that your company and AT&T have in place. Oddly enough, I was able to get my first upgrade without renewing my contract, but the other two have renewed me by two years each time. The inconsistency of the program drives me crazy, but regardless, I can't complain about the ability to upgrade my phone at almost any point!

Posted by: tiptoekirk

Im not trying to highjack this thread but I am also debating on purchasing the 8125 from cingular for this price.. I would like to know one thing, will I be able to listen to music/mp3 over a mono BT headset??? I have the blackjack and this does not work, this is the reason im looking at the cheaper 8125.. thanks

Posted by: blutruck

Quote:

Originally Posted by boboso

All I did was to turn on wifi in the comm manager screen, connect to my router and accessed the internet. Edge and GRPS are not connected when wifi is on. There were no data charges on my bill.

Posted by: wutitizshorty

so wut is the advantage of having the premier site when purchasing new phones
i check it occassionally and the prices seem to be the same as the cingular site

Posted by: jvanbrecht

Quote:

Originally Posted by tiptoekirk

Im not trying to highjack this thread but I am also debating on purchasing the 8125 from cingular for this price.. I would like to know one thing, will I be able to listen to music/mp3 over a mono BT headset??? I have the blackjack and this does not work, this is the reason im looking at the cheaper 8125.. thanks

If your talking about a std bluetooth hands free headset, then no, the headsets are not designed in that fashion, you will need to get a set of BT headphones that support A2DP to listen to music. Also, the 8125 does not support this natively, you would need to run one of the hacks, or get a modified rom (check over at xda developers on how to do this) that has the A2DP hack in it.

Posted by: TheGSRGuy

The price is right on an 8125, but I found the device way too bulky. The slider mechanism also felt kinda flimsy and made me nervous.

Frankly, the functionality of that device isn't much better than a Blackjack/Treo/other PDA.

Posted by: pgens

I got the 8125 refurb $50 deal last week and I am really happy I did it. I have tried PDA phones in the past but that was a few years ago with a monochrome Palm-based unit and it was too big to deal with and using the phone for voice was just too cumbersome. The 8125 is a very nice unit and it is hackable.

On the MediaMax 200 question: do you currently have MediaMax now? If not, go ahead and add it to your account now while you are using the v3. Then when you get the 8125 you can pop the SIM in from the v3 and MediaMax will still work fine, though you are supposed to be on the higher-priced PDA plan so my advice is to use it sparingly. But this way won't hit the issue you faced earlier with a salesperson who says "sorry, PDA gets the PDA plan" as the Premier purchase for upgrade purchases doesn't require a data plan addon. So get the data plan you want in place on the account, then get the 8125.

On the Wifi vs Edge data access issue, I was able to clearly separate access methods after research and trial and error, but I'll give you the method so you won't have to do all that. When you get the phone and become familiar with it, go to the connection manager and edit the setting for MediaNEt, changing the "wap.cingular" setting to something else that is easily editable, like "nowap.cingular". Then make a new connection called WiFi (with no other settings) and set it as the default connection for both "Internet" and "Private Networks" data requests. What this does is defaults the unit to an unconfigured connection. When you turn on your WiFi on the unit all the data will go through WiFi because it is the only active connection. When you are on the road and don't have a hotspot handy, change the Internet default connection back to MediaNet and put back the "wap.cingular" setting you had changed above. You'll then get data through the phone network.

Why change wap.cingular? Because I found that even with WiFi on, some connections would sometimes still try to go out through Edge. If you change wap.cingular then those attempts fail and the Edge data connection never takes place.

Using the above method you'll have total control over which connection you are using. If they end up cracking down and changing data plans over to PDA plans then you'll have to make decisions on that like the rest of us will, but if you keep your non-WiFi data usage low then hopefully you'll be under the radar.