What is NOT FREE from T-Mobile?

[Seth Dallob]

Originally posted by bjtwuk
I forgot to mention that even call forwarding is free.

Yes, if you do "immediate" call forwarding then you get charged air time.

But if you program your phone to ring for 5-seconds and then forward to another number (this is officially called "Forward No-Reply" and is usually used after 30-seconds to forward your inbound calls to voice mail), then the call forwarding is totally free.

All you have to do is enter this number on your keypad and press SEND: *61*nnnnnnnnnn*11*5# and then your calls will be transferred free of any charges whatsoever to any phone in the USA. (nnnnnnnnnn is the 10-digit area code and phone number).

To switch it back to voice mail, just enter *61*8056377243*11*30# and your calls will be forwarded to voice mail after your cell phone rings for 30-seconds.

So there really is NOTHING on T-Mobile that's NOT FREE!

Bryan

I assume this will work even if the phone is turned off, or out of the area...

[calam63]

no the whole point is that no reply call forwarding will work - hence you need the phoen to be registered to the network

[Seth Dallob]

Oh, so it isn't a true replacement for call forwarding. If I go to my weekend house where there is no coverage, I usually hit forward before I leave the service area. If I understand you, this no reply forwarding only works when the phone is on and in the service area.

[bjtwuk]

Well, for Forward Out of Reach, you would use code 62 instead of 61. I haven't tried to see if it is free or not.

For a complete listing of these GSM commands, you can check out this web site: http://www.arcx.com/sites/GsmFeatures.htm

Right now I'm getting a DNS error trying to view that site, but it was up a couple of days ago...or you can search for it in Yahoo and view the cached version that they maintain.

Bryan

[psteng19]

5) Free GPRS internet data. Want to use your phone as a modem so that when you're on the train or any place else that you cannot use your laptop on the internet, just become your own hotspot. With the free data on T-Mobile you can only access HTTP, SMTP, POP3 and IMAP4, but it's free and unlimited. Otherwise, it costs $19.99 a month for "unlimited data" which will not have the tcp/ip port restrictions, but even so, you get unlimited free data, right? Besides, even if you do have to pay $19.99 for unlimited data from T-Mobile it's still 75% cheaper than the $79.99 that Cingular wants for it.

please clarify that.
so can i hook up the phone to my laptop and use the cell phone as a modem?
i have the e715 connected to my laptop via IR.

[bjtwuk]

Hey psteng19, when you say "please clarify that?" what would you like clarified?

Do you want me to clarify what I mean by free? Do you want me to clarify what do I mean by only certain tcp/ip ports are open? Do you want me to explain how to set up your e715 (whatever that is) to utilize free GPRS?

O.K. I guess since you won't tell me what it is that you want to know, then I am expected to answer all possible meanings:

(1) When I said that you get free GPRS and do not need to pay $19.99 for Internet Data, I meant that T-Mobile actually has made it possible for you to get unlimited GPRS data for free. However, only the volume of data that you may send or receive is unlimited...but the services you may access have been limited.

(2) If you have the $19.95 internet data service, then you can use any tcp/ip port. The internet uses a set of networking protocols called tcp/ip. Different applications use different ports. For example, when you send email, you use a protocol called Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (or SMTP). SMTP generally uses tcp/ip port #25. When you receive email you will either receive it using Post Office Protocol 3 (POP3) on port 110 or Internet Mail Access Protocol 4 (IMAP4) on port 143. When you view web pages using the Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP), then your computer uses port 80. When you enter the host name of a computer into your web browser, you cannot connect to it unless your computer translates that name to an ip address first. For example, the address of www.howardforums.com is 216.180.241.210. Your computer gets this address from a Domain Name Server (or DNS). DNS uses tcp/ip port 53.

So, with the free GPRS internet data, these are basically the only tcp/ip ports that T-Mobile lets you use. You cannot access any other ports unless you pay $19.99 a month. For example, secure websites like your bank use the HTTPS protocol on port 443, but that port is blocked on free GPRS. The ports that Yahoo Instant Messenger and AOL Instant Messenger are also blocked. Telnet (port 23) is blocked. FTP on ports 20 & 21 are blocked.

For a complete list of internet port numbers please see this website: http://www.iana.org/assignments/port-numbers

(3) To configure your phone to access the free GPRS, you configure it exactly the same as you would for the pay GPRS except for one setting. For pay GPRS, you set your APN to: internet2.voicestream.com and for the free GPRS, you set your APN to wap.voicestream.com

That's all there is to it. I hope that it is now CLARIFIED!

Bryan

[gzumba]

@bjtwuk:

Thank you for the most complete explanation of the GPRS port restrictions and their meanings that I have ever seen in this forum. It includes all one needs to know about ports, about configuration and about where to go to learn more.

Moderators: I strongly recommend that bjtwuk's post itself become a sticky thread because it explains the difference between the free and the 19.99 data plans better than any other posting in a simple, consise format.

[IsLand_BoY]

My voicemail calls (I always dial 123) have been billed as mobile2mobile since I got BuddyTime. My friend with BuddyTime in Florida is billed anytime minutes. I looked over her call detail and she's right. It just depends on your market. I haven't tried the '88' feature yet. I'll try it out this weekend and see if the call comes up as a voicemail call (free) or to the number I actually call (not free.)

[dougm]

Long ago in Indiana (the old Omnipoint system) we had the ability to press 88 to return a call, but now when I try to use it, it says "All circuits are busy."

[gzumba]

Originally posted by IsLand_BoY
My voicemail calls (I always dial 123) have been billed as mobile2mobile since I got BuddyTime. My friend with BuddyTime in Florida is billed anytime minutes. I looked over her call detail and she's right. It just depends on your market. I haven't tried the '88' feature yet. I'll try it out this weekend and see if the call comes up as a voicemail call (free) or to the number I actually call (not free.)

If you are not charged for VM, then you will not be charged for 88. The two are connected. No number except VM will appear on the bill. I had 250+ min of VM last month, many of 30 min. duration.

[badass bunny]

Originally posted by gzumba
If you are not charged for VM, then you will not be charged for 88. The two are connected. No number except VM will appear on the bill. I had 250+ min of VM last month, many of 30 min. duration.

holy crap! id *****slap anyone who left me a damn 30 minute vm

[bjtwuk]

Hey badass bunny...I'm not sure if this is worth a reply, but either you're being totally silly or you missed the entire point of this thread.

The point of the 30 minute voice mail call was: If you have free mobile to mobile on your T-Mobile account, then you can call your voice mail at 1-805-MESSAGE for free. If you have "enhanced voice mail" which is included free on any individual rate plan of $39.99 per month or any family plan, then you can call your voice mail for free and then touch tone "88" at a message resulting in having the voice mail system call back the person who left you the message. Since your connection to voice mail is free, then you can return calls without being charged airtime, and therefore, for free.

The point of the 30 minute "voice mail" call was that gzumba claimed that people call him and leave him messages, then he calls his voice mail for free, and punches "88" to call these people back to talk to them for up to 30 minutes and that he is not charged to call these people because on his T-Mobile bill the call appears as a free mobile to mobile call to voice mail and not to the person who he was actually speaking to.

Bryan

[ajperez]

My VM key is programmed to dial my own number. So when I call VM, I actually am dialing a mobile phone--mine. So hence, it logged as a M2M call.

Also, I've had Enhanced VM ever since I can remember and I'm only on a $29.99 plan. Are they now giving you limited VM for those plans?

[IsLand_BoY]

Originally posted by gzumba
If you are not charged for VM, then you will not be charged for 88. The two are connected. No number except VM will appear on the bill. I had 250+ min of VM last month, many of 30 min. duration.

VERY interesting... I could use this to call long distance during the week for longer periods of time. Is there a way to dial out of voicemail (I *THINK* I remember reading that a while ago) to any number you want? So far calls to CSD WAP are mobile2mobile, as are voicemail calls. And interestingly enough, I don't have enhanced voicemail - so the '88' option isn't an available option (as in, they don't tell you that you could press that), but if I press it, it still works.

[bjtwuk]

I don't know how to dial out of voice mail. But if you can get your long distance friends to just call you and leave you a 10 second voice message, then you can use the voice mail to call them back.