Data Plan required for HTC Hero?

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Sahibosaurus

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Im about to buy a new phone tomorrow and have narrowed down my choices to HTC Hero and N97 mini.

I just read that a data plan is absolutely required to use a Hero.Is that true?I have wi fi at home and i wont be really surfing the net when im out.I am not interested in a data plan.

Can someone please answer this query?What features would i lose if i dont get a data plan?
 
HTC Hero supports GPRS and EDGE. For EDGE, you do need a data plan but GPRS should be free (check with service provider though). But GPRS can be painfully slow :)
 
^^Huh ???

GPRS / Edge are one and the same. Both need data plans. Just that in unsupported areas your network might switch to GPRS which is slower compared to Edge.

You would not absolutely need a data plan if you are using Wifi at home, but is very much recommended! You would have to do without google sync and the standard google apps (like talk, mail etc.) on the go if you are not using a data plan!

There are 3 types of connections provided by operators these days:

1. WAP Connection

2. GPRS/Edge without upfront charges - You are charged per usage. Eg: 30 ps / 100 kb

3. GPRS/Edge with a fixed rent and some free MBs.
 
@desiibond: No data plan is free. GPRS and EDGE both require a data connection and hence a data plan.

@sahil: Lot of stuff in android phones are based on online services. As a phone you won't lose out much. Some things that you will not get are speech to text, market, maps, etc.. but since you have wifi at home, these things will work at your home, just not when you dont have access to internet while away from home..

Pat said:
^^Huh ???
GPRS / Edge are one and the same. Both need data plans. Just that in unsupported areas your network might switch to GPRS which is slower compared to Edge.
You would not absolutely need a data plan if you are using Wifi at home, but is very much recommended! You would have to do without google sync and the standard google apps (like talk, mail etc.) on the go if you are not using a data plan!

There are 3 types of connections provided by operators these days:
1. WAP Connection
2. GPRS/Edge without upfront charges - You are charged per usage. Eg: 30 ps / 100 kb
3. GPRS/Edge with a fixed rent and some free MBs.
Click to expand...
You are mostly correct, just a bit of nitpicking. Plan wise wap is separate from gprs/edge for operators but actually wap is just an application layer protocol and it needs a data connection as well, which is usually over GPRS/edge.
 
so basically,if i sync my email at home i can still go out and use my phone,and apps like pdf word etc?and turn off synching the phone using anything except wifi?

what about GPS? since i cant use google maps i can still use something else for gps that doesnt need a data plan right?
 
For GPS, there are some off-line navigation softwares are available for Android platform. Below are two offline navigation softwares:

1. sygic

2. ndrive

Using these softwares, you won't need data plan for GPS navigation.
 
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