Re: [tlug] First Android Phone in Japan release date announced

[Dave M G <dave@example.com>]

Shawn,

> For the family plan (same 50% discount), calls to family members look
> free and my wife can use my voice minutes.  Hmmn, if we both get
> biz-hodai I wonder if I can use her data allowance if she doesn't.
Almost certainly not, but you might not want to do that anyway.

The "letter of acceptance" you sign off on when getting your HT-03A 
specifically states that the phone will automatically make connections 
for data synchronization, updates, and other downloads of "up to 80 
megabytes", and that it can cost up to "approx. 80,000 yen if not 
subscribing to a flat rate plan". It doesn't state a time scale, but 
presumably they are talking on a monthly basis, since that is the 
billing period.

Bottom line is that if you have a Google phone, it looks as though you 
are going to max out your biz-hodai every month, no matter what other 
intentions you may have. If you also somehow use your wife's plan, you 
would then easily max out hers too, so if she uses the internet less 
than you, that strategy will cost you more, not save you anything.

We'll see in practise if this level of data transfer is the real deal or 
a worse case scenario. But for me, although I wasn't specifically aware 
of that amount of automated data transfer, before I got the phone I had 
made peace with the idea that I am going to be an internet junky anyway. 
It's 5000 yen (or so) a month for full time internet, and that's fixed 
in my mind.

--
Dave M G
http://tlug.jp/mediawiki/index.php?title=User:Dave_M_G