Hints & Tips

The T-Mobile Sidekick II is an extremely useful & versatile tool to yield in your hands. Internet, instant messaging, email, it even is a really really great sounding phone. I've never had a problem with audio signal or sound degradation, but I have had problems with the "camera" and the battery life. The additional cost to your phone plan for unlimited internet & text/ email usage can bring a good rate plan to an unbearable cost.



I have the old advertised 1500 minute talk plan for $49 with unlimited weekends. Trust me, this last cell phone bill shows I used all but 300 minutes of it. Here's the deal with my cell phone plan: I have the Sidekick 2, and the additional $20 for unlimited usage on the text and internet usage kicks the bill to $69, with taxes its about $78 a month. Yes, I love the feeling of opening up that cell phone bill and seeing the SHOCKING expense of being a gadget geek.

So, here's something interesting I found out about T-Mobile and their other cell phone service, T-Mobile To Go. The To Go service uses several phones you can readily buy from T-Mobile including the RAZR and the Sidekick 2. The premise of the To Go plans is super simple. $50 gets you 400 minutes, or $1 a day for internet usage. If I buy a $50 refill card, I will get 400 minutes to add onto my account, or that $50 will be 50 days of online use.

So, with this little bit of knowledge, the savings are apparent. For the price of $50, you get the equivalent of a month and a half of internet usage, or talk time. The beauty is if you don't talk on the phone, its pure data time. I have found this is a cheap alternative to the T-Mobile post pay account. For $50, you can go a month and a half comfortably, and on my post pay account, I have unlimited talk time and outstanding phone battery life on the Motorola RAZR.

Interesting thing is the new Sidekick 3 is going to debut soon. I don't know if it will be offered as a To Go phone yet, but it's got some promising features that will make me get one.