Originally Posted by
sstorkel
Remember: you're not locked into using AT&T as the carrier for the Nexus 7. You can choose any GSM carrier: AT&T, T-mobile, StraightTalk, etc. How much you pay likely depends on your exact carrier, plan, and commitment length.
500MB of data isn't much if you use your device regularly and 3G speeds are pretty slow compared to 4G/LTE, so the 500MB for $10 plan doesn't seem like much of a bargain to me. If I didn't have access to WiFi and was forced to rely on cellular data alone, I'd whiz past 500MB pretty quickly. That doesn't include
any video or music streaming, BTW! It
does include photo uploads, however, which might interest a bicycle tourist. Without guaranteed access to WiFi, I'd be looking for a 1-2GB/month plan.
Internet on the Go offers a 1.5GB plan for $25... but if you're going to spend that much you might as well spend a few more bucks and get a 4G/LTE plan.
You can also get a 4G hotspot, T-Mobile, with 3.5 GB "broadband pass" at $35. The T-Mobile data can alternatively be used with a tablet instead of a hotspot. Which one would depend on your tablet, and what your typical internet use is. Without streaming, and light internet useage even with photo uploads I'd be hard-pressed to use more than 500 MB. Using a mobile plan is going to be much more expensive. This may cheaper even than my tracfone smartphone scheme (I'm using SIP phone with a free DID from callcentric), which in turn is cheaper than literally anything else I've priced. With mostly Wifi and light 3G data use. Using the tracfone data with VOIP is somewhat cheaper than tracfone mobile minutes even with 2 cents per minute on the outgoing DOD, although I'm sure they'll eventually take steps to correct that.
It's an intriguing idea to just do away with the cell phone service entirely on the smartphone, having no data plan, using pay-go: Internet on the Go or the T-Mobile broadband pass with just internet phone. The same thing could be effected with a tablet that has no capability for data broadband. A few services that bundle something like this are starting to pop up already, none really better than do it yourself but close, and all are more cost-effective than a mobile plan with 3G or 4G/LTE. If there's a cheaper option for light usage I'm very interested. But I don't see beating it unless you really need one of the unlimited plans, watching youtube or netflix or things of that nature.