Help me figure out a suitable data plan

[JesterMania]

My 3-year contract with my current CDMA carrier is about to end and as I'm thinking of purchasing a PPC Phone Edition, I would like to switch over to a GSM carrier (given the many phone choices available) with a data plan.

The only problem is, I don't know what is a suitable data plan monthly. My primary use of the data plan would be to notify and check for new e-mails while I'm on the go, sort of like a push e-mail system. I don't care much for web surfing, streaming, etc., I can use a WiFi hotspot for that. So, I started investigating and found that one specific carrier (Fido) offered a 200kb data plan. Would 200kb be sufficient for monthly e-mail checking or is it too little? What would you recommend as a good monthly data rate aimed specifically at e-mail?

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

[ctmagnus]

I'm on Rogers' 1.5MB plan and I blow through most of that in a month. I just use it for syncing, which I do typically every two to three days. I would think that unless you get very little email, that 200KB would be insufficient. Even just polling the server and not actually downloading the email would likely use more than 200KB in a month.

[JesterMania]

Thanks, I guess 200kb is insufficient then. I guess I'll have to start investigating for higher data rate plans.

[WCSPCManager]

I hope you haven't gotten a new plan yet because:

I too am soon getting a new phone plan.

I am getting a Alltel PPC6700. I am switching from Verizon (Treo 650) for many reasons including poorer reception (even checked with a prepaid Alltel phone!), no internet routing (Verizon locks it for what?), no Wifi and CDMA at the same time (now that's just stupid!), and EVDO is in my area with Alltel while Verizon nor Sprint has it! And their area is expanded in the nearby cities!

Unlimited 1x, SMS, and MMS is $20.
Unlimited EVDO (and 1x) is $40!

I'm gonna love it! I do a lot of web browsing, and I hate the Treo 650 for having an extremely poor web browser and it loads slower on 1x than the PPC6700 does on 1x!

[JesterMania]

Sounds like a good deal. I'm in Canada though and the only GSM providers in my area are Rogers and Fido, so I'll need to investigate their data plans and see what I come up with. Seems they're sort of costly... :?

[ctmagnus]

Seems they're sort of costly... :?

Sort of? :roll: I pay $12.50 for 1.5MB/month, but that's only because I used to be on their 2MB/$12 plan and complained when they switched prices when I was trialling a higher-usage plan. Now they charge most people $15/1.5MB iirc.