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T-Mobile's unlimited $5.99 mobile web not unlimited?
Wireless carriers in the US have a great habit of stating the term "unlimited" in marketing materials only to renege on that message later on. T-Mobile USA's reference to an "T-MobileWeb unlimited for $5.99" would make one think that accessing the web from a T-Mobile phone would be $5.99 (per month) for unlimited usage. The devil is in the details here: as some T-Mo customers are finding out, "unlimited" from the T-Mobile dictionary means regular handsets only using data connections through port 9021. So, are PDA phones and other smartphones left out in the cold here? From all appearances, yes. Those devices generally use port 80 (or 8080), which is blocked for T-Mobile customers subscribing to the $5.99 T-MobileWeb plan. Want more "unlimited" data on that T-Mobile Dash? Better be prepared to shell out $29.99 for that kind of "unlimited" service, unless you want to use T-Mobile's proxy server for everything.[Thanks, Djakona]Update: It seems this bizarre on-again, off-again practice of T-Mobile's has been going on for some time and continues to this very day -- some folks are having luck bypassing the proxy, others aren't. Can we please get a uniform, official policy here?
T-Mobile USA gets dicey about handset-based Internet usage
If you're an avid T-Mobile USA data user (handset-based, that is), you may be aware that the GSM carrier has started to become very stingy in the last year or so on which pieces of software can have full access to the Internet (factory apps and browsers on branded handsets) and which cannot (all others). There have been quite a few knowledgeable T-Mobile users paying for the carriers' "t-zones" or "T-MobileWeb" handset browser service but then using third-party apps like Opera Mini, Google Maps and others to get 'full access' to the web and download larger and larger amounts of data. Well, rumor (and some proof) has it that T-Mobile caught on to this quite a while ago and has started blocking certain ports on its branded phones to disallow data access for just about all applications beyond the standard xHTML browser found on its phones and other T-Mobile-branded apps. The "port blocking" seems to be coming in regionally as well, as opposed to nationally. Nothing new about the concept, as all carriers cripple branded phones (some much worse than others). But here, it appears that T-Mobile wants heavier handset-based data users to upgrade to a $20 or $30 unlimited data plan instead of trying to get all that bandwidth from a $5.99 plan meant for light handset usage without third-party software. If you find that T-Mobile's only allowed ports and proxy won't work for you soon on its EDGE network, be prepared to be frustrated -- and then ready to make an upgrade (or carrier switch) decision.[Thanks, Eric D.]
