Thanks for the warning. Craptastic pile of junk tablets on the way.
Initial price: Zero $. Real price: At least a $1000 worth of overpriced sticky-bundled services.
Waste of time. Needs voice capability.
Most important to recognize, this is another attempt to enable one of the most viciously "walled gardened" USA telecoms to ensure that its customers can only communicate on 2.2% of the surface of the Earth. All this due to its proprietary works "no-where-else-but-here" network and devices.
Why do they do this to us?
If you said "To attempt to financially enslave us!" then you win awards for High IQ and Low Naivete!
So they dangle the half-baked 4G-LTE data capability on a give-away tablet, but don't tell you about the effing they plan to give you while they milk n bilk you for exorbitant fees and extras.
No doubt these devices will be locked down tighter than a duck's arse in a rain storm. Just try to use another carrier's services with a tablet sporting one of these. Good luck with that.
Just say no to this drivel.
Pay up front for your devices.
Buy your devices on the open free unlocked market.
Buy what you can afford: no more than you can pay, and no fewer features that what will really help you out.
Don't ever buy a device from a telecom. Never buy a device, used or new, that has a telecom's label on it.
Buy devices that are interoperable on networks that comply with international standards (T-Mobile and AT&T are compliant networks in the US and work with devices that meet worldwide standards. At least T-Mobile was until Sprint tried to buy them and had eyes on jacking T-Mobile's network all up).
Buy devices with sufficient radio bands to cover the areas, continents, countries, regions, and telecom operators that you would most like to use.
The more 4G-LTE bands that a device has, the more likely you'll get the coverage you want in 4G. A compliant 4G-LTE device with 3G-Quad Band will drop to 3G in a pinch just about anywhere you go on the beaten path.
Don't ever sign a contract.
Mobile means just that: MOBILE. Make sure your tablets are truly mobile and telephony SIM slot equipped.
WiFi tethering isn't adequate if you plan to seriously roam - way too many single points of failure (plus multiple sources of battery drainage) that could leave you without any connected devices at all... or without even a single working mobile device.
Reasonable redundancy is your friend. How many jetliners do you see tethered to another jetliner for voice or data communications? Yeahh... thawt so. Its an "emergency only" procedure for those folks, and it should be an "emergency only" procedure for you too on any serious trip. Don't be an "Emergency" condition before you get out the front door.
Do your research. Buy well. Don't ever let em tell you that they're all the same...
Yours truly, Unlocked and Non-Mortgaged from Day 1
@ hrrmph Hey I really like your perspective in this post. I'm ready to change the world with internet and I need people who see the way internet should be and hate how jacker up the system is right now. If you want to join my team contact me eli.protiva a-t protivasynergy d-o-t com
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hrrmph - Sunday, January 12, 2014 - link
Thanks for the warning. Craptastic pile of junk tablets on the way.Initial price: Zero $. Real price: At least a $1000 worth of overpriced sticky-bundled services.
Waste of time. Needs voice capability.
Most important to recognize, this is another attempt to enable one of the most viciously "walled gardened" USA telecoms to ensure that its customers can only communicate on 2.2% of the surface of the Earth. All this due to its proprietary works "no-where-else-but-here" network and devices.
Why do they do this to us?
If you said "To attempt to financially enslave us!" then you win awards for High IQ and Low Naivete!
So they dangle the half-baked 4G-LTE data capability on a give-away tablet, but don't tell you about the effing they plan to give you while they milk n bilk you for exorbitant fees and extras.
No doubt these devices will be locked down tighter than a duck's arse in a rain storm. Just try to use another carrier's services with a tablet sporting one of these. Good luck with that.
Just say no to this drivel.
Pay up front for your devices.
Buy your devices on the open free unlocked market.
Buy what you can afford: no more than you can pay, and no fewer features that what will really help you out.
Don't ever buy a device from a telecom. Never buy a device, used or new, that has a telecom's label on it.
Buy devices that are interoperable on networks that comply with international standards (T-Mobile and AT&T are compliant networks in the US and work with devices that meet worldwide standards. At least T-Mobile was until Sprint tried to buy them and had eyes on jacking T-Mobile's network all up).
Buy devices with sufficient radio bands to cover the areas, continents, countries, regions, and telecom operators that you would most like to use.
The more 4G-LTE bands that a device has, the more likely you'll get the coverage you want in 4G. A compliant 4G-LTE device with 3G-Quad Band will drop to 3G in a pinch just about anywhere you go on the beaten path.
Don't ever sign a contract.
Mobile means just that: MOBILE. Make sure your tablets are truly mobile and telephony SIM slot equipped.
WiFi tethering isn't adequate if you plan to seriously roam - way too many single points of failure (plus multiple sources of battery drainage) that could leave you without any connected devices at all... or without even a single working mobile device.
Reasonable redundancy is your friend. How many jetliners do you see tethered to another jetliner for voice or data communications? Yeahh... thawt so. Its an "emergency only" procedure for those folks, and it should be an "emergency only" procedure for you too on any serious trip. Don't be an "Emergency" condition before you get out the front door.
Do your research. Buy well. Don't ever let em tell you that they're all the same...
Yours truly,
Unlocked and Non-Mortgaged from Day 1
EJ Truth - Monday, May 19, 2014 - link
@ hrrmphHey I really like your perspective in this post. I'm ready to change the world with internet and I need people who see the way internet should be and hate how jacker up the system is right now. If you want to join my team contact me eli.protiva a-t protivasynergy d-o-t com
lmcd - Sunday, January 12, 2014 - link
While likely not the same quality as the baseband in the N7, this could be a pretty awesome way to put a Tegra Note 7 at $250 as a connected tablet.