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SO UMB with iPhone? Worth it?
January 30, 2013
6:22 pm
ManGx64
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October 7, 2012
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Hello everyone,
Can some people share their experience with UMB with iPhone? It sucks that u dont get push notifications or imap mail. But for 10 bucks i believe that it is worth it for mobile browsing.
So do people regret going with SO UMB due to limitations that cant let u get the most out of your smartphone?
I want to get an iPhone 5 (i could get it for $500 new from other people), but all plans with data out there are insane! 1 gb would cost like 60 bucks, so SO UMB is my other option.
Also, some have said that they are getting 3G speeds, can anyone confirm this?
Did anyone get FaceTime and iMessage to activate (since that they use short sms to activate, which is not available with SO), so please confirm too.
Thanks a lot!!
Cheers

January 31, 2013
2:27 am
bridonca
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If you are near wifi hotspots, UMB is actually pretty good, just keep in mind it is unlimited mobile browsing, not data.

For mail, Just use Gmail, and wrap your imap account around Gmail.

Facetime is a wifi thing, because it is a pig on bandwidth. Even if you had data, you would get slaughtered with the overages.

For most areas, you get 3G speeds on the Rogers network with Speakout, Rogers puts limitations on steaming, excessive downloads, tethering, and VOIP, so the pages load pretty quick. Rogers compresses web images to the point they look really bad, but I use HTTPS on everything to get around that. Oh, and you need to cut the SIM to fit the iphone 5, which has been done, but is annoying none the less. Thanks Apple, you wankers!

Even with these limitations, $11.25 a month for UMB is a very good deal. My initial solution to mediate the limitations was to also get a another data plan with another carrier, and use another phone. That is pretty easy to do when you are not paying $500+ for a phone. I eventually cancelled that plan, when it became apparent Speakout was good enough. I still have an SIM for voice with my RAZR, because Speakout does not have the best voice plans, and slabs, though decent tablet devices, make awful phones.

It still entertains me that so many people that pay $500+ for a phone are such loyal customers to Speakout though. My only guidance is you got to determine what you want, and what you need, and it is pretty likely, Speakout will get you what you need.

January 31, 2013
2:17 pm
ManGx64
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How do you use HTTPS to get around compressed images? What do u exactly mean?
And as for iMessage/FaceTime on iPhone, the phone sends a 'secret' short sms toactivate it, and because SO doesnt support short sms, it will not be activated. But some people still get to activate after numerous tries, so if anyone could confirm whether it'd work or no would be great.
Thanks

February 2, 2013
4:50 pm
chimpanzee
vancouver
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access the sites via https and the proxy cannot do anything like compression.

i have i* activated on my phone, it just takes time and luck. But never really use any of them. IMO, they are useless. A communication is a two way process and my counter parties are all over the map so the only sure thing to me is either email or skype

February 2, 2013
9:32 pm
liteshow
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For $10, I think it is worth it for what it can do, especially with some work arounds with the mail and SMS. Here's what I use my iphone 4s with UMB when not connected to wifi:

(1) Google Maps
All functions seem to work including voice navigation. This app alone makes UMB worth it.

(2) Built-in Mail app
I have Gmail setup as Exchange (Microsoft Activesync). With UMB, push does not work, even when connected to wifi. So I just set the built-in mail app to fetch every 15 minutes. In addition, I configured Gmail app so that I get instant push notifications when connected to wifi. When not in wifi, it would only fetch every 15 minutes.

Kind of a clunky setup but it works. Don't think there is a work around that - for some reason, 3G connection takes precedence over wifi. So if the server/iphone knows 3G is up, it would insist on using 3G instead of wifi for push notifications - which fails in UMB.

(3) Apps that use TCP Port 80/443
The Weather Network, Youtube, podcast, Our Daily Bread, CIBC Banking, Google Drive, Dropbox, Kijiji, etc

(4) Safari/Chrome Browser
Of course, all browsing works on UMB

(5) Textme
Textme works both incoming and outgoing over UMB, but there is not push notification for incoming. For my kids, I instruct them to send SMS to my Cell number for free (with notification). In return, I reply back to them using Textme over UMB.

I am not a heavy user on UMB and average maybe 200 - 300 mb per month. However, I would like to see SO continue to offer the $10 UMB, but also offer a low priced full pay as you go data plan.

ManGx64 said:

Hello everyone,
Can some people share their experience with UMB with iPhone? It sucks that u dont get push notifications or imap mail. But for 10 bucks i believe that it is worth it for mobile browsing.
So do people regret going with SO UMB due to limitations that cant let u get the most out of your smartphone?


February 3, 2013
2:54 pm
ManGx64
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October 7, 2012
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Thanks a lot, that helps. But as for the compression of images, does this happen when you get 2G/EDGE connection only? or is it when u get 3G connection too? Because from what i know, being connected to EDGE/2G (with any carrier) results in compressed images, because the connection is slow. But with 3G, shouldnt there be NO compression?
Thanks

February 3, 2013
3:05 pm
chimpanzee
vancouver
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the compression is done on the proxy server so i doubt it matters, i.e. always if it is http.

February 4, 2013
6:09 am
redjersey
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For 10/month it's a pretty good deal, but the thing is, it has tons of restrictions

I think I will stick with the browsing plan until I use up all the credits then maybe I'll switch to mobilicity they have the back to school deal for only 25/month (no tax I was told) with unlimited real data plan