Independent WAP/GPRS provider?

June 16, 2006 5:29 AM

Is there an independent WAP or GPRS service provider in US esp NYC area?

Say I have an unlocked phone, and I would like to setup up WAP on it, but would rather not use the company that I buy voice calling from.

posted by andrewyakovlev to Technology (2 answers total)

Best answer: You'd need a second SIM card to use the data service from the second carrier. [My brother had a thing on his old cell phone where he could have two SIMs in at the same time so he could have his work and home accounts at the same time]. And a data only plan tends to be way more expensive than adding GPRS to a voiceplan -- depending on the carrier may have to get a Blackberry or PDA plan. If you're dead-set against using your current voice carrier, you could get a voice account with the minumum # of minutes and never use the phone for voice and pay the extra $5 for WAP. Still with taxes and stuff you're looking at at least $40 a month.
posted by birdherder at 5:56 AM on June 16, 2006

Not quite what you're looking for but I have a Boost Mobile prepaid cellphone. Their data services are 20 cents a day for unlimited service. I plug a USB cable into the phone from my laptop and am able to surf the web at a bit of a crawl (somewhere around 19.2k baud). I haven't tried taking the SIM card out and putting it into another phone.
posted by lockle at 8:18 AM on June 16, 2006