IOT Is email data?

Right.

If the phone has wifi you can use it via wi fi. Mark

Yes, it is data. Depending on the carrier, it is at least $15 to $25 a month.

However, you can connect via Wi-Fi and that is free. There is free Wi-Fi in many places when you travel. A lot of stores and restaurants have it, some cities even have free connection on the street.

Then usually you can receive but can't send email.

Why? If you can connect to the incoming server you can connect to the outgoing server. Mine always worked both ways before I had a data plan.

For example Starbuck WiFi won't tx email out only rx. it maybe my email server which is thunderbird or my ISP. I did not try other servers. Maybe I should try hotmail or gmail.

How can I keep forgetting that I have wifi? Thanks a lot.

Of course this means I have to read the part of the manual dealing with email.

I was just south of Wilmington Delaware and couldn't find the stores I was looking for. I saw a Home Depot on the othe side of the road and a McDonalds much closer. They had wifi. It turned out one of the stores was next door to the McDonalds but had been torn down. I gave up looking for the other one.

Thanks all.

On Sat, 09 May 2015 22:23:04 -0400, micky wrote in

Yes, anything other than a voice call is considered "data".

I found when I was "commuting" between Mwemphis and home that I could receive my Mtn View emails but not send from Memphis . My msn.com worked equally well in either location . I think it's that way with most ISP's , you can receive but not send when you're connected to another ISP .

Almost. Texting does not go against the data and is not voice. You need either a texting plan or pay per use.

What's going on here may depend on what kind of email system you're using, ie is it web based or client/server based? If you're using web based, then it should work anywhere as long as you're connected via either wifi or data plan. That's what I use and I haven't seen it not work. Whenever I've tried my email while traveling around, it's worked on every wifi. On the other hand, if you're using a client/server based system that relies on access to the email server at your ISP, then IDK. In some cases, maybe the ISP only provides access to their email server if you're on their system? Seems odd, as I would think this would be a big problem today, with so many people mobile.....

Following thread, it's also an answer I would like to know.

I have a basic Tracphone with thousands of rolled over minutes.

I just use it for calls but apparently have internet access but cannot address anything as email because there is no way to make the "@" sign.

I see Tracphones with touch screens with internet access and some say they need a data plan.

Just wondering if you could occasionally consume minutes for this or if phone would only work with wifi access.

Maybe Ting has a better plan for you?

And FWIW, if you ever need assistance, Ting's customer service is awesome!

Not sure exactly what the question is. Tracfone has smartphones and smartphone plans that include data. I would assume that if you have one of their smartphones that supports data and one of their plans, you could use it for email on the network and also use it on wifi like you can with every other phone I've seen.

If you have a phone that doesn't have an "@" sign, it's not a smartphone and IDK what kind of email capability it would have, but I would suspect none. One game that most carriers still play is that even though from a technical perspective, you could buy a smartphone and only use it for voice on their network and rely strictly on wifi for data, they won't allow you to do that. They insist you have a data plan with a smartphone.

I went with Zact a year and a half ago, which is similar to Ting. Both ride on Sprint's network and offer plans where you can buy just the mins, texts, data that you need. Pricing was even similar, biggest difference was that the granularity or bucket size if you will, was smaller on Zact. And Zact had a promo going where I got a ZTE Awe smartphone and 4 months of free service for $100. I've been very happy with it. Previously I had Verizon, the coverage, signal strength, isn't as good, but it's worked perfectly adequately, no dropped calls, sound is good, etc. Difference is that Verizon wanted $80 for a data plan back then. I've been paying about $15 a month with Zact.

Last summer, Virgin Mobile bought out Zact and took the concept and sales of the phones exclusively to Walmart. I didn't see any advertising, anything to try to sell the phones. In Jan, they announced they are ending sales. But the plans are continuing, at least for now. Having been selling the phones as recently as a couple months ago, I would expect they will keep the plans going for existing customers for at least a year.

If I was looking for a new phone today, Ting would be the place I'd start. It all depends on usage. If you use 1000 mins, 1GB of data, etc, then any of the major carriers are an option. They all have plans of ~$35 now. But if you only use a couple hundred mins, couple hundred megs of data, etc, then you can save a lot with Ting. The problem I see for Ting is that just

I went with Republic wireless. For what they call $ 10 per month ( $ 12 after the taxes) I get unlimiated calling and texting. The data is by the wifi networks. Anytime I want to, I can switch to data over the cell towers and off again for the rate of $ 20 per month. With all the wifi around , I have never tried to do the data over the cell towers. Only down side I know of is that you have to use their phones and the cheapest one is about $ 100. I did go with a $ 200 phone. Nice Motorolo G one.

I don't know if I got around something or not. I got a GO-phone, a pre-paid phone from ATT, with no data, and then I bought on ebay a smartphone. Switiched the SIMM card and now I have a smartphone with no data plan.

Later I saw the very same smartphone for sale new, at BestBuy (only 100 dollars) and Walmart as a GO-phone, but think it required a data plan, even with prepaid. (I'd better check again.) Even assuming I got away with something, I don't know if one could when not using AT&T.

The only thing I've done so far that involves wifi is to enter a url that says if airplanes are on time, (This worked at home, but I couldn't find a place at the airport which had wifi without getting out of my car, and that was too much trouble.)

I hate the smart phone, and as soon as I find my flip phone, I'm putting the SIMM card back in it, and I'll carry the smart phone in the car's trunk, for emergencies, if any.

AIUI, it's no better. Just the same ting.

I'll check it out.

Thunderbird is an email client, not a server.

"rx but not tx" isn't a WiFi problem, but a server problem. I would suspect you are using an email server operated by your ISP. The outgoing (SMTP) server is probably blocking access other than from that ISP. This is common. It should work if you're at home and connected to your own WiFi.

The above is one reason why I use a different server (I have a registered domain) for email. It's accessible from anywhere.