Sprint's $199 HTC EVO 4G Gets Release Date of June 4 182
Chameleon Man writes "The first 4G phone ever to be released, the HTC EVO 4G, announced back in March, has finally been given a release date of June 4. Along with the release date, Sprint has provided information on phone plans and pricing. From Engadget: 'Unfortunately, there's a downside to all this: customers will be paying a mandatory (as confirmed to us by Sprint reps) $10 per month "Premium Data add-on" on top of their plan — ostensibly for the privilege of enjoying WiMAX when they're in a Sprint 4G market — and the 8-device Wi-Fi hotspot feature runs an extra $29.99 a month, which Sprint is quick to point out is half what you'd pay for a dedicated mobile broadband account.' In 4G areas, it might be a formidable option for anyone who hates their ISP *ehem* Comcast *ehem.*"
Re:No... (Score:5, Interesting)
Sprint has specificaly stated that paying your $10 surcharge for 4G gets you truly unlimited data (as in no cap).
They aren't charging. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:No... (Score:1, Interesting)
So when I start pulling 1Tb down a month they'll still be cool with it? Fat chance.
Still Cheaper Than Ridiculously Expensive AT&T (Score:5, Interesting)
A Sprint "Everything [google.com]" data plan, even with a $10 tariff for 4G, is still ridiculously cheaper than the crazy high prices that AT&T gouges from its Apple-dazed captive masses.
If you decide to swing an employee referral plan [fatwallet.com] for the Evo then you are really coming out ahead.
The $50 question... (Score:4, Interesting)
When will someone get the Evo rooted and able to have custom ROMs. This is my biggest decision maker on what phone I select. If the phone has hidden obstacles (partitions that can't be mounted rw even with root, fastboot issues, etc.), or have other gotchas (such as the radio ROM upgrade on the Cliq), then I'll pass, even if it has a fast Internet connection.
I can think of a lot of very useful things that could be useful with a device offering a fast connection and with a custom ROM. A quick and dirty failover connection on a LAN, to plugging into a server and running some firewall/VPN software on the Android level for a fast remote access ability, to load balancing (if someone has a slow, but low latency DSL connection, the packets for games go through that, while the video streaming and such will go through the high bandwidth, high latency 4g connection).
Of course, I wonder how well this will perform if not on a Clear/4G network. How well will it failover to 3G gracefully if I'm in the sticks and able to get a "generic" CDMA signal?
Re:No... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:No... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:No... (Score:2, Interesting)
On the bright side, my modem reached Texas before they forcefully renewed my two year "Please Throttle Me" plan.
Re:Not the first (Score:3, Interesting)
I wonder how "3.5G" networks such as T-Mobile's HSPA+ will compare to this. T-Mobile is supposed to have this rolled out at the end of this year, and because it isn't as big a hardware change, towers can be converted faster as compared to a completely new wireless technology.
I've heard people in Philadelphia say that T-Mobile has the edge compared to Clear WiMax, but it has been stated that T-Mobile has a 5 GB limit per month, so that makes it useless for a primary Internet connection.