I was wondering if i should get this phone cause currently i have AT&T and i can't get 3g with this phone with them but i also can't get 3g with Tmo cause they don't have it in this area. So either way i won't be able to use 3g. But i'm in need of an upgrade i'm currently using a Sony Ericsson w580i and its pretty much broken right now. So i was wondering if EDGE would do me justice for surfing the web, maybe streaming some vids from hulu, using the internet radio, or even downloading apps.


P.S. how long do the full sites load up on EDGE?

Depends on the website, but for general browsing it's tolerable. Sites that are simple will load quickly. Sites that are flash heavy will take longer (where my home is has edge speeds). No surprise considering it's in the middle of nowhere compared to the rest of the Washington area. =P

You can install ad-blocks extensions for the browser. There may be flash-blockers as well which could help speed up browsing as well.

No-go for streaming video, and very iffy for streaming Internet radio (works when the planets are correctly aligned).

Howdy colabe. I'm also on AT&T in an area that doesn't have T-Mobile service (Madison, WI). As others have indicated, for basic browsing its tolerable, for streaming audio/video its pretty much a no-go. Downloading apps really depends on the size of the app (and its dependencies) and how long you're willing to wait. However, I rarely find myself frustrated at the lack of 3G. At home or work (and many other places) I'm connected to wifi.

Prior to the n900 I used an HTC G1 on AT&T (again without 3G), so was in the same scenario then as well. I did manage after a few lost connections to download a firmware update (cyanogen mod) on EDGE with my G1 (~50MB). Turns out I was "roaming" and I woke up the next morning to a text message telling me I was violating my terms of service. Apparently AT&T has something like a 10MB/month cap on data while roaming. The kicker is your phone won't tell you its roaming until you get flagged, which only happens after you've exceed 100MB/month in roaming data. I had to have the customer service rep explain that to me couple time to make sure I understood it correctly. I guess I'm veering a bit off-topic. :-)

if you can tolerate edge speeds, b/c you have wifi at home and work, definately get the unlimited text/data plan for $30 a month.

I have family unlimited text and 10 dollar a month unlimited data. Edge only of course with At&t, but I am on wifi 95% of my time.

I use mine on AT&T and its tolerable. However, I think the browser itself needs some speed optimizations itself.

If you will call to att don't tell them that you are using n900, your IMEI and that is not dummi phone otherwise you will get $30 per month for unlimited data....

I have a really hard time getting even 200MB a month on EDGE. If there's a plan with less MB for less $$, and you spend a lot of time on WiFi anyway, don't bother with unlimited.

IMEI? not sure what that is, but I have read that at&t doesnt recognize the phone and that the smartphone plans don't get charged.\

I also will barely dent the data on edge, is there a better data plan, if I do get charged the 30?