GPRS on prepaid ?

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JF Mezei - 13 Jan 2004 10:39 GMT

On Fido's web site, describing the prepaid options, I saw this:
##
Mobile Internet (WAP)
Access sites specially designed for wireless navigation (e.g., news, weather,
movie listings) using a Fido GPRS handset You can view up to 160 characters
on your handset A rate of 15¢ per minute, calculated by the minute, will be debited.
##

I had been under the impression that GPRS was not available on the prepaid
accounts. This text is quite confusing since the $0.15 PER MINUTE rate is hard
to reconcile with all the other texts that stipulate that GPRS isn't charged
per minute but rather charged per kb of data exchanged.

Is this a leftover from the days of CSD service ? If this really does apply
to GPRS, how is the "session duration" defined ?

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PS - 13 Jan 2004 13:49 GMT

I called Fido about this last month, and was told to my surprise that "yes,
GPRS is available on prepaid is activated on your account".

I then spent many many hours trying to configure my cellphone to get
internet access on my PDA (via bluetooth), with no success.

Called Fido the next day, and it turns out that only WAP over GPRS on the
cellphone itself is allowed on Fidomatic, not the full GPRS service.

> On Fido's web site, describing the prepaid options, I saw this:
> ##
> Mobile Internet (WAP)
> Access sites specially designed for wireless navigation (e.g., news, weather,
> movie listings) using a Fido GPRS handset You can view up to 160 characters
> on your handset A rate of 15? per minute, calculated by the minute, will

be debited.

> ##
>
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> Is this a leftover from the days of CSD service ? If this really does apply
> to GPRS, how is the "session duration" defined ?

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repatch - 13 Jan 2004 16:54 GMT

Yup, and even worse, if the site you are accessing isn't on a "normal" port
it won't work, period. Oh, and Fido won't tell you what "normal" ports are,
another useless feature, regrettably only from Fido...

> I called Fido about this last month, and was told to my surprise that "yes,
> GPRS is available on prepaid is activated on your account".
[quoted text clipped - 26 lines]
> apply
> > to GPRS, how is the "session duration" defined ?

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Blandine Bigard - 13 Jan 2004 14:46 GMT

be debited.

> ##
>
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> Is this a leftover from the days of CSD service ? If this really does apply
> to GPRS, how is the "session duration" defined ?

They charge you for the time the GPRS connection is active no matter if the
phone transmit or not. If you transmit/receive a lot of data, this can be
more economical but they are not stupid: only wap surfing is allowed with
this system. You can't connect to a PDA or computer. So it will cost you a
lot since the time you take to read the page count on like the old CSD way.

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JF Mezei - 14 Jan 2004 07:11 GMT

> They charge you for the time the GPRS connection is active no matter if the
> phone transmit or not.

It is easy to know when a session starts (request for an IP). But how does the
network know that a session has ended and the IP can be released ? When you
quit the WAP application ?

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Edward S - 14 Jan 2004 17:47 GMT

> > They charge you for the time the GPRS connection is active no matter if the
> > phone transmit or not.
>
> It is easy to know when a session starts (request for an IP). But how does the
> network know that a session has ended and the IP can be released ? When you
> quit the WAP application ?

Yes, basically.

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