Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Sprint's ZTE Peel for iPod A Good Start But Ruined By Insane Data Plan

Sprint was my first mobile carrier back in the days when they went nuts on everyone and offered a $75 plan with one thousand any time minutes.  At the time, everyone was like what are they doing ruining the cash cow that was largely still charging by the minute.

So I am not surprise that Sprint, though not thriving as it should, is still innovating in ways with plans and devices.  Such as the ZTE Peel for the iPod that offers a case as well as the ability to connect to the 3G network.  And it also works as a mifi for you to connect to other devices. 

And it's a decent price at $80.

And that's the good part and it pretty much ends there.  Now the bad part.  It only works for previous generation iPod touches.  And if you're like me with the latest iPod touch with the camera, it doesn't seem to support it. 

What's worse that for such a case, it doesn't offer support to charge the iPod touch on the go.

Now come the worst part of the deal.  It so bad thought I recommend we stay away from it.  For $30 a month, you get only 1GB of data on the 3G network.  For me this is a deal breaker.  If it they had offered 3 or 5GB, I can see more folks getting in on that but it would still be, by no means, a good deal.

What Sprint should have done was offer unlimited access.  After all, this is the slower CDMA 3G we are talking about. Not even the 4G-ish WiMax.  As a matter of fact, if you live in a WiMax area, you can get the mifi iSpot from Clear for $99 and get 4G only access for $25 a month.  

While the iSpot only supports iOS devices, the purpose of the Peel is to provide wireless Internet access for the iPod touch.

I hope Sprint becomes more sensible and offers a better deal.  One day, it may get the iPhone and if this is how they're going to treat iOS users out the gate, they're in trouble.  Besides, this is a worse deal than what their EVO and Galaxy S, both Android devices, are getting. 

More at Macnn.

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