I finally bit the bullet and activated a phone on Boost Mobile (pre-paid Nextel) to try with TomTom Services. Why? Past experience with Boost Mobile indicated that data usage doesn't affect from your account balance and I suspected that this might be a cheap way of tethering my TomTom for use with Traffic, Fuel Prices, Weather, etc.
So, I bought a re-boost card at Target for $20, and called called to have my expired card re-activated on my not-in-use Nextel i580 phone. $10 of the card value went toward re-activation, leaving me with a $10 balance.
After jumping through many hoops (see here), I was able to successfully pair my phone with my TomTom. I've been using this setup for two days not, with no change in my account balance.
My account balance will expire unless I re-boost within 90 days. The minimum re-boost amount is $10. So, in theory I can tether my TomTom for about $40 per year, instead of paying Verizon $30 per month.
Keep in mind that the speed is nothing to write home about - it's 19.2K - but perfectly adequate for this purpose.
What could be better than this? Well, after my account balance expires I'll have 60 days to re-boost. It may be possible to use data during this period, since it doesn't affect my account balance. If this works, then I would only need a $10 re-boost every 150 days, reducing the tethering cost to $24 per year - less than the cost of 1 month with Verizon.
Boost Mobile is currently offering Bluetooth-capable iDEN handsets for $100. I can't say if these handsets will work as mine did, but it may be worth a shot.
So, I bought a re-boost card at Target for $20, and called called to have my expired card re-activated on my not-in-use Nextel i580 phone. $10 of the card value went toward re-activation, leaving me with a $10 balance.
After jumping through many hoops (see here), I was able to successfully pair my phone with my TomTom. I've been using this setup for two days not, with no change in my account balance.
My account balance will expire unless I re-boost within 90 days. The minimum re-boost amount is $10. So, in theory I can tether my TomTom for about $40 per year, instead of paying Verizon $30 per month.
Keep in mind that the speed is nothing to write home about - it's 19.2K - but perfectly adequate for this purpose.
What could be better than this? Well, after my account balance expires I'll have 60 days to re-boost. It may be possible to use data during this period, since it doesn't affect my account balance. If this works, then I would only need a $10 re-boost every 150 days, reducing the tethering cost to $24 per year - less than the cost of 1 month with Verizon.
Boost Mobile is currently offering Bluetooth-capable iDEN handsets for $100. I can't say if these handsets will work as mine did, but it may be worth a shot.
