Anyone used Touring Plans' Lines App?

[sahmoffour]

I'm thinking about adding a roaming data package onto our cell phone so we can use the Lines App, but I have no idea how many MB that would use up while we're there for 10 days to know how big of a pkg I should get. Has anyone used this while there or have a guess at how many MB it would use as I'm clueless when it comes to this stuff! I'd also like to use blackberry messenger while we're there but no clue about how many MB that uses either? Only for when my hubby and I might get separated so we can still PIN one another.

 

[dishguy1977]

What provider are you with now? What data package do you have now? How much data do you typically use here on a monthly basis (check your bill)? Are you looking to switch your regular package to a "one rate" canada/us kind of package or adding a bucket of US data?

I can certainly point you in the right direction but I need to know the answer to all of the above.

 

[ccudmore]

I used it fairly extensively last trip and loved it. It used very little data. Even the most modest data plan will cover you. The thing that kills you is all the other multi-media things you'll be tempted to use the phone for while you're there (picture uploading, reading e-mails, etc).

 

[fnkyyellow]

I'm curious to know, is there a way to find out if the fastpasses are gone for the day using that app?
I downloaded the free version yesterday and tried playing around with it.
How depressing that I am over 1.8 million yards away!

 

[sahmoffour]

What provider are you with now? What data package do you have now? How much data do you typically use here on a monthly basis (check your bill)? Are you looking to switch your regular package to a "one rate" canada/us kind of package or adding a bucket of US data?

I can certainly point you in the right direction but I need to know the answer to all of the above.

Thanks for helping me! Here's the answers to your questions:

I'm with Telus Mobility right now, I have a blackberry pearl. In one month I used 1550 KB. The plan I'm on right now is Voice 20-$20/month with blackberry social networking add-on for $15/month. Very basic as the only thing I use my phone for is for emergency calls when I'm out of the house (which isnt' all that often). Also use it for texting a couple friends, and blackberry messenger with my husband/cousin/best friend. That's it! I never go online with it or on facebook or anything. All I want it for while in Disney (for 10 days) is to be able to msg my husband if we get split up, possibly make a phone call or two home if needed, and use the touring plans' lines app. I don't want to switch my plan for good, just add something for the one month then cancel when we get back.

 

[sahmoffour]

I used it fairly extensively last trip and loved it. It used very little data. Even the most modest data plan will cover you. The thing that kills you is all the other multi-media things you'll be tempted to use the phone for while you're there (picture uploading, reading e-mails, etc).

That's good to know! I should be okay then as I don't plan on uploading any pictures or reading emails with it, just using the lines app and maybe messaging with my hubby a couple times if we get split up. Thanks!

 

[sahmoffour]

I'm curious to know, is there a way to find out if the fastpasses are gone for the day using that app?
I downloaded the free version yesterday and tried playing around with it.
How depressing that I am over 1.8 million yards away!

I think you would be able to tell, it says it will tell you what the current fastpass return time is, and their predictions for when faspasses will run out for the day, so you'd think it would tell you when they are gone. Doesn't specifically say that though...

 

[dishguy1977]

Thanks for helping me! Here's the answers to your questions:

I'm with Telus Mobility right now, I have a blackberry pearl. In one month I used 1550 KB. The plan I'm on right now is Voice 20-$20/month with blackberry social networking add-on for $15/month. Very basic as the only thing I use my phone for is for emergency calls when I'm out of the house (which isnt' all that often). Also use it for texting a couple friends, and blackberry messenger with my husband/cousin/best friend. That's it! I never go online with it or on facebook or anything. All I want it for while in Disney (for 10 days) is to be able to msg my husband if we get split up, possibly make a phone call or two home if needed, and use the touring plans' lines app. I don't want to switch my plan for good, just add something for the one month then cancel when we get back.

First off, does the app work on your Blackberry now?? The reason I ask is that your plan is supposed to give you access to specific social networking sites (facebook, etc) and BBM but you are not supposed to have regular internet access so the app shouldn't work. Great if it does!

So as far as US data is concerned, it doesn't look like Telus actually has US packages with a set amount of data. What they have is a $10 US Data add on that lowers your US data roaming rate from $3 per MB to $1 per MB. It says the savings start after 5 MB. Your usage you indicated above is less than 2MB (approx 1000KB per MB) because you are only doing BBM which doesn't use a lot of data. I'm assuming you have email as well which also uses very little data for emails that are TEXT only. If you have attachments or emails with pictures in them (like emails that stores send you) that would increase your data usage. So based on your regular usage you would only pay about $6 for your US usage for a whole month and the $10 add on would not be necessary. Now as far as the app is concerned I don't know how much data it uses so it might be a good idea to add that $10 US add on just in case. You may want to email the app developer and ask about approximate data usage so you have a better idea. The amount of data it uses shouldn't be alot as I imagine all the graphics for the app are stored on your BB and it should only be pulling small amounts of text data to update the wait times, etc. It also depends on how often it is requesting an update of data as the more times it requests the info the more data it is using.

As far as voice calling goes it is $1.45/minute and says you can call any destination. Again, they don't seem to have an add on with a specific number of minutes but instead have $5, $10 and $20 US Voice Pass that lowers your rate to $1, $0.50 and $0.25 respectively. So it depends on what you think your usage will be. You will definitely want to use BBM for "talking" to your hubby if separated as it will be much cheaper than a voice call.

Here is Telus' web page with all the info on the packages. Hope I helped!

http://www.telusmobility.com/en/ON/calling_services/usroamingpackages.shtml

 

[dishguy1977]

Ok, a correction to the post above. I went on the touring plans website and it looks to me like the Blackberry version of this app is actually just a web page. OP, do you actually have an app on your BB? If it is just using the web then what I said about graphics being stored on the BB itself is incorrect. For a web page all the graphics have to be downloaded to your BB so that will definitely increase the amount of data used. You will definitely want to add the $10 US roaming add on. Again, I would suggest emailing the developer to inquire about data usage estimates.

 

[sahmoffour]

First off, does the app work on your Blackberry now?? The reason I ask is that your plan is supposed to give you access to specific social networking sites (facebook, etc) and BBM but you are not supposed to have regular internet access so the app shouldn't work. Great if it does!

So as far as US data is concerned, it doesn't look like Telus actually has US packages with a set amount of data. What they have is a $10 US Data add on that lowers your US data roaming rate from $3 per MB to $1 per MB. It says the savings start after 5 MB. Your usage you indicated above is less than 2MB (approx 1000KB per MB) because you are only doing BBM which doesn't use a lot of data. I'm assuming you have email as well which also uses very little data for emails that are TEXT only. If you have attachments or emails with pictures in them (like emails that stores send you) that would increase your data usage. So based on your regular usage you would only pay about $6 for your US usage for a whole month and the $10 add on would not be necessary. Now as far as the app is concerned I don't know how much data it uses so it might be a good idea to add that $10 US add on just in case. You may want to email the app developer and ask about approximate data usage so you have a better idea. The amount of data it uses shouldn't be alot as I imagine all the graphics for the app are stored on your BB and it should only be pulling small amounts of text data to update the wait times, etc. It also depends on how often it is requesting an update of data as the more times it requests the info the more data it is using.

As far as voice calling goes it is $1.45/minute and says you can call any destination. Again, they don't seem to have an add on with a specific number of minutes but instead have $5, $10 and $20 US Voice Pass that lowers your rate to $1, $0.50 and $0.25 respectively. So it depends on what you think your usage will be. You will definitely want to use BBM for "talking" to your hubby if separated as it will be much cheaper than a voice call.

Here is Telus' web page with all the info on the packages. Hope I helped!

http://www.telusmobility.com/en/ON/calling_services/usroamingpackages.shtml

YOU ROCK!!! Thank you so much for taking the time to explain this techy stuff to me, I'm literally clueless about this stuff. Right now I don't use any apps on my blackberry, or emailing. Only messenger with 3 people and occassionally texting with a couple other friends who don't have blackberries. Literally, I'll prob only use it for messenger with hubby and the lines app while down there. I've tried to go online before, and it just cuts me off since I don't have that on my pkg so I can't get the lines app. So am I correct in saying that I'll first have to add on something that will give me internet access, then purchase the us roaming package for $10 to be sure I dont' go over while down there? I'll definitely email the owner though to see if he/she can give me information on what the data usage may be. Thanks again!!!

 

[tone.def]

I honestly thought I was going to use that app a lot on my last trip and I used it 3 times - tops.

 

[ChisJo]

I honestly thought I was going to use that app a lot on my last trip and I used it 3 times - tops.

Agree...I thought I would be all over my Iphone and the touring apps, but I ended looking at it like 2 times, and by the end of the trip, I didn't even bring it into the parks with me.

The thing that I found is that it needs to update itself first before you can look at wait times. This can take a few minutes. By the time I found what the wait times were estimated to be, I could've found the wait time signs and looked there without worrying about roaming fees.

 

[Disney Dad Canada]

Agree...I thought I would be all over my Iphone and the touring apps, but I ended looking at it like 2 times, and by the end of the trip, I didn't even bring it into the parks with me.

The thing that I found is that it needs to update itself first before you can look at wait times. This can take a few minutes. By the time I found what the wait times were estimated to be, I could've found the wait time signs and looked there without worrying about roaming fees.

I'm finding out the exact same thing right now. Have 2 line apps on my android phone, used them twice in 6 days. I'm using Gowalla a lot more, just to see the cool badges.

The numbers are pretty accurate, including the fast pass times.

 

[MikeyNS]

I used it in March on one of our BB's through their mobile site. We're with Telus as well. It's amazing how little data a BB uses. I used the lines mobile site quite a bit "just 'cuz I could" and I used *well* under $1/1MB of data for browsing their mobile site (I did add the $10 US data plan and monitored my data usage with a $2.99 BB app I bought before I left).

In total over 12 days we used 8MB's of data, and that was with heavy facebooking with uploading photos, emails with attachments and mobile web browsing.
I could have easily cut that down and uploaded pictures over Wifi in the room, but I really wanted to check out the data roaming usage.

So it was $18 total for data with the US plan ($10 for the plan and $8 for data), where it would have been $24 without the US plan ($3/MB * 8MB).