The Well Hidden "Gotcha" on T-Mobile's FlexPay "Unlimited" Plan

I didn't want to get sucked into another 2-year contract with T-Mobile, or any carrier for that matter, until I was certain who I wanted to end up with. In reviewing all the pre-paid plans out there, I decided to go with T-Mobile's Individual Unlimited plan for $99 per month, and do so month-to-month using their FlexPay program.

In addition to unlimited calling to anyone on any network or landline, the $99 plan also came with unlimited text messaging, IMs, video and picture messaging and that was exactly what I needed.

However, two of the services I use heavily via SMS (text messaging) are Twitter and Google, which both provide free shortcodes for accessing their service.

It turns out that T-Mobile blocks access to these shortcodes, making you unable to send text messages to them.

Surely that's outlined in the plan details; I must have just overlooked that disclosure. After combing through my materials several times, I fail to see where T-Mobile discloses such a blockage.

Where have I seen that business practice before? Oh yes, when I discovered the hard way that T-Mobile blocks Internet access for 3rd party java applications on the Nokia phones they sell.

The bottom line: If you rely on being able to send messages to SMS shortcodes for services such as Twitter or Google SMS, T-Mobile FlexPay plans are not for you.

Photo credit: Flickr user Zach Klein

Let's have a chat, shall we?

If you look on the left hand side of my michaelrbeck.com site, you'll notice I have a "Chat with Michael Beck" link. If I'm online, feel free to say hello and ask any questions you may have.

If you already have Google Talk, feel free to add mrbeck@gmail.com so I can know who you are as well! (Unless you really like being known simply as "guest")

Reading Trends Time Again

Off the wall statistics always interest me, and the "Trends" link on Google Reader has me hooked.

Since you clearly can't get enough of all things "Michael Beck", it's time to let you in a little deeper into my head by way of what I read on the Internet.

Mashable has been the number one blog I've read over the past 30 days, as I love all things Web 2.0. But like many folks on the Internet, I attack tech blogs with the "what's in it for me" approach. With Mashable, most of the articles I read have to do with new launches that offer free services that would benefit me. They only nail me 20% of the time.

It's no secret that I'm a big fan of the Nintendo Wii, and my tastes are very specific: Virtual Console games (the old school NES/SNES stuff) and anything to do with hockey games and Mario Kart. With Nintendo Wii Fanboy, Nearly 1 out of every 4 articles tickles my fancy.

Wired bombards my reader with a plethora of subjects, 84% of which I could care less about. But I do find more articles of interest with Wired than I do with BoingBoing.

Lifehacker is good for republishing articles I just read in another blog, but once in a while they link me to something I haven't read yet, or heck, they even come up with original content from time to time. They get me to read 18% of the time. With Lifehacker you don't get a full RSS feed, so if you want to continue reading an article you have to click through to the site. I click through probably 5% of the time.

Download Squad is where I pick up most of my Windows XP news, as well as tips on cool software and a nifty new start up site here and there.

I find what Robert Scoble shares in his Google Reader as interesting as Mashable or Download Squad, and so much so that it actually ranks #6 in my Google Reader trends. (Keep up the sharing, Robert, I really enjoy it!)

Darren Rowse over at Problogger.net always has interesting blogging tips to share, which I am very religious in reading (I read nearly half of the articles that come my way from Problogger) . Now if I could just be as thorough in applying the tips and techniques, perhaps I'd have a bigger subscriber base.

Clark Howard is a radio personality in Atlanta, Georgia that teaches his listeners on how to be better consumers by saving money, finding bargains, and avoiding getting ripped off. I subscribe to his feed and read his "Websites mentioned" post each day as you never know when you might find a cool new product or service before the rest of the world does. I learned about the "Virgin Webplayer" and "Virgin Connect" service through Clark Howard. (Still bummed that thing went under so fast - I really liked it!)

Digital Inspiration is a blog I've picked up on recently and discovered they have a lot of great tips for using Google services, for example. They also publish some off-the-wall humor stuff like the piece they did on the company selling pillows embroidered with DOS directories.

Last, but not least, is Rhi in Pink, a blog that follows the daily life of Rhi, a 29 year old woman living in Portland, Oregon. Her writing style is a mixture of Carrie from Sex in the City (without the Sex, if that makes sense), Kevin Nealon as "Mr. Subliminal", and a conversation you'd have with your best female friend home from college after you haven't seen her in a few years and she has absolutely fabulous stories to tell you. Am I hooked? I've read every blog post she has put out in the last 30 days: the only blog scoring 100% in my top ten.

Canon Reinvents the Polaroid Camera?

Photo courtesy of Flickr user pieterjanviaene

I can't even roll with this story, it's so ridiculous. But it made you click, so that makes me the last official prank of April Fools' Day. (I'm cheering inside my mind right now.)

Yes, today was April Fools' Day. From the moment I woke up to now, as I wind down for the evening, I wonder if anything productive was accomplished on the Internet today.

Let's see, there was Gmail's "Custom Time" prank, that promised Gmail users the ability to make any e-mail appear in the recipient's inbox as having been received hours, days or months earlier than when you actually sent it.

Then there was Google Books "new" feature: Scratch and Sniff. Click on a scratch and sniff book and your computer would recreate the scent.

Heck, even Google AdSense got in the act, introducing AdSense for Conversations. Participant would wear special headgear that holds a screen over their head, displaying advertising relevant to the conversation taking place between you and the person wearing the screen.

Google didn't stop there, and the blog Google Operating System put together a complete list of all the great Google pranks for your enjoyment.

Google wasn't the only one in the act. How many of you were "Rickrolled" today? It's bad enough when your friends do it to you, but YouTube itself got in the act, "Rickrolling" everyone who clicked on a video on their main page. Daily Mahalo users thought they were getting to see an exclusive Steve Jobs interview, but no. RICKROLLED!

I remember when April Fools' Day jokes were more plentiful offline, as opposed to online. As a kid growing up my mother always fooled us with the exact same one every year: the rubber band on the kitchen hand sprayer trick. Turned on the water and we got the water fountain.

What was your favorite April Fools' joke today? Did you fall for any of them?