Edited by author 08-07-2003 07:55 PM
Umm... looks like Shirky's calculator is upside down. If 300 minutes costs $50, that's 6 *minutes per dollar* (300min/$50). The cents per minute is about 17 cents per minute ($50/300min=$0.166.../min).

In any case, that price is IF and ONLY IF one uses all 300 minutes. That's about 10 minutes every day. If one uses less than that, the price per minute goes up.

Suppose you only go to Starbucks once a week, and check your mail while waiting (and it takes 10 minutes), then you only use 50 minutes that month for the same $50 -- THAT costs a dollar a minute -- The SAME PRICE as if one had used the $10 a day pass on 5 days for 10 minutes each.

On the other hand, if you used you day pass for 20 minutes each of those 5 times, you're down to 50 cents a minute!

If you used your day pass for 2 hours, your price is now down to 17 cents a minute again.

Bottom line: If your only choices were $50/300 per month, or $10/day, as needed, the best deal would depend wholly on your usage pattern.

If you needed 10 minutes a day, EVERY DAY, then $50 for 300 makes sense (@ $0.16/min). But if you need access only a few days of the month for more than 10 minutes each time, or if you need it only once a month for 1 hour or more, or if you need it several times a month for a fairly long time... $10/day starts to look good.

Cost Analysis of $10/day Wireless access plan
  For different usage patterns
    Showing Dollars Per Minute

Mnth|....|--------Total Minutes Used During Month--------|
Cost|Days|..10...|..50...|..300..|..480..|..1440*|..1800 |
 $10|...1|$ 1.000|$ 0.200|$ 0.033|$ 0.021|$ 0.007|..N/A..|
 $50|...5|$ 5.000|$ 1.000|$ 0.167|$ 0.104|$ 0.035|$ 0.028|
$100|..10|$10.000|$ 2.000|$ 0.333|$ 0.208|$ 0.069|$ 0.058|
$150|..15|..N/A..|$ 3.000|$ 0.500|$ 0.313|$ 0.104|$ 0.083|
$200|..20|..N/A..|$ 4.000|$ 0.667|$ 0.417|$ 0.139|$ 0.111|
$250|..25|..N/A..|$ 5.000|$ 0.833|$ 0.521|$ 0.174|$ 0.139|
$300|..30|..N/A..|$ 6.000|$ 1.000|$ 0.625|$ 0.208|$ 0.167|

300 = 5 hrs, 480 = 8 hrs, 1440 = 24 hrs*,
1800 = 1 hr/day times 30 days
* Theoretical daily maximum