Vario in the USA. Help!

[jonfitt]

I have moved to the USA and am looking to get my Vodafone Vario up and running again. I'm after some hints from some locals.

I'm well aware of the whole CDMA/GSM situation and have currently a US overpriced T-mobile PAYG SIM.
Are my only real options AT&T/T-mobile, or are there some other small players which piggyback on the large networks?

Ideally I want a plan with unlimited data and push email, but they all seem to demand 2-year contracts for large sums of money, and that doesn't even include a free phone.

I'm not used to this market, in the UK I would only consider signing a 2-year contract if they gave me a free Kaiser and it was a seriously good bundle. In the UK I got my Hermes free on a 1-year contract, and the year before I got an M500(magician) free on a 1-year contract. I'm just shocked that the largest market in the world seems to be such poor value.

Am I missing something?

[mcorrie1121]

Wow, didn't know all that. Guess we are just used to 2 yr deals here. Ha i wish i got a free Hermes!!

[jonfitt]

I went to an AT&T store last night and was even more dismayed.
They wanted:
$39.99 for their cheapest bundled minute package
+ $44.99 for unlimited data and 1500 SMSs
$36 Activation Fee for each new line.

That's what, $85 per month PLUS TAX!!!

Even at the current exchange rates that's awful compared to what I was on!

And for graciously letting me pay them to use their network with my own phone which they did not subsidise one cent of, they want a one year contract!

Also, check out these awful T&Cs:
Airtime and other measured usage are billed in full-minute increments. (Did I travel back in time and per second billing has not been invented yet?)
Unanswered outgoing calls of 30 seconds or longer incur airtime. (WTF!?)

Things you may not do with an "Unlimited" data connection:
WEB CAMERA POSTS OR BROADCASTS, CONTINUOUS JPEG FILE TRANSFERS, AUTOMATIC DATA FEEDS, TELEMETRY APPLICATIONS, PEER-TO-PEER (P2P) FILE SHARING, AUTOMATED FUNCTIONS OR ANY OTHER MACHINE-TO-MACHINE APPLICATIONS; VOICE OVER IP;
UPLOADING, DOWNLOADING OR STREAMING OF VIDEO CONTENT (E.G. MOVIES, TV), MUSIC OR GAMES. FURTHERMORE, PLANS (UNLESS SPECIFICALLY DESIGNATED FOR TETHERING USAGE) CANNOT BE USED FOR ANY APPLICATIONS THAT TETHER THE DEVICE (THROUGH USE OF, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, CONNECTION KITS, OTHER PHONE/PDA-TO-COMPUTER ACCESSORIES, BLUETOOTH® OR ANY OTHER WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY) TO LAPTOPS, PCS, OR OTHER EQUIPMENT FOR ANY PURPOSE

Their Mobile Email:
E-mail attachments can not be sent, downloaded, read, or forwarded on the mobile device. Only a paper clip icon appears indicating an attachment. You must view attachments from your PC.

What the hell use is that!

There must be a better solution out there, or is everyone here just used to rolling over and taking it?