Winds of Change: How the No-Contract, Unlimited Data Phone Plans are Changing & My Recommendations for Keeping Up

Things have changed since I first switched to unlimited data, texting, and talking with no contract.  No-contract plan prices and the amount of un-throttled data has also changed since I last reviewed Solavei, Straight Talk, Simple Mobile, and Net 10.  I had to find out the hard way how much data I could use before being throttled and every time I called their support lines, I was told they did no such thing and they blamed bad reception on my slow data speeds.  Companies like Straight Talk now admit they throttle after 2.5GB.  I was a happy Solavei customer until they changed their $49 unlimited data plan to a 2GB limit and don't offer unlimited data, even if I wanted to pay extra for it.  I was upset at their price hikes and limited data, so I went on the hunt again to find out where I should switch to.

I recently purchased unlocked Nexus 5 phones for my wife and I.  I was excited to have the capability to use LTE with our new phones, as my Nexus 4 and my wife's iPhone 4S could only access HSPA+ networks before we upgraded phones.  Solavei, Straight Talk, Simple Mobile, and Net 10 do not have LTE.  The 3-13 Mbps on HSPA+ wasn't too bad, but I much prefer the 5-25 Mbps that I get on LTE.  Very few things in life frustrate me more than slow internet speeds, so throttled data speeds are not an option for me.  Solavei, Straight Talk, Simple Mobile, and Net 10 all throttle data speeds.  I also still want to save money over the contract plans of Sprint, Verizon, and AT&T.  So what were my options?

MetroPCS

Earlier in 2013, T-Mobile bought MetroPCS.  MetroPCS previously only had access to CDMA networks (similar to Spring and Verizon), but now have access to T-Mobile's LTE and HSPA+ networks.

• Their bring your own phone plans with unlimited data, texting, and talk are:
• $60 per month for one line.
• $115 per month for two phone lines.

They offer a $5 off per line discount for each additional line.  Using the test micro SIM card at a Metro PCS store and following the APN settings from other Nexus 5 owners on Metro PCS, I could not get their service to work on my phone.  After contacting their technical support, they told me to wait until they officially supported the phone.  Any unlocked GSM phone should work just fine, so your experience may vary.

T-Mobile

T-Mobile now offers no contract plans where you can bring your own phone.  The prices for their unlimited data, texting, and talking (with LTE and HSPA+) are:

• $70 per month for one line.
• $120 per month for two lines.
• If you can live with 2.5GB of data, then one line would be $60 per month and two would be $100.

T-Mobile also offers free data and texting in 100 countries, which I will enjoy when I travel to Canada.

What company did I choose?

I chose T-Mobile.  Right now they are one of the few cell phone companies that offer unlimited data, texting, and talking without throttling and with LTE.  It seems that no-contract cell phone plans with unlimited, un-throttled data are going the way of the buffalo and plans with limited data are the future we are facing.  Right now though, I will enjoy my unlimited data with T-Mobile.  I have no loyalty to them and the minute another company offers a better deal, I am ready to jump ship.

Phone Options

You can purchase any unlocked GSM phone to use on these no-contract services.  Here are some  recommendations:

Nexus 5

I would recommend purchasing a Nexus 5, which sell for $349 for the 16GB model and $399 for the 32GB model.





Moto G

If low cost is your main priority, then the best new phone that you can buy right now is the Moto G.  It sells for $179 for the 8GB model and $199 for the 16GB model.  You can buy it from Amazon and Motorola.  It is a great device with the main downside that it lacks LTE.





iPhone 5S

The iPhone 5S is also a great phone and offers features like 64-bit processing, finger print scanning, Siri, and top of the line speed and graphics processing.  You can purchase it unlocked and contract-free from Apple for $649.




Other Phone Carrier Options

I have focused on GSM-based services that allow me to switch to their service simply by putting in a new SIM card into the same phone I already own.  The CDMA-based networks do not have SIM cards, so if you are alright sticking with the same phone and service for a while, here are some other no-contract options for you:

• Virgin Mobile
• Boost Mobile
• Republic Wireless

If saving money is your #1 goal, then the $10 per month plan from Republic Wireless is a good option.  You get unlimited calling and texting, but only get access to data while on Wi-Fi.  

Comments

Do you use different carriers for unlimited data, texting, and talking with no contract?  If so, please post in the comments and post any of your other thoughts or tips.

I've tried 'em all - Reviews of Solavei, Straight Talk, Simple Mobile, and Net 10

I set out to save money on my monthly cell phone bill and I did just that.  Since I dumped my 2 year contract with Sprint, I have been switching non-contract carriers every month thanks to my unlocked smartphone and Google Voice.  Every phone carrier I have tried has no contract and comes with unlimited data, texting and talking.

General points:

• They claim "unlimited data", but after 2GB of mobile data usage, every company except Solavei throttled my connection speeds (or slowed down to a crawl for non-tech nerds).  I can't stand a slow internet connection and that drove me crazy.
• Confession: I listen to a lot of streaming music with Google Music All Access, Spotify, Pandora, and Slacker.  If you don't burn through data like I do, you may never experience the speed slowdowns.
• These companies pay either AT&T or T-Mobile for the use of their networks.
• AT&T's coverage is better and T-Mobile's HSPA+ connection speeds are better.  T-Mobile coverage has been more than adequate for me and I have been satisfied. 
• Despite the same starting price of about $50, each carrier had varying taxes and surcharges.  I have outlined those below within each carrier's review.

Here are my reviews, starting with my favorite to least favorite carrier.

#1 - Solavei

Their service was provided via the T-Mobile HSPA and HSPA+ network.  They don't spend much on advertisement and instead take a unique, word-of-mouth driven approach.  If I can get 3 of my friends to sign up with their service, I get paid $20 per month as long as those people stay active customers.  For 6 friends, I would get paid $40 and so on.   

I had some trouble getting started with their service.  When setting up the APN settings, I had to ignore what their support site says.  These are the APN settings that I needed for my Nexus 4.  They were the last service that I was reviewing, so I also had all of the other services listed in my APN settings.  I learned that you can't just choose the Solavei APN, but you need to delete all of the others first and then add the Solavei APN settings.  I ended up having to get a new micro SIM card and spend hours chatting with support, so you can learn from my mistakes and just delete the other APNs first.

Once I was up and running, things have been great.  As I mentioned earlier, Solavei did not throttle my data connection speeds, no matter how much data I have used.  This is a big deal for me and the reason that I will be staying with them.  It is odd how much more in taxes and surcharges they have over Simple Mobile, Straight Talk, and Net 10.  Although, I'm certainly willing to pay an extra $5-10 per month for a non-throttled data connection.

• Cost: $49.00 monthly service charge + $10.67 taxes and surcharges = $59.67 per month.\

#2 - Straight Talk
When I first started service with Straight Talk, I had the choice of an AT&T compatible SIM card or a T-Mobile compatible SIM card.  I bought a couple of AT&T compatible micro SIM cards for testing.  I am assuming that it must be cheaper for Straight Talk to pay T-Mobile for the use of their networks, because now there is only a choice of a T-Mobile compatible SIM card when you start a new account and the AT&T compatible SIM cards are going for $60-100 on Amazon.

I had very good coverage and working with their customer service was just fine.  After about 2GB of mobile data usage, they did slow my connection speeds, but not as slow as Simple Mobile and Net 10 made my connection.  If somethings goes wrong with Solavei, I will switch back to Straight Talk.

• Cost: $45 monthly service charge - $2.50 discount for auto-pay + $4.76 taxes and surcharges = $47.26 per month.

#3 - Simple Mobile

Their service was provided via the T-Mobile network.  It was nice that I could get their micro SIM card for less than $1.  While I enjoyed reasonable coverage and decent connection speeds, after about 2GB of data usage  my connection speed was throttled.  When I used them just a few months ago, they didn't have auto-pay options in place and it was annoying to set calendar reminders to pay the cell phone bill manually.  From their website now, it looks like they caught up with the times and added auto-pay.

• Cost: $50.00 monthly service charge + $5.80 taxes and surcharges = $55.80 per month. 

#4 - Net 10

Their service was provided through AT&T's network, which was great for coverage.  I was a very satisfied customer for about 1 week.  After using only 500MB of data, my connection speed was throttled to less than 0.3 Mbps.  To me, that's not even a data connection.  After a couple weeks of these slow speeds, I called their customer service and asked why I they were slowing down my connection speeds.  The support person said they were definitely not doing that.  I said goodbye and moved onto the next carrier.  

• Cost: $50 monthly service charge - $5 discount for auto-pay+ $5.04 taxes and surcharges = $50.04 per month.  This is for the first line. For the second line, it was an additional $45 monthly service charge - $5 discount for auto-pay + $5.43 taxes and surcharges = $45.43 per month.  For two lines, it was $95.47.

If you are wondering how I tested data usage and speeds, I was able to track data usage through the settings in my phone and I frequently used the Speedtest.net app in multiple locations.  

$50 a month for unlimited data, texting, and talking without a contract - How to save over $1000 a year on your cell phone bill

Can you really have the latest and greatest smartphones and only pay $50 per month for unlimited data, texting, and talking and not have a contract?  You sure can.  First you will need to have an unlocked smartphone.  You can buy any unlocked smartphone, as long as it can run on a GSM network.  AT&T and T-Mobile are examples of GSM networks.  Phones that run on Verizon and Sprint are CDMA phones and won't work with these plans.  GSM phones have a place to put a SIM card and CDMA phones do not have SIM cards.  I bought the unlocked Nexus 4 straight from Google and they sell at $299 for the 8GB version and $349 for the 16GB version.  That is not subsidized and you will not need a contract to buy the phone.

Have a locked iPhone?  No problem

If you already have a locked GSM iPhone, then for just a few dollars or even free (in some cases), you can unlock it. For example, my coworker had a locked iPhone 4S on AT&T that he wanted to sell when he bought the iPhone 5.  My coworker went to this web page and filled out the request to have the iPhone unlocked for free.  As long as that line is off contract, AT&T will unlock it for free, otherwise you may need the threaten to cancel if you want them to unlock it.  This way will work if the person you bought the phone from is willing to do this for you and on AT&T.  

Your other option is eBay.  You can just go to ebay.com and search for "unlock iPhone".  Once you find a reputable seller (Over 10,000 reviews at least), you can pay them to unlock it.  Once you have made the purchase of the unlock, you send them the IMEI number for your iPhone.  Here is the help article from Apple on finding the IMEI number.  Once you wait the one to 24 hours, get your confirmation email that it is unlocked, you can plug in the iPhone to your computer, backup the phone, and when you restore the phone it will be unlocked.  I have had a friend buy this unlock for $4 and was successful with unlocking an iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4.  Once it is unlocked, you can get onto wi-fi and download the APN settings for your specific carrier by going to http://www.unlockit.co.nz on your iPhone.

Google Voice

Google Voice is a central phone number that will send calls and texts to any phone you own.  You get voicemail to text transcriptions, you can call and text from your browser and phone using your Google Voice number, and you can create custom voicemails for specific callers.  Here is a video from Google that explains it better.  The best part is that it is a totally free service.

Both my wife and I have ported the phone numbers that we have had for years into Google Voice, so that people can continue to call our same phone numbers.  You can get a new Google Voice number for free, but its was worth it to pay the one time $20 fee to port each of our numbers into Google Voice.  Now that we have Google Voice, we can switch to any prepaid carrier, get a new phone number at each carrier, and just have our Google Voice number send phone calls and text messages to our new number.  If I wanted, I could get a new phone and switch carriers every month, but anyone calling me would never know, as they will be calling the same phone number that they always have in the past.

Google Voice has been a key piece of switching to prepaid carriers for me and I would highly recommend porting your number to it.  Just beware that the process of porting your number will cancel your current contract with your carrier and you may have to pay early termination fees if you are still under contract.  Here is the website for Google Voice.

Overview of contract-free carriers with unlimited data, texting, and talking

There are a few carriers that offer unlimited data, texting, and talking and here is a breakdown of their costs:

• Simple Mobile
• Website
• $50 per month and they don't charge taxes in addition to the $50.
• $14.99 for micro SIM or standard SIM card.
• If you go to Amazon.com and search for “Simple Mobile micro SIM”, you can buy a micro SIM or standard SIM for less than $1.  Here is a link to that search on Amazon.  I paid $0.38 with free shipping for mine.
• HSPA+ 3G/4G speeds.
• They have contract with T-Mobile for wireless coverage.

• Straight Talk
• Website
• $45 per month, plus about $5 taxes.
• $14.99 for standard SIM or micro SIM.
• HSPA+ 3G/4G speeds.
• They have contract with AT&T and T-Mobile for wireless coverage.
• When you buy micro SIM or standard SIM card, you get to choose whether you want an AT&T or T-Mobile SIM card.

• Net10
• Website
• $50 per month, $40 for each additional line.
• $5 per month discount for auto-pay.
• $9.99 for micro SIM card.
• HSPA+ 3G/4G speeds.
• They have contract with AT&T for wireless coverage.

 

• Solavia
• Website
• $49 per month.
• $49 one time startup fee.
• Solavia will pay you $20 per month for every 3 new customers that you get to sign up for their service and will continue to give you $20 per month as long as those individuals continue their service with Solavia.
• HSPA+ 3G/4G speeds.
• They have contract with T-Mobile for wireless coverage.

Alternative carrier - $19 per month

• Republic wireless
• Website
• $19 per month.
• You pay $249 for the Motorola Defy XT.  This will be your only option for a phone.
• $10 startup fee.
• What is the catch? You have to try your best to spend time on wi-fi.  They can keep the plan cost so low because they send calls, texts, and data through wi-fi when you are on it.
• If you are not on wi-fi, you get 3G data on the Sprint network.

Protection from damage and accidents

If you would like to have the same kind of coverage now that I had to pay $15 per month for with Sprint, you can pay $6.99 per month or $125 for two years to Squaretrade for cell phone insurance that includes accident protection.

Savings breakdown

Under contract with Sprint

• We paid $450 for both our phones combined, which were subsidized by Sprint for signing a two year contract.
• Our monthly bill, including insurance was $173.
• The first year of our contract, including phones, we paid $2526.
• The second year of the contract, we did not buy new phones and had we finished the contract, we would have paid $2076.
• Total for two years: $4602

Contract-free providers

• I paid $350 for my unlocked 16GB Nexus 4.
• We bought a used iPhone 4S for my wife for $300.
• Paid $20 for two micro SIM cards.
• Our monthly bill on Straight Talk and Simple Mobile is $100 total.*
• The first year of service, including phones, will be $1850.
• The second year of service we won't be buying phones and will just pay $1200.
• Total for two years: $3070
• If I buy Squaretrade insurance for both phones for two years, the total for two years will be $3320.  At the moment I am going to not get insurance, but I may change my mind.

*We plan on switching carriers every couple of months to find out which one we like best.  Right now my wife is on Straight Talk and I'm on Simple Mobile, but we will be switching to Net10 or Solavia next month.  If we switch to Net10, it will be $85 per month.

The early termination fee is worth it

The cost difference between being on contract with Sprint and going with a prepaid, contract-free provider is $1500.  I had to pay $50 per line in an early termination fee to Sprint and it was clearly worth it.  

Drawbacks

The main drawback with these services is that you won't have LTE.  If not having LTE speeds is a deal-breaker for you, then these plans aren't for you.  The other drawback is that you won't have a store to go to when you have technical issues or need support.  With Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile, you can just head to the nearest store or call their support lines.  The contract-free, prepaid services mostly rely on email support and do have phone numbers to call, but they don't have as extensive of technical support as the main four carriers.  If you have a tech-savvy friend, can follow the directions on the carrier's websites, or can read through online forums to solve your problems, you will be just fine.  

Final thoughts

I may not have LTE speeds, but with Wi-Fi work and home and 5-10 mbps when I am mobile, I am very happy.  I am saving lots of money and still can have the best smartphones.  I enjoy having Google Voice, not having a contract, and being able to switch carriers any time I want.  Do you use different carriers for unlimited data, texting, and talking with no contract?  If so, please post in the comments and post any of your other thoughts or tips.

DD-WRT and Getting the Man Cave up to Speed

I recently converted my crummy, old, detached garage into a man cave and found that my Linksys 802.11N router in my house had a low signal going to the man cave. I tried moving the router from a low spot up to the top of a high bookshelf and that made things a little better, but I still was losing signal with some of my devices. I thought about buying a 150 foot Cat6 ethernet cable and burying that, but that was a lot of work when there was a much easier wireless solution.


I knew that I could convert a regular router with DD-WRT into a wireless repeater bridge, allowing me to build a wireless bridge to my current router, acting as if I was plugged directly in with an ethernet cable. I saw the deal on Fatwallet for the Belkin Sharemax 3000 and read I could flash it with DD-WRT. It was only $22 on Expansys and with the 2 USB ports and gigabit ethernet, I thought it was a great deal. I had gift card and got it off of Amazon, but $30 and free shipping was still a good deal. Spending $30 for my wireless solution was also a lot cheaper than spending $106 on a wired solution.

I followed the directions here to flash the router with DD-WRT.  I then followed the directions here to turn the Belkin router into a wireless repeater bridge.  After successfully connecting the two routers, I can now plug into the ethernet ports for my desktop in the man cave and connect my tablets, phones, and laptops wirelessly and not lose signal anymore.  It's handy too because they are all also on the same subnet, so it's truly like I'm hardwired in, except I didn't have to bury cables in the yard.  I am limited to the 300 mbps limit of the Wireless-N and don't get Gigabit, but that will be enough for my needs.

Ditching Windows 7 & Ubuntu - Giving Fedora a Test Drive

I've decided that I'm bored with the dual-booting Windows 7 & Ubuntu 11.04 setup on my laptop.  I've wiped my laptop and installed Fedora 15.

At first glance I've noticed that the "Activities" and left docked favorite applications is a lot like the Unity interface from Ubuntu 11.04.  I've also noticed that the settings menu is very sparse and I think that will cause problems later when I'm trying to modify settings.  I'll just follow online tutorials and rock the command line.   I still miss my Netflix streaming on Linux, but since it came to Chrome OS, a guy can dream it's coming to other Linux OS's right?

Best Default Browser for Mobile Devices

For my Android phone, the default browser is the slowest of any of the browsers that I have used.  Maybe it's because I have an old Samsung Moment running Android 2.1, but I have had a much better browsing experience with alternative browsers.  For the past month I've used the Miren browser as my default browser. I love it's full screen viewing and relatively quick speed.  After trying Dolphin HD, I wasn't particularly impressed.

Hands down the fastest Android browser I've used is Opera Mini.  It's gone back to my default and until I get a new phone with a more updated version of Android, I'm definitely sticking with Opera Mini.

For the iPad that I use, I switch between the default Safari browser and iCab Mobile.  As far as browsing speed is concerned, there isn't any notable difference.  Are there others that are faster?

As you might be able to tell, speed is my #1 priority with a browser.  What is your #1 browser priority?

Solid State Drive: The Most Valuable Upgrade I've Ever Done

A few months ago, I replaced the 500 GB 5400 rpm drive on my laptop with a 64 GB Solid State Drive .

In order to make this hard drive change, I had to make a fundamental shift with how I stored my files so that very little was stored locally.  I mention how I use an Ubuntu desktop with 4 TB of storage to do this in a previous post.  I dual boot with Ubuntu 11.04 and Windows 7 on my new 64 GB SSD and only run into storage issues with the bloated Windows 7.

Boot and program load times
I can boot into a fully logged in and usable desktop with both Ubuntu and Windows 7 in 20-25 seconds. I used to have to wait 60-90 seconds to get to a usable desktop with Windows and 45-60 seconds with Ubuntu using the standard 5400 rpm laptop hard drive.  Load times on programs have also been significantly reduced.  I wait at least 1/3 of the time I used to for programs to load.

In short, a solid state drive is one of the best and most valuable computer upgrades I have ever done.  I would highly recommend you do the same.

Easy way to make Chrome even faster

When I was playing around in Chrome's settings one day, I noticed the Omnibox setting and was excited about it. Pages now load before I even finish typing the urls or search terms.  Here's how to enable it:

Hard drives die. Are you ready for that? Here's how I am.

Research
I needed a way to backup both Windows 7 and Ubuntu Linux computers.  After spending some time researching backup programs, I decided instead of using one program, I am using a couple different ones.  I first gave serious consideration to CrashPlan and I will use it if my current setup doesn't work in the long term.

I wanted backup programs that would do automated, scheduled, and uncompressed file and folder backup.  I don't want to rely on a specific program to restore the files.  I wanted them be readily accessible on my hard drive.  If I use CrashPlan, I would have to rely on CrashPlan to re-open my backup files.  Right now CrashPlan is free, but what if they start charing for the restore feature and I have to pay to get my files back?  These are things that I think of and my reason for straight file backup.

Windows 7
My wife has a Windows 7 laptop and I setup the free GFI Backup Home Edition on it.  I have an Ubuntu desktop that has 4 TB of data storage on my network, so that is my backup location.  I have setup daily, weekly, and monthly scheduled backups to backup into separate "Daily", "Weekly", and "Monthly" folders on the Ubuntu Desktop.  This way, if a file is accidentally deleted at any point, we could always go back into a day old, week old, or month old backup and retrieve it.  All daily, weekly, and monthly backups write over the old data when they run.

Ubuntu Laptop

On the Ubuntu desktop, I setup Samba shares, so I could access the files on it from my Ubuntu laptop.  Since I only have a 64 GB SSD on my laptop, I don't store any files on it locally.  I just access them on the Ubuntu desktop storage machine.  I mount the Samba shares when I'm at home and access the files with Tonido when I am away.  Any files that I use frequently, like homework for classes, are stored in Dropbox.

A backup to all those backups

On the Ubuntu desktop with 4 TB of storage, I installed KBackup.  All of my personal documents, music, and pictures that are stored on the Ubuntu Desktop, as well as my wife's daily, weekly, and monthly backups are backed up on a daily basis to a 500 GB My Book external hard drive.  This way I am prepared in case my first backup hard drive fails.

I love to be prepared for any computer disaster. Now it's your turn to be prepared!  Please comment with your backup solutions.

Streaming my entire music collection with Audiogalaxy - New Genie mode great addition

I use Audiogalaxy to stream my entire music collection.  It is fantastic and I love that I don't have to store my music on my laptop or phone.  I have a computer at home running 24/7 and it has the Audioglaxy client running on it.  With that running, I can stream my music from any web browser and the app for my Android phone.  On my phone, it works on both 3G and Wi-Fi.  I don't like to spend time making playlists, so I usually end up shuffling everything and skipping lots of songs that I'm not in the mood to listen to. Audiogalaxy released a new feature last week called "Genie" mode.  It's like the "Genius" mode in iTunes.  With the new "Genie" mode, I can just find the type of song that I'm in the mood for, click or touch "Genie" (in browser or on my phone), and then I'll get all the music like that song.  I'll go for hours now without skipping songs.  It works really well and I'm really glad to see this new feature.

Good Bye Amahi, Hello Ubuntu and Tonido

Amahi Problems

For some time now, I have been running an Amahi Home Server on one of the desktops that I built. I was initially very excited about the Fedora based home server, but ran into many problems.  It ran great when I had one hard drive, but when I bought an SSD and two 2 TB drives I ran into trouble.  I followed the directions on how to add a second hard drive, but they didn't work.  I had to learn how to edit the fstab file and mount the drives myself, which I did and am now grateful for knowing.  After mounting the two drives, I added them to the Greyhole shares.  Every time I tried transferring the files over the network, the 32 GB SSD would fill up and the transfers to the 4 TB of space would fail.  I wiped the system and partitioned the drives on the clean install following these directions.  Now the SSD never filled up, but the transfers still failed.  I even tried mounting the shares locally and transferring the files via USB hard drives, but that failed too.  One of my main purposes of using an Amahi server was so I could stream my movies remotely and I never could.  The Amahi app Jinzora said that it could do that, but it was never able to stream any of my movies, no matter what format the files were (mp4, wmv, avi, mov).

Great things about Amahi
Videos 5 was the best thing about Amahi.  I could stream all of my mp4 movies to any HTML5 capable browser, such as the iPad.  It worked quite well.

Ubuntu and Tonido
I have wiped Fedora and Amahi and installed 64 bit Ubuntu 10.10 on the same desktop.  I setup Samba shares on it, so all computers on my home network will have read and write access to the files on that computer.  I then installed Tonido on it.  Tonido is great because it's like setting up my own personal cloud.  I initially ran into issues because they don't have a 64 bit installer for Ubuntu, but after following these directions, I was able to install it and get it running.  I can now access all of my files remotely and stream all of my movies!

Ubuntu 11.04 Works Now

My main disappointment with Ubuntu 11.04 has been resolved.  The latest round of updates has fixed the issues with my video card not being supported.  I no longer have black bars everywhere where menus should be.  I can actually see the Unity menu and use the computer:

Now it's time to explore the new version of Ubuntu!

Disappointed with Ubuntu 11.04 beta

I recently upgraded my primary laptop from Ubuntu 10.10 to Ubuntu 11.04 beta (http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/natty/beta).  I love GNOME (http://www.gnome.org/) and was weary at first about the switch to Unity (http://unity.ubuntu.com/), but after reading more about it I was excited to give the new Unity interface a try.  Instead of getting to play with the new interface, I was greeted with black bars where the Unity menus and dock should have been:

I am now forced to login to the "Ubuntu Classic" mode until more updates come out that fix my issue.  I really like Ubuntu and was very disappointed that my video card was not supported.  Here's to hoping that gets fixed soon!  If it isn't fixed, I may switch to the new GNOME 3: http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2011/04/gnome-3-released-to-be-available-for-ubuntu-11-04-via-ppa/