My wife and I have phones on Verizon wireless. She pays roughly 80 and I pay about 65. We don’t have data plans. I started looking at upgrading our phones and maybe even going towards data plans. A family plan would work fine for us since she uses more minutes than I do. I don’t even need what I have(my $39.99 plan with over 50% extra in horse shit surcharges). All together with a two year contract, two droids, and a data plan, we’re looking at $200. That’s even before the aforementioned surcharges and other hidden fees appear on the bill.
I understand why they cost so much. Basically, it’s what the people will pay. Same goes for cell phones. I’m surprised that modern smart phones such as the Droid, Nexus, and iPhone cost over $500 considering you can get a less than terrible laptop for the same price. For political reasons at work, they won’t pay for a data plan. I’m probably the only admin left that doesn’t get email on my phone. 
At any rate, do you have a smart phone with a data plan? Does your job pay for it or do you foot the bill yourself? Is it even worth having a data plan when you get past the novelty and wow factor?
I’ve got an iPhone, complete with the unlimited data plan. Work pays for it, which is great. My wife has a work provided cell too, but it isn’t a smart phone.
I think I’ve reached the point that I’d shrivel up and die without a near-constant internet connection, at least I would with my current responsibilities and lifestyle. If I were a bum in a cabin and had forsaken technology, I’d probably feel different.
When I went on my honeymoon, I didn’t touch a computer for a week. I even left my laptop at home. I survived.
I still get irritated that “smart phones” are distributed based on position, rather than actual need, at my organization. On the other hand, I don’t have to be in contact via email all of the time, even though I’m basically on call 24×7 since I’m the only one who does what I do.
I’ve got four phones on Verizon… in the family plan. No data plan. Texting blocked (my kid would run me out of $$$ if I let her.
We never hit our minutes. Work supplies another phone which does have a minimal messaging plan.
The problem is the phone is a loss-leader in many cases. Data is the profit generator. Some other admins have gone to Iphone’s for themselves and some senior personnel have them or blackberries.
The way they handle sysadmin is the on call blackberry gets rotated to the on-call sysadmin. Seems to make sense.
We’re trying to get a rotating pccard or usb 3g interface to give access anywhere to the on-call sysadmin.