At the same old price, $29.99.

The one thing it includes aside from the unlimited data and SMS is the Phone As Modem (PAM) tethering option, although it does not apply to its highest end phones.

This, possibly combined with some other technology (Voice Over Internet Protocol, or VOIP, best known as used by Skype) might make a suitable replacement for some phone plans. For me, combined with a Palm Pre or Android device, it’ll be similar to having an iPhone with an always on while in range Internet connection (even though the browsers on these devices are not quite up to Mobile Safari on the iPhone or iPod touch).

More to the point, if AT&T offered something like this for the iPhone I would be all over it.

I’m thinking about it right now; this might replace my MobiPCS USB modem.

For those of you who know me, that means I need to find things I’m wanting to buy that hopefully are already on sale and come up with a total right at $100.

I couldn’t do it.

I did want a new flash drive to replace one that was never returned (and these were indeed on sale), as well as a copy of Snow Leopard, which totaled about $55, but I could not really make the $45 remainder in a reasonable way.

Today I considered doing the same hunt again, but found that despite it being advertised until the 16th, the deal is now “expired”.

Oh well. I ended up not spending $100, with almost half of it on things that didn’t fall into my frugal and wanted categories, and that might be the best deal of all.

B shares (BRKB) shares are somewhat more affordable, coming in at $3425, which is still about five times more than Google (GOOG).

Traditionally, Berkshire Hathaway does not split shares. That has limited the liquidity of the shares, but it’s hard to argue with the success of the stock–and the man–over the years.

For the first time, as Berkshire Hathaway announced its purchase of Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNI), it also announced that the B shares would split 50 to one, meaning that soon, those stocks could be selling for under $70 a share.

That will give small investors a chance to own some of the company that Warren Buffett built. I’m thinking about it!

That said, it’s really jumped recently and it’s gaining more and more attention.

Gold investors are typically looking for a hedge against inflation. When gold prices rise dramatically, it’s likely because investors are foreseeing a time when inflation will soar. The current nightmare inflation scenario is the rampant borrowing that the United States government has engaged in will result in a large jump in the rate of inflation, pushing prices of gold up.

Is it time to buy in? I’m not a fan, and I never have been. I don’t think there’s anything awful about keeping a percentage of your portfolio in gold or other precious metals–think diversification–but I’m not much for the idea of actually buying the metal and keeping it around–storage and security is an issue. And even if I was a fan, my feeling is that the big run up has already happened.

All of that said, to answer the question that the title of this post brings up, “What’s up with gold?” Right now, it’s the price.

Fortunately, there is bipartisan support for extending this credit.

This is a huge break for those looking to buy a home, but it comes with the usual gotchas (besides the credit actually getting extended, which the lawmakers are working on right now): the buyer has to have a down payment saved up and decent credit to get a loan–which really, is the way it was always supposed to be–and find a lender willing to lend you the money.

That said, if you meet those requirements, you may have a few more months to make this into a fantastic time to buy a home.

A few weeks ago I went there on a weeknight to hang out with some of my friends and eat a little; set to open at eight, they were hosting a charity event as a private party and were running late, so I posted to Twitter that it was past eight and they weren’t open yet.

When a regular patron and supporter of the restaurant saw that Tweet, she confronted me about it later, saying it was bad public relations.

The issue I have:

it was true.

Folks, this is the age of the Internet, the great equalizer. I didn’t say, “This place sucks.” I stated a fact–it was past the time they were scheduled to be open, and they weren’t. If the truth is negative public relations, then so be it.

The way for a business to win fans in their public dealings is to not just put out quality products, but to be transparent and consistent and do business the way they say they will. I’m not saying that this was an isolated incident–it isn’t, I’ve waited outside past their scheduled opening time before–but it doesn’t win my favor when they open late. On the other hand, I’m not going to rant and rave about that–all I’m going to say is that as a patron, I feel I not only have the right to be honest about my experience, I have an obligation to other patrons to be honest about it.

And all a business has to do for me to be happy with my dealings is to put out quality products at fair prices and deal with their customers in a consistent, honest, transparent manner.

is that too much to ask?

Lynnae over at Being Frugal asks What is Success? Success is not something that can be judged the same way in every instance. I love her conclusion about what the basis of success is–reading that, I feel like I’m more of a success than I could ever imagine.

Frugal Dad throws us a curveball when he gives us 5 Reasons to Dump Your Strict Budget. He has a point–a strict budget is in many ways like a strict diet. It’s hard to make those work!

Her Every Cent Counts learns a life lesson when she tells us that Medical Costs, Life Costs, … are Expensive. Yes, this is one that we all need to learn and figuring out ways to keep those costs down is one of the ways we help our budgets.

JLP over at All Financial Matters looks at an old comparison and finds that the relentlessness of the index wins again–at least right now–when he compares Bill Miller vs. the S&P 500 Index. Miller’s done well, but the last few years have taken its toll and higher expenses vs. a low cost index fund would put the index even further over the top.

Finally, Moolanomy compares several ways to view movies when they look at Redbox Movie Rentals Versus Netflix Versus Blockbuster. We don’t have Redbox here although we have similar services–I’d like to see the comparison include the local public library!

And that’s our Link Payday for November 8, 2009!

I’ve had a long standing personal policy about going to online only statements–if there’s a financial advantage to my going to them, I’m more than willing to. But if the financial company won’t give me any financial reason to do so, I won’t switch. Chase, whom is not among my favorite companies, gave me $5.00 a few years ago to go to online statements, so I did.

So, what has Discover done this time? They’ve instituted a contest where you enter by discontinuing paper statements.

A few people will rake in some very nice prices, and the vast majority of people get… nothing.

Thanks, but no thanks. Give me a $5 credit and I’d be more than happy to stop. Until then, I’ll be okay with getting paper statements.