Ask Slashdot: Best Mobile Phone Solution With No Data Plan? 294
New submitter clorkster writes "I am looking to upgrade my mobile phone. I have always bought the cheapest possible phone with the least features since I only use it to make calls and text. Further, I am opposed to paying for internet access twice and my home access is certainly more important and necessary. I am now running into the issue that my phone is too archaic to receive text messages from newer smart phones (they somehow become picture messages). Any thoughts on a good smart phone without data plan or an almost smart phone solution?"
Hmmm,.... (Score:5, Interesting)
Like you, I am a cheap mother fucker. I went with Verizon and took the free phone they gave me. Recieves text fine from all my friends who spen $100+ a month on their phone. Me? Not that moch.
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None of these cellphone companies are appreciably different from the others, especially if you eliminate data plans from consideration.
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Uh... (Score:2, Insightful)
No companies are appreciably different from each other when you eliminate what they are actually selling from consideration.
For the submitter, they are selling telephone and text service. And in that regard, they really are not appreciably different. A call or text placed on Verizon or AT&T or T-Mobile or Sprint is essentially the same product.
They ARE different when it comes to data. AT&T and T-Mobile don't offer real 4G. Sprint doesn't cap data use or throttle you. Verizon has real 4G and the
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Do you pay a lot of attention to what brand of sugar or salt you buy? Probably not - because salt is salt.
Ask the same question to a Jew.
Re:Uh... (Score:4, Informative)
I'm guessing you're referring to "Kosher Salt" as if a Jew can't have non-kosher salt.
From - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosher_salt [wikipedia.org]
Re:Uh... (Score:5, Informative)
They ARE different when it comes to data. AT&T and T-Mobile don't offer real 4G. Sprint doesn't cap data use or throttle you. Verizon has real 4G and the largest, fastest 3G/4G cellular data network.
This is actually very incorrect. No one offers true 4G, period. The FCC bumped the legal definition of it down significantly because of lobbying from the cell carriers so that they could advertise like they have "4G" when in fact they have improved 3G.
Refer to this article (it is from last year, but I believe most of it is still true): http://gcn.com/articles/2011/01/13/what-is-4g.aspx [gcn.com]
Another article (From this year about it): http://www.rethink-wireless.com/2012/01/23/itu-confirms-official-true-4g-standards.htm [rethink-wireless.com]
And of course, Wikipedia awaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4G [wikipedia.org]
So no, don't buy the cell phone companies' BS about them having "4G" when they are not hardly halfway to what the actual standard dictates.
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Largest, yes. Most reliable? Undoubtedly. Fastest? No. [osxdaily.com]
Verizon's 4G is awesome. No doubt. But it's a real shock when you have to go back down to 3G.
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Fastest depends upon where you are. I'm most often going to need my phone outside of big cities, where my AT&T signal shows an E, but my Verizon signal shows 3G. In those situations, Verizon is quite a bit faster.
Speed is always going to vary based upon location, due to differences in the backhaul, wireless coverage, and saturation.
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Verizon iPhone 3G is not the same as Verizon 3G.
I get MUCH faster transfers on Verizon 3G than the figures you cited using a 3G data modem.
They are definately different. (Score:5, Informative)
T-Mobile contract free plans are way less expensive that Verizon, AT&T, or Sprint. They also let you use any phone you want and won't force a data plan on you just because you have a smartphone. Of course this has tradeoffs. With the companies I have dealt with I would rate them as such:
Verizon:
Coverage: Excellent
Reliability: Excellent
Data Speed: Excellent
Service: Average
Price: Expensive
AT&T:
Coverage: Good
Reliability: Poor
Data Speed: Good
Service: Poor
Price: Expensive
T-Mobile:
Coverage: Good
Reliability: Good
Data Speed: Poor
Service: Poor
Price: Cheap
In my opinion both Verizon and T-Mobile are good values for what you get (they just target different markets), while AT&T is worst of both worlds, and should be avoided. Haven't dealt with Sprint or the other smaller carriers.
Re:They are definately different. (Score:4, Informative)
Re:They are definately different. (Score:5, Insightful)
It really depends on where you live. While I supposed there's some value in rating the different carriers by overall national performance, it doesn't really make sense to make your provider decisions based on national results since they may vary drastically in your local market.
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> It really depends on where you live.
This. This is the bottom line.
It also changes over time. Years ago, Sprint had the best coverage at my remote transmitter sites. Now, Verizon does. Ergo, I am with Verizon, paying their (admittedly exorbitant) rates for the ability to make calls when I'm in the middle of nowhere.
It also changes with conditions. When the tornadoes came through here (Alabama) on April 27th last year, everyone's coverage was horrible for several weeks. Verizon's coverage didn't fully re
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In the US? Wow. On bad days, T-Mobile gives me 4Mbps and on good days (or good locations), 15Mbps. On a recent trip to the UK, I never saw more than 2Mbps and even at Heathrow airport, I only got 1Mbps, but mostly, I got EDGE or GPRS speeds.
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In the US, in buildings, T-Mobile has almost always given me crappy signal. I understand that it's because they use frequencies which have worse penetration through construction materials.
Their coverage is also pretty poor, so rural areas are out. Those two use cases cover 99% of my needs.
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Have you used T-Mobile? Their service is far and above better than AT&T and Verizon (who I would rate as poor for service).
Yeah, I have used both Verizon and T-Mobile (and know people who use AT&T). Verison support has always been awesome for me. The two times I have had billing problems (both caused by inept booth-monkeys), I was on hold for well under a minute, the very first person I talked to immediately fixed the problem without having to argue and they made it retroactive to the time I started the plan without me asking.
Everytime I have called T-Mobile on the other hand I have been on hold for at least 5 minutes, the
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Concerning data speed...
4G LTE sucks. It kills battery like crazy and the 5 gig cap is ridiculous(Really? Insane LTE speed and a 5 gig cap?)
HSDPA+ that both TMo and AT&T offer beat the hell out of EVDO by a goddamned mile and a half.
TMo is certainly less evil though.
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By service on T-Mobile do you mean customer service? If that's the case, then I have to strongly disagree. I have never had better customer service from any mobile carrier, period. They even let me kill a line eight months early without penalty because I've been a loyal customer. Everytime I've called I never have to wait on hold and I get someone that speaks in my local (Pacific Northwest) dialect.
Coverage? Kinda sucky if you're out in the sticks, but they have full UMA support which offsets this a bi
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It took 3 calls, 2 wrong changes (on their part) and the most rude, belligerent customer service I've ever had the displeasure of dealing with. I am always polite, so I didn't start it.
I will however end it shortly.
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No, I haven't had too. I hope you just had a fluke.
Anyway, I know where they live (Factoria) and I have industry peers that I can contact if it gets too bad. (I use to work for Clearwire network engineering.)
I'm kinda in a sweet spot with them. I have a 3G android phone and my plan is 2GB at 4G speeds then unlimited at 3G speeds. So from my point-of-view I have unlimited data. And like I said, the tethering and UMA are real deal makers for me.
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Net10. Works, cheap, only used as needful. Mine is a Motorola 408g, cost $30, basic phone, good alarm clock also. Nickle per text, a dime a minute in or out for voice.
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Is that free phone LG Cosmos 2? It's a smartphone.
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No PHONE For YOU! (Score:2, Funny)
You are an idiot and should not have a phone.
Re:No PHONE For YOU! (Score:5, Insightful)
My god, you have no idea how dumb that sounds. Russian Reversals lose all of their value when they involve waiting for some good or service because, quite simply... that's not how it was. You can't make fun of Yakov Smirnoff's bad joke telling if you try to deliver something that actually contradicts his routine. Observe an actual joke made at the time in the actual Soviet Union:
A: "I want to sign into the queue for a car. How long is it?"
B: "Ten years from today exactly."
A: "Morning or evening?"
B: "Why does it matter?"
A: "A plumber is due in the morning."
For making this obscenely lame quip, I hereby sentence you to reading this list of real Soviet jokes [wikipedia.org] and watching this actual clip of Yakov's routine [youtube.com], and this much more painful and effective parody [youtube.com] of Yakov. Thank you. Good night. You are done mutilating limp-wristed Family Guy jokes on the Internet.
Re:No PHONE For YOU! (Score:5, Funny)
On overcritical Slashdot, pants pour hot grits down you!
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MMS is the only issue? (Score:5, Informative)
Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
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Neither VZW nor Sprint uses SIM (Score:2)
cheap android on eBay plus a prepaid SIM
My prepaid carrier (a subsidiary of Sprint) doesn't use SIM cards, you insensitive clod!
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If you could clarify this with specific examples, I would appreciate it since this is how I
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I am doing exactly as you've described, with T-Mobile, prepaid. I'm hardly an expert, but recently got interested in a Blackberry with a better camera than my old throwback phone. When I discovered the BB model had wifi, and that it would work without a data plan, I was sold, and headed to ebay for a second-hand purchase.
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T-Mobile doesn't have this policy. It is one of the major reasons I use them.
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My parents use mine and my wife's old iPhones on AT&T without data (and the phones show up on the website as iPhones), so I think they may have changed that.
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If MMS is the only issue, you need new friends. Any decent feature phone lets you reject said MMS messages from being downloaded (and therefore you from not being charged).
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MMS is an abhorrent waste of time that despite I get free unlimited MMS messages, have never sent one. I will not inflict that pain and suffering on another person in that way.
They truly are a vile creation only popular with people whos age (or acts like their age) starts with a '1' followed by some small number.
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Oh, and +1 to the RAZR, it's a great phone which I owned for 3+ years easily. They are cheap, in plentiful supply, and do everything that you (the OP) wants.
Some of the less expensive text-only nokias will work too. As a bonus, they cannot receive picture messaging, preventing you from even needing to consider a plan with one.
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With me, I'd just tell my friends to stop sending me crap on the phone and send email instead like civilized people.
T-Mobile Pay as you go (Score:5, Informative)
I got one of the T-Mobile LG Optimus T android phones for about $100 (it was on sale, probably $150 now) and use pay as you go with them.
If I buy my minutes $100 at a time, I pay $0.10/minute, $0.10/text message and $0.25/picture message.
I don't use my phone that much, so I average around $10/month with this setup, and I have a capable phone that can use WiFi and run apps and such with it.
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Largely happy with T-Mobile on the Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) plan. I but time when I need it. They do have a data plan you can buy for a day, week or month as needed, which I'll got to when I can scrape up enough (read: stop spending $1,000/mo. on GoGos Crazy Bones) to buy a smart-er phone. Have a little problem with text spam, which they won't filter for PAYG and the usual Mexican Lottery scam calls, same as I get on all phones, but not a major problem. As I'm not dependant upon my phone for all my communic
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and another good thing with T-Mobile if you drop $100 on airtime you get instant "gold" status so
1 you get like 15% more time for a given dollar amount (not counting the $100 to become a Gold Account)
2 any card has a 1 year clock on it
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I bought a brand new, unlocked Samsung GSM phone on ebay. $30.
No camera.
I also buy minutes a $100 at a time. Those minutes seem to last
about a year.
Re:T-Mobile Pay as you go (Score:4, Insightful)
Indeed. T-Mobile has the best pay-as-you-go plans of any provider.
I rarely use my phone for cell phone stuff but use it a lot on wifi and as a portable computer (it's a G2). With T--mo PAYG (gold) my minutes last a year, I can pay for data as needed, and I can use a top-shelf phone. I pay about $20 per year (yes, per year) to keep my phone active. It's awesome.
I was really worried with the AT&T deal because I know they would have killed T-Mobile's awesome pay-as-you-go plans.
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T-Mobile is good but...
Their minutes expire at one point and you have to buy more so you don't loose your money.
Cheapest is the 1000 minutes/$100 for one year - gets you gold status and something like 15 % extra.
If you buy less, charges/minute are higher and expire earlier.
Re:T-Mobile $10/year (Score:3)
It is also important to mention that if you do not use your phone much, you can get by with as little as $10 per year in refills once you get the Gold Rewards status (after purchasing $100 worth of refills)
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This works!
I use T-Mobile pay as you go and put in $100 a year ago (Gold status good for a year of 10 cents a minute calls and texts). At the end of my first year I still had $34 credit so I added $10 and now have another full year to use my $47 balance (they give you bonus credit for Gold status).
They used to have a nice "Day pass" feature for data at $1.49 for 24 hours (unlimited but throttled) but they discontinued that plan (upset me and a lot of other people). In it's place you can buy a $2/day (2G)
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Used Android (Score:5, Informative)
Get a used Android, especially from a buddy, and get a plan from Cricket, PagePlus, or similar.
A friend gave me his old Droid Incredible and now I use it with PagePlus on their prepaid cards -- they offer monthly plans too, but it comes to about $7/mo. if I go prepaid, as little as I use it.
You don't need a data plan to enjoy a smartphone.
DIY solution (Score:2)
How about a used blackberry? (Score:4, Informative)
As a bonus I bought a used blackberry with built-in wifi, so anytime I have wifi access I have internet access on my phone without having to pay the carrier for it. Granted, this may be slightly more difficult to do on a non-GSM network, and you didn't specify who your carrier is.
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I recently did the same thing as the OP. I bought a used Blackberry and got on the T-Mobile network. I have voice/text (SMS/MMS) and no data plan. Fit my needs perfectly.
Boost Mobile? (Score:2)
It's based on Sp
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At this point, it's almost cheaper not to worry about no data. [...] will drop to $35 in a bit
How so, if no data starts at $7 per month through Virgin Mobile, which shares a parent company with Boost?
Single supplier... (Score:3)
Get your ADSL and mobile from the same supplier. It's much cheaper that way.
No-one pays for data these days anyway. You probably end up paying extra to get a contract without data...
cricket (Score:2)
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I had Cricket for years and they are in all 50 states now. I got the Sanyo Droid from them and only paid $50 per month but they have $25 / Month plans for standard phones with unlimited talk and text (including LD).
Since I moved to CA I switched to VZ and have a Droid X2 which I love, buying my wife the Razor MAXX tomorrow... WooHoo!
buy independent of wireless provider (Score:5, Insightful)
Seth
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purchase your phone off Craigslist or eBay
And watch it end up not working on Boost or Virgin because CDMA2000 carriers generally refuse to activate any phone not sold by the same carrier.
If you show up with your own phone, you can demand that they deduct the built-in phone subsidy from your bill.
And if they're not T-Mobile, they'll probably decline your demand. At least that's the impression I got when talking to a sales representative in an AT&T store. He sounded surprised that T-Mobile would even offer the Value Plan (then called "Even More Plus") that reduced the monthly bill for people who buy the phone up front.
tmobile prepaid (Score:3)
Best deals I've seen are tmobile prepaid [t-mobile.com]. For example they have an unlimited data/text (up to 5gb at 4g speed) and 100 minutes for $30 a month.
Then I would actually buy an android smartphone used or new (tmobile will sell you a sim card for $2 or $6), and install google voice. Now you can have free calling within the US.
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For example they have an unlimited data/text (up to 5gb at 4g speed) and 100 minutes for $30 a month.
This is a definition of unlimited with which I was previously unfamiliar.
5 GB of HSPA+ data and unlimited EDGE data (Score:3)
Prepaid T-Mobile? (Score:2)
When using a temporary phone that was just there for emergencies when I was on vacation [1], I use a $14 low end Nokia [2] that is on T-Mobile, which I added minutes to. So far, that is the best solution.
To boot, if one needs another number, even though one eats the cost of minutes on cards, the phone goes in the donation box, and 5 minutes and $14 later, one has a new number and device to talk on. No calling to change the number or anything.
[1]: I use a separate phone because there are people who think
The Issue At Hand (Score:2)
Those MMS text-messages are most likely to be the Group MMS messages that originate from iPhones when you do a group text. To the best of my knowledge, only iPhones support those; they do not even work on Android devices unless you have an app to handle them (very surprisingly, no good ones exist).
As for the data plan: smartphones can easily function over WiFi on a regular voice plan. However, you may find it useful to have data on-the-go: i.e. receiving picture messages, email anywhere, navigation, etc. Yo
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I get unlimited uncapped data until I reach the cap point.
I believe you mean you get 200MB of unthrottled data.
had the same issue (Score:2)
...buy a phone from ebay or whatever.
Put your sim card in it.
VOILA, smartphone without data plan.
NOTE: we discovered that T Mobile actually detects your sim in a smartphone and auto-dumps you into a data plan at some stupid +$40/month or whatever. Go into your phone and turn off the data connection. Then, be SURE to call T-Mobile and immediately make sure that they take the data plan OFF your account. Then you can have a smart phone (that works just fine in wifi areas...which is nearly everywhere. When
If you don't like contracts... (Score:2)
I pay a fifth of that (Score:2)
$30-$50 per month, depending on how much you talk.
I use my cell phone primarily to arrange rides to places where the city buses don't go or on days when the city buses do not run. I save most of my calls for a land line shared with the household because it has unmetered local calls and unmetered incoming calls. This means I talk less than 30 minutes per month on my cell phone. So I currently pay Virgin Mobile USA $7 per month. Switching to a smartphone would raise my monthly bill by 400 percent to $35 per month, which is the cheapest plan that Virgin allow
Ting (Score:5, Informative)
Pay for your minutes [ting.com].
You don't have to buy data or text messages unless you want to.
No contract.
You can quit any time.
up to 20 phones per account at $6 per phone per month.
Good selection of Android phones [ting.com].
Uses the Sprint network.
Check it out [ting.com].
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ting.com certainly seems like they have a sane billing system, which makes them practically unique.
Any "full price" phone on prepaid voice-only plans (Score:2)
You can pay $650 for an iPhone 4S unlocked and contract-free, then pay AT&T or T-Mobile 10 cents a minute for voice (or do one of the fixed number of minutes plans for slightly cheaper, even up to unlimited minutes,) without adding a data plan. ($375 for an iPhone 3GS, $650 for Droid Razr Maxx, etc...)
smartphones without data plan (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm in Canada where cellular choices generally suck, so I won't try give you any advice about carriers and phone brands. But I will say that having a cheap smartphone with no data plan actually works out pretty good. I picked up a couple ~$150 android phones for my kids when they started high school, and put them on inexpensive no-contract, no-data plans. There's so much free WiFi out there nowadays (homes, school, restaurants) that not having cellular data is no big deal.
And the nice thing about giving my kids smartphones is that they can do so much more than dumbphones and featurephones can: lists, reminders, etc.
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In Canada, 7-11's "Speakout Wireless" (fan website at http://www.speakoutwireless.ca/ [speakoutwireless.ca] official website at http://www.speakout7eleven.ca/ [speakout7eleven.ca] ) is really great - the prepaid money lasts in your account for 12 months, and gets extended life to 12 months for each top-up, so you can have months of virtually zero usage without loosing credits. Incoming texts are free. Costs per minute are a bit high ($0.25), but since the credits do not disappear at the end of the month, you can actually get complete usage from eve
One word: PREPAID (Score:5, Informative)
First, forget about 2-year-contracts and subsidized phones. Contracts exist to benefit the carriers by reducing churn. Why do them any favors? Subsidized phones end up costing more in the long run, once you factor in the higher monthly plan costs.
These are pretty much the best deals going right now:
Boost Mobile
+ Runs on Sprint's network. Unlimited everything. $55/mo for smartphones, plan goes down in price by $5 every 6 months, finally stopping at $40/mo.
- Must use an approved phone, Sprint's network coverage and data speeds are *meh*
Straight Talk
+ Runs on AT&T or T-Mobile's network (you pick when ordering). Unlimited* everything. $45/mo. Use any unlocked GSM, AT&T or T-Mobile phone. You can use an iPhone.
- Outsourced tech support can be difficult to deal with if you run into a problem. *Unlimited means 2GB/mo of data, not what you think it means.
Page Plus
+ Runs on Verizon's network. Unlimited Talk & Text, 500MB/mo. $55. Also have several less expensive plans, including a Talk & Text only plan for $39.95 Use any clean ESN Verizon phone. Great Verizon coverage.
- Expensive data overages.
If you're really hell bent on no data plan, Page Plus probably fits the bill. That being said, many of these plans are so inexpensive, you may want to reconsider if it's worth going on a no-data-diet just to save a few pennies each month.
consumercellular.com (Score:2)
TracFone (Score:2)
Tracfone (Score:5, Informative)
I have a Tracfone, and like it pretty well.
For US$20, I get 90 days + 120 minutes (+ usually a bonus 20 minutes). If you need more minutes, they're not that expensive.
You have your choice of phones. You can get a Smart Phone if you want, but you can also get a relatively primitive phone for US$20. I've got one of the cheaper ones. Supports texting (although I've only used that a little bit) and web browsing.
Best of all, it's pay-as-you-go, and so all it takes to "opt out" is to stop buying renewal time.
Consider all your options (Score:2)
To the OP, ignore all the subjective "Company A has better coverage/speeds/widgets" since that varies by region and personal usage patterns. For basic usage, I agree just pick your carrier of choice. Then look at both pre-paid and postpaid options. Many would be surprised how WELL you get treated by pre-paid customer service and if it's the same network you normally use, you'd really never know the difference unless you roam outside the coverage area regularly.
I've been happy with Boost myself for some t
Cheap ass samsung phone and 2 euros per month plan (Score:2)
I bought a samsung lowest end phone, an E1050 for only 15 euros. pretty unbelievable!, new and unlocked. it has a small color screen and only does voice + SMS. but what little "PDA" features there are are well done. the calendar is extremely accessible and lets you write plain text for a particular day. so I can put appointments and stuff there.
I'm french so disregard my plan options.. but we had an oligopoly, till a fourth operator, "Free", lauched service about a month ago. it has two offers. the lower en
Straightalk (Score:2)
Seriously? No one has mentioned this yet? Straighttalk is from Tracfone\Walmart\Verizon\AT&T so all kinds of evil but the $31.68 (includes taxes) get 1000 minutes, 1000 texts and 1000MB of data. A refurbed phone can be purchased online for $35 which include the first month (phone costs $5, yes it is more for fancier phones). We went with the Verizon Models (for straightalk phones ending with a 'c' mean Verizon ie: 290C) and my wife couldn't be happier. It is prepay with no contract. I'm lucky that
Unlocked. (Score:2)
The best thing you can do is to get an unlocked GSM phone. With an unlocked GSM phone, you can insert any SIM card from any carrier and then just start talking.
I am personally a fan of Nokia's Maemo offerings (e.g. Nokia N9) because they are descended from internet tablets and are designed to operate without mobile data service. There are also unlocked Android phones (e.g. Google's Nexus line), which I am sure are fine if you are interested in Android. Even Apple now sells unlocked iPhones.
As for service
Smartphone, Data off. (Score:2)
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Page Plus for $30/year (Score:2)
I use Page Plus on their standard pay-as-you-go plan. Using a voip app and Google Voice whenever I have wifi, I use very few minutes. My minutes expire after 120 days, and the least I can add is $10, so it costs $30 per year. All you need is a Verizon android phone, and those can be found very cheaply if you get a used one. They also have other good plans for anyone for whom the standard plan isn't enough.
PagePlus, Boost/VM, Ting, Tmobile,StraightTalk (Score:2)
Which country? (Score:3)
I think the answer depends a lot on which country are we talking about. How could you forgot to mention something that important?
Re:Tracfone (Score:4, Informative)
Tracfone is the cheapest by far. I was with them for years until I needed a smartphone with data. Get a phone with triple minutes and buy the biggest cards and you can get 4.4 cents per minute (texts are .3 minutes to send or receive).
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or iPod Touch with Peel520 -- http://www.peel520.net/ [peel520.net]
Then add a TMobile SIM on the Pay As You Go plan -- http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/pay-as-you-go-plans [t-mobile.com]. If you get $100 worth of minutes, they'll roll over after a year when you buy any amount to renew.
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I've been using Clear's Wi-Max service for about a week now. Nobody'll ever claim that it's as well covered as a cellular phone would be, but where I live it's actually working out surprisingly well.
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strongly agree. i have the $35/mo. virgin mobile plan and i certainly can't complain for the price. here's a hint though: for the love of god, don't buy the motorola triumph like i did. although its features are strong on paper, the software is a pile of shit, even for android. foremost: the media volume occasionally attenuates for no apparent reason, and the android soft buttons will frequently stop working until you lock/unlock the screen. i won't even bother listing the bugs here; it would take too long.
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yeah, i wanted android, and i guess that's what i got. hmm. the paylo plan has its advantages, but the high-end plan costs about as much as my standard plan except with more minutes (which i don't need), and the low-end plans charge per mb, which is something i don't want to bother worrying about.
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they don't drop the price automatically. some people are grandfathered into the $25/mo. plan, but i don't think you can get there anymore.
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Legalized slamming (Score:2)
In most places, what one would do in a situation like this is to simply buy the phone of choice, either straight up or on a two year contract, but simply choose not to get a data plan.
In the United States, on the other hand, some carriers have the habit of spelling it out in the voice-only plan's terms of service: "We reserve the right to slam [wikipedia.org] you onto a data plan if we detect you using a smartphone."
If an iPod touch costs $200 (Score:3)