I have been a loyal Sprint customer for ten years now (please don't judge). At one point, I was even on SERO and my wife convinced me to switch to a family plan (once again, please don't judge). Anyway, here I am today out of contract with 2 smartphones (Evo and Epic 4G), 1500 anytime minutes, an Airave (since Sprint doesn't work in my home), terrible 4G service (in Central Florida) and a $155/month bill all after a 22% discount. I'm ready to make a drastic change.
After looking at Sprint's website, combined my wife and I use a monthly average of 1200 minutes (about 1000 of them are mobile-2-mobile), 3000 text messages, and about 1.9GB data. We are pretty equal on data on texts, but I use about 300-400 minutes and she uses the rest (her phone doubles as a work phone).
I have been going back and forth with either renewing Sprint, signing my life away to Verizon, or going prepaid. The benefit of going with Verizon is that I also get a 17% discount (work) off their service. However, that only covers the data plan (stupid). So, I could fork over about $138+tax and move to unlimited everything with 4GB of shared data. My wife likes this idea because we don't have to worry about roaming and Verizon has decent service in Central Florida (as well as other places that we travel). Plus, she can get an iPhone 5 (but she may change her mind if navigation doesn't improve). Since we have a newborn though she is constantly taking pictures with her phone and sending them to family so I thought an iPhone 5 would be decent for that.
I like the idea of buying a couple of Galaxy Nexus's and going with two Straight Talk lines. We have been on Android devices for so long I hate to give them up especially after seeing Jelly Bean in action. Plus to me an iPhone is just like my iPad just pocket sized...why do I need two? However, if we travel to an area where there is no service the phone doesn't Roam, it just stops working. She is in sales and unfortunately has to work at times such as Christmas where we will be in an area where T-Mobile and/or AT&T don't work but Verizon does.
I thought about even putting her on Straight Talk and me on TMo $30 using the VOIP (since I work from home I don't see myself going over 100 cellular minutes a month if I'm careful).
Now, I've been reading about Solavei ($50/mnth) which allows roaming but I'm not to keen on MLMs. (I've seen MLMs break a few friends). However, since you don't have to participate in them this could be an option.
So, the question is, what would you do? Is the Galaxy Nexus worth the $350 on a prepaid vs. buying an iPhone 5 and getting locked for another 2 years? The money isn't really the issue (since we are already budgeted for the $155 per month but it would be nice to save some $$). How often do you find yourself Roaming on Straight Talk or TMo? How is the VOIP? What about Solavei (I read a forum about it and it sounds enticing, but once again MLMs bug the hell out of me).
I guess I'm not looking for some straight answers, but maybe someone to help me straighten out my thoughts. I really appreciate any feedback.
Thanks for reading.
So, who's still stuck in a contract and when does it end? What are your plans when it does end? Upgrade or leave and go to a prepaid plan?
My contract ends on 12/14/13 and am counting down the days when I can leave Verizon and never look back. It makes me sick to pay $180/month service for two smart phones when I can go with a prepaid service and save $80-$90. So I plan on waiting it out and not even toying with the idea of upgrading and locking myself into a phone that will become obsolete in 6 months and a plan that is overpriced and includes ridiculous fees and charges.
I will be looking to spend around $200-$250 on a phone. I know that I can get a SGS2 or Gnex right now for that but in 9 months I'm thinking that the price of a S3 will come down to where I can afford it. I'm also looking at a RAZR or RAZR Maxx. Used of course. I originally started looking on Craigslist, but am thinking Amazon is the way to go.
I obviously want the most for my money and something unlocked or unlockable and plenty of support available for the phone.
What other options will I have in that price range?
HTC?
Samsung?
Motorola?
Sent from my CM10 Droid X2 using Tapatalk 2
I did the same thing last November. I saw how much Sprint wanted monthly for a smartphone and now I have a smartphone for less than I was paying them for just minutes and texting with no data.
I was looking around to buy a phone and I personally felt it was better to spend a bit more money and get the GS3 (which was about $400 when I got it) so that it would last me longer and not already feel very dated. I put it on a card and I've already paid it off - very minimal interest accrued.
If I were you, I'd get the S4 or something if you're looking to buy at the very end of this year - that way they'll be on the market for a while and you can likely find one used at a decent-enough discount over buying new. I feel like it pays to spend more on something better.
Or you could buy an N4 new if you don't care about removable battery and sd card.
You could also just buy a really cheap phone or flash whatever you have now to a pre-paid service - and save the money you were paying to Verizon and put it aside to buy a better phone.
You have a long time. Ultimately, I wouldn't worry about it yet. See what you can save up between now and then, just wait and see where prices will go by then (The Nexus phones aren't much more to save up for you and I'd bet a new one will be released between now and then - a great value if the hardware is right).
Pennycake said:
I did the same thing last November. I saw how much Sprint wanted monthly for a smartphone and now I have a smartphone for less than I was paying them for just minutes and texting with no data.
I was looking around to buy a phone and I personally felt it was better to spend a bit more money and get the GS3 (which was about $400 when I got it) so that it would last me longer and not already feel very dated. I put it on a card and I've already paid it off - very minimal interest accrued.
If I were you, I'd get the S4 or something if you're looking to buy at the very end of this year - that way they'll be on the market for a while and you can likely find one used at a decent-enough discount over buying new. I feel like it pays to spend more on something better.
Or you could buy an N4 new if you don't care about removable battery and sd card.
You could also just buy a really cheap phone or flash whatever you have now to a pre-paid service - and save the money you were paying to Verizon and put it aside to buy a better phone.
You have a long time. Ultimately, I wouldn't worry about it yet. See what you can save up between now and then, just wait and see where prices will go by then (The Nexus phones aren't much more to save up for you and I'd bet a new one will be released between now and then - a great value if the hardware is right).
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If you're looking for a phone, you're not going to find much for around $200-250 besides well used S2s right now, and S3s aren't going to come down as dramatically as the GNex did when the N4 was announced. The S3 is still a solid powerhouse that will command at least $300 at minimum for a well used one when all is said and done after the S4 drops. If you're just looking to expand your functionality of your phone, but not have to pay the insane carrier prices/payment schemes for equipment, or worse, MSRP, then you may be in the market for a cheap N7 like myself. I was originally looking for a Note or N7, if I could get the Note, that would be the end of it, but since I found a brand spanking new N7 I've been very happy overall with my pair of Androids. I can still upgrade my phone later, but because I'm not relying on my phone to do anything other than handle my data connection and provide me with a physical handheld to use for calls, I'm not quite as concerned about upgrading it anytime soon. I had already anticipated when I upgraded from a beat up Optimus 3D to the S2 that I would have to stick with whatever I got at $250 (I got super lucky, it was only 2 weeks old) for the better part of at least a year before I could even think about upgrading my phone again. I got that itch shortly after when I found myself semi-limited by the phone as far as certain gaming capability. I then eyed a Note or N7 in order to get my gaming fix. The N7 I ended up getting has since been a VERY handy tool for not just getting my mobile gaming fix, but for remote troubleshooting, home network/pc management when I get calls from my roommates for broken services.
Before you make ANY purchase, ask yourself a couple questions about what you really want. Do you want a device to game on? An accessory/toy? An internet connected tool? A better communications platform? I found that I was already satisfied with my phone and only wanted to get a bigger screen, longer battery life, and better gaming support, which made the Note and N7 perfect options. Note if I chose to drop $400 on a used one and have a phablet, or an N7 for $200 and just never take my phone out of my pocket.
Either way, I would recommend looking into Swappa.com, the Marketplace replacement as this is where I found my N7, and Craigslist (though be VERY CAREFUL here) for the S2.
What I mean by be VERY CAREFUL with transactions on Craigslist is that I've heard of people buying a lightly used phone from somebody for decent money on there, only to find the phone doesn't work anymore and rejects the carrier a month or two down the road. This is typically because the original seller bought the phone on a payment plan and have since either stopped making payments, or have dropped the carrier altogether, and the carrier has responded well within the contract and blacklisted the device on the network. Swappa is a lot more reliable for not dealing in possibly abused/misrepresented items, but you'll pay a premium for this peace of mind. Good luck!
I use my phone now primarily for streaming spotify while at work, email, texting and browsing the web. My WiFi connection at work is sometimes unreliable so I rely heavily on my 3g connection. I'm not as concerned about having the latest tech either. I would probably be fine for a couple of years using a gnex or s3. Although I probably would go for the s3 simply because of the removable battery and SD card slot.
Sent from my CM10 Droid X2 using Tapatalk 2
Cynagen makes some very good points. I am mainly interested in changing carriers and lowering my contract price, and was looking at buying something new and unlocked. Tethering to a full-featured, higher spec tablet makes a lot of sense if the main use case is data. I rarely use my phone for voice, and most times am within wi-fi coverage.
=RV=
redvelociraptor said:
Cynagen makes some very good points. I am mainly interested in changing carriers and lowering my contract price, and was looking at buying something new and unlocked. Tethering to a full-featured, higher spec tablet makes a lot of sense if the main use case is data. I rarely use my phone for voice, and most times am within wi-fi coverage.
=RV=
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It's an okay idea, but the phone's battery is going to drain FAST if it's constantly tethering. And unless you're paying for tethering, there might not always be a reliable work-around to get it to work anyway.
My S3 lasted about 4 hours of continuous tethering and it was pretty warm. Instead of it being able to manage going to "sleep", you'd have to do that manually - turn your tethering on whenever you want to use your tablet. Which may work depending on patience and usage.
Another idea might be a data-only SIM in a tablet and make calls over VOIP or just keep a spare phone for the minutes if that's what you want.
I have a phone and a tablet and I use my phone more often on a daily basis - it would not be practical to bring my tablet where I most often use my phone - the size difference is big enough to go from "kind of bulky" to "full on leg shield if you can even get it in your pocket".
I'm not knocking the idea, just saying you need to consider the downsides, too. I almost went for it, myself, but with the $30/mo T-Mobile plan I decided just to get the S3. It's a good size for carrying in a pocket, and I have a 10" tablet that's a great size for watching movies, too (bought it from a friend). I'd recommend going to a store and comparing sizes. For me, 7" just didn't fit in - it was too small for what I wanted to use a tablet for and too big to carry around all day - but if you have to carry a bag or something, it might be a better fit.
Pennycake said:
It's an okay idea, but the phone's battery is going to drain FAST if it's constantly tethering. And unless you're paying for tethering, there might not always be a reliable work-around to get it to work anyway.
My S3 lasted about 4 hours of continuous tethering and it was pretty warm. Instead of it being able to manage going to "sleep", you'd have to do that manually - turn your tethering on whenever you want to use your tablet. Which may work depending on patience and usage.
Another idea might be a data-only SIM in a tablet and make calls over VOIP or just keep a spare phone for the minutes if that's what you want.
I have a phone and a tablet and I use my phone more often on a daily basis - it would not be practical to bring my tablet where I most often use my phone - the size difference is big enough to go from "kind of bulky" to "full on leg shield if you can even get it in your pocket".
I'm not knocking the idea, just saying you need to consider the downsides, too. I almost went for it, myself, but with the $30/mo T-Mobile plan I decided just to get the S3. It's a good size for carrying in a pocket, and I have a 10" tablet that's a great size for watching movies, too (bought it from a friend). I'd recommend going to a store and comparing sizes. For me, 7" just didn't fit in - it was too small for what I wanted to use a tablet for and too big to carry around all day - but if you have to carry a bag or something, it might be a better fit.
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I can confirm that it does drain the battery fast! To address this issue I bought a USB-OTG adapter, and just carry one of my 3 microUSB cables with me at all times. When my phone runs low while I'm on the train or bus or something, I use the USB-OTG cable from the tablet to my phone to keep my phone alive, and while it'll drain the tablet faster, I actually get about a 1.25% charge per 1% drained on the tablet (idle), so it's actually pretty efficient (this surprised me). When I'm in the office, I'll let the phone drain down to warning levels <15% and then use the USB cable to connect it to my desk computer in order to charge up, usually towards the end of the day. The tablet I only really charge at home each night when it's practically dead itself. (I practice stretching the batteries out as far as you can stomach (normally <5%) as you're supposed to with Li-Ion.)
I thought about getting a GSM N7, but when I saw it was an extra $100, plus another $30/mo for a data-only SIM card with unlimited service, when I could tether to my cellphone for free, I chose the $200 one-time & free/mo because T-Mobile just sees Android devices and doesn't care.
Evaluate your end goal, and review all possible avenues towards that goal, I chose the cheapest easiest way for myself, and while you may not have these same avenues available, make sure you do all your research to see if you can get anywhere close.
@Pennycake: I don't know how you only got 4 hours of continuous tethering, I get at least 6 straight on my S2. Check what OTHER processes you have running and see about getting a kernel you can undervolt as well as drop to a super bare minimum speed. (My S2 when WiFi tethering to my N7 sits active @ 192Mhz as that's all that's needed to maintain connection, otherwise it hits deep sleep.)
I don't tether all that often, so it's not a big issue to me (it was on a train ride and I probably won't be travelling again for another year).
Another idea is to use the $30/mo data only and use Google Voice + a VOIP service (like Groove IP) - turning the tablet itself into a phone that way. I read an article about someone who did it and really considered it for a while (in my case, I'm glad I didn't because I don't have the data coverage to make calls everywhere I normally am - sometimes I'm getting only GPRS where I can easily make a call, but not so much over data).
After reading a comparison on S3 compared to One X, it seems as though overall the S3 looks better. Has better battery life, SD card slot, better camera. Now that HTC is out of the picture, I will look into comparing the RAZR phones to the S3. I have heard that Motorola phones have better reception than Samsung. Is this true or just a few people's experience?
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To op. You can talk about early cancelation. Sometimes it doesn't cost as much as you'd think. I did that with at&t thank god for it. That was the worst and so over priced. I'm with Verizon and love it but you sound like you're paying way to much. I pay 99 a month unlimited text and data (my plan started before this family shared data thing) and 500 anytime min but I use Skype anyway.
I think I might switch depending on the shared data thing since there are 2 users on my plan.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
5imp7y said:
To op. You can talk about early cancelation. Sometimes it doesn't cost as much as you'd think. I did that with at&t thank god for it. That was the worst and so over priced. I'm with Verizon and love it but you sound like you're paying way to much. I pay 99 a month unlimited text and data (my plan started before this family shared data thing) and 500 anytime min but I use Skype anyway.
I think I might switch depending on the shared data thing since there are 2 users on my plan.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
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Early termination would be too much for us. We currently have three lines, two of which have data plans, the third just an extra line that we added almost two years ago to use it for an upgrade. Our two main lines would cost about 200 each and we would then have to buy two phones.
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Im currently on sprint, and plan on going to t-mobile. I was planing to get the galaxy s4 (no contract) and hop on t-mobiles 500 min unlimited text/data plan since the price was good and i only use like 100 min a month. I dont see this plan on their website anymore though (or i cant find it) i can only find the new uncarrier plans which wont let me adjust how many minutes i want a month, it only shows unlimited. and it is more expensive then the one i wanted.
so my question is, does the plan i originally wanted still exist? I will be really dissapointed if it doesnt
I think they're not having "plans"anymore. From what I've read, $50 will get you unlimited talk and text, plus 500mb of data. Then you either buy unlimited data for $20, or they charge $10 for each additional 2gb you use.
-Accidental Asshole aka Jeremy
[Guide] Headphone/Earphone Buying
This page is still up : http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-plans
If I were you, I'd hurry up and buy a SIM card and even just a $20 pre-paid phone/one of CL/whatever and get it activated if it's still possible instead of waiting.
If they kick me off it I'll just go to buying minutes only and they'll lose quite a bit of money, so meh. Or maybe I'd go to data-only. Or another carrier.
Pennycake said:
This page is still up : http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-plans
If I were you, I'd hurry up and buy a SIM card and even just a $20 pre-paid phone/one of CL/whatever and get it activated if it's still possible instead of waiting.
If they kick me off it I'll just go to buying minutes only and they'll lose quite a bit of money, so meh. Or maybe I'd go to data-only. Or another carrier.
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that wasnt the page i was looking at before. To get to the page i looked at before i would navigate to plans>individual plans>value plans
also, do these prepaid plans include unlimited text/data? i see no mention of it.
TheAtheistOtaku said:
that wasnt the page i was looking at before. To get to the page i looked at before i would navigate to plans>individual plans>value plans
also, do these prepaid plans include unlimited text/data? i see no mention of it.
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That's just a page with the old plans, that's all it is. I have no idea if or when they'll implement changes to their system when you activate a SIM card.
It's also still advertised on WAL*MART's web site along with the new plans. You could go to WAL*MART, buy a cheap phone/SIM and then switch it.
They've just been talking about this on CNBC squawk box, they seemed positive from the company's point of view, $100 a month for unlimited everything then after 2 years knock $20 pm off your bill because you've paid for the phone by then, still seems expensive to me, at the mo an S3 costs £32 all you can eat then after 2 years go sim only for £17 or less to suit.
Euthye said:
They've just been talking about this on CNBC squawk box, they seemed positive from the company's point of view, $100 a month for unlimited everything then after 2 years knock $20 pm off your bill because you've paid for the phone by then, still seems expensive to me, at the mo an S3 costs £32 all you can eat then after 2 years go sim only for £17 or less to suit.
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i wont be doing this "financing" they are talking about. i will be paying off the phone then and there. ITs certainly dissapointing that they dont have what i was looking for anymore, though i will still be switching
Euthye said:
They've just been talking about this on CNBC squawk box, they seemed positive from the company's point of view, $100 a month for unlimited everything then after 2 years knock $20 pm off your bill because you've paid for the phone by then, still seems expensive to me, at the mo an S3 costs £32 all you can eat then after 2 years go sim only for £17 or less to suit.
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Click to collapse
For family/group plans its a rip or breaking even with current rates.
The plan seems worth it to me.
I'm a person that barely uses my minutes, so I was paying 40 for 500 minutes and then 10 bux for texting and then 30 for 5GB data.
I switched to the no contract plan already and I'm going to be saving 10 bux a month now and have unlimited data with no throttle. Only downfall is that the mobile hotspot now has a restriction of 500MB before they shut it down and require you to get a hotspot plan, but nothing that a usb tether or bluetooth tether can't fix.
For individuals, this makes sense, because with the lowest minutes plan, txt and data (seems like they have moved everyone to 5gb plans now on smartphones) you were paying 80, so there is instant savings on the plan now going contract-less.
When I was with Sprint I looked at my minutes usage and I averaged 100 minutes a month and was paying $46/mo for 500 minutes and unlimited texting, no data.
Now I pay $30/mo plus only state sales tax ($1- something) and I have all the minutes I need plus 5Gb of data I didn't have before.
With the $400 phone cost, it evens out to about $40/mo for the first two years. And I'm getting everything I had plus more for still slightly less per month.
I also have various VOIP apps that I can use to call and essentially get as many minutes as I could want.
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At the moment I've been using a Droid 3 on ATT to avoid attaching a $30 a month data plan. I like the notion of getting $10 a month unlimited data, but haven't done so yet. I got the droid for super cheap and, although it's kind of a nice phone, would be interested in a better phone running a more modern version of android (4.0+ on a droid 3 breaks the camera) that doesn't require data on ATT. Does anybody have any suggestions? My price range is around $200 since I could probably get $100 for the D3 unlocked.
I've looked at phones like the S2-T989 (which I THINK isn't registered to ATTs network), but I just want a more responsive phone with at least a gig of ram.
As part of a recent overhaul and combining of separate Verizon plans for my wife and I (we each have separate businesses), I elected to consolidate the plans and in the process, saved a bunch of money. I replaced my Droid Razr Maxx with a Galaxy S5. I took over my wife's plan which included her iPhone5, iPad and a Verizon 4G LTE MiFi (which she used extensively on the road).
I replaced the old MiFi, which was costing my wife $20 per month, with the Verizon Elipsis 7" tablet which can be used as a hot spot. The deal was that the tablet cost $50, but subject to a $50 rebate, effectively costing zero AND the monthly cost of the tablet is $10 per month. So overall,for this part of the deal, we lowered the wifi cost by half and got a cheap little tablet out of the deal.
Seemed like a reasonable thing to do. I also activated FoxFi on the device.
The problem with this device is that it is extremely limited in memory/storage. You can read the detailed specs here http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/...roduct and getting a stock recovery?
Thanks