Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
I've been using T-mobiles pre paid for about 2.5 years now.
I just bought 1000 more minutes for $100, but prior to that I had only spent $120 for minutes.
Spend $100 and get 1000 minutes, good for 1 year, then I would buy the $10 pack and get another year of activation.
Pre paid is plenty for me, I don't use the phone that much.
And $120 for minutes for the phone being active for that long is a good deal.
Virgin is what I use, which works well in my case since I rarely use voice (prefer people to text or e-mail me instead). The only time I seem to use voice at all is ordering food at mom-and-pop places that don't have online orders.
I kind of wish I had gone for one of their nicer phone options though, like the Motorola Triumph. I'll probably stick it out with my LG Optimus for a couple more years until a really appealing non-Apple major upgrade comes along.
Don't think the carriers actually care because you are still using their towers and this way they don't have to subsidize the cost of a phone.
Oh and I will never be get any of the crap apple products either.
you think wrong. they make a fraction of the money from prepaid people. contracts stifle competition and keep prices high.
I don't really need or want a smartphone. Been on a plain old Nokia flip-phone, prepaid through T-Mobile 2 Go, costs me $100 for a year of time (1000 minutes total.)
To each their own, I've never quite 'gotten' the smart phone revolution.
Galaxy Nexus with the $30 T-Mobile 100 minutes, unlimited texts and 5GB(then throttle) data plan and haven't looked back.
I would love to see the demographics of people who are switching. I bet all the enthusiasts have and will continue with ATT here in the US.
The reason prices for non-contract phones have been so high is BECAUSE of contracts
Zarathustra[H];1038843995 said:Que?
AT&T's network is terrible. It may be second to Verizon, but it is a distant, distant secono.
I've had Cingular pretty much since the company was founded and then transitioned to AT&T with the merger in 2004. Back in the pre-smartphone days their subpar network didn't bother me much, but in the last 5 years I've grown increasingly weary of poor speeds and frequent disconnects. I was eligible for an upgrade in December, but I didn't take it as I want out. Can't wait to get a Galaxy S3 with Verizon. Maybe I'll even be able to take calls at my house again!
Given how shitty AT&T's network is, I don't understand why any "enthusiast" would pick them...
Where I live, Sprint's network works fine (Las Vegas). I never use the 4G part because it drains my battery, but 3G has been more than enough for most of what I do (sometimes tethering). Plus, it's "real" unlimited. Not the throttle/cap bs everyone switched to.
For those looking to go prepaid, remember that most "new" phones get refreshed every 6 months or 12 months. So a lot of people dump those on Ebay for really cheap. If you don't have a need for a "must have" at release (which tends to have QC issues), you can save a chunk of change by just getting it off EBay. Keep an eye out for private sellers, often get a great deal that way This is also why I won't do insurance anymore. You can always sell a broken phone if you don't fix it yourself. You'll get close to 50% of value. The higher deductibles they have now are outrageous (see blow).
My dad broke his Epic 4G a few months back. He got it fixed on insurance for $100 (deductible .. pretty high) and they sent him an Evo 4G Design. He hated it. So I sold it for $250 on Ebay and got him another Epic 4G for $100/shipped. Thing was hardly used.
Where I live, Sprint's network works fine (Las Vegas). I never use the 4G part because it drains my battery, but 3G has been more than enough for most of what I do (sometimes tethering). Plus, it's "real" unlimited. Not the throttle/cap bs everyone switched to.
Zarathustra[H];1038844833 said:That's exactly the problem though.
You can find areas, or subsets of areas where non-Verizon carriers do well, but just go on not that long of a drive, and your results may be completely different.
Verizon is the only carrier that has reliable coverage pretty much anywhere you'd go.
AT&T (well, Cingular at the time) had fantastic coverage in Western Massachusetts when I went to school there back in the pre-GSM, TDMA days. The switch to GSM was - however - a downgrade in that area, and I have had worse coverage other places I've gone. In and around Boston it's usually pretty good, except for a few small areas which just happen to be where I work, where I live and multiple spots in between. I love streaming Spotify from my phone in the car, but there are a couple of spots along the way where it just dies due to not getting any reception.
Before the days of smartphones and streaming, I would have been OK with putting up with this. I'd drop a voice call every now and then, but no biggie.
These days, I am not willing to put up with anything but fast coverage everywhere, andf no one can offer this but Verizon, it seems.
I looked at Verizon's pay as you go plans, but they just didn't work for me.
I currently am on an AT&T plan that works pretty well for me (except for coverage and network speed) with the following particulars:
- 450 Anytime minutes (I never go over, but its the lowest plan)
- 1500 text messages. I use about 400 text messages a month on average. My max ever was 800. Enough that it would cost more with the 200 message plan an overages than it costs with the 1500 message plan. Unlimited is not worth it.
- Unlimited data (or, well, as unlimited as AT&T gets) I average about 600-700MB per month, occasionally getting close to (but never going over) the 1gig mark.
So with the above in mind, I compared Verizon's contract and pay as you go options.
I priced out plans similar to the above, with 450 minutes, 1000 text messages, and 2GB data.
To my surprise, the pay as you go plans actually wound up being more expensive per month than the plan rates of $79.99 per month for my needs, and that's even before you factor in the handset discount in the contract that you don't get with pay as you go.
My conclusion? As much as I'd love to not have to get into the contract nonsense, if you want a reliable network wherever you go, and not just in a small area, then no pay as you go plans except Verizon's will do, and Verizon's is just priced too high.
I would happily pay the full price for a phone, and do a pay as you go plan instead, but if I do, the numbers have to make sense. If you discount the cost of the handset discount at the federal funds rate, it winds up being worth ~$25 per month, so for me to go pay as you go, the pay as you go plan would have to cost me at least $25 less per month. Currently it costs more, not less, so I'll pass.
My DX2 should be arriving tomorrow, can't wait!