help me find a plan/phone for work

J

jamsomito

2[H]4U
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Aug 29, 2010
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I got a new job that's work from home and I'm getting a $90/mo stipend for a cell phone and plan. Here are my requirements:

1. unlimited minutes (I figure max average 4hr/day * 5day/wk * 4.3wk/mo * 60min/hr = 5160 minutes in a month)
2. enough data for emails and google maps while on the road (is 1GB enough?)
3. I'll need the best coverage throughout the whole state of Michigan and from the looks of it, that's Verizon or AT&T
4. I have mixed feelings on contracts - if I quit the job, the ETF will be on me.

I can pocket whatever is left, so I'd like to keep it as cheap as possible, but the budget is there if need be. I have also been out of the phone arena for over a year since I bought my Nexus 5, and things change so quick it might as well have been 10 years. I'll have to spend my own money on the phone, so I think I should keep it to $50 or less up-front for the phone.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks.
 
Question:
If you work from home, why is having the best coverage throughout the state of Michigan important?

If wifi-calling would suffice, I'll recommend T-Mo.
If not, go with Straight Talk, good2GO Mobile, and Cricket for AT&T service, or Page Plus for Verizon service.

P.S. For the areas you'll frequent, remember to download the offline maps (for Google Maps, say "Ok maps")
 
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I would recommend Cricket. Get a nice discount on the new Moto G(2015 model) with LTE and expandable storage. Plus the phone will be close to free on promotion for opening a new line or bought out right for around 100$
 
I would recommend you ask your new employer for a cellphone, that way you don't get "stuck" the ETF if you "quit/get fired."
 
another vote for Cricket + Moto G LTE(cheapest $35 after auto-pay, 2.5GB and no overages)

You can get any GSM phone (AT&T phones would work too, since cricket uses att's network)



there isn't any (official) google maps on Windows phone, wouldn't recommend any windows phone (even though the 635 selling @ $30-$50 recently is a good deal)
 
Never considered Cricket, I'll check them out.

I use Ting for personal cell and its awesome, but pretty pricey with extensive use.

CHANG3D, to answer your question, I'll actually be traveling to customer sites throughout the state 2-3 days per week, working from home the rest. I should have just said there's no central office so I'll be on my own. Sorry if that was confusing.

Can anyone vouch for AT&T's coverage in Michigan?

I was kind of hoping for a Moto X or similar. The voice commands are appealing for lots of windshield time. Is this even still a good option these days?
 
Unlocked GSM Moto G with 4G LTE... should be about $200 or less. Then get a Cricket or Straight Talk SIM for it.
 
Cricket looks awesome.

Is the 1st gen MotoX any good anymore? Or would the MotoG be a better choice?
 
YeuEmMaiMai said:
their current deal is $50 a month unlimited talk text and 4G data. I'd take it
Click to expand...

OP doesnt need a lot of data... t-mobile's plan @ $50 allows high speed at 1GB, throttled to 128kbps after 1GB...

cricket offers $35 with 2.5GB high speed data, throttled to (?64kbps?) after...

since OP needs to travel around the statae, AT&T would offer better coverage (AT&T owns cricket, cricket uses AT&T towers)

compare coverage: http://sensorly.com/map/4G/US/USA/ATandT-Mobility/lte_310410#q=Michigan,+USA|coverage
 
paperwastage said:
OP doesnt need a lot of data... t-mobile's plan @ $50 allows high speed at 1GB, throttled to 128kbps after 1GB...

cricket offers $35 with 2.5GB high speed data, throttled to (?64kbps?) after...

since OP needs to travel around the statae, AT&T would offer better coverage (AT&T owns cricket, cricket uses AT&T towers)

compare coverage: http://sensorly.com/map/4G/US/USA/ATandT-Mobility/lte_310410#q=Michigan,+USA|coverage
Click to expand...

it's an in store promo. I saw it Tuesday when I got a Nano SIM for the Lumia 830 that I just got (international unlocked goodness)
 
Lumia 635 (free) or Moto G ($160)?

I just need good phone service, email, and navigation. Don't really care about app availability since this of for work and ill have my personal cell for all that (android).
 
If you use Outlook and other Office apps at work, the Lumia will be a bit more friendly...if your work allows account synching with mobile devices.
 
Thanks for all the help. Figured I'd try this out:

GPreZVpl.jpg
 
Nice! Please let us know your thoughts on the Nokia after a while.
 
Ok, so far, I really like the phone and Windows Phone. Some initial impressions are below. Keep in mind this is from an Android user's perspective (FWIW).

Windows Phone impressions
1. I like the interface. It's fluid, smooth, even on the Lumia 635 with 500MB of RAM. It works great on old or slower (or at least lesser spec'd) hardware, apparently.
2. I don't like how I can't separate my gmail inbox tabs. On Android, I can set it to only notify me of messages that go to certain mailboxes, but on WP, it notifies me of everything. This gets a bit annoying with all the promo emails I get.
3. Syncing with a Microsoft Exchange account is extremely easy. It almost seems native and baked into the system. Though, this is also pretty easy to set up on an android device.
4. I like the "interactive" lock screen that shows me the weather without opening the phone.
5. I like the dark with white text. Unfortunately my particular phone doesn't have an AMLED screen, so there's no battery savings, but it looks good.
6. I like how the fonts, text, icons and layout resembles other microsoft products, like Office 2013 or Office 365, Windows 8, etc.
7. I don't get the hubbub over the tiles. Sure, if they change you don't get a constant shape ingrained into your memory for "easy" access, but really, things don't move unless you want them to so muscle memory still works for quick access. I love the transparency with a background, I think it's very creative, attractive, doesn't effect performance - well done. I also like how you can organize the tiles by size, row, or column. It looks great, it's simple to use, it's fast and efficient. I really like it a lot. I don't get what it is people don't like about it.
8. The settings page could use a little better organization, but I can still find what I need. I think having more categories is better than how Android does it - sometimes I don't know where a particular setting is hidden under a particular category on Android. But I can always intuitively find what I need on WP - sometimes I have to do a bit more reading before I can find it is all.
9. Setting up bluetooth devices is just as easy as Android, no issues.
10. App store. Ok, here is the debate of ages. IMHO, it has most of the mainstream apps, and if you need an app to do something, in my experience that app is there for you, it's just not called what you typically think for that app (e.g. Untappd equivalent is mmmBeer). I haven't had any issues finding something that did what I want, and I think the general public will see it this way as well. Most people don't need specialized screen sharing apps, or other things that might only be developed for one or two ecosystems. For everything else, I haven't found any gaps yet, at least as far as apps that do what I need to do on a regular basis.
11. Here Maps works pretty good. I'm having GPS issues on my Nexus 5, so I've been relying on this a bit. Overall I really like it. The interface is a bit different than google or apple for navigation, but it works. It doesn't screw up your location and redirect you on accident, and I find that it actually gives you more information than my android device does (e.g. speed limits for the road you're on and if you're speeding, etc). One gripe is that I find it's tough to start navigation. It seems like I always need to run through it twice, doing the same thing both times, for it to actually start, but maybe I'm doing something wrong.
12. The system does a great job of managing storage space and data usage. I like the summaries it provides for you to pinpoint problem areas.
13. The system seems to manage battery life very well.
14. Internet explorer seems a bit sliggish compared to Chrome on my android device. But it is perfectly usable. Tab management is ok/good. No real issues here for me.
15. I like the notification system for calendar alerts, alarm, etc. It's nice.
16. Some people have an issue with the fact that you can't clear individual notifications from a group (e.g. if you get 2 emails and only want to remove one, you can't - you have to remove the email grouping notification, or keep them both there); however, I don't mind this so much. If I have something I need to check, I can keep the whole email grouping so I know to check my email later, and use the app on the phone or log in and sift through them manually. You can click individual emails to go straight to that email though, you just can't clear them individually from the notification area.
17. The quick toggles are nice, and I like that you can customize them. This will be even better in Windows Phone 10. Looking forward to that.
18. I like how it groups emails and texts into conversations like Outlook does. It's a good way to consolidate, organize, and make things easy to find.
19. I like the animations between launching apps, flipping pages, going "back," etc. They're short, but add a bit to the user experience. Sometimes I feel on my Nexus 5 that they added lengthy animations just so you don't feel like the device is hung up (i.e. it's processing in the background and the interface is unresponsive). I see through their tricks. There is no feeling of trickery here. It's a great experience.
20. Scrolling. This may be personal preference. But, I like scrolling on Android better. It seems like once you hit a point in scrolling speed, it doesn't pick up finger movements any faster, so there is more or less a "top speed" for scrolling. I want to flick my finger and have it scroll most of the document, but instead I find myself flicking way more than necessary to get it to scroll further. The inertia seems a bit off too - it'll maintain a speed for a while, then stop quickly. Android and Apple both have a much more natural feel to the scroll after a flick - they gradually slow to a stop. This ruined the otherwise very polished feel of the user experience offered by Windows Phone for me. But, again, this is a minor qualm.

Lumia 635 impressions
1. I like the phone size. It's refreshing to have a smaller form factor after using a 5" phone for a long time and considering a beastly 6" phone for it's replacement. I can *almost* reach everything with my thumb on this device without changing my grip. It put a smile on my face thinking of the simplistic days of yore.
2. The screen resolution is not great. But I would argue that it's not needed. Text still looks good, even if it's a little pixelated at times (large text looks great, smaller text struggles a tad, but not badly). The screen does look pretty good. Not a wide gamut monitor by any means, but looks good. That is, unless you view from the side where it dims significantly. However, there is no color shift, only brightness, which I adjusted to fairly quickly (just pick up the phone and view it straight on). Though, you can still read it if it's at arms length facing up on a desk.
3. The entire device is glossy. I actually think it looks pretty good - the back shell appears to have 2 layers on close inspection. But, it's so easily droppable, and it's hard to re-position in your hand when on a call at times (read: slippery). I do not like how glossy it is. I'm thinking of getting a thin case just to have a bit more grip to it. Also, fingerprints EVERYWHERE! I have dry hands and the whole thing is smeared with finger oils and grease. It's gross. No oleophobic coating here, folks. Just the basics.
4. Battery life is killer. Under light use it can *easily* go 2 days. I think this is in tribute to it's slightly less than cutting-edge specs and Windows Phone power management together.
5. The 500MB of RAM has not limited me whatsoever. I am not a hardcore gamer though, and this seems to be where people run into issues. However, for typical business productivity, it's far from a problem. The system is fast and fluid regardless of what you're doing.
6. Storage space is a bit limited (8GB, windows takes up a significant chunk). But, there is an SD card slot, which seems easy to use by the operating system, so I can't really dock them for this.
7. Call quality is ok/good - people on the other end sound a bit muddy to me, but I sounded good to them, so the mic is good, but the ear piece leaves a bit of room for improvement.
8. I don't like how it doesn't have a flash on the camera. It's unbelievable how useful that is for a flashlight when you're in a pinch - I missed that carrying this phone as my only one. But, since this is for work I usually carry both this and my personal phone so for me, personally, that was covered.
9. Contact management is okay, but I do like the default Windows Phone look to organization.
10. Speaker phone is ok. You might have a problem hearing it on a conference call while driving, but my Nexus 5 has that same problem.
11. No photo sensor for auto-dimming the screen, but this hasn't bothered me one bit. I need to adjust my Nexus 5 anyway, and that does have auto-dimming.
12. The price. Frickin' awesome. Seriously, this is a great phone. It should have way more faults for being a free phone (with Cricket activation, which isn't saying much) - $75 outright otherwise. Even at $100, and if you don't have cell service, it's still a great backup/cheap social media/music/video/internet browsing device. Way, way worth the price. I'm very pleasantly surprised. This should get the best bang/buck performance of the year award from someone.
13. It's confirmed at least somewhat durable. I got hit by a biker at full speed while walking across the street, flew in the air, and landed on this phone (stacked on top of my Nexus 5 in my pocket) when I hit the ground on my side. My pants are all scuffed up on all 4 corners of the phone so I know it took a hit. But there's not a scratch on it and it works just the same.
14. Despite it's seemingly lower specs, it's still snappy, responsive, fluid, speedy. I'm very impressed with how well it runs.
 
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I just got a 5s as a replacement for my BB because my work requires iPhone/Android but I have a collection of Windows Phones now, including a 635, although my main phone is a ATIV S Neo. I would use the 635 in a heart beat if I could, and I am in for the long haul with Windows Phone/Windows 10. I just love the look and feel of the OS.
 
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