Smartphone Worth it in Rural Area?

[frankhuzzah]

So I'm thinking it is finally time to retire my trusty Sanyo RL-4920 el' cheap-o deluxe phone and was looking at the various Sprint offerings. I'd really like to upgrade to a smartphone, but am curious if it is even worth it. I'm in a fairly rural area and, while I get fine phone coverage, who knows when (or maybe if) 3g will ever reach here. That makes all these phones with there required data plans rather unattractive. In addition to that, I'm a rather moderate cell user sending only a few hundred texts a month and using a few hundred minutes. I'd love to wait and get the Palm Pre whenever it comes out, but I really can't justify the extra cost that the Sprint Mega-Awesome-Everything plan would be, especially if most of the better features won't be as usable to me.

I really don't need to upgrade. My current phone does what I need, but that isn't a very [H]ard attitude, now is it? So what do you fine folks think, is it worth it to look at a smartphone or, in my situation, are they not worth the additional cost?

 

[smaug8821]

Eh, it depends how much you would use it. Personally I "can't" live without a smartphone at the moment. I ride the train ~2 hours a day to and from work or wherever else I go. If you drive to work, and use a computer at both home/work, maybe it's not for you. Smartphones are expensive as well, a lot of times the data plans can be $20-30 a month, and that's not including any SMS plan you'd want to add.

As for coverage, just check Sprint's data map, it will tell you where you should have data and where you won't.

 

[friend'scatdied]

I wouldn't get a smart phone if I didn't need it. OTOH I've heard of Sprint offering some good deals on smart phones like the HTC Touch (Vanilla) without a required data plan. Not having 3G is certainly a bummer, but I've been doing just fine 3G-less on T-Mo with my Nokias so far.

 

[frankhuzzah]

Smartphones are expensive as well, a lot of times the data plans can be $20-30 a month, and that's not including any SMS plan you'd want to add.

This has been the crux of my problem, I just don't see myself using it enough to justify another $30 a month. I mean, the Palm Treo Pro certainly looks like something I'd get a bunch of usage out of, but $30 a months worth? Then again, I can cut a dinner out here and there and easily make up that much.

 

[smaug8821]

This has been the crux of my problem, I just don't see myself using it enough to justify another $30 a month. I mean, the Palm Treo Pro certainly looks like something I'd get a bunch of usage out of, but $30 a months worth? Then again, I can cut a dinner out here and there and easily make up that much.

Yeah, you just have to decide if it's worth it. If you can justify the cost, go for it.