Prepaid smartphone plans(iPhones and Androids): mo' contracts, mo' problems

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Inspect Your Gadgets > Prepaid smartphone plans(iPhones and Androids): mo' contracts, mo' problems

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Mister Fister: May 17, 2008; D&D: HASBARA SQUAD
KILL-GORE

I love the smell of dead Palestinians in the morning.
You know, one time we had Gaza bombed for 26 days
(and counting!)

Actually i do like this a lot about TING:

quote:

Credits on light months.
It�s funny to us that this is considered so revolutionary. We think it just makes sense.

You choose your plans for minutes, messages and megabytes. If you go over on any of them, we will reconcile in the next pay period so you pay for what you actually used (without penalty). Likewise, if you go under on any of them, we will credit you in the next pay period so you pay for what you actually used. Again, we will credit you.

LiquidRain, tell your bosses to cut the per device fee to $3 :P

# ? Aug 29, 2012 18:09

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# ? Apr 27, 2024 22:08

LiquidRain: May 21, 2007; Watch the madness!

Mister Fister posted:

You would be the perfect MVNO if you didn't have that $6 per device fee. Or at least have it reduced for multiple devices on one account. I'm on the fence about you guys. Having device freedom compared to VM is tempting.

Also, do you guys have a per minute voice charge if you go over your minutes?

Have you seen exactly how we work? Yes, we charge you $6 per device, but your minutes/megs/messages are shared across all devices. And if you go over your planned minutes, we simply bump you into the next bucket. If you're close to your limit we won't bother with that, though. To be charged per minute, you have to exceed 3000 minutes, after which you are then charged 2 cents per minute. Our real ace in the hole is what happens if you use less than the plan you configured - you get dropped down to a lower bucket. You can actually setup an account with us and select 0 minutes, 0 texts, and 0 messages, and we'll simply bill you for the appropriate bucket you used at the end of the month.

It's not perfect - we're not for everyone. Our buckets aren't very granular (if you use 100 minutes you get charged $3, if you use 150 minutes you get charged $9), our data isn't cheap, and if you call/text someone on the same account you get double-billed (it's 1 minute/1 text on both devices, so it counts as 2 minutes/2 texts on the account), but if you're not a heavy user or you have multiple devices you can save some significant cash.

Do the math, check your usage, try our savings calculator, see if we're right for you. Some folks use the calculator and get told they'd lose money switching to us, other people sign up and wind up saving $100+/month.

If we suck for you, go the Straight Talk/T-Mo $30 route.

Mister Fister posted:

LiquidRain, tell your bosses to cut the per device fee to $3 :P

We can't go any lower on the per-device fee. :ninja:

LiquidRain fucked around with this message at 18:21 on Aug 29, 2012

# ? Aug 29, 2012 18:16

Stick100: Mar 18, 2003

LiquidRain posted:

We can't go any lower on the per-device fee.

That's really too bad. I'd like to switch over as the two users I pay for are extremely light users and we are getting by with the 1 on the $30 100Min/Data TMo and one as a no data $.10/Min TMo and Ting would work well so I didn't have to worry about minutes but the built in $12/Mo is pretty sharp.

When will the Ting BYODevice policy go in effect? I could def. see switching out my Gal. Nexus/iPhone 3G for 2 Galaxy S.

# ? Aug 29, 2012 19:03

Mister Fister: May 17, 2008; D&D: HASBARA SQUAD
KILL-GORE

I love the smell of dead Palestinians in the morning.
You know, one time we had Gaza bombed for 26 days
(and counting!)

LiquidRain posted:

Have you seen exactly how we work? Yes, we charge you $6 per device, but your minutes/megs/messages are shared across all devices. And if you go over your planned minutes, we simply bump you into the next bucket. If you're close to your limit we won't bother with that, though. To be charged per minute, you have to exceed 3000 minutes, after which you are then charged 2 cents per minute. Our real ace in the hole is what happens if you use less than the plan you configured - you get dropped down to a lower bucket. You can actually setup an account with us and select 0 minutes, 0 texts, and 0 messages, and we'll simply bill you for the appropriate bucket you used at the end of the month.

It's not perfect - we're not for everyone. Our buckets aren't very granular (if you use 100 minutes you get charged $3, if you use 150 minutes you get charged $9), our data isn't cheap, and if you call/text someone on the same account you get double-billed (it's 1 minute/1 text on both devices, so it counts as 2 minutes/2 texts on the account), but if you're not a heavy user or you have multiple devices you can save some significant cash.

Do the math, check your usage, try our savings calculator, see if we're right for you. Some folks use the calculator and get told they'd lose money switching to us, other people sign up and wind up saving $100+/month.

If we suck for you, go the Straight Talk/T-Mo $30 route.

We can't go any lower on the per-device fee.

That's actually pretty good. Didn't know you could share devices on a plan.

Is it possible to block text messaging on the phones? I don't plan on using ANY text messaging (and for the few i do get, it would be over google voice).

# ? Aug 29, 2012 19:04

goku chewbacca: Dec 14, 2002

On top of the a la carte fees and the $6 device fees Ting charges, there are also additional regulatory fees. Normally these are included in other prepay plan advertised prices.

Looking at my Sprint 4 line family plan, the following are the taxes and surcharges added to my advertised rates. Which of these does Ting charge?

code:

        Federal-Univ Serv Assess Non-LD	              $2.99
        Pennsylvania State-Gross Receipts Recovery    $5.83
        Administrative Charge	                      $6.00
        Regulatory Charge	                      $1.60
 	                                         --------------
 	           Sprint Surcharges Total:           $16.42

 	Pennsylvania State-911 Tax	              $4.00
 	Pennsylvania State-Sales Tax	              $7.00
 	                                         --------------
 	           Government Fees & Taxes Total:     $11.00

quote:

Sprint Surcharges are rates we choose to collect from you to help defray costs imposed on us. Surcharges are not taxes on you or amounts we are required to collect from you by law. Surcharges other charges incurred to recover costs associated with governmental programs, and certain taxes imposed upon Sprint. The amounts, and the components used to calculate Surcharge amounts, are subject to change.

# ? Aug 29, 2012 19:49

LiquidRain: May 21, 2007; Watch the madness!

Stick100 posted:

That's really too bad. I'd like to switch over as the two users I pay for are extremely light users and we are getting by with the 1 on the $30 100Min/Data TMo and one as a no data $.10/Min TMo and Ting would work well so I didn't have to worry about minutes but the built in $12/Mo is pretty sharp.

When will the Ting BYODevice policy go in effect? I could def. see switching out my Gal. Nexus/iPhone 3G for 2 Galaxy S.

BYO-Sprint-D has no defined start date at the moment.

That's still being worked out. Your best bet will be to subscribe to the blog to know when it happens, oftentimes the marketing guys know before I do and post about it. (I've been moved off to another project within Tucows, Ting's parent - I have access to the loop, I'm just not in it)

Mister Fister posted:

That's actually pretty good. Didn't know you could share devices on a plan.

Is it possible to block text messaging on the phones? I don't plan on using ANY text messaging (and for the few i do get, it would be over google voice).

You can block just about anything you can imagine on a phone from the account level. Here's what the settings page for an individual device looks like on Ting for those options. Not pictured for privacy reasons are the phone itself, phone #, phone nickname to the left of those options.

Also, we don't "allow sharing devices on a plan" - we force you to. You have no choice. :toughguy:

You can't get separate buckets for devices unless you want to manage multiple accounts, and for that you'd need to sign up with alternate emails with us.

Our system is built around shared plans. When you activate a device, you give it a nickname, and you can set usage alerts for that phone for when it goes over certain usage thresholds. Usage per device can be seen on your account homescreen, both by device and in aggregate. Alerts can be sent via SMS or email.

Speaking of our homescreen - we're pretty proud of what we do there. Our public beta just went live, here's a look at what you see when you login to Ting and activate the beta. We really tried to differentiate ourselves here, and those metres update when you login or refresh depending on your usage. (though sometimes it can take an hour or two for Sprint to report usage to us, longer for roaming charges)

goku chewbacca posted:

On top of the a la carte fees and the $6 device fees Ting charges, there are also additional regulatory fees. Normally these are included in other prepay plan advertised prices.

That $6 "administrative charge" you have? That's our $6 per-device fee.

We just call it something else and don't hide it from you when you sign up.

I don't know what that "regulatory charge" is, but we don't have that.

Everything else we will likely charge as well. I can't tell you what, exactly, we would charge without knowing your zip code because those fees are all up to the government, not us.

We are forced to collect taxes, 911 fees, and so on the same as every other cellphone carrier. We do not charge you anything extra, but we are forced to collect taxes for every level of government. Here's the copy from what you get when you hover over "Regulatory fees" on our Plans page:

quote:

We are obligated to collect taxes and regulatory fees on behalf of federal, state and local governments. When you receive your bill you'll get an itemized account of all of these fees. We don't add any "recovery fees" or hide anything that isn't truly required in this charge.

Worst case scenario, you find out how grubby your local government is.

As the quote above says, you get a very detailed itemized list of every single charge the gov't makes us pass on to you. I'm not sure if there's a way I can find out what charges are for your zip code before you buy, but if you'd like I can try and find out.

Did you know some counties/districts in the US (in areas that may surprise you!) actually have a "Stadium Tax" to fund their local baseball or football stadium? The kind of stuff we found out in some areas was just crazy.

Here's a list of fees from a fake account in our testing systems, on a $100+ bill with 4 devices, in an undisclosed New York zip code:

code:

NY Franchise 184                              $0.35
Statutory Gross Receipts                      $0.91
Excise Tax                                    $2.33
District Tax                                  $2.83
Sales Tax                                     $7.93
Fed USF Cellular                              $4.99
Public Safety Communications Surcharge        $4.80
E911 Tax (Wireless)                           $1.20
FCC Regulatory Fee (Wireless)                 $0.06

Feel free to google those - they are all taxes and fees applicable to us.

edit: with a post this size I feel obligated to say that I am not an official Ting/Tucows mouthpiece, nor official support personnel. while I work here and love what we offer I am not the final word nor an official representative of the company and you can't really take anything I say as word of law around here - if you want an official final word you can use to bargain/talk/rant about, our tech support will provide that for you if you like.

YMMV and all that. I am also not sure if anything I am saying or posting here is more than what I can or should say (re: my own job safety). I just like feeling useful.

edit 2: While I'm here, we just got LTE certified by Sprint, one of the first MVNOs to do so! Our Galaxy S3 LTEs are shipping in 1-2 weeks for the 32GB models, and 2-3 weeks for the 16GB models.

I had a chance to play with one upstairs while fixing an issue with my own loaner Ting phone I'll have this weekend, pretty goddamned nice, but feels a bit too cheap for my liking.

LiquidRain fucked around with this message at 21:23 on Aug 29, 2012

# ? Aug 29, 2012 20:56

Mister Fister: May 17, 2008; D&D: HASBARA SQUAD
KILL-GORE

I love the smell of dead Palestinians in the morning.
You know, one time we had Gaza bombed for 26 days
(and counting!)

God drat, i wonder how much in taxes my VM $25 plan is. It's all inclusive.

I might give Ting a try in a couple months though, since i might have one, possibly two other people on a plan with me.

# ? Aug 29, 2012 22:31

Mister Fister: May 17, 2008; D&D: HASBARA SQUAD
KILL-GORE

I love the smell of dead Palestinians in the morning.
You know, one time we had Gaza bombed for 26 days
(and counting!)

Oh wow, i just read on Ting's blog that Google won't allow the galaxy nexus on Ting's network. That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, those devices are supposed to be 'open'. Been a while since i've criticized Google on anything, but this is a dumb move on their part.

# ? Aug 30, 2012 03:57

LiquidRain: May 21, 2007; Watch the madness!

Mister Fister posted:

Oh wow, i just read on Ting's blog that Google won't allow the galaxy nexus on Ting's network. That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, those devices are supposed to be 'open'. Been a while since i've criticized Google on anything, but this is a dumb move on their part.

This comes as an absolute surprise to me, as well. So we can buy a carrier-less GNex from Google, but not bring our own Sprint GNex? I'm on vacation right now, but I am definitely going to be asking more about that when I get back. It sounds more like Sprint wanting to keep the device unique (like an iPhone) rather than Google stopping us directly.

# ? Aug 30, 2012 10:53

Mister Fister: May 17, 2008; D&D: HASBARA SQUAD
KILL-GORE

I love the smell of dead Palestinians in the morning.
You know, one time we had Gaza bombed for 26 days
(and counting!)

LiquidRain posted:

This comes as an absolute surprise to me, as well. So we can buy a carrier-less GNex from Google, but not bring our own Sprint GNex? I'm on vacation right now, but I am definitely going to be asking more about that when I get back. It sounds more like Sprint wanting to keep the device unique (like an iPhone) rather than Google stopping us directly.

Yeah, i was thinking of buying 2 used Gnexus phones when your BYOSD thing went into effect.

# ? Aug 30, 2012 14:13

Bizarro Kanyon: Jan 3, 2007; Something Awful, so easy even a spaceman can do it!

Currently, my wife and I have Verizon phones but our contract ended over a year ago. We have thought about upgrading but the price and our lack of usage does not work out well with Verizon. We were looking into Page Plus to save some money while getting the "same" service for cheap.

My wife is thinking about calling into Verizon to see if they would be willing to match price so that they could keep our business. Would Verizon even do that? (We never call in so we do not know)

If not, how do you switch to Page Plus (keeping the same phones) while keeping our phone numbers?

# ? Aug 31, 2012 20:44

Mister Fister: May 17, 2008; D&D: HASBARA SQUAD
KILL-GORE

I love the smell of dead Palestinians in the morning.
You know, one time we had Gaza bombed for 26 days
(and counting!)

The $25 VM plan somehow made a comeback:

Don't know if it applies to new post-triumph phones though.

# ? Sep 1, 2012 06:27

Jensen: Jun 4, 2006

For those who ported to GV... Does this mean you can't get group SMS messages sent from iPhone users - as they come in as MMS?

# ? Sep 1, 2012 15:18

gariig: Dec 31, 2004; Beaten into submission by my fiance; Pillbug

Jensen posted:

For those who ported to GV... Does this mean you can't get group SMS messages sent from iPhone users - as they come in as MMS?

That is correct

# ? Sep 1, 2012 15:43

DrBouvenstein: Feb 28, 2007; I think I'm a doctor, but that doesn't make me a doctor. This fancy avatar does.

So with Google voice...my old number i ported means anyone can call my old number and it forwards to my new number...but if I call them, it shows up as my new number, right?

# ? Sep 1, 2012 17:38

Mister Fister: May 17, 2008; D&D: HASBARA SQUAD
KILL-GORE

I love the smell of dead Palestinians in the morning.
You know, one time we had Gaza bombed for 26 days
(and counting!)

DrBouvenstein posted:

So with Google voice...my old number i ported means anyone can call my old number and it forwards to my new number...but if I call them, it shows up as my new number, right?

You can set up Google voice to call using your old number as well

# ? Sep 1, 2012 18:35

Uthor: Jul 9, 2006; Gummy Bear Heaven ... It's where I go when the world is too mean.

Just want to be sure:
I want to put my parents on the $30/month 1500 Talk & Text plan from T-Mobile. They currently have a monthly plan from T-Mobile. To keep the same number, they would have to first port it to another carrier, right? I'm thinking swapping to VM for a couple of days, switching back, and returning the VM phone.

Can I use my old VM phone for this? It was deactivated when I ported my VM number over to T-Mobile.

# ? Sep 1, 2012 22:53

Back it up Terry: Nov 20, 2006

What is the deal with the Samsung galaxy 4g from tmobile. It looks like they took it off ther web site.

# ? Sep 3, 2012 22:54

Zero VGS: Aug 16, 2002; ASK ME ABOUT HOW HUMAN LIVES THAT MADE VIDEO GAME CONTROLLERS ARE WORTH MORE; Lipstick Apathy

Maybe they're trying to clear them out for something newer? Pretty hilarious is that Apple specifically called them out on Sep 1st to try to get their sale blocked, maybe T-Mobile is pulling a Google and took it off their store until they patch patents out? :tinfoil:

Check eBay if you really need one this minute. I just found and bought one for $89 shipped though that's probably a scam listing.

# ? Sep 3, 2012 23:15

Back it up Terry: Nov 20, 2006

I see a few for $110 in "fair" condition. I am currently out of contract on verizon and I'm using a motorola razr. It's about time for an upgrade and the Galaxy 4g seems to be the cheapest 4g phone

# ? Sep 3, 2012 23:51

Zero VGS: Aug 16, 2002; ASK ME ABOUT HOW HUMAN LIVES THAT MADE VIDEO GAME CONTROLLERS ARE WORTH MORE; Lipstick Apathy

I'd keep an eye out, you can set the android eBay app to save a search with your criteria and price range and give a notification when new matches are listed. It's a very effective way to snipe a good Buy It Now deal. You could also call T-Mobile and ask what the deal is if you want to do some investigative journalism.

# ? Sep 4, 2012 04:11

Assepoester: Jul 18, 2004; Can't post for 10 years!; Melman v2

Anyone using a Galaxy S Blaze 4G as their no-contract phone? They're still $300 online (the in-store deal that ends today isn't nearly as good)

http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-phone/Samsung-Galaxy-S-Blaze-4G-No-Annual-Contract

compton rear end terry posted:

What is the deal with the Samsung galaxy 4g from tmobile. It looks like they took it off ther web site.

http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-phone/Samsung-Galaxy-S-4G-Prepaid ? :confused:

compton rear end terry posted:

I see a few for $110 in "fair" condition. I am currently out of contract on verizon and I'm using a motorola razr. It's about time for an upgrade and the Galaxy 4g seems to be the cheapest 4g phone

The Exhibit II 4G is even cheaper than that on Amazon and it's a newer phone that seems to be as good or better in most ways (LCD screen rather than AMOLED but no pentile, worse camera but has flash, etc.)

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Exhib...g+exhibit+ii+4g

Assepoester fucked around with this message at 07:26 on Sep 4, 2012

# ? Sep 4, 2012 07:20

Zero VGS: Aug 16, 2002; ASK ME ABOUT HOW HUMAN LIVES THAT MADE VIDEO GAME CONTROLLERS ARE WORTH MORE; Lipstick Apathy

I think he was saying that it was the Galaxy Exhibit II that T-Mo wasn't stocking, when I looked, it said the page didn't exist. For $250 for the blaze, you might as well eBay a Galaxy S II T-989. It's an awesome phone with official CM10 support, I use it as my daily driver. The Blaze aftermarket support is really weak right now and good luck counting on Samsung to upgrade that one. Here's an SGS2 for $250 shipped:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Samsung-Gal...6#ht_500wt_1303

# ? Sep 4, 2012 08:57

NyetscapeNavigator: Sep 22, 2003

Switched to StraightTalk on an iPhone 4 running iOS 5.1.1, jailbroken and using TetherMe to enable data/MMS.

Everything works fine for about a day or so, but I'm noticing that after that data no longer works. There's no error or anything (until it requests time-out). I have to restart the phone or toggle airplane mode on/off to get it to work again.

Is this a known issue? I'm using the correct APN settings posted everywhere.

# ? Sep 4, 2012 16:23

Hughmoris: Apr 21, 2007; Let's go to the abyss!

What are the chances that Google decides to sell their next flagship phone on their playstore again, at release and without a contract?

Hughmoris fucked around with this message at 16:42 on Sep 4, 2012

# ? Sep 4, 2012 16:40

Mister Fister: May 17, 2008; D&D: HASBARA SQUAD
KILL-GORE

I love the smell of dead Palestinians in the morning.
You know, one time we had Gaza bombed for 26 days
(and counting!)

Hughmoris posted:

What are the chances that Google decides to sell their next flagship phone on their playstore again, at release and without a contract?

Like 100%? In fact, it'll be anywhere from 3-5 phones at or near the same time.

# ? Sep 4, 2012 17:02

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

Hughmoris posted:

What are the chances that Google decides to sell their next flagship phone on their playstore again, at release and without a contract?

At release somewhat less than 100%. Probably not much less than 100%, however. When it does go up I also suspect, as Mister Fister does, that it will be several devices at once.

# ? Sep 4, 2012 18:30

npd2004: Sep 12, 2007; And on that day, we fought for Rome.

I am looking for a phone for the 30 dollar t mobile plan. I've been looking at the galaxy s ii and the galaxy nexus. Are there any major differences between these phones, or are they comparable in performance?

Besides those phones, does anyone have any other recommendations for a smartphone that should stay somewhat up to date for the next several years?

Also, does anyone know of a reputable used cell phone dealer besides eBay? Thanks for any info.

npd2004 fucked around with this message at 03:46 on Sep 5, 2012

# ? Sep 5, 2012 03:38

Assepoester: Jul 18, 2004; Can't post for 10 years!; Melman v2

T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II now $300 (with purchase of a $30 timecard) at Wal-Mart!

http://www.theverge.com/mobile/2012/9/4/3291680/t-mobile-walmart-prepaid-samsung-galaxy-s-ii

http://www.walmart.com/ip/T-Mobile-Pre-Paid-Samsung-Galaxy-S-II-w-30-Airtime-Card/21631986?povid=cat542371-env452291-module466896-lLink1

At that price the Blaze is suddenly not a deal at all at $300. For that matter, all of the other "4G" prepaid smartphones like the Exhibit II are much worse deals as well.

Zero VGS posted:

I think he was saying that it was the Galaxy Exhibit II that T-Mo wasn't stocking, when I looked, it said the page didn't exist. For $250 for the blaze, you might as well eBay a Galaxy S II T-989. It's an awesome phone with official CM10 support, I use it as my daily driver. The Blaze aftermarket support is really weak right now and good luck counting on Samsung to upgrade that one. Here's an SGS2 for $250 shipped:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Samsung-Gal...6#ht_500wt_1303

It's not really useful to compare new prices to used, I'm sure on eBay the Blaze is even cheaper too.

Also that auction isn't anywhere near over. Most used T-Mobile Galaxy S IIs seem to end up north of $300 - http://www.ebay.com/itm/300770690808?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649#ht_500wt_926

Hopefully the new Walmart deal will run the prices down shortly.

Thanks for your input however, the new price on the S II makes it the better deal even without worrying about Cyanogen Mod or anything, but it's too bad the Blaze is the only decently powerful phone they've made with a reasonable-sized screen.

npd2004 posted:

I am looking for a phone for the 30 dollar t mobile plan. I've been looking at the galaxy s ii and the galaxy nexus. Are there any major differences between these phones, or are they comparable in performance?

Besides those phones, does anyone have any other recommendations for a smartphone that should stay somewhat up to date for the next several years?

Also, does anyone know of a reputable used cell phone dealer besides eBay? Thanks for any info.

Well with the new Wal-Mart deal, the main differences seem to be:

S II is $50 cheaper, if you can find it

S II has a better camera, 8MP vs 5MP

EDIT: S II has better battery life by most reports

Nexus has a bigger screen, but once you factor in the onscreen softbuttons it's actually smaller

Nexus has a higher res screen but it's pentile

Nexus gets updates faster, S II has 4.0 but probably won't get anything after a very late Jellybean

Assepoester fucked around with this message at 05:24 on Sep 6, 2012

# ? Sep 5, 2012 07:32

b0nes: Sep 11, 2001

Anyone here have a Virgin Mobile Overdrive hotspot? I am thinking about getting one with the unlimited 4G WiMax service.

# ? Sep 5, 2012 15:02

Back it up Terry: Nov 20, 2006

Slickdeals claiming that if you have an older VM phone, you can get your plan back to $25 a month. http://slickdeals.net/f/5141374-Virgin-Mobile-users-Switch-back-to-the-25-grandfathered-plan

I might go to radioshack or Best buy and get a phone to see how the reception/speed is in my area. Are they lenient with returns?

# ? Sep 6, 2012 03:16

Uthor: Jul 9, 2006; Gummy Bear Heaven ... It's where I go when the world is too mean.

compton rear end terry posted:

Slickdeals claiming that if you have an older VM phone, you can get your plan back to $25 a month. http://slickdeals.net/f/5141374-Virgin-Mobile-users-Switch-back-to-the-25-grandfathered-plan

I might go to radioshack or Best buy and get a phone to see how the reception/speed is in my area. Are they lenient with returns?

When I bought mine, RadioShack asked for a restocking fee and stressed that the phone would have to be in immaculate shape or other penalties would be charged. Best Buy didn't give a gently caress if I were to return the phone.

# ? Sep 6, 2012 04:45

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

npd2004 posted:

I am looking for a phone for the 30 dollar t mobile plan. I've been looking at the galaxy s ii and the galaxy nexus. Are there any major differences between these phones, or are they comparable in performance?

I sold my T989 to buy a GSM Nexus. Happy with the trade. JB is smoother and much better supported. Didn't notice any major differences on the screen or capabilities.

# ? Sep 6, 2012 04:56

pksage: Jul 2, 2009; You are an experience!
Make sure you're a good experience.

There was some discussion of this back on page 22, but I want to make absolutely sure of some things. Sorry to ask you guys questions that are probably asked all the time.

My wife and I are looking to drop VM (sick of our crappy phones and their crappy coverage here) for T-Mobile's $30 prepaid plan, but my wife in particular uses lots of minutes and we want to make sure that Google Voice will cover the hole. Neither of us has used it at all to date, so I'm trying to get a good picture of it in my head.

My ideal situation is that my phone uses Google Voice when I have a data connection and my 100 regular minutes in the rare instance that I don't...but from the same number. I'm guessing that's impossible, and that you need a separate number for GV and T-Mobile? If it's not impossible, how tricky is it to set up? And what kind of experience have other T-Mobile $30 plan users had with going all-in Google Voice?

# ? Sep 6, 2012 19:01

sanchez: Feb 26, 2003

Google voice does not work like that, you'd need to look at something like grooveip which is not great if you actually depend on your phone for work etc. I'd get the $50 (on contract) or $60 plan instead in your case...

# ? Sep 6, 2012 20:00

SB35: Jul 6, 2007; Move along folks, nothing to see here.

sanchez posted:

Google voice does not work like that, you'd need to look at something like grooveip which is not great if you actually depend on your phone for work etc. I'd get the $50 (on contract) or $60 plan instead in your case...

Or you could go with the $45/mo unlimited everything SIM from StraightTalkSim.com available for Tmo or att coverage.

# ? Sep 6, 2012 20:05

Infinotize: Sep 5, 2003

Is there any decent alternative to the 45/mo straight talk plan for someone who wants priority of voice/minutes over data? But some data would be nice, but the majority of use would be wifi and regular call/text. Thinking of getting a Galaxy Nexus unlocked (also because I'm travelling soon and having 1 phone and buying foreign sims would be nice).

I currently have a 6 year old verizon phone on page plus talk & text 1200. I used the 1200 minutes once, so I think that is a good amount of minutes (i.e. that 30/mo tmobile plan is too little for me, and the one with 30MB data seems like too little there even at light use). I don't want to gently caress with VOIPing all my voice calls either.

Wow it is impossible to find out what Tmobile charges for going over in minutes or data on the 2 $30 plans.

# ? Sep 6, 2012 20:43

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

10c per minute on the $30 call, data overage is throttled instead of billed. On the 1500 minute plan? Don't bother with it if you are wanting to use a smartphone.

And no, the $45 straight talk plan is the only decent option that I know of for what it offers.

# ? Sep 6, 2012 20:55

Zero VGS: Aug 16, 2002; ASK ME ABOUT HOW HUMAN LIVES THAT MADE VIDEO GAME CONTROLLERS ARE WORTH MORE; Lipstick Apathy

Thoughtdump:

- GrooveIP works if it's just you and you don't need total reliability, but it is not wife-friendly if you're in a spot with anything less than awesome 4G or Wifi. The $45 Straighttalk is wife-friendly.

I wound up carrying two phones, I have Google Voice ring my company dumbphone with unlimited minutes, but texts and email go to my smartphone on T-Mo $30. Best of both worlds if you have the opportunity.

- To the people asking about SGSII vs Nexus on T-Mo, if you are comfortable flashing roms to your phone, the SGSII is way better right now on CM10 nightlies. If you only want stock, you'll enjoy the Nexus more.

Cardboard Box A posted:

Also that auction isn't anywhere near over.

EDIT: S II has better battery life by most reports

- The auction I posted had a Buy It Now price of $250 when I posted, but the Buy It Now option can be set to disappear if an item is bid over a certain threshold which seems to have happened in this case.

- I dunno about the SII having better battery life, if I stream music for two hours and lightly use it the rest of the day I'm lucky to get ten hours. I've owned about eight different T-989s that I've either bought and returned (ghetto free rental before I had money) or sold to friends, and none can stay on for more than 12 hours on the best day. I hear the Bugless Beast kernel on Nexus grants magical battery life.

# ? Sep 6, 2012 21:24

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# ? Apr 27, 2024 22:08

Mr Newsman: Nov 8, 2006; Did somebody say news?

This is a total shot in the dark but to start, I'm looking at getting the Galaxy Nexus with a prepaid AT&T Straight Talk SIM.

The only issue is that I live up in the great state of Maine. Great if you love trees, not so great in terms of coverage.

Now I know from the OP that the AT&T coverage map covers the areas where I'd like to be able to use my phone (Bangor, Portland, Bar Harbor) but I'd really like to hear some experiences with the data / voice in the area before I plunk down 350 bux on a brand new unlocked GSM phone to try it out only to find that I am limited to 2G speeds because of my location.

I'm nervous because while the AT&T coverage map shows HSPA+ in my areas, the prepaid map only shows 2G.

Anyone in Maine // been to those areas recently have any input? I'd rather not stay with US Cellular if I can avoid it because I'm about to end grad school and I don't want to be locked in with them.

# ? Sep 6, 2012 22:20

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Inspect Your Gadgets > Prepaid smartphone plans(iPhones and Androids): mo' contracts, mo' problems

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