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

raton: Jul 28, 2003; by FactsAreUseless

Here's what I need in a phone:

-Works on AT&T or Verizon (my current location has only those two providers)
-Travels well (I may soon move to Thailand for an extended stay and don't want to buy a new phone again there)
-Android
-Prepaid (I won't do cell contracts)

This means I should get a Galaxy S4 or S5 right? I currently have an assy Motorola of some sort grandfathered on Virgins 25/month plan but don't live in NYC any more so that does me no good.

If I wait until the S5 is officially out (the 11th) can I expect prices to come down much on the S4?

Can I chose my number somehow on Simple Talk or should I just cave and Google Voice it so I can participate more fully in being datamined every which way but loose.

2gb is enough to dick around on awful app and maybe watch YouTube videos sometimes right?

Is buying a used phone dumb?

Is buying an AT&T locked phone ok and will I be able to easily unlock it later?

# ¿ Apr 2, 2014 08:19

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# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 11:33

raton: Jul 28, 2003; by FactsAreUseless

SB35 posted:

Buy a Nexus 5 or Moto X. Both can be purchased unlocked for under $400. If you're hard up for cash, a Moto G can be had for ~$200.

Get a Gvoice number if you don't already have one, that way next time you come back to the US your number won't have changed. Also while you're abroad you can use your Gvoice number as your US contact number for banks, or whatever poo poo you need to do in the US. They can leave you a voicemail and you can call them back when you feel like it.

AIO has been lauded as having very good customer service, in fact I switched to them about a month ago and having mostly good things to say as opposed to the poo poo show that other prepaid carriers are. $45/mo (if you enable the auto pay, $50 otherwise) gets you unlimited minutes/SMS and 2.5 GB of LTE/3G data (throttled to 8/4 mbps respectively) which is quite sufficient for awful.apk, maps, email, and YouTubering.

I looked into the Nexus 5 and what I read about it said that it's unlikely to work overseas. Was that incorrect?

The last thing I want is to land and have a brick. Also the better camera on the Galaxy S along with the removable/replaceable SD card and battery can be pretty important if you're traveling in areas without access to a data cloud or electricity at only certain times of the day.

raton fucked around with this message at 16:16 on Apr 2, 2014

# ¿ Apr 2, 2014 16:10

raton: Jul 28, 2003; by FactsAreUseless

Thanks all, the Nexus 5 looks pretty good now. I grit my teeth a little at no removable battery or SD card but there are ways to deal with it.

The Nexus 5 can't connect to my portable hard drive to play movies off of it / use it for storage, can it?

# ¿ Apr 2, 2014 17:02

raton: Jul 28, 2003; by FactsAreUseless

I will never downcode Hiruko ;_;

# ¿ Apr 2, 2014 21:51

raton: Jul 28, 2003; by FactsAreUseless

What are some good phones for olds starting on their first smart phones? Android, Aio prepaid for the service probably, they're probably not going to be to happy spending more than 200 on the phone itself, LTE would be nice of course but whatever.

# ¿ Apr 8, 2014 23:49

raton: Jul 28, 2003; by FactsAreUseless

iPhone is too much money and I'd like to keep them on Android because I'm much more familiar with that and future tablet / computer options are also much likelier to be affordable.

Moto G looks pretty good. KitKat is available for it now, right?

# ¿ Apr 9, 2014 00:50

raton: Jul 28, 2003; by FactsAreUseless

Victorian Gentleman posted:

Your kinda missing the point though, I went through the same thought process and got my folks a couple of galaxy s2's for their first when they had come out.

Needless to say I had to help them switch to iPhones later, your familiarity with android has nothing to do with it. Old people always gravitate to iPhones no matter what, they are much easier to use.

I kinda want to break them on the wheel of non-Apple orced together poo poo ware before I move to the other side of the world / country again as well. A decision I will most likely regret~~~

# ¿ Apr 10, 2014 08:21

raton: Jul 28, 2003; by FactsAreUseless

Saint Fu posted:

Thanks everyone, it was an APN issue. Took about 60 minutes in the chat because she was slow on all of the responses, but otherwise super helpful.

e: in case anyone with a Nexus 4 has the same problem, here are the settings:

1. Tap Settings > Mobile Networks (or Mobile Data) > Access Point Names > New APN (may have to tap Menu button to see this option).
2. Enter the following APN info:
Name: Internet
APN: ndo
Proxy: Not Set
Port: Not Set
Username: Not Set
Password: Not Set
Server: Not Set
MMSC: http://mmsc.aiowireless.net
MMS Proxy: proxy.aiowireless.net
MMS Port: 80
MCC: 310
MNC: 150
Authentication type: Not Set APN type: default,mms,fota,hipri,supl
Note: on the above APN type be sure to enter it exactly as it is listed...don't include any spaces!
3. Tap Save for the new APN.
4. Go back one screen to the APN list and tap the dot to enable this APN.
5.Reboot the device. Test data and MMS.

Great post you're my hero gay for pay etc

(Seriously though thanks)

# ¿ Apr 10, 2014 19:46

raton: Jul 28, 2003; by FactsAreUseless

Etrips posted:

So I just got my AIO sim card in. Do I need to port my phone number and setup my account with them first before canceling my AT&T account?

Don't cancel your account with ATT until after your number is ported.

# ¿ Apr 10, 2014 19:50

raton: Jul 28, 2003; by FactsAreUseless

I think so but I'd wait until data and MMS and everything was working just to be sure.

# ¿ Apr 11, 2014 00:15

raton: Jul 28, 2003; by FactsAreUseless

My parents are switched over to Android phones on Aio now, their first smart phones. It's going way better than I expected, dad especially is comfortable adjusting settings, picking apps from the play store, moving shortcuts around and calling and email.

I ran into a problem the other day however when I was showing him how to text images. We repeatedly got a message along the lines that "MMS could not be sent as your carrier does not allow it" but, of course, I have no problem sending images and I have the same carrier. Did I gently caress something up when I was entering the data settings? Any idea of what I should check before I bother with Aio support?

# ¿ May 20, 2014 21:13

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# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 11:33

raton: Jul 28, 2003; by FactsAreUseless

FAUXTON posted:

I think it may also be a check box in the account settings - my girlfriend (she's on Ting but it may still apply) got a similar message when attempting to send MMS and it was that she needed to actually enable it in account settings. It isn't an extra charge.

Account settings on their site or somewhere on the phone?

SB35 posted:

Make sure you have the MMS proxy and all your APN settings correct.

I thought this was the issue initially because I had entered the following info manually and MMS picture messages worked on one phone and not the other. I just rechecked the phone with the issue and it seems like everything is set up as follows, which I think is correct:

code:

1. Tap Settings > Mobile Networks (or Mobile Data) > Access Point Names > New APN (may have to tap Menu button to see this option).
2. Enter the following APN info:
Name: Internet
APN: ndo
Proxy: Not Set
Port: Not Set
Username: Not Set
Password: Not Set
Server: Not Set
MMSC: [url]http://mmsc.aiowireless.net[/url]
MMS Proxy: proxy.aiowireless.net
MMS Port: 80
MCC: 310
MNC: 150
Authentication type: Not Set 
APN type: default,mms,fota,hipri,supl
Note: on the above APN type be sure to enter it exactly as it is listed...don't include any spaces!
3. Tap Save for the new APN.
4. Go back one screen to the APN list and tap the dot to enable this APN.
5.Reboot the device. Test data and MMS.

raton fucked around with this message at 22:51 on May 20, 2014

# ¿ May 20, 2014 22:40

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