Unlocked phones are the way to go
interchangeproject.org
interchangeproject.org
I do Straight Talk SIM with an iPhone 4 on AT&T's network and the only problem I've had is no media messaging, which is not a huge deal. Also, iMessage is great for that. If you care about MMS, buy a phone from Straight Talk directly. The iPhone on Straight Talk is on the Verizon network, but since it's a VZW phone, you can use SIM as well.
Straight Talk SIM now supports LTE on AT&T if you want to go that route.
The point is, for phone service, you don't need to spend more than $45 a month and off contract phones can be had for $400 or less for top end phones (like iPhone 5 or Galaxy S3). If you don't want data, you can drop down to $25 a month or less.
There is no reason to be on contract, it no longer makes financial sense.
I switched to T-Mobile prepaid on their 5GB "unlimited" plan, but there are even worse drawbacks there. For one, I struggle to get service. My apartment is half underground, and neither VZW or TMo have coverage, even though I'm in the city. AT&T does, but they don't deserve my money. The second issue is that it only comes with 100 minutes, and I can't figure out how to activate the 10c per minute overage (my phone just tells me I'm out of minutes and I should upgrade the plan).
My SO gets frustrated when I'm out of contact, and is seriously pushing for me to get back on a contract. Maybe Google Voice and a SIP gateway would be a better option? I really don't know.
I find that the BYOP offerings of Net10 and Straight Talk don't differ that much: both offer LTE, similar APN settings, same throttling limits, etc., as both companies are owned by TracFone. The only difference is that Straight Talk costs $45/month while Net10 costs $50/month, although if one sets up recurring payments on Net10's website the cost will be reduced to $45/month as well.
[0]: http://androidforums.com/net10/763501-net10-t-sim-card-data-...
For the past year or so I've been using a $10 plan from Airvoice Wireless (an AT&T MVNO) for voice & text on an unlocked old BlackBerry (= good signal quality + long battery life). I'm not sure how long Airvoice will last (they seem like a tiny operation) but at least their customer service has been more responsive than Net10's.
edit: oddly enough, another alternative is to sign up for one of those providers that have free wifi hotspots all across the city (e.g. CableWifi, XfinityWifi), which could be cheaper than a data plan
I certainly don't know enough to say but I imagine someone here might.
When I got home (US) I bought an iPad with AT&T 3G and put that SIM card into the 3GS. I had to install a special profile to make everything work, but that was all it took for a data-only 'phone' plan.
It's a bit klunky. I make calls with an app called Talkatone, and the quality when I'm on 3G gets very bad. It's better at home and work over wifi, but some friends still complain about sound quality and lag.
The biggest regret I have as someone who has been on phone contracts for years is that it is very prohibitive to experiment with different phones. If we treated phones more like computers, we could have more than one phone at a time. When you're on a contract with a locked phone, it's really difficult to experiment with different phones in any meaningful way.
That doesn't mean I would be buying new phones all the time. Perhaps I get used ones off of Ebay, and I probably only buy a new phone every two years or so. Phones are starting to hit an inflection point where they will run well beyond two years.
If we can get better unlocked options in this country with data and voice plans that are priced better, geeks like us can experiment with different phones and OSes. I use OS X and Windows every week (and Chrome OS, but that depends on the week).
I hardly ever use Android, Windows Phone or Blackberry OS. And I think that's a shame.
I still do this occasionally since I keep hoarding my old phones as development devices, and even with phones T-Mobile doesn't actually support (i.e. you can't select it as your current device if you use their web portal), I have not had problems.
Perhaps this is different between providers?
On the CDMA side (i.e. Verizon, Sprint), yes.
On the GSM side (T-mobile and AT&T), if your phone is locked to a carrier it will still accept any SIM from that carrier and your carrier provided SIM will work on any GSM unlocked phone with compatible frequencies.
As a bonus, we all got unlocked phones with Wifi tethering (free) and better data service. Keep in mind though, T-mobile signal might suck for your location.
AT&T has told me that "standard" rates for international roaming in Asia is $2.50/minute (!!) and even the biggest package they have only brings it down to $1.50. It's completely insane. Plus you need to purchase voice roaming, data roaming, and text roaming all separately. Believe it or not, it will actually be slightly cheaper to cancel my AT&T plan, pay the cancellation fee, and switch to TMobile than it would be to purchase all of their punitive roaming services.
*edited - I've only done this with iPhones but my understanding is that it can be done with any phone once out of contract.
That's because you haven't actually had to start using T-Mobile's horrendous service. When I tried to do this (admittedly a couple years ago) they told me with a straight face, after I had gone through all the effort of changing "You can't use data on your smartphone because you didn't get it from us." Why would I have changed over if I couldn't use data!?!? (It would have been edge or something ridiculous as well, as only people on certain contracts could use 3g!)
No carrier is going to have perfect coverage. This is something I'm willing to live with for unlimited connectivity @ $50/month.
I mean, seriously! I get coverage in the Virgin Islands! Included! And with their new rates for International travel, I'm willing to let A LOT slide.
I know people want to think of the carrier network as a dumb pipe, but the carriers have major investments in customer support. This means creating training for their sales reps only on the devices they're selling
Occasionally you'll find some rockstar in a retail store that can help you troubleshoot your non-carrier phone, but those people tend are the exception. Many of the retail reps do cargo-cult support. They try to stay within the boundaries of their training. This isn't terribly surprising- It's all downside if they try to fix your problem and accidentally break your phone. There isn't going to be much sympathy from either the customer or management if they screw up.
This results in little to no support for off-carrier mobiles.
Also, the only company to actually reduce their price plans to account for not subsidizing their phones is T-Mobile and I figure they're going to get more customers as people start to realize the upgrades from AT&T and Verizon are a total crime.
When I brought my own phone to sprint and they forced me to sign a 2 year agreement, I knew that business was on the way out. I'm on straight talk now.
So anyway, he's sacrificing network speed to save money, but won't sacrifice upgrades, which seems illogical. Also he writes off skipping upgrades while on a decent network, because he says that is costing him money for free, but it still saves him the cost of the upgrade handset itself, typically $200 for a premium phone. He would be stuck paying the increased amount no matter what on the only good network options there are right now, so it doesn't matter. Saving 200 is saving 200.
In the UK you have the well-known "Sim-Only" and "Rolling Month" contracts, which are almost, not like contracts in the traditional sense given you can cancel any time.
my Sim-Only contract that last's for 12 months is £15/m I paid £750 or so for the iPhone 5s with 64GB of space which is: £31 (over 2 years) £46 total a month for two years.
a contract with my provider for my phone is: £99 upfront cost. £51 a month (over 24 months).
so, I'd be paying £5 for the privilege of _not_ having cash in hand for my phone.
there are other downsides; like requiring carrier support instead of apple support, which, honestly makes a large difference to how you're treated.
although the UK is under EU jurisdiction about the locking of mobile phones so, it's now prohibited.
Reference (you have to provide your zip code, boo!):
To be completely accurate - Nexus phones are an exception. Even the manufacturer of Nexus phones sells their non Google branded Nexus equivalent models at significantly higher cost. There is nothing else in the market priced like a Nexus phone (probably because no one can sell these devices at cost because they don't have the cushion of massive ad revenues).
Consumers have forgotten.
A) Your expenses shouldn't exceed your income.
B) You should carefully evaluate the price you pay for financing.
There is nothing wrong with amortizing an expense, provided it doesn't break your income/expense ratio and you aren't overpaying on the financing.
Ultimately the best way to minimize your costs is retaining the ability to say "sod off, I'm going to [competitor]".
My point is that it's still not a "common sense" evaluation. It's a nuanced decision that must consider all variables.
Given:
-A phone is designed to physically break in 2 years (with or without contract)
-A cellular contract last 2 years
-Purchase cost of a new unlocked, contract-free iPhone 16g 5c is $600 after taxes
-Purchase cost of a new locked, contractual iPhone 16g 5c is $120 after taxes
-Monthly bill for iPhone contract is around $100 after taxes(unlimited everything)
-Monthly bill for iPhone without contract is $60 after taxes(unlimited everything)
Total cost of contractual iPhone over 2 Year period:
100+10024=2500
600+5024=1800
((2500-1800)/2500)*100 = 28% more for contract. Factor in the cost-benefit of peripherals you receive with a contract or non-contract phone and make your decision.
Done.
The abysmal world of mobile phone carriers seems to be making some good improvements.
Currently I have a Google Voice account but it is a different number than my phone service.
The net effect is that if anyone, ever tried to send a text message to you and several other people at the same time you will not receive it. You will not receive a notice or anything, it will just silently fail and the sender will assume you are ignore them.
> The net effect is that if anyone, ever tried to send a text message to you and several other people at the same time you will not receive it.
I do receive these. I haven't ever heard from anyone "Hey, you didn't come to my <birthday party, other event>!?!?!
I cannot send them. YMMV?
In the process with the cost of the new device included in the monthly payments I ended up saving about $80/month for a family plan of 3 phones.
I wish iPhone supported the WiFi calling! Maybe a google voice solution is under way.
If you travel internationally the fact that you can use your data connection (albeit on 2g) internationally without any roaming fees is superb. I would say make sure to get the right phone based on your needs but switch soon!
I do not work for them, just checking out the options.