Best budget data plan?

[yhelothar]

Voice and text isn't that important to me when I have a data plan. I don't need a contract. I'm willing to buy a used phone on ebay or somewhere.

Or if a contract offers a good deal, I'm willing to jump on that as well.

I reside in Los Angeles/Culver City 90034.

Suggestions?

 

[paperwastage]

http://www.sensorly.com/map/4G/US/USA/T-Mobile/lte_310260#q=Los+Angeles,+CA+90034,+USA|coverage

T-mobile's supposedly decent in your area with LTE

get their prepaid plan, $30/month for 5GB LTE(throttled to 2G after) and 100 min and unlimited text. get a Moto X or Nexus 5 (~$300-$400) to get LTE

 

[Bman123]

http://www.sensorly.com/map/4G/US/USA/T-Mobile/lte_310260#q=Los+Angeles,+CA+90034,+USA|coverage

T-mobile's supposedly decent in your area with LTE

get their prepaid plan, $30/month for 5GB LTE(throttled to 2G after) and 100 min and unlimited text. get a Moto X or Nexus 5 (~$300-$400) to get LTE

That's by far the best deal

 

[Yuriman]

Republic Wireless is an alternative. $150 for a Moto G or $300 for a Moto X, unlimited 3G, minutes and texts on Sprint's network with roaming on Verizon (soft capped at 100MB) for $25 per month, no contract. It won't be as fast as T-Mobile's LTE, and you're limited to those two phones, though you can get one secondhand to cut costs a bit (hit up the RW forums). $40 makes it LTE until 5GB, which obviously isn't as good as T-Mobile's plan if you don't need minutes.

RW allows switching of plans mid-month if you don't need data the entire month. I'm on their $10 plan most of the time.

Neither of their phones has a microSD slot, but I supplement with a flash drive with OTG support.

 

[yhelothar]

http://www.sensorly.com/map/4G/US/USA/T-Mobile/lte_310260#q=Los+Angeles,+CA+90034,+USA|coverage

T-mobile's supposedly decent in your area with LTE

get their prepaid plan, $30/month for 5GB LTE(throttled to 2G after) and 100 min and unlimited text. get a Moto X or Nexus 5 (~$300-$400) to get LTE

Sounds like an awesome deal. Any reasons you suggest the moto x or nexus 5 in particular? I kind of want to jump on the Apple ship with the iPhone 4s. I haven't used any of their products before and my curiosity is there now.

 

[yhelothar]

Republic Wireless is an alternative. $150 for a Moto G or $300 for a Moto X, unlimited 3G, minutes and texts on Sprint's network with roaming on Verizon (soft capped at 100MB) for $25 per month, no contract. It won't be as fast as T-Mobile's LTE, and you're limited to those two phones, though you can get one secondhand to cut costs a bit (hit up the RW forums). $40 makes it LTE until 5GB, which obviously isn't as good as T-Mobile's plan if you don't need minutes.

RW allows switching of plans mid-month if you don't need data the entire month. I'm on their $10 plan most of the time.

Neither of their phones has a microSD slot, but I supplement with a flash drive with OTG support.

Sounds awesome with the flexibility they provide.

 

[Yuriman]

Sounds like an awesome deal. Any reasons you suggest the moto x or nexus 5 in particular? I kind of want to jump on the Apple ship with the iPhone 4s. I haven't used any of their products before and my curiosity is there now.

Product cycle-wise, the Moto X and Nexus 5 came out sometime between the 5 and 5s (early-mid 2013) and are not really competitors to the 4s (which is quite dated now, a 2011 phone). The X and N5 are fantastic deals if you're buying off contract. A Galaxy S5, for instance, is $650, an S4 is $510 currently, while the Moto X and Nexus 5 are $300 and $350 respectively and have a much less bloated/modified version of android.

The Moto X has a 4.7" screen in the body of a 4.3" phone, while the Nexus 5 has a 5" screen. The 4s is 3.5" and has huge bezels.

EDIT: Check this link: http://versus.com/en/motorola-moto-x-vs-apple-iphone-4s-16gb

Many people like smaller phones, but 3.5" is really too small, IMO.

EDIT: edited the image for better size comparison

 

[paperwastage]

Sounds like an awesome deal. Any reasons you suggest the moto x or nexus 5 in particular? I kind of want to jump on the Apple ship with the iPhone 4s. I haven't used any of their products before and my curiosity is there now.

t-mobile's LTE is super awesome (if you get LTE signal)

3G/HSDPA isn't bad either on t-mobile's 42mbps DC-HSPA+ network

if you are really really on a budget, then Moto G (no LTE, android, ~$160) or super-cheap Nokia 521 (no LTE, windows phone, ~$60). basically, these phones (moto x/g/nexus 5) have almost no bloatware and are optimized/fast/good performance for their price

(the prices I've listed are for new phones on sale. if you go to swappa, you'll see used phones @ a cheaper price)

 

[Trombe]

There is no iPhone 4s with AWS bands to my knowledge which is a huge blow for use on T-Mobile. Either iPhone 5 at minimum if you really want Apple or look at android or WP.

 

[stockwiz]

AIO wireless $45 2.5GB data with none of the hassle of being throttled early and the bad customer service from providers like straight talk. When you hit your cap you simply are throttled to 128k

T mobile is upgrading their network over the next year, but I still am in 'service provider' area so do not qualify personally.

Nokia Lumia 920 unlocked for around 200 bucks on ebay for your phone OR perhaps a Nexus 5 if you want android. There aren't that many good really cheap android phones that also have LTE. I believe an LTE variant of the Moto G is coming though.

In the end I personally decided to stick with a cheap talk/text plan only with page plus... got tired of the ads on non rooted devices.. popups everywhere telling you to download this app, that app, enough for me... no data on the road.

 

[paperwastage]

There is no iPhone 4s with AWS bands to my knowledge which is a huge blow for use on T-Mobile. Either iPhone 5 at minimum if you really want Apple or look at android or WP.

your area might have refarmed 1900mhz PCS 3G which would work on 4S... not ideal, but still, if you have an unused 4S

airportal.de used to work, it's down, dunno why (it shows a map of t-mobile 1900mhz coverage)

 

[sm625]

I been on ringplus's $10 plan, using a $150 Virgin Mobile supreme. 4G coverage is great when I'm near the highway. I downloaded a 20MB app in just a few seconds the other day. I only use 100MB a month so obviously I dont do much 4G downloading, but its nice to know it can do it when you need it to. In 6 months I still havent been able to find a better phone in this price range. 5" screen, huge battery, SGS3 level performance, and of course 4G. I wish I had bought two because it is painful to watch my gf use her SGS2.

 

[paperwastage]

I been on ringplus's $10 plan, using a $150 Virgin Mobile supreme. 4G coverage is great when I'm near the highway. I downloaded a 20MB app in just a few seconds the other day. I only use 100MB a month so obviously I dont do much 4G downloading, but its nice to know it can do it when you need it to. In 6 months I still havent been able to find a better phone in this price range. 5" screen, huge battery, SGS3 level performance, and of course 4G. I wish I had bought two because it is painful to watch my gf use her SGS2.

doesn't ringplus blacklist all virgin mobile phones?

 

[dguy6789]

Straight Talk. ATT's network is so much better than Sprint and T-Mobile's that it's easily worth the price premium. $45 a month for unlimited everything no contract. Data is at 4G speeds for the first 2.5GB per month then it slows down after that but is still unlimited in terms of the quantity allowed.

 

[yhelothar]

Product cycle-wise, the Moto X and Nexus 5 came out sometime between the 5 and 5s (early-mid 2013) and are not really competitors to the 4s (which is quite dated now, a 2011 phone). The X and N5 are fantastic deals if you're buying off contract. A Galaxy S5, for instance, is $650, an S4 is $510 currently, while the Moto X and Nexus 5 are $300 and $350 respectively and have a much less bloated/modified version of android.

The Moto X has a 4.7" screen in the body of a 4.3" phone, while the Nexus 5 has a 5" screen. The 4s is 3.5" and has huge bezels.

EDIT: Check this link: http://versus.com/en/motorola-moto-x-vs-apple-iphone-4s-16gb

Many people like smaller phones, but 3.5" is really too small, IMO.

EDIT: edited the image for better size comparison

That comparison really makes the iphone 4s look horribly dated. :biggrin:

 

[desura]

Ringplus sucks. At least for me. No roaming partners, and on sprint no less. Very cheap, but just not good.

I am using Republic Wireless. There is a $25/mo 3g plan which is a pretty good deal I think, enough to get google music working. I personally stick with the $10 plan, which ends up being cheaper than most flip phones.

If not for that, there are a number of carriers, like Boost? That have like $45/mo plans and allow wider device selection.

 

[RossMAN]

http://www.sensorly.com/map/4G/US/USA/T-Mobile/lte_310260#q=Los+Angeles,+CA+90034,+USA|coverage

T-mobile's supposedly decent in your area with LTE

get their prepaid plan, $30/month for 5GB LTE(throttled to 2G after) and 100 min and unlimited text. get a Moto X or Nexus 5 (~$300-$400) to get LTE

Assuming T-Mobile is solid in OP's region, the famous $30 Walmart plan is the best bang for your buck.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Ringplus sucks. At least for me. No roaming partners, and on sprint no less. Very cheap, but just not good.

I am using Republic Wireless. There is a $25/mo 3g plan which is a pretty good deal I think, enough to get google music working. I personally stick with the $10 plan, which ends up being cheaper than most flip phones.

If not for that, there are a number of carriers, like Boost? That have like $45/mo plans and allow wider device selection.

Boost is also on the Sprint network, which should be avoided at all costs.

T-Mobile doesn't have the greatest coverage, but at least it's fast when you are in a service area. It's really only a problem if you go rural.

As for phones, the discontinued Lumia 810 isn't officially supported by T-Mobile anymore but you can still get updates if you use the "Preview for Developers" app from Microsoft - I'm running Windows Phone 8.1 on mine. It has the same guts as the newer 920 and 925, the only difference is the screen is lower res and it doesn't have as nice of a camera. But mine was $84 from eBay and is in like-new condition. Otherwise, the T-Mobile 925 is a beautiful device and can be had for $200 new off contract.

I don't know the best way to go if you want Android or iOS, I guess whatever the current Nexus phone is but I haven't been keeping up with non-Windows phones lately.