Do I have to pay $100+ per month for a damn phone!?!?

[thatsright]

Current setup:
-Waaay out of contract w/ Tmobile
-1500 anytime minutes for $45 per mo. $0.03 per/min for extra minutes. Pretty damn good!!
-Horrible P.O.S flip phone.
-I work in IT.

Need:
-Decent+ keyboard for texting.
-Non flip phone.
-Near/same minutes or monthly fee.
-Not locked into a 2 year+ contract.
-Some decent net access, if possible. But not mandatory.

Should I just buy a new t-mobile approved phone on ebay and get a new sim card at the store and call it a day? But I think some of the features I want to use on a used phone will require me to get a new contract.

So, to get a non-laughable phone will nee need a new contract? What else is there besides crackberry or iPhone? If anything I would wait till iPhone 4G comes out (rumored in a few months).

 

[BoberFett]

The phone industry in the US is all about contracts. If you don't commit to paying them $2400+ over the course of two years, they don't want you.

 

[TheWart]

The phone industry in the US is all about contracts. If you don't commit to paying them $2400+ over the course of two years, they don't want you.

Uhh, I know lots of people who pay $60-60 a month for voice+text only service....that is hardly $1200 a year.

 

[blackangst1]

If you dont plan on leaving TMo, why not sign a contract?

 

[shortylickens]

T-mobile is actually the cheapest of the Big 4. Stick with them for service.

 

[Rottie]

you dont want contract? try MetroPCS or Boost Mobile...MetroPCS has $40 a month for unlimit voice and text messages.

 

[mizzou]

All cell phone carriers (major ones) are competitive price-wise when it comes to regular phone line + texting, but they all do it differently. Sprint is more geared to the "package" while ATT and Verizon let you add a'la carte.

There are several nice keyboard phones you can use that do not require data plans or 3g/4g service

 

[boomhower]

Do you want a smart phone or will a feature phone work?

 

[mizzou]

I suppose you could get an Ipod touch if you want just the apps, hah!

 

[JS80]

Metropcs? Virgin mobile?

 

[Fox5]

Err, stay with tmobile, switch to their contract-less even more plus plan, buy an unlocked phone.

Oh, do you just have an old plan you want to keep? If you don't need anything new out of the plan, you can still just buy an unlocked phone and swap the sim card in.

 

[CTrain]

Err, stay with tmobile, switch to their contract-less even more plus plan, buy an unlocked phone.

Oh, do you just have an old plan you want to keep? If you don't need anything new out of the plan, you can still just buy an unlocked phone and swap the sim card in.

Took 11 posts before someone posted this.....
Buy a T-mobile specific phone or an unlocked one and just stick your old sim car in there.
Heck you can just buy an unlocked iphone and stick the old sim car in there if you want and keep the old plan.
And especially since you are not using some old data plan, T-mobile is not going to botther you.

 

[destrekor]

Wait, is the question: "Can I get a good priced phone without a contract?"
or is it: "Can I get a smartphone and pay less than $100/month?"

If you need those 1500 anytime minutes (really?!), than no, not if you want to add a data plan.

I don't know T-Mobile's rates, but Verizon you can get 400 anytime minutes, which includes unlimited N&W and unlimited Verizon calls iirc, and add the $30 data plan, and a 250sms package (or was it 500?), and end up around $80/month.

That's exactly the set up I'll go once I split from my parents' family plan, as I don't really need a lot of minutes for weekday hours. I dislike talking on the phone at length and most things I can resolve through a few texts.

 

[SunnyD]

I don't know T-Mobile's rates, but Verizon you can get 400 anytime minutes, which includes unlimited N&W and unlimited Verizon calls iirc, and add the $30 data plan, and a 250sms package (or was it 500?), and end up around $80/month.

Seems a bit ridiculous - paying $80/month for 400 minutes and a non-unlimited testing option, even if it does have data.

PagePlus Cellular (Verizon MVNO) - $29.95/month for 1200 minutes, 1200 texts and 50MB data.

Sprint Everything 450 (Data) - $69.99/month for 450 minutes, unlimited text & data.

Two examples of what's out there depending on your needs. IMHO, cellular service still has a long way to go before pricing isn't anything but ridiculous. We shouldn't be seeing more than $50/month for 1000 voice, unlimited SMS and capped data (5GB) at this point. Corporate greed. Gotta love it.

 

[destrekor]

Seems a bit ridiculous - paying $80/month for 400 minutes and a non-unlimited testing option, even if it does have data.

PagePlus Cellular (Verizon MVNO) - $29.95/month for 1200 minutes, 1200 texts and 50MB data.

Sprint Everything 450 (Data) - $69.99/month for 450 minutes, unlimited text & data.

Two examples of what's out there depending on your needs. IMHO, cellular service still has a long way to go before pricing isn't anything but ridiculous. We shouldn't be seeing more than $50/month for 1000 voice, unlimited SMS and capped data (5GB) at this point. Corporate greed. Gotta love it.

Here in the U.S., cellular operators are taking the model of the general telecoms industry and running with it...
the U.S. is always going to be behind the rest of the world when it comes to anything in the Communications industry (this includes Cable television and Satellite services)... be it throughput, options, or price.

The one bitch of taking advantage of all this land, is our population is spread out something fierce. They want the same profit structures as they enjoy in the rest of the world, and the cost of innovation and installation here is far higher than anywhere else... so they move slower as to not hurt the books.

Anyhow...

I definitely want to keep Verizon... does Page Plus or other MVNOs offer unlimited data? My data use varies from month to month, but I'd definitely like to have the option of a GB or more.

As for the Spring Everything 450... I don't see Verizon being all that behind for such a package for all that long. Unlimited SMS is becoming far more commonplace, and Verizon already offers that (minutes and SMS) if the other end is also Verizon. Which between Verizon and Alltel, that's a large number of people. Thus, between the minimal service impact of SMS in general, and the fact that Verizon already offers unlimited messaging when contacting "the majority", it shouldn't be long until Unlimited SMS finds itself in lower tier packages.

Just went to their page, and the price structure hasn't really changed. They DO offer unlimited messaging (sms, picture & video messaging) on their plans. 450 minutes is $39/month, 450 + unlimited is $59. Add the $30/month data fee, 450 minutes + unlimited everything is $89/month.
I remember seeing that before, but was trying to figure out the cheapest plan I could get for what I needed, and figured a cut of $10 off would be better, even if it meant dropping unlimited messaging and only having a moderate message package.

 

[pm]

Took 11 posts before someone posted this.....
Buy a T-mobile specific phone or an unlocked one and just stick your old sim car in there.
Heck you can just buy an unlocked iphone and stick the old sim car in there if you want and keep the old plan.
And especially since you are not using some old data plan, T-mobile is not going to botther you.

I am in agreement with CTrain and Fox5. Buy an unlocked G1 or unlocked iPhone- you can get a first gen iPhone for $150 on Ebay - I just bought a 1st gen 8GB iPhone for $125 for my daughter to use with T-Mobile prepaid's $100/1150 minutes for a year plan. If you want data, then call them up and see if you can get their +$10/month plan. Do your best to avoid a contact - usually they'll say "ok, if you want to do this, you need to extend your contract for two years" and I have always been successful when I say something like "Oh. I don't want a contract. I won't do it if I need a contract - is there any way to just add it without the contract extension?" and they have always agreed. If they want you to sign a contract, then you should get them to give you a nice phone, not just add a feature to your account.

T-Mobile customer service is generally very friendly - I think it's the best customer service of the 4 carriers in the US and one of the best reasons to be using T-Mobile. Be polite and firm with the customer service reps and they can usually get you a better deal than anything you'll get in the store. Oh, and threaten occassionally in a nice way with musings of owning an iPhone on AT&T, or a Droid on Verzion... and then remark about how long you've been on T-Mobile and how much you love the company and their service... threats and buttering up... that's usually effective too.

You should be able to get what you want - a used touch screen Android (G1) or iPhone (1st gen 4GB or 8GB) or a used Blackberry - for under $150 for the phone, and then a voice plan + unlimited data for $55/month or less. The G1 might be slightly trickier but if you can pull it off, you'll have 3G, which is much faster/nicer than EDGE. Up until last summer when I moved to the dark side AT&T to get an iPhone 3GS, I was paying $44/month (total, taxes and everything) for my wife and I on a two-phone family plan with unlimited EDGE data ($39.99 family plan + $6 WAP data plan + taxes and fees - 20% corporation discount = ~$44). I switched to a Google Voice number and then had my text messages emailed and sent through Prowl and iPhone instant notifications and got unlimited text messages for free.

 

[Tom]

Sprint's $69.99 plan includes unlimited cell to cell calls. Means the 450 minutes is only used for land lines.
and includes Sprint navigation, Verizon Nav is another $10 on their plan.
And it's $20 cheaper than Verizon with data.
And Sprint roams on Verizon.
And Verizon has a $350 ETF fee.

So the differences are pretty substantial. We have both Verizon and Sprint in our household, both work equally well and both have great customer service.

 

[jdl1681]

If you want to stick to T-Mo the cheapest plan they have for a smartphone level phone plan is $59 a month that is 500 mins/ unlimited text and data. Like other have said you can pick up a used phone from either craigslist or ebay.

If you don't want your phone for data then they have a 500 min talk and unlimited text for $39 a month or 1000 min with unlimited text for $49. The nice part of these plans is they can't force you to get a data plan so you could still get a smartphone and just use it on wifi.

 

[preslove]

How much $ are you willing to spend upfront?

If you want to stick with your current provider. T-mobile still has 35% cashback with bing. The HD2 (I have it & its nice) is $449 without a contract. After cashback it will be about $293. Going this way will allow you to do the $59 a month plan. They also have some meh android phones that are a little less, but still available for cashback.

You could also look into EPRP if you willing to go to sprint, but that requires a 2 year commitment.