Do you think you could downgrade from a smartphone?

[AstroManLuca]

Because I'm considering it. When my wife's contract with Sprint is up in September (or possibly earlier; her ETF is only $50 at this point and won't be going any lower), we're jumping ship and moving to a cheaper prepaid plan. There are several bring-your-own-device smartphone plans available for a lot less than a typical contract plan. The problem of course is bringing your own device. Smartphones are expensive.

Anyway, since I can't bring my current phone (Epic 4G) to any other carrier, my options are basically go out and buy a T-Mobile phone (minimum $200 for a worthwhile one) and put it on their cheap $30 100 minute plan with unlimited texting and 5 GB data. The other option, which is even cheaper, is to not buy a T-Mobile smartphone and instead just get any Verizon dumbphone and activate it on Page Plus. In that case, I could actually keep my Epic (which would be deactivated at that point) and use it on wifi only. I have wifi both at work and at home and I'm at one of those places nearly all of the time.

Logically, it seems that a smartphone is just a luxury for me and not a necessity. Still, I feel like I would sorely miss having the internet in my pocket.

I guess the answer is fairly simple - try Page Plus for a couple weeks, and if I hate it, I can always just go and buy a T-Mobile phone after all. That's the beauty of not having a contract (and having a brother with a stockpile of unused Verizon dumbphones that he'll just give to me for free). And it could be a while before any of this happens. But I'm still interested in any stories people have of losing their smartphones.

 

[alent1234]

sprint is horrifically expensive, check out AT&T for a family plan unless you must have unlimited data

 

[AstroManLuca]

sprint is horrifically expensive, check out AT&T for a family plan unless you must have unlimited data

Sprint is $150 a month for two smartphones with 1500 minutes, unlimited texts and data. We are actually paying less than that though since my sister in law is also on our plan and we have an employee discount, so it works out to more like $110 for the two of us.

AT&T is $60 for two lines with just 550 shared minutes (although that will probably be enough anyway, especially with rollover), another $30 for unlimited messages (although that could be mitigated if we port our numbers to Google Voice and use that for texts), and $30 per line for data (3 GB). Assuming the best possible case where we use GV for texting and can get by with just 550 shared minutes, that's still $120 a month. So it's a bit cheaper than Sprint but you have to futz with GV, otherwise the cost is the same.

T-Mobile's Value plans (no contract, no phone subsidy, bring your own device) are $80 a month for two lines with 1000 shared minutes, unlimited texting, and 2 GB of data. That's a much more significant savings. Of course you have to bring your own device but you still save money in the long run and there's no contract.

I am fully aware of the cost of various smartphone plans since I've been obsessively researching them for the past couple weeks. What I'm considering is not even buying another smartphone - save THAT money, and ALSO save money on whatever plan I get. A feature phone with a basic talk and text prepaid plan would cost less than $20 a month and the phone would be free. And I'd still have my deactivated Sprint phone as a wifi-only portable media device.

 

[alent1234]

the AT&T shared minutes are for outside AT&T calls. any call on the AT&T mobile network is "free" any time of day

i'm was paying $150 for a 4 line family plan on AT&T but its going to be $180 now because i had to break down and get the unlimited texting which also includes unlimted calls to any mobile number on any mobile network any time of day

i have 2 iphones and 2 dumb phones on the plan. might go to verizon this year if they do the rumored family data bundles

i don't care about the cost of the phone since iphones have ridiculous resale values and i get them free after i sell the old one

i carry two smart phones and use my iphone for work as well because the droid pro is crap. i rarely go over 1GB but use my iphone A LOT

 

[AstroManLuca]

the AT&T shared minutes are for outside AT&T calls. any call on the AT&T mobile network is "free" any time of day

Well yes, but that's true on all the major cell networks. Sprint even has it one better, any call to any other mobile phone (Sprint or not) is free, and nights+weekends start at 7 instead of 9.

i'm was paying $150 for a 4 line family plan on AT&T but its going to be $180 now because i had to break down and get the unlimited texting which also includes unlimted calls to any mobile number on any mobile network any time of day

i have 2 iphones and 2 dumb phones on the plan. might go to verizon this year if they do the rumored family data bundles

i don't care about the cost of the phone since iphones have ridiculous resale values and i get them free after i sell the old one

Ah, now if you have any dumbphones on your family plan, Sprint is horribly overpriced because you can't add data on a per-line basis with them. Sprint costs about the same as all the other providers but the price includes tons of minutes (more than you will ever need) and data and texting on every line.

Either way, T-Mobile's $80/mo is pretty crazy cheap.

 

[alent1234]

every time i price out moving to another carrier verizon is the only sane choice

t-mo has no iphone which is a no no for my wife. even if they did the price is about the same as at&t and coverage is crap

sprint is like $200 or more when i price out the same plan as i have now on AT&T and the coverage is crap, data speeds are crap, no free wifi and they are getting worse with their customers. like upgrades every 2 years and not earlier

prepaid is just a bit cheaper than AT&T but the phones suck, the coverage sucks and generally not worth it. iphones are essentially free to buy for me with resale values the way they are so paying $150 or more for a cell phone is crazy

 

[AstroManLuca]

I see. Yeah, if you need an iPhone, then AT&T and Verizon are really your only choices. I wouldn't advise ANYONE to switch to Sprint right now, it's a sinking ship and LTE is going to be too little too late, especially if they can't fix their broken-ass 3G network that is going to have to suffice for 99.9% of their customers for the next two years.

Anyway, back to my original question -- does anyone think they could ditch their smartphone entirely? Has anyone actually done it, and what were the results?

 

[dagamer34]

I see. Yeah, if you need an iPhone, then AT&T and Verizon are really your only choices. I wouldn't advise ANYONE to switch to Sprint right now, it's a sinking ship and LTE is going to be too little too late, especially if they can't fix their broken-ass 3G network that is going to have to suffice for 99.9% of their customers for the next two years.

Anyway, back to my original question -- does anyone think they could ditch their smartphone entirely? Has anyone actually done it, and what were the results?

It's possible, but you are actually giving something up, and unlike other things like giving other things up, not having a smartphone actually gets worse over time because of all the features they get.

 

[PingviN]

No, never. Mobile data and cellular services are so dirt cheap here, it wouldn't have a large enough impact on my economy I would even consider it. I currently pay $40/month for unlimited texts, unlimited calls, unlimited data and a HTC One X. If I would move back to a classic cellphone, I would cut my monthly cellphone costs by about $30. Not worth it.

 

[alent1234]

in case it would make life a lot harder. i'm on call 24x7 and i can reply to an email instantly with my phone before it becomes an issue. i get server alerts emailed to me

i use Waze for GPS/real time traffic

ESPN gamecast

download a kindle book any time

pay at starbucks


i can any of these things on an ipod and i have an ipad as well but when i'm on the go a smart phone is an awesome time killer. and its only $25 a month. i see people spend ridiculous amounts of money on pickup trucks and never carry anything and they are too cheap to buy some things that i have

 

[AstroManLuca]

No, never. Mobile data and cellular services are so dirt cheap here, it wouldn't have a large enough impact on my economy I would even consider it. I currently pay $40/month for unlimited texts, unlimited calls, unlimited data and a HTC One X. If I would move back to a classic cellphone, I would cut my monthly cellphone costs by about $30. Not worth it.

man now I'm jealous of europeans

 

[poofyhairguy]

Nope I couldn't. A smartphone is now my flagship nerd device. I would rather give up my desktop or a few game consoles.

 

[bearxor]

I've been using a smart device around 10 years now. There's simply no way. It's ingrained at this point.

 

[ponyo]

I could. But I rather not.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

If you only need to call And message even a bb will do. Otherwise I wouldn't do that

 

[WelshBloke]

No, never. Mobile data and cellular services are so dirt cheap here, it wouldn't have a large enough impact on my economy I would even consider it...

This.

I already own a smartphone so I wouldnt really save anything by downgrading (well I suppose I'd save the £40 per year data charge).

 

[Geekbabe]

I need reliable, constant web access, give up my Galaxy Nexus? it won't be happening.

 

[alent1234]

how do you check prices at amazon on the go without a smartphone?

i got a killer deal on a condo a few years back because i was able to email the RE agent everything right away from my car right there and then

 

[AstroManLuca]

how do you check prices at amazon on the go without a smartphone?

i got a killer deal on a condo a few years back because i was able to email the RE agent everything right away from my car right there and then

Ooh, good point.

Although my wife is probably never going to give up her smartphone, so I'm probably covered in that situation.

I think I'm going to end up keeping a smartphone regardless... some of the T-Mobile plans are so cheap that it really wouldn't be worth it to give it up, so then the only extra cost is buying a smartphone. But I can spare a couple hundred bucks for that.

 

[Red Storm]

If you're considering a dumb phone, that by itself already tells you that you don't need a smartphone.

 

[Specop 007]

Google Maps and Yelp alone are worth my data plan, never mind Pandora.

 

[darkewaffle]

I'm pretty sure we could all get by quite easily without something that didn't even exist five years ago

Personally I've got a free pos blackberry and I don't do anything but text with it essentially. The vast majority of the time I would want to browse the net, I have a normal computer available anyway. Unless your work PCs are extremely locked down/nonexistant or you have a long commute where you aren't actually driving, I actually sometimes wonder when people use their phones so much.

 

[soulcougher73]

Im in the same boat but my verizon contract isnt up until december. But i was thinking about taking my Droid X to page plus' $12/month plan for 250mins and 250texts. I would just use it wifi only. I dont have wifi at work but i have the internet so im good there. Between being at work and home that is easily 75% of my waking hours. Just dont see the need to be spending $160/month like right now. Now if i could only convince my wife to switch with me lol

 

[destrekor]

No, never. Mobile data and cellular services are so dirt cheap here, it wouldn't have a large enough impact on my economy I would even consider it. I currently pay $40/month for unlimited texts, unlimited calls, unlimited data and a HTC One X. If I would move back to a classic cellphone, I would cut my monthly cellphone costs by about $30. Not worth it.

Now... do you pay full MSRP for phones, or do your carriers offer subsidized prices?

Half of the problem in the US is everyone basically accepts this "subsidies now, get raped on monthly fees forever" situation we have. The other issue, as I've stressed with all the high-costs for American telecoms (of any variety) is the cost of infrastructure and the costs of upgrading/maintaining such a massive footprint.

I'd gladly not pay subsidies if that meant I could get excellent service AND pay half what it costs every month now.

 

[Pretty Cool]

You could use the Epic 4G on Platinumtel provided you are willing to pay a one-time fee of $40 to activate it. Naturally, you would need to find their plans appealing enough for you to even consider it.

Another option would be to flash the phone to use on Boost. Never tried it before, but the process involves buying another phone and the reprogramming portion looks complicated.

For Page Plus, there are dealers that can flash your phone for use on that service. Typically for flash phones, talk and text should work fine. There is sometimes issues with mms and data.