Non-contract and a new phone

[midnight growler]

My Sprint contract is up and I'm finally ready to get a smartphone. Supposedly the trade-off between Sprint and TMobile networks here in St Louis (NW Suburbs and South City for me mainly) is that Sprint has decent voice, but terribly slow data and vice-versa for TMobile.

The second factor is of course that I want to get a smartphone. Target has their new BrightSpot service that uses TMobile. ($45 for 1 gb of data/month and $55 for 3 gb). This week they have a Galaxy S3 on sale for $270, and with my 15% discount, it goes down to $230.

Failing that, I've heard a lot of people here recommend the MotoG phone, but it doesn't have an SD slot. I listen to a lot of music so I have to have a slot.

I know a lot of people recommend Straight Talk, but I just can't bring myself to cross that line.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Having had Sprint in the past, I can say their slow data is so infuriating that I'd never even consider them again. It's REALLY slow... if you don't have LTE (which most prepaid plans do not include), it's going to be unusably slow. We're talking dialup speeds on 3G.

That leaves the AT&T and T-Mobile networks, and AT&T is better in terms of coverage. I think T-Mobile might have slightly faster data but their rural coverage is far worse. But that all varies by location.

I would not recommend BrightSpot as their prices are rather poor and they don't give you anything you can't get from another provider. There's nothing to prevent you from buying a BrightSpot-branded Galaxy S3 and then using it on a different T-Mobile provider. I did that exact thing with a Lumia 521 a few months ago.

What is wrong with Straight Talk? They give you access to the AT&T network, which is better than T-Mobile in most places, and it's $45/mo for 2.5 GB of high speed data.

An alternative to Straight Talk is AIO Wireless, which offers the same plan as Straight Talk for the same price if you do automatic bill pay, and you can also reduce your data to 500 MB for just $35 a month.

 

[paperwastage]

if you don't actually talk often, there is a prepaid t-mobile $30/month 5GB data @ 4G/LTE (unlimited 2G after), unlimited text, 100 minutes....

if your current (smart?)phone has GSM support (or borrow a friend's backup GSM phone?), get a month of $30 t-mobile service and see.... nothing better than personal experience

 

[midnight growler]

What is wrong with Straight Talk?

Wal-Mart :x

 

[s44]

Wally World used their massive purchasing clout to get and offer really good plans for the consumer. The most often recommended prepaid plans here - ST $45 and T-mobile $30 - are both via Wal-Mart.

But if your prejudices are in the way, go with AIO.

 

[midnight growler]

With my discounts at Target, $55 goes down to $47 and $45 goes to $38. They also give a $25 giftcard every 6 months, so thats worth $4 a month if I keep it.

 

[dbk]

If you get LTE in your area go with Ting and buy a GS4 (love their pricing structure). I had to switch over to Tmobile $30 plan since the LG G2 hasn't been whitelisted yet. Ended up unlocking it which gives me HSPA+ but no LTE (good enough). I bought few of those Tmobile sim cards when it was like $1 a piece and activated it online. Took a day for the number to transfer.