Phone carrier

Enter your questions, tips and tricks about software, hardware, electronics, etc. Help and be helped.
Post Reply
User avatar
A§H»WillRok
Posts: 865
Joined: June 8th, 2013, 2:32 pm
Contact:

Phone carrier

Post by A§H»WillRok »

I think around 2 years ago now my dad and I went to sprint and we each got a phone with their 2 year contract. A little after the first year was up my dad canceled the service cause sprint is complete garbage (and they were sending him like a $200+ bill every month). Since then I've been using voip (voice over ip) which means that I can text and call but I need to be connected to a WiFi network to do so. I've been able to get by with voip however now I need to get a new phone and service so that I can call and text from anywhere without having to be connected to WiFi.

What I'm looking for/need help with is finding a carrier that has good phones (that don't cost $8000), good coverage, and a no contract type of thing.

If you guys know of any good cell carriers please link them.

More specifically what I'm looking for is:

A no contract plan that is no more than $45 month that has at least 600 minutes, AT LEAST 1GB data (preferably unlimited if possible), and unlimited texting.

A good android phone or maybe an iphone (willing to at least give it a try).

A carrier that has good coverage (sprint/virgin mobile and boost mobile have horrible coverage in my area, however I may have to go with virgin mobile if I can't find a better deal ._. ).



I think that's it really.

I'll be using the phone in michigan (more specifically in the muskegon, grandville, and grand rapids areas). As of right now the only carriers that I know of that would be somewhat ok to go with would be version (no contract plan), virgin mobile, and straight talk. Any help is appreciated.
Image
Impulse: JAMIE
°jamie: HELLO
Impulse: wait
Impulse: is this jamie
Impulse: or is it her brother
°jamie: this time its me
°jamie: he plays rocket league
°jamie: on my account
°jamie: lol
Impulse: but how do i know
°jamie: usually i tell him to go offline tho
°jamie: >_>
Impulse: say something only jamie would know
°jamie: because i'm jamie
°jamie: and i'm not mean
°jamie: and we played portal 2 together
°jamie: once
°jamie: :D
Impulse: LOL
Impulse: yep
Impulse: you're jamie
User avatar
Mandalor
Registered User
Registered User
Posts: 7350
Joined: May 9th, 2013, 6:36 pm
Location: Your imagination
Contact:

Re: Phone carrier

Post by Mandalor »

I'm pretty sure T Mobile covers Michigan. $50 dollar plan for unlimited talk, text, and web ^^
http://www.t-mobile.com/cell-phone-plan ... idual.html

Bit confused shen you said a no contract plan. Does that exist? :wtf Only problem with this plan though is that it's $5 dollars over your budget. That's the contract my family uses though I don't have a phone <_<
Also that $50 plan includes 500 mb or something. Not sure what that's referring too. You said you wanted 1 Gig but that looks to be the cheapest plan that goes. :P
-Mandalor
97 Aimbot Catches | 35 ESP Catches

Image

Steam: The Deer Hunter | Evolve: theniteowl | Raptr: theniteowl | Origin: 90sguy
Image
Image
ImageImage
Resigned - 29 September, 2015
Colonel - 7 March, 2015
Saint of the Month - 3 March, 2015
Major - 10 January, 2015
Captain - 9 June, 2014
Lieutenant - 22 November, 2013
Saint of the Month - 18 July, 2013
Sergeant -12 July, 2013
Corporal - 8 June, 2013
Private - 9 May, 2013
Applicant - 9 May, 2013
Image
Image
User avatar
A§H»WillRok
Posts: 865
Joined: June 8th, 2013, 2:32 pm
Contact:

Re: Phone carrier

Post by A§H»WillRok »

A no contract plan means that you buy the phone at the full retail price and you pay every month. If you don't pay each month because you can't afford to or because you don't need the phone then your service is cancelled without you having to pay several hundred dollars like with the 2-year contract plans.

I don't want to get a 2-year contract because I may not need the phone for that long or I might not be able to afford itafter a while. With a no contract plan I buy the phone I want and activate it with the plan I want and then pay for it every month. If I don't need/want service I simply don't pay at the end of the month. If that happens the service gets cancelled with no fee and I keep the phone.

As for the t-mobile plan, its $50 a month plus taxes, fees, and the phone cost which means it would be more than $50 a month. Also from what I can tell you get unlimited data, however you only get 3G/4G speeds for 500MB, and then after you use that they throttle your connection down to probably 1G or 2G speeds.
Image
Impulse: JAMIE
°jamie: HELLO
Impulse: wait
Impulse: is this jamie
Impulse: or is it her brother
°jamie: this time its me
°jamie: he plays rocket league
°jamie: on my account
°jamie: lol
Impulse: but how do i know
°jamie: usually i tell him to go offline tho
°jamie: >_>
Impulse: say something only jamie would know
°jamie: because i'm jamie
°jamie: and i'm not mean
°jamie: and we played portal 2 together
°jamie: once
°jamie: :D
Impulse: LOL
Impulse: yep
Impulse: you're jamie
User avatar
A§H»Stealth
ASH General
ASH General
Posts: 1435
Joined: June 14th, 2013, 8:43 pm
Location: United States
Contact:

Re: Phone carrier

Post by A§H»Stealth »

A lot has changed since when I last shopped for carriers, but I'll gladly tell my story so that someone (specifically Will here) might benefit from it.

I didn't have a phone, but I was getting to the point where I had enough people ticked off at me for not contacting them when work or class got in the way of something that it was becoming a necessity. I had my tablet that I carried around to use Google Voice for free texting, but not everyone texts, so I needed a phone.
Side Note: If you don't have a phone and want to be able to text people for free, easily, let me know and I'll gladly help you get set up or post an in-depth tutorial on the forums.
I did my shopping around and decided that I either wanted to get on a family plan with the rest of my family, or go contractless for myself. It was a good half a year until contract renewal time, so I decided to go contractless.

I chose Virgin Mobile. They appeared to have decent coverage where I was, and they were pretty cheap, coming in at at cool $37 and change per month for fees and everything. That got me 300 minutes and unlimited text/data. Perfect for what I needed. The phone, however, was a different story. I wanted a midgrade Android running Jelly Bean, so that put me at the LG Optimus F3. It had just come out, was $190, and nobody made any cases for them yet. The thing was sturdy and just all around awesome- I dropped it 5 feet onto concrete (face down) and only the corner showed cosmetic damage. The antenna was a little weak in it, though, so I never could get any service inside classrooms or labs that I worked in, so it was almost like I didn't have a phone. Between that and not having any coverage, I decided that even if it meant more cash out of pocket, that I needed to hop to another carrier.

Last December, I hopped on a family plan with Verizon. Right away, I noticed a huge difference in coverage. Everywhere I go, I can at least send a text out. The phone I got (LG G2- don't judge me, I like quality stuff, so I set myself back another $200) has a better antenna, so I can even make calls in the dead zone that they call my workplace. This is a two year contract though, and that's not what you're looking for.

TL;DR Portion:
Virgin Mobile
Pros: Cheap monthly rate, decent phone selection
Cons: Virtually no service(sprint's network), bad customer service, expensive phones

Verizon
Pros: Awesome service, good customer service, cheaper phones (2 year contract)
Cons: Expensive

T-Mobile
No formal discussion, but they do have this neat feature on most phones called "Wifi Calling". It's basically their own, built-in VoIP service that allows you to make calls over wifi when you don't have service or if you want to preserve minutes. However, their plans are expensive.

Hope this can help someone.
Stealth
Personal High Score:
Image
Special thanks to the gang of usuals and the new Server 8: 2200 2 February 2014
Testing the new server 1 with Shimmer, Jordan, BoPeep, and Crash: 2245 26 May 2015
Image
Image
User avatar
=DG=£ñzó
ASH Ally
ASH Ally
Posts: 1833
Joined: October 9th, 2012, 10:35 pm
Contact:

Re: Phone carrier

Post by =DG=£ñzó »

None of dem phones work where i live.
B³][osmo final part 2 of 2
[/color]
User avatar
A§H»WillRok
Posts: 865
Joined: June 8th, 2013, 2:32 pm
Contact:

Re: Phone carrier

Post by A§H»WillRok »

Think I found a decent phone/carrier. After searching pretty much all the options I have come to the conclusion that Republic Wireless is probably my best bet.

Now like any other carrier they have their downsides, but I think it'll be ok for me to go with them.

The good:

Their Moto X can hold its own again other phones (including the HTC One).
The Moto X is only $300 as opposed to the $400-$650 that I would be spending for an HTC One or Iphone 5.
The Moto X comes with a lot of cool features (plus it has a nice size battery).
The monthly plan is only gonna be $25 a month for unlimited talk, text, and 3G data.
I can change to different plans if I need or want to try another one out, and I can do this twice in one month which means if I go with the $25 plan but a week later decide to try out the $40 plan I can have it changed pretty much instantly rather than having to wait until the end of the billing month/period.
The Moto X isn't one of the best phones but it still has a decent amount of cases and other accessories to choose from (unlike the last phone I had).


The Bad:
Republic Wireless (or RW) can offer such cheap plans because they use a combination of Voip and cell network. This means that the phone WiFi is turned on 24/7 and the phone automatically tries to use a WiFi network before using the cell network.
RW only offers the Moto X because of the custom ROM that they use for the WiFi/Cell Network 'handshake' (meaning no rooting as well).
RW uses the Sprint network which means the coverage won't be the best. 4G LTE is only around where I work, however I'll be working and not playing on my phone so really its not to big of a deal.
The Moto X comes with 16GB of non-upgradable storage, no expansion slot, and a non-removable battery.


I figure that since I was already using Voip it wouldn't be that big of a deal to go with this phone/carrier. It also looks as though Sprint provides 3G where I live so according to their coverage map I should be ok (not holding my breath though). All I need to do now is wait for a few weeks/paychecks so that I can buy the phone, buy a case, buy a screen protector, and pay for the $25 plan.
Image
Impulse: JAMIE
°jamie: HELLO
Impulse: wait
Impulse: is this jamie
Impulse: or is it her brother
°jamie: this time its me
°jamie: he plays rocket league
°jamie: on my account
°jamie: lol
Impulse: but how do i know
°jamie: usually i tell him to go offline tho
°jamie: >_>
Impulse: say something only jamie would know
°jamie: because i'm jamie
°jamie: and i'm not mean
°jamie: and we played portal 2 together
°jamie: once
°jamie: :D
Impulse: LOL
Impulse: yep
Impulse: you're jamie
User avatar
A§H»WillRok
Posts: 865
Joined: June 8th, 2013, 2:32 pm
Contact:

Re: Phone carrier

Post by A§H»WillRok »

Bump

Well, I just spent like $330 (qq) and the phone ships/gets here in about a week. Here's to hoping that it's worth it ;D
Image
Impulse: JAMIE
°jamie: HELLO
Impulse: wait
Impulse: is this jamie
Impulse: or is it her brother
°jamie: this time its me
°jamie: he plays rocket league
°jamie: on my account
°jamie: lol
Impulse: but how do i know
°jamie: usually i tell him to go offline tho
°jamie: >_>
Impulse: say something only jamie would know
°jamie: because i'm jamie
°jamie: and i'm not mean
°jamie: and we played portal 2 together
°jamie: once
°jamie: :D
Impulse: LOL
Impulse: yep
Impulse: you're jamie
User avatar
A§H»Crash
ASH General
ASH General
Posts: 3459
Joined: August 5th, 2012, 10:19 pm
Location: Williamsburg, Virginia
Contact:

Re: Phone carrier

Post by A§H»Crash »

Tracphone ;D
User avatar
A§H»WillRok
Posts: 865
Joined: June 8th, 2013, 2:32 pm
Contact:

Re: Phone carrier

Post by A§H»WillRok »

A§H»Crash wrote:Tracphone ;D
Image
Image
Impulse: JAMIE
°jamie: HELLO
Impulse: wait
Impulse: is this jamie
Impulse: or is it her brother
°jamie: this time its me
°jamie: he plays rocket league
°jamie: on my account
°jamie: lol
Impulse: but how do i know
°jamie: usually i tell him to go offline tho
°jamie: >_>
Impulse: say something only jamie would know
°jamie: because i'm jamie
°jamie: and i'm not mean
°jamie: and we played portal 2 together
°jamie: once
°jamie: :D
Impulse: LOL
Impulse: yep
Impulse: you're jamie
Post Reply