Any way to avoid the Android plan?

I

ILuvSports3585

New member
I was getting pretty excited about the ZIO, until I found it came alongside a new $55 plan. I was hoping to get by with the $35 plan. Some people are probably thinking, "What good is an Android phone without data?". I'll be on a college campus this fall and there is wifi EVERYWHERE. Although I suppose I should ask one question, do you have to use the providers data plan to get/use apps? I see no reason why that shouldn't be available through wifi but I've never owned an Android phone. So my question is this, is there any way to use an Android phone on Cricket without the Android plan? Could be either the ZIO or a "flashed" phone. Thanks ahead of time for answers.

EDIT: Lol, just read my own post. Since I know someone will say it, I realize I can avoid the Android plan by getting a non Android phone. :)
 
The reason why I like to zio is because it is an officially supported phone and so there is some accountability when things don't work and you can add on the phone replacement.

If I was looking for a phone for just talk and text, I'd just buy something like a hero or a droid for much less. I am actually buying my wife a hero for $100 to put on the $35 plan. Those phones are going for pretty cheap due to the droid x/evo 4g coming out and people upgrading.
 
z28james is right if all you need is talk and text and if the rumors are true cricket will only be allowing talk and text on CPE's. Ditch the Zio and buy a cheaper phone like the Hero.
 
Cool, thanks for the tips guys. If you can't tell by my desire to avoid the $55 plan, saving money is always good. Can someone confirm whether you can use Google Marketplace through wifi? If not are there other ways to get apps?
 
Thanks for the confirmation whitey10tc. Do you guys have a favorite place to shop for phones, or is it pretty much just ebay? I suppose used is the only option since most of these phones are verizon exclusives? Also, would I be able to activate with a "flashed" phone or would I need a preexisting cricket phone? As things stand there's a phone available for free, so I'd prolly go that right and see how I like the service, but I'm still curious.
 
The thing to do is to scan craigslist for people selling phones they got as insurance replacements but upgraded anyways. You can usually score a brand new phone exclusive to a carrier for a couple hundred or less. I've never actually owned an official cricket phone but always sprint phones. Cricket is always glad to activate them. I've actually "flashed" every phone I've used on cricket using the knowledge of this forum if you feel up to doing it yourself.
 
Thanks again z28james. Definitely could do it myself as long as I had a step by step guide, which seems to be available for the droid. I'm sure something like that is available for the Hero/Eris as well, just haven't gotten a chance to look it up yet. I do recall reading that a lot of phones using Qualcomm processors can be "flashed" using a Qualcomm tool. BTW I'm putting "flashed" in parenthesis because I'm not convinced its a true flash. Seems the firmware stays mostly intact and only a few important things are changed. What do I have to be worried about as far as firmware updates on a "flashed" phone? When cricket activates do they technically do a flash themselves? Or do they have another method? Is it free to have cricket do it?
 
I'm the same...I feel weird using the term flash, heh. A partial "flash" would be updating the PRL so that the phone looks for cricket towers. At that point, you can provide cricket the ESN/MEID of your phone which is what allows the phone to use the network it is seeing from that PRL. They really don't do much more unless you are dealing with a dealer who is flashing the phone for you. I am not sure about other phones but it seems that in terms of the phones I have dealt with, you leave the phones firmware alone.

Since the PRL is completely separate from the firmware, it should stay intact after firmware updates. On the android phones, you essentially use IPTables and a transparent tunnel to get data (if you want to avoid the zio plan) and so a rom update would blow that away.
 
When you talk about IPTables and transparent tunnel you just mean the proxy settings right? Can you even get data with the $35 plan? If so is it charged per mb? I currently have boost prepaid and you can get free data by using your own browser or mmsing a link to a portal. Maybe its the same thing with cricket, data is there and they just lock it on the phone until you buy their service? If you can get data on the $35 plan, it would seem you can get a full service android phone for $20 less a month. All that's missing is mms and 3g speeds, and that's not worth $20 a month imo. Thanks for the continued help z28james!
 
Nah, I was simply providing a situation where a "full flash" may be disturbed by a firmware upgrade. You could always add on $5 for mobile web to bring it to $40.

Here's a little heads up, people have been talking in the virgin mobile forums that they are going to be getting the samsung intercept. Its an android 2.1 phone. Middle of the pack, not to spectacular. The thing is that they have a 300 minute plan with unlimited sms and data for $25 and you can pay for that with airtime cards. It brings it to like $23 and change. Its not certain that its coming but some people insist that an announcement will be made tomorrow or the 31st.
 
Thanks for that tip z28james. One thing that concerns me is the 300 minute limit. This phone is going to serve as a landline replacement, so I definitely like the unlimited talk with cricket. 300 minutes is about 3x what I use with my current paygo plan, but I always make long calls with my home phone. I'll have no landline in my dorm this fall. Guess skype is an option, but $35 for unlimited talk is hard to resist. The $40 virgin plan would probably be more than sufficient, but at that point I might as well be with cricket. All the same, it's good to know these other options are out there.

By the way, I'm reading rumors that Cricket may change there BYOD policy and users with third party devices will be jumped up to $55 a month. Do you have any thoughts on this?
 
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