Phone and plan choice

L

"L"

New member
If there is a better forum for this then let me know. I couldn't find a place for the uninitiated to ask about plans.

Here's what I've got:
Me: Cheap Virgin flip phone, $.18/min talk, $.10/text, $20 every 3 months minimum, which I stay under.
Wife: Kyocera Strobe/Switchback, Cricket, $47/month with taxes for unlimited talk, text, and web. This is basically our home phone.

Here's what we want:
Me: Low talk (like 100 minutes/month), qwerty keyboard (hard or virtual), maybe 50 texts or so per month. I have around $250 and like shiny things. An Android phone or used iPhone would be great, but plan cost is the most important thing. As long as there's a usable browser I could deal with a lame device, but I'd rather not. Email and light web browsing. I also need a good camera, since I use it to record my research, (I'm a mathematician and like to save my boardwork).

Wife: Low to average talk (maybe 300 minutes/month), qwerty keyboard (probably hard), about 50 texts/month. Lower cost phone (maybe $50). No or very low data.

I don't mind a contract, and realize I can get a better phone that way, but family plans seem to be pretty pricey for what we need. If I could buy a cool phone and use PAYG for voice with a cheap data and text plan that would be cool. My wife is perfectly happy with the Strobe.

I know Boost has cheap daily data usage fees, so I could always use that for myself, but I've heard service isn't so hot and data is painfully slow. I'm also thinking of the Sprint relay data-only plan for $30/month, and adding voice at $.20/min, but that might add up quickly and isn't an option for my wife. Is there a solution for $60-$70/month that would work for us? We also have google voice numbers, but VOIP over 3G isn't a good option.
 
Look at where you and your spouse will use the device - where you live, work, travel and play. Look at which carrier(s) provide the coverage you need in those places. then pick a phone and a plan.

A cheap plan is no good if you don't have adequate coverage.
 
Thanks. I'm sorry, I should have mentioned that we are in Denver right now, and will be moving to Portland, Maine soon. All the big carriers are supposed to have good coverage in both of those areas.
 
Boost mobile has a new pay as you go plan features unlimited data for $.35 a day, talk $.10 min, text $.10 each, and $.35 per pic mail. Heres the kicker, it's now open on the newly reborn Boost CDMA side which is basicly EVDO 3G Sprint without roaming(as opposed to more common nextel based boost i-den side, which is the crappy slow internet and texting).

Boost has some shiny new Boost branded CDMA phones the full qwerty Sanyo Incognito and regular Mirro flip phone you can use on pay as you go or unlimited. They also just released a Blackberry curve, expensive to buy($250) but only $60 a month for unlimited talk/text/data(no pay as you go option) which is cheap by BB standards.

And heres my favorite thing, you can unoffcially use most Sprint phones and smart phones with no modification or flashing. I'm using a Motorola Q9C smart phone on the $50 unlimited, all it took was a loaner ESN number, a phone call and a trip to sprint.com to get it activated. Easy stuff, check out the boost CDMA board for more info...
 
Cool. So I can get Sprint data speeds for $10/month plus PAYG voice with no contract! If it's no advantage to get 2 phones on the same plan then we'll probably keep my wife on Cricket. I'll check out that board.
 
Don't be so sure. Make sure you check it out. T-Mo is not very good outside of the main metro areas or far off the interstates. Plus all the others have holes. Verizon seems to the the best north of Portland, ME. Sprint is the only one that works in parts of Ogunquit.

Do your homework. Don't guess. Make sure you know which is better where you plan to use it.

I live in New England and carry both ATT and Verizon to make sure that I have coverage.
 
Sounds like a great plan. I have to say it looks pretty daunting. If I have it right, in order to use a Sprint phone you need to activate the plan using a Boost phone, then do some ESN magic. I would much rather just buy a Boost phone ready to use. The Blackberry isn't available for the PAYG plan, but the Incognito looks pretty good. I can't find it available on the Boost site, however. I would definitely prefer an Android phone, but I doubt that will be available for quite awhile.
 
you just need a valid ESN number(pm me), the phone doesnt even have to work, call boost activate the ESN($15 activation fee). go to sprint.com, register your boost account get an error message, make another username register your boost account again get another error message, log back into your first account which will work now, click swap phone, put the ESN of the phone you'd like to use in and follow the instructions. or you can call up a boost and try to get a rep to do the swap for you(which is the only way to get a sprint blackberry on boost). It's really nice to have the freedom to switch phones whenever you feel like it.

Sounds a lot harder than it is. But I totally understand getting a phone and having it ready to go straight out of the box.
 
Ok, so I don't even really need a Boost branded phone to start with? That was confusing to me in the FAQ in the Boost CDMA forum. I guess I can just find a good Sprint phone, used I guess. I'll PM you once I get one, unless I just opt for the Incognito. A blackberry or Android would be nice, however. I'll keep an eye on Craigslist. I do wish Boost offered a real smartphone (BB, Android, WinMo) on the PAYG plan.
 
Update: I bought a used but in great shape Sprint branded Treo Pro off Craigslist for $120. Following the Boost CDMA FAQ on thees forums worked just fine. It cost $10 to activate a used CDMA ESN, but switching over to the Treo Pro ESN was free. Now I've got pay-as-you-go for $.10/min voice, $.35/day mobile web. The camera is pretty bad on this phone, which is kind of a let-down, since that's important to my productivity. Having WiFi is nice, but since I use data everyday it's not necessary, so I'd rather have a better camera and no WiFi (I'm in Denver, btw, if anyone feels the opposite way and wants to trade). Using Google Voice to send free SMS, (I still get charged for incoming), so I'll be looking at around $20/month. This is a great deal. Thanks for everyone's help and hard work.
 
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