Re: Poll - What Smartphone do you use?
On Wed, 4 May 2011 04:54:55 -0400
Brad Alexander <storm16@gmail.com> dijo:
>I have been researching this since I am in the same position with
>AT&T. The primary phone on our line is $90/month, and the secondary is
>$30. I called AT&T and asked them if they could help "keep an AT&T
>customer from becoming a former AT&T customer." Why should I pay
>$120/month for 700m talk/unlimited text/no data and be shackled into a
>two year contract, when the pay-as-you-go plans are as little as
>$35/month for all-you-can-eat, including data.
>
>Unfortunately, the downside is that all of the PAYG services I have
>found so far (I've looked at Virgin Mobile and Boost, seemingly the
>two largest) appear to be on Sprint's network (in the US), and
>therefore are CDMA. Since the N900 is GSM, it goes back to, for me
>anyway, an internet tablet like the N810.
I don't know anything about the N810, but if it is an AT&T phone it
should work on T-Mobile. You just need to visit a T-Mobile store, sin
up for a "SIM-only" plan, and your phone can become a T-Mobile phone.
The phone has to be unlocked first, though. There are two ways to
unlock most phones. One way is to use a free software product that
works only on Windows. You install the software, connect the phone to
the computer with its USB cable, and the software will unlock the phone.
You can find people in shopping malls that will do this for you for
around $20.
The second way is to buy an unlock key on eBay or get one free from
AT&T. You need a "foreign" SIM to use this method, i.e., a T-Mobile
SIM. Since you will have a T-Mobile SIM after signing up with them,
you just put the T-Mobile SIM in the phone, reboot, and a menu will pop
up asing for the key code. You enter it, and voilà, your phone is a
T-Mobile phone. This is how I unlocked my ancient Razr, and the unlock
code cost me $1.50 on eBay.
Why would you want to go to T-Mobile? Because they are way cheaper than
AT&T and have excellent customer service. I have a single line prepaid
plan where 1500 minutes, unlimited text, and 30 MB of data costs me $30
a month. Since I pay in advance each month there are no credit hassles.
T-Mobile has way more flexible plans than any of the other carriers.
I later replaced my Razr with a used MyTouch 3G Android phone that I got
off of the local Craig's list for $80. The 30 MB of data is enough for
the occasional internet use, as I connect it to wifi at home and at the
university.
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