Paid Or Pre-paid Cellphone Service: Which Is Right For You?

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Paid Or Pre-paid Cellphone Service: Which Is Right For You?

January 29th, 2012 androidoholic Leave a comment Go to comments

I think that we might have turn rather smitten with Straight Talk (a prepaid cellphone service that uses networks from ATT, Sprint, and Verizon), causing me to wish to surveillance its newest access to the Android smartphone arena: an Android phone made by LG . It is supposed to advance versed with twin core estimate power, 4G connection speeds, and an 8 MP camera, that sounds really impressive. But most appropriate of all is that this is being offering for usually $45 a month with no contract.

However, after deliberating this with a few of my associate Gnomies and reception a few citation toward where to take this article, we satisfied that we have been wearing blinders and usually seeking at definite cellphone services and definite cellphone hardware. we was similar to one of the 3 blind mice: not able to to see (or not peaceful to see) the many other options available. To redress my shortsightedness, we knew that we indispensable to do a few design investigate in to other brands of cellphones, the other types of working systems being employed, and the other networks being used. In order to attain this, we knew that we had to establish just how well, or not so well, any particular pre-paid cellphone worked on any cellphone network, and compare how any of them performed.

I chose to perform my trials on the Internet, gap the LockerGnome website from the subsequent to phones [pictured from tip left]:

Row #1: Apple iPhone, paid, ATT; HTC, paid, ATT; LG, paid, Verizon; Samsung, paid, ATT

Row #2: Samsung, paid, ATT; BlackBerry, paid, Sprint; Nokia, paid, Verizon; Samsung, pre-paid, Straight Talk [Verizon]

Not shown: Samsung, pre-paid, Straight Talk [Sprint]

Out of the phones appearing, usually 3 upheld 3G, whilst the other 6 did not. Unfortunately, the 6 that didn’t encouragement 3G were painfully slow, requiring 30 seconds of air time before they rendered up the LockerGnome website. These 6 phones were, however, reported by their owners to work excellent for conversing and texting, but all concluded that (whether paid or pre-paid) they did not give an beguiling surfing experience.

On the other hand, the 3 3G phones rendered the LockerGnome website as follows:

Apple iPhone, paid ATT [$105 a month]: 3 seconds

HTC, paid, ATT [$85 a month]: 4 seconds

Samsung, pre-paid, Straight Talk [Sprint] [$45 a month]: 7 seconds

I do noticed that that this was a completely non-scientific way to assessment the phones. However, in my opinion, this demonstrated something we already knew. Here are a few information from my personal experience with family, friends, neighbors, and associates.

In my tiny segment of the world, most people use what we ordinarily call a reticent phone – one used for creation calls and texting.

Talking and texting, with the stress on texting, is the widespread form of communication.

When someone wants to roller the Internet or experience in one of the amicable networking sites, it is normally completed on a computer, not on a smartphone.

Paid cellphone service is the normal (with a few people considering of a pre-paid service being for criminals or CIA agents in the form of throwaway phones). They simply aren’t wakeful of how pre-paid services function.

Due to the proportions of cellphone plans, the various types of cellphones, etc., people lend towards to feel inundated with choices.

An e.g. of how paltry our range is, in what is being offering by various cellphone companies, was brought home to me when Jake, here at LockerGnome, sensitive me that T-Mobile has a pre-paid cellphone outline . we was unquestionably taken backward when he told me that the firm moreover offering an affordable 4G cellphone. Of course, that made me curious, so we motionless to examine what was being offering and we longed for to share this with you.

Walmart, as you are probably already aware, has turn one of the leading distributors for many of the pre-paid plans, inclusive one is to T-Mobile Samsung Android 4G phone, that is offering for a mere $30 a month. This $30 a month outline is an disdainful treat from Walmart and includes infinite Web access and texting. However, it restricts you to 100 mins of speak time per month. The phone being offering is graphic here:

Samsung Exhibit II 4G Prepaid Android Phone

4G Capable

High Resolution Screen

Display: 3.7″ 16M TFT, 480×800 pixels

Real Web Browsing

Enterprise-ready Device

3.0 Megapixel Rear Camera with LED Flash

VGA Front Camera

Complete Google Experience and Integration

GPS Navigation with Google Maps and Navigation

Expandable Memory of up to 32 GB

Stereo Bluetooth Technology

Slacker Radio

T-Mobile TV HD

Wi-Fi Calling

Voice Search

So how do you confirm either a paid or pre-paid outline is correct for you? The answer is comparatively simple. If you are formulation to use your phone as a mini P.C. and outlay a considerable amount of time surfing the Internet, obtain a paid cellphone plan. However, if you outline on spending most of your time talking, texting, and carrying out paltry surfing, a pre-paid outline might work good for you. In addition, a pre-paid outline can save you hundreds of dollars a year.

It was engaging to attend to the owners of the HTC phone, who uses a paid ATT account. He told us that he functions for a sovereign group and receives a 20% bonus for his cellphone service as a segment of his benefits package. However, even with his discount, he pays $85 a month. After conference the pros and cons of the different phones and services available, he settled that he was considering varying his service to one of the pre-paid options available.

The greatest jump is what network to choose, either it be for a paid or a pre-paid plan. Before creation that decision, we would rarely suggest that you try a accumulation of different phones. If necessary, steal them from family or friends so that you can compare the different networks. we made a outrageous inapplicable designation when we paid for a Samsung Android powered phone from Straight Talk using the Sprint network. Because we didn’t check it out first, we was unhappy to uncover that, whilst it functions good in most locations, it won’t let me make or receive calls from my home. In fact, to use the phone, we have to use my Wi-Fi service along with GrooVe IP to make calls, that is a pain. It requires me to call people back using the Internet to have a proper connection.

Due to my disappointment with the Sprint network in our area, I’m going to take Jake’s recommendation and give the Android phone on top of along with the T-Mobile service a try. we will do a examination on how good that network functions for me.

As a side note, we read one blog essay (which we do not wish to couple to to be able to prevent annoying the author) saying that Straight Talk would be using ATT with the LG 4G Optimus 2x; the essay suddenly altered direction, saying that was an error. The next matter was that this phone would be using T-Mobile. So we contacted patron service at Straight Talk and received this reply:

Please be sensitive that the ultimate phone model that we are advertising, that is the 4G Optimus 2x, is still upheld by the Sprint tower.

Comments welcome.