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AT&T user, don't know what to get

M

.Matt.

Lurker
Ok so like many people I was suckered into getting an iPhone 3G. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy the software, but it's soooo limited. I've tried a few android phones and I really enjoy them. Plus my iPhone 3G is now old technology and slow. It freezes often, a button is broken on it, and it's time to upgrade. (Well I have to wait till July for my upgrade). However, I don't know what to get for AT&T. I saw the Motorola Atrix 4G and was going to get that, but reading some fine print I noticed that I would have to get a tethering plan with it which costs $45 /month on top of my current phone bill which I really don't want to do.

Now, because my upgrade is in July, I'm assuming we'll be seeing a few more phones to come out that will be pretty promising. So I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for something new.

So I have a few questions:
1) What's currently a good Android phone for AT&T.
2) Are there any phones that will be coming out from now - July/August that I should wait for?
3) Do you guys think there will be a way to bypass the whole needing a tethering plan for the Atrix 4G? (That would be nice if I could get the phone and keep my 3G plan).

Thanks everybody.
 
I've been using the HTC Inspire since Sunday, and the phone is a dream. I haven't rooted it yet, and don't have many good reasons to (other than to remove some of the AT&T apps and gain wi-fi tethering).

If you do want go for the Atrix, they'll likely have a way to at least sideload an app to use free tethering, but it's already possible on the Inspire (see the development going on at xda Inspire 4G Android Development - xda-developers)

The only other phone I can think of coming through the pipeline is the Samsung Infuse, who's main draw is it's large, fancy super AMOLED 4.5 in. screen. But personally, besides the screen, I don't see a point in waiting unless you really want that real estate and don't mind using Samsung's touchwiz interface (or rooting).

imo, HTC is easily the best phone out of the box, without rooting, because of Sense. The ui is an absolute beauty to use, both in aestetics and functionality.
 
Well, if in July your upgrade is happening I would imagine that you then are able to leave "the worst cell phone provider in the country" for a better carrier. I would reccommend Sprint as they have the best rate plans(unlimited everything for 69.99) and the Evo/EvoShift plus whatever HTC comes up with next or Verizon (they have the "droid" lineup) but are more expensive than Sprint but less expensive than ATT. T-Mobile also has some good rate plans and decent phones. US Cellular has that new belief project thing which seems interesting but once again, nobody can touch Sprint on the rate plan issue. The moral of the story is basically this: Get as far as possible away from ATT.
 
Thanks guys, i look forward to more responses :)

As for getting off of AT&T. I really want to but I'm a student at college under my step dads phone bill and I only have to pay $55 /month to him which is a better deal then I'll get if I went on my own.
 
.Matt. said:
Thanks guys, i look forward to more responses :)

As for getting off of AT&T. I really want to but I'm a student at college under my step dads phone bill and I only have to pay $55 /month to him which is a better deal then I'll get if I went on my own.
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Similar deal for me. I'm on a family plan with 5 people (iphone users, some of them, who are not willing to jump ship to another provider), and it's just more ecomical to stay on ATT. Yes, they're not the best provider, but as far as coverage goes, I'm usually doing well, despite living in a somewhat rural area of Central Pennsylvania.

Now that the iPhone's going to Verizon, AT&T seems to be serious about getting some quality android phones, so it's actually a much better climate now to be an android user on AT&T than it was a year, or even half a year ago.
 
You only need a tethering plan with the atrix, if you Plan on buying the laptop dock, which is a waste of money in my opinion. The phone itself should not increase your bill.
 
Paying for tethering is a joke when you can do it for free using various methods. And there's no sense in going up to AT&T's higher price ranged data plans, because it'd be no different if you used that amount of data anyway.

i.e. if I Use 4 gigs on my plan, currently, I'll be paying 10 extra for every gig. So 45 bucks if I use 4 gigs, and less if I don't.
 
.Matt. said:
Yeah but the tethering plan is $45 /month. So wouldn't that just add $15 to the $30 /month for 3G?
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I'm also a current iP3g user with the $30 iphone data plan. When choosing to upgrade my line, it tells me that feature is not compatible with the Atrix. However, there is a a set of unlimited data plans paired with 200, 1500 and unlimited messages messaging plans for 35, 45 and 50, respectively. So it's essentially the same as the $30 iPhone data plan plus whatever messaging plan you have currently. This is on an individual plan, not a family plan though.

Tethering is only "forced" if you buy the dock subsidized I do believe. So if that's whats holding you back on the Atrix, shouldn't be an issue.
 
since you have a 3G and att i assume u have an unlimited data plan. Do your best to keep that golden ticket and with a android tethering app you can save your self 15 bucks and get unlimited data.
 
Juijin said:
since you have a 3G and att i assume u have an unlimited data plan. Do your best to keep that golden ticket and with a android tethering app you can save your self 15 bucks and get unlimited data.
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yeah i do. By no means did I want to get the tethering plan with it. I just thought that it was mandatory with an Atrix, until someone said it's only with the dock.
 
Juijin said:
since you have a 3G and att i assume u have an unlimited data plan. Do your best to keep that golden ticket and with a android tethering app you can save your self 15 bucks and get unlimited data.
Click to expand...

Or if you are a starving college student that you say you are and can live without it, you could go with the $15/data plan and $10 add on line, so your stepdad should be able to drop your fees to $25/month :D

It all depends on your needs. I came from a Blackberry unlimited plan to Android. My old BB didn't have 3g or wifi, so I used allot of data. With my X10, I used about 5mb the first month, then I switched to the Dell Streak and last month I used 25mb. I spend almost my whole life on Wifi and therefore don't have any data charges.

I would assume most colleges these days have wifi, right? Are are they still using punch cards? :D
 
Just wondering why everyone bashes ATT. I live in oklahoma city, and had T-mobile for years. I started traveling around to other states in the region. Once I left the OKC metro I went into roaming (( normally to ATT)) for about 10 miles or so, then nothing till i hit about 20 miles out of the next major metro area. This lead to me looking into the other carries. I did some traveling with friends on other carriers to check their service.

Sprint - Voice and Edge/3G ((no 4G)) data in most metro area's. but 15-20 min out-side the metro there was nothing. Very Spotty coverage in the OKC metro.

T-mobile - Great coverage in the OKC metro...refer to beginning of post for rest.

Verizon - Fair coverage (( dropped calls)) in most of OKC metro, but very spotty downtown. No data out side of OKC metro, but still had voice. Did better in other states.

US Cellar - Great coverage in OKC metro, but did not get data out side. Fair in other states.

Cricket - Voice/data is fair in OKC metro (( good for price)) but nothing out side of metro areas

Virgin - Seriously...why are they still around. Poor signal on the rare chance to even get a signal.

ATT is the only one that had both voice and Data almost everywhere i went. Even though the data did not stay on 3g all the time. There were even some area's in New Mexico where NONE of the other carries got a signal, but AT&T still had voice.


Yes, ATT customer service is Lacking, and it is rare to get a strait answer (( or even the same one twice)) from ATT, but their coverage is clearly the best in the areas that I need it.
 
ScuroRaven said:
Just wondering why everyone bashes ATT. I live in oklahoma city, and had T-mobile for years. I started traveling around to other states in the region. Once I left the OKC metro I went into roaming (( normally to ATT)) for about 10 miles or so, then nothing till i hit about 20 miles out of the next major metro area. This lead to me looking into the other carries. I did some traveling with friends on other carriers to check their service.

Sprint - Voice and Edge/3G ((no 4G)) data in most metro area's. but 15-20 min out-side the metro there was nothing. Very Spotty coverage in the OKC metro.

T-mobile - Great coverage in the OKC metro...refer to beginning of post for rest.

Verizon - Fair coverage (( dropped calls)) in most of OKC metro, but very spotty downtown. No data out side of OKC metro, but still had voice. Did better in other states.

US Cellar - Great coverage in OKC metro, but did not get data out side. Fair in other states.

Cricket - Voice/data is fair in OKC metro (( good for price)) but nothing out side of metro areas

Virgin - Seriously...why are they still around. Poor signal on the rare chance to even get a signal.

ATT is the only one that had both voice and Data almost everywhere i went. Even though the data did not stay on 3g all the time. There were even some area's in New Mexico where NONE of the other carries got a signal, but AT&T still had voice.


Yes, ATT customer service is Lacking, and it is rare to get a strait answer (( or even the same one twice)) from ATT, but their coverage is clearly the best in the areas that I need it.
Click to expand...


This has been my experience over many years with cell service and I will tell you if you are nice to ATT customer service you get great response
 
I'm obviously WAAAY behind on all the technical stuff, but if you want a good, reliable android phone, I have the Motorola Flipside and am very happy with it. The only downside is that it doesn't have a ton of internal memory.

As for service and coverage, AT&T has been the best I've seen....even when traveling to remote state parks (like Letchworth State Park in Upstate New York). Have been able to get a signal just about everywhere.
 
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