Best free android phones

[slenser]

Hi guys,

I'm switching over from Sprint to T-Mobile and was wondering if you could help me. I plan on getting the Galaxy SII for $100 at Target for me and my wife, but I don't know what to get my kids. I have always just cycled down our phones to them, but now they get to have new one. What's the best phone I can get for an Android phone for free right now? My oldest has my old Evo 4G, so if there's something like that...awesome!

Thanks,
Sam

 

[Crashdamage]

There is no such thing as a free phone from anyone. Whether you pay for the phone upfront or the cost is included on your service bill, you pay for the phone one way or another. You can (in approximate order of cost):

A. Get a regular contract plan and pay for a so-called 'free' or 'discounted' phone in your monthly bill by paying a higher rate. The rate stays the same for the life of the contract.

B. Get a Value Plan, buy the phone at full price upfront and pay a cheaper monthly rate. Overall cheaper than A.

C. Choose B but pay a down payment on the phone and T-Mobile will finance the rest in payments included in your monthly bill. Unlike A your bill goes down after the cost of the phone is paid. Overall the same cost as B since T-Mobile doesn't charge interest.

D. Get a Value Plan as in B but buy a used phone or use a phone you already own.

E. Get a pre-paid deal with a so-called 'free' or 'discounted' phone. Actually, this probably costs more than D. You should do some comparison shopping between Value Plans, pre-paid and your needs.

F. Get a pre-paid deal and use a used or existing phone.

 

[slenser]

Ok, that makes sense. I'm going for option C, but what I'm looking for is something with zero down and then the $10-15/mo. for the phone payment. That's what I found to be the best solution for me and it was still less than what I was paying at Sprint.

I know some stores have better deals going on sometimes, so that's what I was looking for. Thanks for clearing that up though!

Sam