GoPhone Simple Plan for Smartphones?

[Lord Burn]

Hi,

My current phone is a Motorola EM330 and it's on it's last legs. The hinge is breaking. I need a new phone. I was looking into purchasing a "Certified Like-New" Avail 2 GoPhone from AT&T's website. Great deal and my EM330 was a refurbished one and it worked fine for me.

SO my question is; can I use my Simple Plan on the Avail? I have zero interest in data. I'll use Wi-Fi if I need to download something.

Could I just put my SIM card in it and be good to go?

Or it that doesn't work, how does the bottom tier Smartphone plan work? It says "monthly" on their website, but it says monthly for the Simple Plan too, yet the cards give me 60 days.

I have an absurd amount of money in my Simple Plan bucket from constant rollovers and thanks to issues, I'm good till next January. So I'd REALLY like to keep my current plan.

Thanks

 

[Rukbat]

If you just put the SIM into a new phone, it should work, but eventually they may catch on to the fact that you're only using a smart phone, and start charging you the extra. Whether you ever use data or not, you CAN use data, and they charge you whether you actually use it or not. (It's like not making or receiving a phone call for the entire month - you still pay for the month.)

Another option is to find a dealer who has a feature phone he'll sell you (they're worth about $25-$30 in like-new condition). My Motorola V551 (10 years old) still works fine if I pop the SIM (and adapter - my normal phone uses a microSIM) into it.

 

[rui-no-onna]

Does the Simple Plan include any data? If yes, then likely not. The money on your GoPhone account is just that - money. You can switch plans and still be able to use the funds in your account.

Here are AT&T's currently available prepaid plans for smartphones:
Monthly
$60 unli min, unli msg, 2GB
$50 unli min, unli msg, wifi-only
$40 500 min, unli msg, 200MB
$25 250 min, unli msg, optional data package

Daily
$2/day unli min, unli msg, wifi-only for smartphones

Pay Per Use
10c/min, 20c/msg, wifi-only for smartphones

 

[Lord Burn]

I never saw any mention of pay per use on AT&T's website when looking at the used phone. I want the least costly plan as I can possibly get, because I don't really use my cellphone and I don't want to spend more money than need be.

I'm not going to get the used Avail though. The site doesn't like my number and wants me to buy a card...which negates the savings of buying a used phone.

As you can probably tell by my 5 year old, used, $15 phone that I bought fro AT&T's website...I don't know much about cellphones or how plans work.

Is there anywhere that you'd suggest buying a phone from that would work with my plan? Do I HAVE to have a GoPhone, or can I use any old phone? If so, is there anything I have to do?

My phone snapped in half again and while I can repair it, I see it's end coming nigh and want to replace it be forced to use my Motorola C139 again.

Thanks again,
LB

 

[rui-no-onna]

Is there anywhere that you'd suggest buying a phone from that would work with my plan? Do I HAVE to have a GoPhone, or can I use any old phone? If so, is there anything I have to do?

Any unlocked GSM or AT&T locked phone would work. It doesn't have to be a GoPhone. Heck, there are plenty of folks using iPhones on GoPhone as much as AT&T prefers not to advertise it works. I usually buy my new phones from Amazon or Newegg. Used, I go to Swappa.

The only sticking point might be the SIM card size but you can easily buy a SIM card cutter on Amazon or ebay. You can switch from the Simple Plan to Pay As You Go if you don't use the phone much and don't need cellular data. I've got AT&T PAYG on a backup smartphone (used as carphone in case we forget our actual cellphones) and service costs me $100/year of which we use just around $10-20.

 

[mogelijk]

Any unlocked GSM or AT&T locked phone would work. It doesn't have to be a GoPhone. Heck, there are plenty of folks using iPhones on GoPhone as much as AT&T prefers not to advertise it works. I usually buy my new phones from Amazon or Newegg. Used, I go to Swappa.

The only sticking point might be the SIM card size but you can easily buy a SIM card cutter on Amazon or ebay. You can switch from the Simple Plan to Pay As You Go if you don't use the phone much and don't need cellular data. I've got AT&T PAYG on a backup smartphone (used as carphone in case we forget our actual cellphones) and service costs me $100/year of which we use just around $10-20.

If you are near an AT&T store, you don't even need to cut your SIM. AT&T stores will replace your SIM card, for one the proper size, for free. From what I recall, the SIMs in a GoPhone are the same ones used for AT&T postpaid plans.

 

[Lord Burn]

I meant the Simple Plan PAYG, 25 cents a minute, 20 cents a text, a penny per 5kb of data (eff that last one)

I looked at Newegg, the only one I found was the old Avail for $20 more than Walmart. I'll have to look into Amazon. Where would one go to get a phone unlocked? I've seen a few stores around Cleveland that advertise it...but I'd rather not get mugged.

And yeah. I went in to an AT&T store to ask them about it and the guy there, (he seemed really board,) offered to change my SIM if I needed it. Mine's still from Cingular. So yeah. We'll see.

....And the wire connecting the two haves broke. RIP Motorolla EM330. You served admirably.
2010*-2014

*When I bought you used.