Nexus One or Nexus S on Pay As You Go

[rui-no-onna]

I need a phone to keep in the car since I sometimes forget my phone at home. However, I'd like to get a smartphone (obviously one based on Android since I'm posting here ) but it seems most carriers require expensive monthly recurring voice/date plans if you opt to use a smartphone. I'm fine with paying full price for the phone but since this will be, in essence, an emergency phone (albeit a very nice, full-featured one), it'll likely see very little use and I'd like to keep the annual costs down to a minimum.

I thought my only option was AT&T (LG Thrive + $0.10/min Pay As You Go plan, ~$100/year) but then I noticed posts here mentioning per day 3G data usage which sounds even better than the monthly $5~25 data packages AT&T offers.

I guess my question is, will the Nexus S i9020t or Nexus One work with T-Mobile Pay As You Go on 3G? Also, how does that day pass thing work? Regardless of whether I go with T-Mobile or AT&T, I plan on buying a $100 prepaid card (which should be good for a year) and just refilling when the credit runs out or right before it expires in a year, whichever comes first.

Thanks!

 

[alostpacket]

I'm on month to month with a N1, but I dont know if that's the same as Pay as you go. My plan is the lowes minutes + unlimited data/sms and is about $75/month after taxes and fees. (it's $69.99 or some such)

However, with the possible merger pending you may want to also look into Sprint and a Nexus S (or Nexus S 4G). I dont know what kind of plans they have, but any 3G phone bought now, might have trouble post merger if AT&T messes with the 3G spectrum to make room for LTE.

How long until something like that happens is anyone's guess. At least 6 months to a year, maybe more.

But if you want a phone to last 4 years or close to it, you may want to be sure and look around.

hth