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Wanting a new phone

Kender42

Kender42

Newbie
I'm looking into getting a new phone as well as a new provider. As for the provider I am thinking on BoostMobile since I'm on a limited budget.

I really like rooting and playing around in the guts of the Android software. What phone would you guys recommend I get and what are the pros and cons of Boost?

If boost pans out to be a bust, which provider would you recommend for someone on a very limited budget?
 
I recommend the Samsung Galaxy Nexus on t-mobile. Unlocked GSM gives you a lot of choices and you can get the Galaxy Nexus on ebay for less than $200 now if you find a seller you trust.
 
I'm using Straight Talk. $45/month prepaid, unlimited talk and text, roughly 1.5-2GB of data on AT&T.

I love my Nexus 4 and highly recommend it.
 
Straight Talk probably has the worst customer service in the history of cell phone providers. With that being said, I've been with Straight Talk on and off for like the last 3.5 years. Lol. I've gone with Sprint - iffy coverage. ST. Went with Boost (essentially the same as Sprint) - even worst coverage after I moved. ST. Went with AT&T - Loved the coverage, hated how CR would tell me one price and then it be another and it seemed it was best just same my extra bucks and go back with ST.
I've always used the AT&T network (before, the Verizon network) with ST and have pretty good service. I travel a lot and have no real problems with the coverage. I've probably went to like one place where AT&T wasn't covered. If I wasn't with ST, I'd try T-Mobile directly as they've began putting more towers out and I've never had any problems with their customer service in the past.
Anyway, if you do go with Boost, though, it pretty much depends on how much you're looking to spend as far as a device is concerned.
 
not sure if ST is the same as Net10 but they were the first in a long time to get instant access to a human AMERICAN who spoke proper english. no voice-controlled automated system, no outsourced people who sound like arabs and speak from a script. they helped me once when i had an activation problem. they even refunded me on a glitch where they thought i signed up for the unlimited plan ($50) when i actually paid for the $20 per-minute plan.

Now Virgin Mobile's tech support. there's a recipe for migraines.
 
I just went to T-Mobile (contract) after a few years of Virgin Mobile (USA), and yeah, their "out sourced" customer service agents can be frustrating, I've got to say, I NEVER dropped a call, lost service, missed a text message, NOTHING. It was a great service & price for my family and I. They have 3 unlimited data plans, #1 is $35 for 300 minutes (unlimited text/3G web), #2 is $45 with 1200 minutes, and $55/unlimited talk/text/web. The only downside i got tired of was paying the full retail phone cost as I decided I wanted a new one... And despite an "accent barrier" with 8 out of 10 reps, they give out free months credits like Halloween candy. You can call and say you have a hangnail, and it hurts to press the buttons, and they apologize fourteen times and issue you a free months service. If your $35/month typically you'll get that, if your doing $55/unlimited, they will give you that. And literally will do it all the time, month after month. Another plus, you can change your "plan" monthly, so if your having a financial issue the day your $55/unlimited is due, you can pay 35 or 45, or even by the minute/text in $10 increments with no issues. Another example of great service; I went to buy a Samsung Galaxy S2 ($249) and the Radio Shack was sold out, so I bought the ($60) Kyocera Event with 4.0, 3.5" screen, etc. After 2 days I really decided i NEEDED a galaxy and shouldve waited for o e, or splurged for the s3, i always try to take the cheap route, so I wanted to push them and see what I could get, hopefully a free Galaxy phone, which I knew was 99.9% impossible to get for free, and i just bitched endlessly about the "shitty" Kyocera I was "talked into". I not only got a free month, but I took it to Management and told them I wanted an upgrade. Now this is a prepaid company, they see no real benefit giving out free phones. I got one. Now in all fairness, my "upgrade" was to a Kyocera Rise, which is the same phone but with a slide out qwerty keyboard, and is $20 more than the Event (or I could have the $80 credit towards ANY other phones). And they did. They overnighted me the Rise for free, and told me I didnt even have to exchange/turn in the Event I originally purchased...

Sorry to say, that's pretty f*cking great customer service/support. The ONLY REASON I walked away from them, is to swap phones, i remembered the same day i bought the Kyocera i compared the Virgin Galaxy prices to the upfront cost of a contract Galaxy, soI got a free Galaxy S3 through Staples, and really wanted to get into/learn phone mods and the tech side of Android. It can be done with Virgin, but it doesn't have the largest following of people doing phone mods I can learn from, as easily as t-mobile/galaxy owners. I also had 4 lines through Virgin, 2@$55/each for the wife and I, and two of my kids @ $45/each. An unlimited family plan actually ended up being more cost effective/beneficial to us. But I will still highly recommend them to anyone. At least in my area, the service is as good if not better than most other providers, and the way they treated me sets a high benchmark for other customer service reps to follow.

All that being said, T-Mobile so far has been great too. Service wise, haven't dealt with many reps, just one or two dumb questions for them. Other providers I've had in the past and didn't work for me, but everyone has different experiences.

Fyi, I JUST swapped over, so I still have a bunch of new or newer/mint, clean esn Virgin phones; Optimus V, Samsung Intercept, the 2 Kyoceras (the Rise is still sealed, and the Event was used for a week with a case and screen protector), if your looking for a cheap way in. None have any damage to exterior or internals, TINY, if ANY wear (all had cases and screen protectors, and kept in a leather pouch/beltclip), each works 110%, and have batteries and chargers. I guarantee it. I also have a Verizon Samsung Illusion for prepaid, should also work for contract, but you'd have to double check that. I will be listing them here on the classifieds when my post count reaches the magic number, but if you want to PM me with any questions or interest, I will mame sure you know exactly when/where I list them...
 
Well personally, my daily driver is a Samsung Galaxy S4. It's a great phone but I'm in Canada and I have it on Rogers. I'm paying around 90 Dollars a month for only 250MB of data, unlimited Text/Talk and Loss Insurance (Loss insurance is $10). I think it's a rip but I love my phone.
 
for $100 monthly i have unlimited talk/text and i get 1GB of data. i even have a widget to monitor its use. i never go over .5GB a month and this month i'm not even 1/8th used up. i went with Verizon which has the best coverage here where i live and 4G to boot, and i chose the S3 which was free during a 4th of July weekend, as the S4 was $199 outright.
 
I’m on the Straight Talk $45 plan. Out of curiosity, I tethered it to my PC the first month to test their promise of unlimited data. I got over 6GB in three weeks, they didn’t squawk, I gave up, satisfied that they meant what they said.
 
when i had Net10 i also tethered. (my main internet dies in very cold weather) i used about 1-2GBs before they reduced me to dialup, they didn't complain, but for the rest of the cycle i was limited to 128kbps download, 10kbps upload. it sucked!
 
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