Going for a new phone soon, maybe new carrier, what do you like?

**humann_brewing** · 12-14-2009, 03:25 PM

The SWMBO and I are shopping for new phones. First off, is it me or are family plans not any cheaper than just buying 2 separate plans?

Anyways, I am in a dilema whether to get a smart phone or not. Up to this point I have been a basic phone guy, yeah they all have mp3 and picture capabilities now a days but I mean I have never had a iPhone, blackberry, droid etc...

I have been looking at the droid and iPhone, thinking I like the droid better at this point but just wondering if these phones have changed peoples life or are they more of toys than anything.

Just so you know my setup, I have a sony ericson walkman i580 (I think that is the model) I am with AT&T with the 450 plan and never go over my minutes, I have some texting but never go over no that either. Basically I don't use my phone that much so it is hard to justify doubling my bill to have a fancy phone.

Anyone know how to lower a $180 family plan bill or is there just no way?

I know the carrier thing depends on where you live, I am in the central valley of california so I started looking at sprint but they don't seem to have much presence here, verizon looks like the next best option or possibly better than AT&T

**JVD_X** · 12-14-2009, 03:31 PM

Droid is not quite ready for mainstream. It has taken iphone 4 generations to get anywhere near the blackberry and there are still issues.

I have an iphone but you cannot go from a BB to an IP without some bumps... they do things differently. Without a doubt... for pure phone performance, the BB kills the IP.

Also - there is no insurance on iphones. The "extended warranty" they ask you to buy does not cover the most common failures to the phone... i.e. liquid and drops. It only takes one drop of water on one of the 7 fluid indicators for Apple to declare your phone out of warranty. This has happened to me twice. I had a blowup in the apple store this last time. While I was in the Apple store at least 8 people came in and had their iphones declared "out of warranty for liquid ingress" and was told that "it wasn't common at all"... what BS.

In any case... i vote against the IP.

**dataz722** · 12-14-2009, 04:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by humann_brewing

Anyone know how to lower a $180 family plan bill or is there just no way?

That sounds really high. My wife and I are on a family plan that I think is 600 or 700 minutes plus unlimited within verizon. We also each have an extra add on for text messaging that is $10 for each line and we each have insurance at $8 per line. She has internet access on her's for $15 and I have the blackberry package for $30. Our bill I believe is right around $160 a month. It sounds like you wouldn't need much of the extras we have so you should be able to get your bill much lower.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JVD_X

It only takes one drop of water on one of the 7 fluid indicators for Apple to declare your phone out of warranty.

It does not even take a drop of water. High humidity can set it off too.

wildwest450 · 12-14-2009, 04:28 PM

If you want internet access, but don't want to pay for a full data plan, the LG envy touch is a nice phone.

**humann_brewing** · 12-14-2009, 04:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dataz722

That sounds really high. My wife and I are on a family plan that I think is 600 or 700 minutes plus unlimited within verizon. We also each have an extra add on for text messaging that is $10 for each line and we each have insurance at $8 per line. She has internet access on her's for $15 and I have the blackberry package for $30. Our bill I believe is right around $160 a month. It sounds like you wouldn't need much of the extras we have so you should be able to get your bill much lower.

I looked again, looks like you can share 1400 minutes with unlimited data, text and all the other standards for $139.99, with taxes and other garbage, I guess that would be about $160.

So does their uplimited data package cover me for any type of internet traffic besides the vcast stuff?

HIM_Tattoos · 12-14-2009, 04:29 PM

I too had the I580, and I loved that phone. I switch to Verizion and picked up a BB Storm. The service, atleast in my area, can't be beat, I've since had three people in my family switch to Verizion and say the exact same thing. I haven't had to use their customer service yet, which is what I hear is the biggest pain for most.

As far as the phone goes, I'll never look back. The BB is so amazing, it has almost replaced my laptop entirely. The OS is a bit slow, only because it's the Storm One, the new Storm Two is much faster.

**dataz722** · 12-14-2009, 05:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by humann_brewing

So does their uplimited data package cover me for any type of internet traffic besides the vcast stuff?

It isn't exactly unlimited. If you read the fine print it is 5GB per month. It is highly unlikely that you would go over that but if you do they charge you out the ass.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HIM_Tattoos

The OS is a bit slow, only because it's the Storm One, the new Storm Two is much faster.

Have you updated the OS on your BB? They have released 5.0 for the storm and it is supposed to be much better. I am still waiting for them to realease it for my tour.

**humann_brewing** · 12-14-2009, 05:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dataz722

It isn't exactly unlimited. If you read the fine print it is 5GB per month. It is highly unlikely that you would go over that but if you do they charge you out the ass.

Anything large, I would just transfer over USB or WiFi, 5GB seems reasonable for everyday traffic

Rick500 · 12-14-2009, 05:13 PM

I really love my iPhone, but AT&T, not so much. Overall, the good points of the whole package outweigh the bad. I'd do it again.

**dataz722** · 12-14-2009, 05:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by humann_brewing

Anything large, I would just transfer over USB or WiFi, 5GB seems reasonable for everyday traffic

It is more than reasonable. Pretty much the only way you would have trouble is if you were teathering and downloading large files or if you streamed music 24/7.