To start things off, my younger sister just got a new prepaid phone from T-Mobile. Paying only $30 a month with 1500 minutes and text, also includes 30mb of data usage. I currently use an extremely crappy phone and my phone's contract doesn't end until around August. No matter how many times I try to convince my mom to get me a smartphone she refuses.
However, a possible solution came into my mind: unlocked smartphones.
I've just been looking around craigslist and found some decent smartphones like Google Nexus One and Samsung Vibrant unlocked.
My question is that is it possible to incorporate a prepaid plan (like my sister has) on an unlocked smartphone?
Don't tell me to get Verizon, my mom sticks to T-Mobile. And I'm not paying for my service.
I believe you can as long as it's with T-Mobile, Virgin doesn't allow you to though.
Isn't it by simcard? I imagine if you took the sim and put it in the new phone it would work
[QUOTE=Nirocity;29627132]Isn't it by simcard? I imagine if you took the sim and put it in the new phone it would work[/QUOTE]
Yeah the phone I'm looking for has a GSM. Prepaid should have GSM too, but I'm bit cynical of what might happen if it didn't work due to some compatibility not by hardware, but software... or something...
Not sure how it is in the US, but phones can be locked in to a specific provider. Make sure the phone you buy isn't locked to a provider or make sure that it is locked to the provider you intend to be using.
As long as you keep that in mind, it should work. I've never had a SIM card that was locked to a certain phone, only phones locked to a specific provider (other SIM cards from that provider still work).
If you are using a SIM, it doesn't matter if it's prepaid or subscription; either will work in any unlocked phone.
Also, while the big-brand models like HTC and Google Nexus are awesome, there are some really cheap and awesome Android phones if you know where to look. There was this £60 phone with android 2.2 being sold in the UK for example, but I forgot the name.
This may sound stupid but pre paid is the same as pay as you go right?
[editline]5th May 2011[/editline]
The phone I got with my contract (blackberry bold) was unlocked and works with an old pay as you go sim. While my friend's phone is locked.
Yeah it works.
Also, trust me, you don't have to worry about that non-GSM crap when you're thinking about this.
Only one carrier in the U.S. uses CDMA, the rest of the world uses GSM.
[QUOTE=nikomo;29628916]Yeah it works.
Also, trust me, you don't have to worry about that non-GSM crap when you're thinking about this.
Only one carrier in the U.S. uses CDMA, the rest of the world uses GSM.[/QUOTE]
Correction: Two major carriers do (Verizon and Sprint), along with a few minor ones, like MetroPCS.
I really wouldn't, 30Mb is nothing (megaBIT) that's only a few megabytes. If you disable all data on the phone somehow as soon as possible, and only use Wifi, sure. You can do that by turning on plane mode and then enable wifi. Still would be scary to me.
I bought an unlocked phone from Amazon and I can put any SIM I want into it. Only the other way around is problematic because carriers obviously want you using their services and not another carrier.
On the other hand American carriers pull some crazy shit all the time (like paying for tethering and paying for receiving texts), so do some research first too.
[QUOTE=Shadaez;29636221]I really wouldn't, 30Mb is nothing (megaBIT) that's only a few megabytes. If you disable all data on the phone somehow as soon as possible, and only use Wifi, sure. You can do that by turning on plane mode and then enable wifi. Still would be scary to me.[/QUOTE]
Some phones have the ability to turn off data separately. Under "Mobile Network Settings" you check/uncheck "Data enabled". Once its disabled, you don't have to worry about the phone using data while connected. It will assume it doesn't have access.
30 MB is fine for occasional, light web browsing. Make sure to turn stuff off like images, Google syncing and make sure to get some sort usage monitor.
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