Cheap cell and plan

[CU]

So AT&T are only just now checking for stolen phones. I guess the seller wouldn't mind showing me a copy of their bill to prove they used it.

Going to have to think about it. $100 used on Craigslist or $200 new on ebay.

 

[CU]

Based on this maybe I shouldn't even consider AT&T's network.

http://www.cellreception.com/search.php?zip=29409&page=1&filter_att=1

 

[jpeyton]

Based on this maybe I shouldn't even consider AT&T's network.

http://www.cellreception.com/search.php?zip=29409&page=1&filter_att=1

Based on the reviews on that site, I would be nuts to use AT&T at my location:

http://www.cellreception.com/search.php?zip=97220&page=1&filter_att=1

But here I am, blazing along on AT&T on my SGS3. I get great voice/data coverage. People who experience bad service are more likely to write reviews than people who get good service. Also, most reviews on that site are 1-5 years old.

AT&T, for all its faults, is the second largest carrier in the US. Their network is good (not as good as Verizon's), and they are constantly upgrading it.

I can't wait for the iPhone 5 to come out, because that will move millions of iPhone users off HSDPA and onto LTE (Straight Talk is HSDPA). That should clear a lot of bandwidth for MVNOs.

 

[ponyo]

Based on the reviews on that site, I would be nuts to use AT&T at my location:

http://www.cellreception.com/search.php?zip=97220&page=1&filter_att=1

But here I am, blazing along on AT&T on my SGS3. I get great voice/data coverage. People who experience bad service are more likely to write reviews than people who get good service.

Yeah, that site is junk. I just checked my zip code and it showed AT&T with the lowest rating at 1.56 and T-Mobile in the middle with 1.83 rating. I know from personal experience of using both T-Mobile and AT&T side by side that signal from T-Mobile doesn't even compare at my house with AT&T. I get full 3G bars with AT&T and almost full 3g bars in my basement. With T-Mobile, I got couple bars 2G EDGE in the upstairs and no signal down in the basement. You just have to try it out and see if a particular provider works for you.

 

[ImDonly1]

So AT&T are only just now checking for stolen phones. I guess the seller wouldn't mind showing me a copy of their bill to prove they used it.

Going to have to think about it. $100 used on Craigslist or $200 new on ebay.

New? The phone has been out for over 2 years. They are all used no matter where you buy it from or refurbished. Go craigslist. If anything meet them at a ATT store and ask them if it can be activated. Surely ATT can check if the phone is blacklisted now?

Also check the FS forums here or other tech forums. XDA-developers.com has a good for sale forum.

I would not pay $200 for a Captivate. I bought a Fascinate (Verizon version) on craiglist 8 months ago for $110.

 

[CU]

Just ordered the micro sim and $45 plan from straight talk. Found two phones on Craigslist that sound good. Hopefully they will email back saying they have them, so I can pick them up this weekend. I got the micro sim since I assume my next phone after this one would need the micro sim. Do any local stores sale the adapters for cheap? All the <$1 ones on Amazon come from Hongkong. I would like to have it by Saturday.

 

[jpeyton]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2x-Small-Mi...509010?pt=PDA_Accessories&hash=item1e724a93d2

 

[CU]

Thanks. I found some on ebay only 100miles away, so they should get here pretty quick. $1.79 for 2.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160878680467&ssPageName=ADME:L:OC:US:3160

 

[Bman123]

Here is att phones
http://www.cowboom.com/search/resul...&order=price_low&store=fixed&query=&view=grid

 

[Nvidiaguy07]

A used Samsung Galaxy Captivate for $100 and $45 unlimited everything on AT&T seems the way to go. I will order 2 tonight unless something better pops up. One last question, I know on my verizon bill there are about $10 of added FCC charges etc. Does the $45 already include that or is $45 + taxes & fees.

saw this thread after i started my own since im looking for a plan too. But i thought id just let you know how nice of a phone the captivate is.

I sometimes go back to it just because its smaller than my current phone. The stock software is horrendous, but once you flash a new rom on there it flies. I think im running AOKP milestone 6 on mine right now.

The only bad thing about the phone is:
no led flash on camera (whatever)
GPS is really bad - completely broken in my experience.

Good luck with it! make sure you get a case because its super slippery. The body glove one is ok, but pretty ugly. Im using one of the argyle cases, and its pretty nice. Ordered 2, one was a cheaply made POS, the other was nice. Tough to judge which will be good from amazon, but at least theyre really cheap anyway.

 

[kalrith]

The Captivate flies on ICS/Jelly Bean. It's like a whole new phone compared to the stock stuff.

Translation: if you're at all technically inclined, I'd flash either CM9 (stable version of ICS) or one of the experimental Jelly Bean ROMs (LANIGHT nodatata seems to be in good shape atm) as soon as you get it.

Your post interests me. I'm buying a smart phone for my wife that has to be 3G Verizon to work on PagePlus. We've narrowed it down to the Samsung Fascinate (same as Captivate) and Droid X2. The Fascinate is older with less-capable hardware but can be flashed with CM9 or CM10. The X2 is more advanced hardware-wise, but can't get better than gingerbread. My wife prefers the form factor and looks of the Fascinate, but she doesn't want a slow phone.

Any help with deciding between the Samsung Fascinate with ICS or Jellybean and the Droid X2 with Gingerbread? Does CM9 help with the GPS issues the Captivate has?

 

[CU]

Pretty sure I am getting the Captivate. What are the GPS issues? Don't think I would use it much, but it would be nice if it worked. I plan to flash it to atleast ICS.

 

[Infrnl]

I thought about a prepaid plan but it appears that you will not get the full benefits going prepaid. I guess for someone that does not need much, it's a great option. However if you want 4g/lte you have to go to the actual carrier.
Here where I live, Verizon and AT&T seem to have the best coverage. I am on AT&T right now but I get crappy service right in the middle of town. I got great service when I first got AT&T but their coverage has gone downhill for some reason. Verizon also gets better coverage in Denver area where I go frequently.

I plan to go Verizon but I will get shafted on price because page pulse does not offer 4g lte and 3G does not offer as much as 4g.

 

[s44]

Pretty sure I am getting the Captivate. What are the GPS issues? Don't think I would use it much, but it would be nice if it worked. I plan to flash it to atleast ICS.

Unfortunately it's more a device-to-device hardware thing. Early units were terrible; most later ones did a lot better.

I thought about a prepaid plan but it appears that you will not get the full benefits going prepaid. I guess for someone that does not need much, it's a great option. However if you want 4g/lte you have to go to the actual carrier.
Here where I live, Verizon and AT&T seem to have the best coverage. I am on AT&T right now but I get crappy service right in the middle of town. I got great service when I first got AT&T but their coverage has gone downhill for some reason. Verizon also gets better coverage in Denver area where I go frequently.

I plan to go Verizon but I will get shafted on price because page pulse does not offer 4g lte and 3G does not offer as much as 4g.

HSPA+ on AT&T is fast enough that LTE is a luxury in most markets. If you don't need more than 2gb/month, Straight Talk really just works.

Verizon 3G isn't nearly as fast, and LTE makes a big difference. If you need both their coverage and full speed, yeah you gotta pay for it.

 

[Nvidiaguy07]

Your post interests me. I'm buying a smart phone for my wife that has to be 3G Verizon to work on PagePlus. We've narrowed it down to the Samsung Fascinate (same as Captivate) and Droid X2. The Fascinate is older with less-capable hardware but can be flashed with CM9 or CM10. The X2 is more advanced hardware-wise, but can't get better than gingerbread. My wife prefers the form factor and looks of the Fascinate, but she doesn't want a slow phone.

Any help with deciding between the Samsung Fascinate with ICS or Jellybean and the Droid X2 with Gingerbread? Does CM9 help with the GPS issues the Captivate has?

I had flashed a friends fascinate with cyanogenmod a while back, and she seemed pretty happy with it. I dont have any experience with the x2, but:
-I would assume the screen is nicer on the fascinate (ive always preferred AMOLED over a nice LCD)
-x2 is a weird res. Id rather just have the standard 800*480
-the battery was sometimes terrible on my captivate, so x2 might be better there
-2.3 is super old, I would hate to be running anything less than ICS right now
-Every galaxy s device ive owned or used had a gps that was 95% broken. It would work maybe 1 out of 20 times. Im pretty sure even the nexus s had a broken gps as well.
-stock android>>>>>>skinned bullshit - Even if the skin is minimal, and the launcher is changed, its still super annoying. Tried running stock software on my s2 for a few days and i couldnt stand it.

Pretty sure I am getting the Captivate. What are the GPS issues? Don't think I would use it much, but it would be nice if it worked. I plan to flash it to atleast ICS.

GPS is completely broken on all galaxy s phones. Dont plan on using it if you get one of these.

 

[Infrnl]

Unfortunately it's more a device-to-device hardware thing. Early units were terrible; most later ones did a lot better.

HSPA+ on AT&T is fast enough that LTE is a luxury in most markets. If you don't need more than 2gb/month, Straight Talk really just works.

Verizon 3G isn't nearly as fast, and LTE makes a big difference. If you need both their coverage and full speed, yeah you gotta pay for it.

I need the best coverage possible with a strong signal where I spend most of my time. I also like to have fast access on the inet.

I appreciate your info and will take it in consideration. Thanks

 

[kalrith]

Thanks for the tips guys! I live in the middle of no place, and Verizon is the only signal that makes it to my house. With T-Mobile and AT&T, I have to walk about 200' down my driveway before I get a signal.

While 2.3 is really old, I'm not sure if my wife will notice that much. She's never had and has rarely used a smartphone. We do plan on using the GPS, so I guess that knocks the Fascinate out of the picture.

The only other good option is the Incredible 2. She tried it out at Best Buy and didn't really care for it though.

 

[Nvidiaguy07]

Thanks for the tips guys! I live in the middle of no place, and Verizon is the only signal that makes it to my house. With T-Mobile and AT&T, I have to walk about 200' down my driveway before I get a signal.

While 2.3 is really old, I'm not sure if my wife will notice that much. She's never had and has rarely used a smartphone. We do plan on using the GPS, so I guess that knocks the Fascinate out of the picture.

The only other good option is the Incredible 2. She tried it out at Best Buy and didn't really care for it though.

you could look into ATT's microcells. And what i plan on doing to keep using the microcell is have one of my friends who has ATT register it in their account, and then manually add our numbers to be able to use the microcell (up to 5).

The only issue ive had with it is with mms. Sometimes my phone refuses to send or receive mms when im there, and then they all come in when i leave. Its also really bad if your far away enough to get signal from it, but so far that the signal sucks, it makes your phone unusable. (for example if im on the street in front of her house ~50-60ft away, it registers my device on the microcell, but its too far away to use. My phone would probably work in that spot if it would just connect to ATT's network.

 

[CU]

I got my StraightTalk AT&T sim and $45 plan over the weekend, but no phone. I have contacted 3 people on Craigslist about their Samsung Captivate, and haven't gotten a phone call to set up a meeting place yet. It has been about 4 days now. Those are the only 3 I have found with a Samsung Captivate for $100 in the Charleston, SC area. Any other phone for $100 I should be looking for? I like the fact I can put ICS on the Captivate, so if another phone for $100 can do that I would be very happy. Feel free to PM if you have one for sale.

 

[jpeyton]

http://charleston.craigslist.org/mob/3291563756.html

http://charleston.craigslist.org/mob/3239431742.html

 

[CU]

Saw both of those. Was wanting to stay closer to $100, but I may not have a choice.

 

[jpeyton]

Saw both of those. Was wanting to stay closer to $100, but I may not have a choice.

For that extra $50, you're getting quite a lot. Much better screen, dual-core, Android 4.0 stock, better camera, etc.

 

[s44]

Heh, the first one is a plain S2, which is a great deal at $150 (official JB coming!), but the second is a Captivate Glide (it says Slide, but no such thing)... Which does have semi-official ICS but, with Tegra2 and not Exynos, not nearly the same dev scene. Not bad if you really want a hard keyboard though.

 

[CU]

Now if they person with the S2 for $150 will email me back. Its been 24hrs and no response, so I am not holding my breath.

 

[shortylickens]

I like Virgin Mobile. My mom has a dinky little flip phone and it gets good reception, long battery life, and only costs her 20 bucks every three months. (She doesnt use it much at all). If you want real usage you will need the 35 dollar a month plan. They used to have a 25 dollar a month deal, but they killed it. Too popular. Supply/demand etc. I would not be surprised if they make more money for Sprint than Sprint does on their own contracts.