Cheap plan for an existing smartphone?

[Blue Shift]

Hello, I have a question concerning phone plans in the U.S.

One of my family members has offered to give me his HTC Evo 4G, which he uses on the Sprint network. I am currently part of an old Alltel "My Circle" family plan, which was grandfathered in by Verizon.

If I were to accept this hand-me-down phone, I would only want to purchase call time and text messaging services. I live on a college campus which has blanket Wi-Fi, and do not need mobile broadband service.

Since this phone has already been paid for in full as part of a 2-year contract, is there a way to purchase a cheap plan for this phone?

I realize that one of the reasons that cell phone plans in the U.S. are so expensive is that they subsidize the cost of a phone upgrade every 2 years... Frankly, that seems deceptive and I would much rather pay for a new phone out-of-pocket when necessary instead of getting "free" phones with contractual strings attached.

 

[Ravynmagi]

Perhaps talk to Virgin Mobile. They are a pre-paid carrier owned by Sprint. So I would think your EVO 4G should work with them. But I'd call and confirm it first.

 

[s44]

No. Sprint and Verizon won't active devices from each other's networks.

There are some illegal (AFAIK) hacks you can do to try to trick a prepaid activation, but at least Virgin isn't supposed to work either. Maybe PagePlus, but that doesn't help since you're already on a Verizon plan.

My suggestion: try to trade it for a Fascinate or Droid X or something.

 

[soccerballtux]

PagePlus verizon also option

 

[Fox5]

The only carrier who offers a discounted rate plan with no subsidies in the US is Tmobile.

But you might be able to get this phone to work on a prepaid option, like the others have said.

 

[Blue Shift]

Sure, I would definitely consider a prepaid option. Again, I am not loyal to Verizon and would not mind switching off of it immediately.

 

[ImDonly1]

You can flash it to Boost mobile, maybe Cricket/MetroPCS, or Verizon but not sure if you want to go through all of that. I would just trade it for a phone on a carrier you want (VZW, ATT, or t-mobile). Sprint prepaid providers don't usually allow you to bring your own phone. I heard platinumtel or zapp unlimited might, but its unofficial.

You can try flashing it to pageplus (verizon prepaid) depending on how techie you are
guide here
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1575749

 

[Blue Shift]

You can flash it to Boost mobile, maybe Cricket/MetroPCS, or Verizon but not sure if you want to go through all of that. I would just trade it for a phone on a carrier you want (VZW, ATT, or t-mobile). Sprint prepaid providers don't usually allow you to bring your own phone. I heard platinumtel or zapp unlimited might, but its unofficial.

You can try flashing it to pageplus (verizon prepaid) depending on how techie you are
guide here
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1575749

What I'm looking for is a way to use this already-paid-for phone for $30-40 per month, or as little as possible. Trading it for a Verizon phone or similar would just lock me into a contract for $70+ per month, right?

 

[ImDonly1]

What I'm looking for is a way to use this already-paid-for phone for $30-40 per month, or as little as possible. Trading it for a Verizon phone or similar would just lock me into a contract for $70+ per month, right?

By trading we mean trade with another person for their phone online on a message board. Like here or xda-developers. Or sell it and buy a phone of similar cost with that money.

Or do the page plus flash guide if you think it's something you can do.

 

[Muyoso]

If you are on a campus with blanket wifi coverage, you could always just sign up for Google Voice and set up a free voip solution like Sipdroid/PBXes on the phone to receive calls and text messages for free. Would obviously mean you have no service off campus though, but if you spend a vast majority of your time on campus, which is most likely, it would probably be sufficient.

Also, doing this means you get ridiculous battery life. . . .

 

[Blue Shift]

That would be pretty cool. The only issue is that I'd pretty much need to carry around two phones. Switching my number completely over to Google Voice would mean that my current phone would not work, so there would be no way to contact me whatsoever when I'm somewhere without Wi-Fi coverage.

Or am I missing something?

Edit: This may still be the cheapest way to go. My current phone only adds $10 per month to the combined Verizon plan, so keeping it as a backup for now would be pretty reasonable.