Verizon contract is up this month, what say you?

[fixxor]

My verizon contract is up on the 29th of this month. I'm done. I have a S3 in good shape and I love the phone, its fast and I have never had any problems with it (running custom roms). So if I can keep it, I will. So what are my options here? I am out of the loop when it comes to this stuff. I want to lower costs as much as possible, some service like page plus or straight talk where I can pay as I go. I assume I can keep my phone number? What would you do?

 

[postmortemIA]

ATT has value data plans when you are not under contract, with lower data costs ... Verizon usually is very shy with sharing this online. I know they had prepaid plans that were limited to 3G.

 

[jpeyton]

Step 1: Sell CDMA GS3, which is old and has extremely limited off-contract options
Step 2: Buy GSM Nexus 5, which has a wide variety of off-contract options

 

[ImDonly1]

Step 1: Sell CDMA GS3, which is old and has extremely limited off-contract options
Step 2: Buy GSM Nexus 5, which has a wide variety of off-contract options

This and if t-mobile has good coverage in your area then...
http://slickdeals.net/f/7040504-harbor-mobile-t-mobile-plans-20-line-month-cheaper?p=69007418

$30 unlimited talk, text, 1 gb of data. You get postpaid t-mobile benefits (music streaming does not count for data, roaming, etc).

All depends on how many minutes or how much data you want.

If you want att, then I would go with cricket (att prepaid).

 

[boomhower]

Look into Page Plus and Straight Talk for your phone.

 

[postmortemIA]

Step 1: Sell CDMA GS3, which is old and has extremely limited off-contract options
Step 2: Buy GSM Nexus 5, which has a wide variety of off-contract options

CDMA Galaxy S3 support GSM as well. Most 2012+ phones are that way. people had luck with using it with GSM carriers world-wide.

 

[podspi]

I tried to use a VZW S3 w/ Straight Talk. It worked (received calls, etc) but data was limited to Edge. Would not recommend.

 

[Oyeve]

If your s3 is an lte model switch to T-Mobile and add the apn. Should work fine on tmo.

 

[trmiv]

I'd suggest trying T-mobiles free7 day Test Drive before switching to them. I tried it where i live and found their coverage terrible. For you it may be a different story but for free may as well try it.

 

[s44]

If your s3 is an lte model switch to T-Mobile and add the apn. Should work fine on tmo.

Unfortunately the i535 doesn't have AWS. It's also one of the last Verizon devices not to have a full set of HSPA bands.

The i545 (Verizon S4) is a near-perfect cross carrier phone, but the Verizon S3 is a dud in that respect.

 

[squarecut1]

I'd suggest trying T-mobiles free7 day Test Drive before switching to them. I tried it where i live and found their coverage terrible. For you it may be a different story but for free may as well try it.

Yes I used to have t mobile. I'd advise staying away from it

 

[dartworth]

very tired of Verizon's fees myself...:/ very good thread

 

[fixxor]

Thanks for the replies guys. I'll look into the Nexus phones and do some digging through XDA.

 

[QueBert]

T-Mobile has great pricing but TEST IT OUT! I'm on my 2nd phone with them, and right now I'm in H data mode, which I'm guessing is HSPA? Well it's slower than shit, makes me wish for 3g. I do get 3g some places and it'll say LTE once in awhile depending where I'm at. But in H it's pretty much unusable unless I have a crap load of time to wait and wait.

 

[Lyfer]

Vzw with the wife's 22% discount and $25 off each non contract line let's me have 4 lines with 10gb of data at $160'ish a month. Can't go without there network!

 

[ImDonly1]

T-Mobile has great pricing but TEST IT OUT! I'm on my 2nd phone with them, and right now I'm in H data mode, which I'm guessing is HSPA? Well it's slower than shit, makes me wish for 3g. I do get 3g some places and it'll say LTE once in awhile depending where I'm at. But in H it's pretty much unusable unless I have a crap load of time to wait and wait.

You do realize H or H+ is 3G?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Speed_Packet_Access

High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) is an amalgamation of two mobile telephony protocols, High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA), that extends and improves the performance of existing 3rd generation mobile telecommunication networks utilizing the WCDMA protocols.

What's your speedtest show (speedtest.net app)?

 

[Unoid]

google xda devs for unlocking verizon S3 for tmo/att bands.

It has the full modem bands built in, just disabled by software.

You can make your S3 a tmo/att phone just as easily.

 

[blackangst1]

TMobile.

 

[corkyg]

My VZW contract was up last April. I did nothing. In June, VZW made me some offers. I took one, got a "loyalty" discount, a new phone withy the service I wanted for $14 less than what I had been paying. I'm happy with that.

 

[dartworth]

just started moving over to tmobile from VZW. Monthly bill will be about half, and TM is going to pick up the Early Termination Fees.

This is for three lines.

 

[sgrinavi]

We have one last line that's up soon too, I have an unlimited line with VZW that I'm going to keep on a tablet for $20/month - other than that they can stick their $238 /month BS - Anyone having any luck with Boost?

 

[djnsmith7]

I switched to T-Mo from VZ & haven't looked back. Check to see how their coverage is in your area.

 

[notposting]

Do you have unlimited data? What is your current plan, how much does it cost? What do you need as far as minutes/texts/data? Ever try the competition for coverage purposes?

Lower costs as much as possible could entail a flip phone with prepaid minutes.

edit: look into loyalty plans, corporate discounts. We pay <$100/month for 2 lines on Verizon, text plans on both, unlimited data on mine.

Took this in May, ran it up in about 2.5 weeks while we were moving:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Brp8TTyCMAAP4yA.jpg

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Gsm gsm gsm!

 

[jpeyton]

CDMA Galaxy S3 support GSM as well. Most 2012+ phones are that way. people had luck with using it with GSM carriers world-wide.

Is it really worth trying to unlock an old-as-sh1t GS3 with limited GSM/LTE bands, or just sell it to someone who actually wants to use it on Verizon and buy a modern unlocked phone with full GSM/LTE bands (and better hardware to boot).

There's nothing noble about using a 2+ year old phone if you don't have to.