Nope, afraid not. Verizon and sprint are on CDMA networks. CDMA phones are hard coded by ESN, so you have to (illegally) call up and get your ESN changed, but GSM (read att/t-m) phones aren't bound by ESN, they use SIM.Can you actually unlock an Iphone and use it on a verizon network? I'd love to do that for my wife and not worry about the $30/mth dataplan.
Cut back on the anytime minutes? Get rid of the 200MB data....
I can't believe all the people with smartphones. They seem terribly overrated and not worth the cost.
I couldn't give a shit about 3G data access. For me it was more the interface, apps and web browsing over wifi that I enjoy with the phone. I had to pay $30 a month for that convenience though. It beats carrying both a phone and an ipod though.
For the average person, $90/month is a lot of money. Just to talk on your phone? What a waste.
I guess I'm just old fashioned - I have a basic flip phone. I only care about making phone calls or text messaging. I don't mind carrying an mp3 player when I want music - it's not that big (Sansa Fuze) or that much of an inconvenience.
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I am also a graduate student and near a computer almost all the time, so being able to get data on my phone is superfluous.
In this case you'd benefit even further from a smartphone without a data plan. Easier texting, ability to use wifi, sync/backup your texts to gmail or whatever, all for $0 increase.
All you'd have to do is get an unlocked phone that the IMEI is not registered with your network to get detected. This is assuming you are not on a CDMA phone.
But I don't need any of that, and it would just cost me more up front - smartphones aren't exactly cheap. Easier texting? I'm not writing a novel, most of it is simple stuff and T9word is good enough. WiFi and text message backups - don't need. Nothing I get in text messages is important enough to backup.
I guess I could see how some people want that stuff, I just don't see much of a benefit for myself.
<--- $100 a year on a pay as you go mobile phone.
I don't need/want internet access on a mobile device.
After living with the convenience of a smart phone, I can't imagine not having it.Can't cut the data plan... iphone
Need the minutes. Usually the plan is 1400 minutes, it's cut back recently from rollover minutes.
Basically this. You can get a relatively cheap monthly or prepaid plan from one of numerous smaller providers, but a lot of people have it in their head that they need the latest/greatest phones (often beginning with a lowercase "i"), which are usually only available on the bigger/more expensive networks and require expensive data plans. Cell phone companies like AT&T and Verizon charge what they do because people seem to be more than willing to pay for it. I don't think a person can complain too much when they are paying AT&T and Verizon's rates instead of taking advantage of the cheaper options out there. For example, I hadn't even heard of Page Plus until someone in this thread mentioned it, but looking over the plans it seems to be a great deal, assuming you can live with the limited phone selection. $30/mo for 1,200 Minutes / 2,000 SMS/MMS / 100 MB Data on Verizon's network is a steal.I do think the phone companies have brainwashed everyone into thinking they need $300 smartphones with $90/month packages. Much in the same way people think they need $30,000 cars.
For the average person, $90/month is a lot of money. Just to talk on your phone? What a waste.
I suppose to each their own, the smartphone world is changing lately in that the predecessor G1 runs $50 or something these days on ebay, just over 2 years ago it fetched $400's easily.But I don't need any of that, and it would just cost me more up front - smartphones aren't exactly cheap. Easier texting? I'm not writing a novel, most of it is simple stuff and T9word is good enough. WiFi and text message backups - don't need. Nothing I get in text messages is important enough to backup.
I guess I could see how some people want that stuff, I just don't see much of a benefit for myself.
Basically this. You can get a relatively cheap monthly or prepaid plan from one of numerous smaller providers, but a lot of people have it in their head that they need the latest/greatest phones (often beginning with a lowercase "i"), which are usually only available on the bigger/more expensive networks and require expensive data plans. Cell phone companies like AT&T and Verizon charge what they do because people seem to be more than willing to pay for it. I don't think a person can complain too much when they are paying AT&T and Verizon's rates instead of taking advantage of the cheaper options out there. For example, I hadn't even heard of Page Plus until someone in this thread mentioned it, but looking over the plans it seems to be a great deal, assuming you can live with the limited phone selection. $30/mo for 1,200 Minutes / 2,000 SMS/MMS / 100 MB Data on Verizon's network is a steal.
Basically this. You can get a relatively cheap monthly or prepaid plan from one of numerous smaller providers, but a lot of people have it in their head that they need the latest/greatest phones (often beginning with a lowercase "i"), which are usually only available on the bigger/more expensive networks and require expensive data plans. Cell phone companies like AT&T and Verizon charge what they do because people seem to be more than willing to pay for it. I don't think a person can complain too much when they are paying AT&T and Verizon's rates instead of taking advantage of the cheaper options out there. For example, I hadn't even heard of Page Plus until someone in this thread mentioned it, but looking over the plans it seems to be a great deal, assuming you can live with the limited phone selection. $30/mo for 1,200 Minutes / 2,000 SMS/MMS / 100 MB Data on Verizon's network is a steal.