I need input on cheap cell phone plans

[f0ur sixer]

I can no longer justify paying $90 a month to make 4-5 phone calls, send 100ish texts and check my spam email. I'm with Sprint and my contract is up and have a $150 upgrade rebate. Should I drop them and go with one of these month-to-month virgin/boost or whatever? Stick with Sprint and get a basic cheapo plan with a flip phone? Is it worth paying forward a few hundred on a new phone to save money in the long run? I Just don't desire having a smart phone as I have no time to even enjoy it. I'd like to hear some real life experience with the non-contract companies as I have none. Thanks.

[Grant]

You'll be fine with whatever you choose. I would look at T-Mobiles no-contract situation. MetroPCS, whatever. They all use peering, so speeds should be fine. A couple have true LTE as well. Sounds like you just need to choose whatever the cheapest you can find and go with them.

[motoman]

I had Metro PCS for 2 years, $45 a month for unlimited everything, phone was expensive though. It was GREAT for the DFW area, anywhere else, not so much.

[CJ]

Obama phone? I was talking with one of my customers yesterday and he was talking about how many minutes he had left on his Obama phone. Plans are pretty reasonable - free. We pay a small fee for you to use them.

[f0ur sixer]

Obama phone? I was talking with one of my customers yesterday and he was talking about how many minutes he had left on his Obama phone. Plans are pretty reasonable - free. We pay a small fee for you to use them.

Hah. I don't qualify for anything like that. I just bit the bullet and renewed my contract and applied my work discount(25%). However work has been sending me here and there across the states for training and my s4 has been my savior.

[big_tiger]

I had Metro PCS for 2 years, $45 a month for unlimited everything, phone was expensive though. It was GREAT for the DFW area, anywhere else, not so much.

I went from sprint to MetroPCS. Not sure on the exact model but the bigger screen LG is nice. My LG motion 4g has a terrible radio.

[abecx]

TMboile and MetroPCS are the best ways to go right now to get out of contract hell. I am in the same boat as you, the problem is Verizon has the best 4G but their prices are ridiculous.

I think Tmobile is $49 a month for unlimited all the things. They have some of the slowest 4G, but its not like you're downloading shit, and browser performance doesnt require that much bandwidth.

[jdgregory84]

I have my Galaxy S1 on AT&T's $25/month plan. Unlimited text and like 250 anytime minutes. I hardly ever talk on the phone, and not having a data plan actually makes me productive. Perfect for me. Plus, if I go to the store and pay it in person at the kiosk, it's $25 flat. No taxes. I haven't found a better plan for what I need.

[roliath]

TMboile and MetroPCS are the best ways to go right now to get out of contract hell. I am in the same boat as you, the problem is Verizon has the best 4G but their prices are ridiculous.

I think Tmobile is $49 a month for unlimited all the things. They have some of the slowest 4G, but its not like you're downloading shit, and browser performance doesnt require that much bandwidth.

How slow exactly? Its not true 4G right, hspa+?

[abecx]

How slow exactly? Its not true 4G right, hspa+?

Slow is very relative, I do not think that the speed decrease would bother 99% of users, it might bother me tethering but I rarely need to do that, and even then it would only annoy me when downloading something 100+ MB.

I dont know how Dallas is anymore regarding 4G spread, only LA. In LA, Verizon blows all providers out the door because their infrastructure is so much more mature.

[roliath]

My bad it was late, I didn't even see your location.

I'm just wondering which carrier i'm going to jump to when I make the switch off of sprint (feb 14'). I very badly want to pick up the next nexus phone from Google and move to a month to month plan with Tmo. I'm not looking for flat out speed but better consistency/coverage. With Sprint right now the 3G/4G handoff is still flakey. Might be my rom, but i've seen it with stock phones as well.

[Viper]

I'm using http://www.net10wireless.com/ . Unlimited everything for $45 if you do their auto refill. It uses At&t network. I ported my 13 year old phone number to Google voice from Sprint and couldn't be happier as that's the reason I stayed with Sprint(the number). I use the Samsung S3 GT-I9305(rooted of course). I've had no issues, great signal, no hidden fees. I'm traveling a lot out of the country lately so I just stop the auto-refill for the months I'm out of country and come back and continue with my service with no hassles.

[95DRGT]

Can't you just get one of those burners and just add minutes as you need to? Seems like that would be the cheapest route.