I've had a Razr V3M with Verizon for like 6 months now. I like the phone but hate the OS that Verizon loaded on it. First of all, it's just ugly and slow and eats battery life more than other OS's from what I've read. You can't transfer pics or videos from or to the phone via your computer. You can only transfer music to the phone. I use Windows Media Player for this. I added the maximum 1GB of memory and use it as an MP3 player. It's pretty cool. In general, I like the phone. The headphones that came with the USB cabel are absolute crap though. They don't stay in my ears even when I'm not moving.

I don't like that Verizon upped my text message fee from 10 cents to 15 cents right after I signed up. I sent them an angry email but they told me that the agreement allows them to do that. I also don't find their website (specifically the bill-pay section) very user friendly at all.

As for coverage, it's not as good as Cingular was but it's not bad. I do find their customer service better than Cingular though...

At the end of my contract, I'll be looking at possibly going back to Cingular or trying somebody else but I won't be in a big hurry.

I've been meaing to look at hacking my phone to make it function more the way I like it and maybe remove all the Verizon imagry.

Cody, let us know if you manage to de-Verizon your phone. I've been planning on getting a Verizon RAZR eventually and I'd like more functionality than I have on my current V-cast phone.

Will do. Here's where I'll start: http://howardforums.com/

I turned back on most of the crippled functions on my Motorola-Verizon phone based partially on stuff from that site. I can transfer anything pretty much any way. USB, Bluetooth, etc... Still ucky interface though.

cingular and sprint....ftw up at the lake nextel and verizon just suck, especially at my house where anyone with verizon couldnt get a signal

Bump! :P

Anyone know how Boost Mobile is in this area? I'm ready to jump on a Samsung Galaxy Prevail for $179 with unlimited everything for $50/month:

http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthr...1609&t=2848971

I pay about that much just for voice and text, now.

Apparently the monthly cost will be like this:

Also any comment on the phone? Looks a little weak, but whatever.

I have the Sprint Epic 4G which is a Samsung Galaxy phone. Its not exactly the same as the Prevail, but its in the same family. Googling around, it looks like the Prevail has a worse camera and perhaps slightly cheaper parts all around, but otherwise it looks pretty similar.

Its probably an okay phone. It would be a pretty good starting phone for your first smartphone (It'll be your first, right?)

Yah, it would be my first smartphone. I don't need data/a smart phone, but if it doesn't add much to the cost, figure I might as well join what seems like everyone I know, by getting one. Mostly I'm just interested in a no limits plan. I sent/received 400 texts this month! It's amazing what being single does to your cell phone usage. :lol:

Just found this Engadget review

http://mobile.engadget.com/2011/04/2...revail-review/

Its pretty extensive, but bottom line is:

Damn. The Cnet review didn't even mention the touch sensitivity issue... I'll be pissed if texting is actually harder on it than it is on my current non-qwerty phone. Thanks, Nick. I'll have to think about it.

To be fair, that could be Engadget's demo model, and maybe Cnet got a good one.

Then again, if they can't even send out good demo units consistently, do you even want to bother the crapshoot of buying one retail?

Yah, definitely a case of needing to read more reviews before I take a plunge. What's nice is it's not a big plunge at all, what with the relatively low initial investment, really low monthly charge, and no contract...

We got our current phones at the Sprint store on Meadowood. We had to pay retail for the phones (minus rebate of course, which was $150 per phone) but got the super hookup on the contract- $115 per month, two lines, unlimited everything with insurance. So basically the same as Boost, but with Sprint behind it. I have a Samsung Moment and Nina has an HTC Hero that we've had for around a year, and I think after rebates we paid about $300 for both. If you go to that main Sprint store you can probably get the same deal. Standard pricing for our plan is north of $150 per month, which is still better than we had been paying at AT&T.

Apparently I'm confused. TMobile says my contract isn't up until September. They said I could renew it now though, go to an $80 "unlimited everything" plan, and get the MyTouch 4G for $200 after $50 rebate credit card if I renew my 2 year contract. Tempting...

You might be able to get that from Sprint for about $65, if there wasn't some sort of incentive or special they didn't specifically tell us about.

You are the king of double negatives, Kevin. :lol:

I'm in no rush, but until September, I can only renew with T-Mobile, who I've been perfectly happy with. The Engadget review of the Mytouch 4G was pretty good if you look past their nitpicking. It has a very fast CPU and lots of RAM by phone standards and it's on a fast network with good call quality. Apparently it's pretty damn good and we do have "4g" here. It can't be too hard to reflash it to plain Froyo if I don't love the T-Mobile flavor since Engadget even mentioned that was an option for "power users". Their only other complaints were basically a bad looking and slightly quiet speaker (the quiet part concerns me. I'm deaf sometimes) and basically looks and feel, which is fine with me.

With 5 months left on your contract, your cancellation fee is probably small enough to make it worth it if your bill decreases.

And I stand by my grammatically overdeveloped statement. :p

I'm not sure if T-Mobile pro-rates their cancellation fees. That's something to check before cancelling.

delete

I could look into that, but I don't really mind waiting. According to this contract upgrade checker, my "upgrade date" is 6/25/11, which I assume means I can upgrade via Best Buy, if I want. For example, they have the Nexus S for $100 right now. It runs stock 2.3 Gingerbread but is only 3G.

FWIW I just got an iphone 4 with verizon. I jailbroke it and I have zero complaints about service or phone functionality.

LoL I never thought I would see the day Joel.. Congrats!!!

my exp in tahoe was that Cingular was worthless. Verizon & sprint have way better coverage up there. also Cingular driving from reno to carson i would drop a call like 2-3 times during the trip ...

could have been partly due to my phone ...

Cingular still exists? I thought AT&T snatched them up years ago.

Alex is always LTTP

They all suck the same, it's just which can meet your needs the best with little interference. I have Verison right now. Previously had Cingular. Both seem OK for me.

When I lost my Motorola ROKR E8 last month, Dean hooked me up with a jailbroken first gen iphone. It works great on T-Mobile so I can finish out my contract. BTW, Nick, you were right, my early termination fee would only be $50 at this point.

I've been paying $45/mo for 600 anytime minutes and 300 texts. Last night I realized I was about to go over 300 texts and I was only ~10 days into the billing period. So I called T-mobile and after much finaggling with a mostly incapable CSR, I got the following deal to finish out my contract which is up in September.

$59.99/mo for 500 anytime minutes, unlimited text and data (throttled after 2GB though). Thing is, I doubt throttling would effect me even if it were possible for me to download 2GB of anything in one month. I'm barely beating dialup as per the SpeedTest.net test I just did. It's kind of expected since the first gen Iphone can only use Edge though.

Anyway, this is a semi-cheap way for me to be introduced to the world of smartphones. I intend to pay less per month for a nice unlimited voice, data and text setup with Boost Mobile with a cheap Droid phone in Sept. if nothing more attractive catches my eye at that time. That experience should be much better than Edge on an old iphone.

Hey, I think I have a batter pack for a first gen iphone. It looks like a case and its great for if your battery dies in the middle of the day. It really holds a charge too. I don't think I have charged it for almost a year and the LEDs on the back still show a full charge. I will see if I can find it.

Cool

I found it in my misc computer wire box. It's a mophie Juice Pack and I'm 99% sure its for the first gen iphone. I, 100_Percent_Juice will give you the Juice pack for 2 cans of JOOSE.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y62..._pack_3g_2.jpg
Holla back.

lol, ok. YGPM.

Does anyone know if you can use an AT&T GO phone with a normal/contract SIM? Quick google search shows nothing conclusive.

If you're signing up for a contract, wouldn't you want the subsidized price (most are free) on a new phone that goes along with it? Or is it a preexisting contract?

I'm adding a line to my contract for my daughter and I'd rather save the free upgrade phone for me. She'll most likely lose the phone anyway so I would like something I can easily replace. The GO phones are <$20. All she needs is something to talk and text with, no need for the web and such.

Gotcha. You might have to ask ATT for the answer.

I have a few unlocked GSM candy bar and flip phones I could let you have cheap...

Anything with a qwerty keyboard Dean?

I have bought T-mobile pre-paid phones to use with a regular service. I'm pretty sure AT&T will work the same way.

Confirmed

So, anybody on Virgin Mobile? Their $35/month no contract plan looks like a great deal.

300 minutes, unlimited text/data. Appears to be Sprint 3G network.

$150 for an Android phone, no contract.

Are the no-contract companies offering decent coverage these days, or is it still just local area?

Same as majors in most cases. I think Kricket still has "local" plans, but that doesn't mean they don't have coverage elsewhere.

I very much enjoy never having to wonder if I'm going to be charged an arm and a leg for roaming under my plans the last 6 years or so. Any no-contract plan with no roaming charges is of great interest to me.

Huh? Most of the companies will give you month to month plans without contract as long as you don't want a free or discounted phone.

Prepaid is also mostly no roaming. What are you looking for? Lots of web sites to find the right plan/carrier.

I like cheap/free phones and probably want to grab another one once 4G is here. But I also like saving $40 a month or more for what is essentially an unlimited plan based on our usage. Our last contract was pretty good, we got unlimited text/data and more minutes than we will ever use for $120 a month including insurance.

Verizon Wireless 4G
 

I'm pretty impressed with the Motorola Bionic and more so with the Verizon Wireless 4G around here. $30 data plan for 2Gigs but for me that's plenty for daily phone use. I think I was just at the right place and right time when I recorded the speed. But average around Reno was 16 - 18 Mbps D/L, 5Mbps U/L. Just thought I'd share.

Damn. That is really fast.

I'm really not impressed with your ping or longitude for that matter.

What do people think about Sprint these days. No 4G locally, but if 3G is solid, that's fine. I'm thinking of going for this deal: http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?t=3382080

As a less expensive alternative, I'm still thinking of this:

http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthr...1609&t=3321078

The first deal looks great if you don't mind getting a new contract.
I've been eyeballing the SGS2 for a while myself, AT&T version of course.
Sorry, no first hand experience w/ Sprint.

:waiting for damn Nexus Prime announcement and specs: