EverCrest Message Forums
You are not logged in. Login or Register.
Author
Topic: RK Phone Advice
Rodent King
Stabbed in the Eye
posted 07-23-2013 06:45:12 PM
I've been eagerly holding out for the HTC One on Verizon for quite a long time. The phone is due out sometime in August, and all was well until today.

The day I lost my phone.

Granted it may turn up, but after extensive searching I'm beginning to think it was misplaced into a bag that was thrown away in a Baseball stadium.

So now, do I attempt to go a month without nay sort of phone on the hope the One *Possibly* is released next month?

Or settle for a current phone that will make me regret the choice as the next month comes in?

A co-worker told me Verizon has a $35 restocking fee for phones returned in 15 days. If I wanted to be sneaky I would get through the month by restocking twice, which sounds expensive and complicated.

My inner child is bigger than my outer adult.
Mortious
Gluttonous Overlard
posted 07-24-2013 02:56:49 AM
Fuck mobile phones. What I wouldn't give to lose mine for a month.

Hate people assuming the fucking thing is cybernetically attached to my ear and getting stroppy if I don't answer.

Kaiote
Shot in the Face
posted 07-24-2013 09:17:35 AM
I leave my voicemail not set up.
I leave my phone in the house.
Sometimes, I just ignore it.

After a while, folks get used to it. Friends actually stop by when they need to talk to me. Just like the olden days.

Henry had been killed by a garden gnome.He had fallen off the roof onto that cheerful-looking figure. The gnome was made of concrete. Henry wasn't. - Dean Koontz, Velocity
Blindy.
Suicide (Also: Gay.)
posted 07-24-2013 09:59:35 AM
I think you should try living without for a month and see if you even need a smart phone at all. I've been thinking about ditching mine. Wifi is ubiquitous, I have a tablet, and I would cover the cost of a new GPS in like 2 months of not paying the ridiculous data rates.
Random Insanity Generator
Condom Ninja El Supremo
posted 07-24-2013 10:29:20 PM
I know I couldn't go a month without mine. Mostly because it's the only phone line in my house and the device itself is my alarm clock.

Particular reason you're holding out for the One? Doesn't Verizon carry the SGS4?

* NullDevice kicks the server. "Floggings will continue until processing power improves!"
-----------------------------------
"That was black magic, and it was easy to use. Easy and fun. Like Legos." -- Harry Dresden
-----------------------------------
That's what playing Ragnarok Online taught me: There's no problem in the universe that can't be resolved by the proper application of daggers to faces.
Falaanla Marr
I AM HOT CHIX
posted 07-24-2013 11:17:51 PM
Step 1) Check this plan out (100 min/unlimited text/5GB of unthrottled data): TMobile $30 plan

Step 2) Buy this (note -- this is unsubsidized, so no tied into contract): Nexus 4 ($299 for 8GB, $349 for 16GB)

Step 3) Buy a Micro sim from Wal Mart. It's a $40 pack -- 10 for the sim, 30 for the first month of service.

Step 4) Buy your refill cards here once a month (Sometimes they have specials and you get a 5ish % discount)CallingMart

This only applies if you live and spend most of your time in a major city/around interstates. Make sure TMobile Prepaid coverage is good in your area -- it uses a different coverage map (TMo Prepaid Coverage)

I had the plan for a few months in MAdison last year and it was great. I wanted to get a Lumia 920 so I went back to AT&T. Decided to bail on the lumia and go with an iPhone 4 instead. Just now, though, I've gotten tired of dropping 95 a month for 1 GB of Data. Going with this TMo plan is going to save me 65+ dollars a month. Sure, I don't have many minutes, but most of my communication is through text or email anyways. And Madison has decent T-Mobile service (worst case, I work downtown now and we have solid wifi downtown also).

Bonus if you have good data is that you can even route all your calls through VOIP and Google Voice. Sure, you lose out on MMS by keeping a number tied to Google Voice, but you also don't ever touch the 100 minutes. Can be worth it.

So yeah. Plan isn't for everyone, but if you have good service in your area, don't talk much on your phone, and don't need the wide coverage maps of verizon, it can be worth looking into.

If you're worried about the Nexus 4 being an 'old' phone...it really doesn't matter. Nothing on Android really pushes the phone as it is, unless you're playing some hardcore games or some such.

Plus, if T-Mobile doesn't work for you, there are a TON of prepaid carriers out there offering much more sane plans than what any of the big three offer. Sure, you pay full price on the phones, but you save after a few months since the plans often, over the two year period, more than accommodate what you'd get as a benefit for the subsidy. If you keep a phone past the two years, the savings are even better.

Take, for example, a phone that's $199 if you sign a 2 year contract, and $649 off contract. Now, say you're on an AT&T plan like mine. unlimited talk and text, and 1GB of data. Going with 450 minutes, unlimited text and 2GB of data would cost about the same. I was paying $95 a month after taxes.

Now, look at an MVNO. You'll pay in the $40-$65 range for a similar plan. After one year, at the most expensive, you've saved $360. You saved $450 by signing a contract. 3 more months, and you break even. After that, you're saving money straight up. After 2 years, you don't get any subsidy benefit from AT&T or whatever other carrier anymore.

This isn't to say that traditional cell plans are a bad thing -- if you put them to use, then they're worthwhile. But for many people, there isn't a need for anything beyond a more basic plan. If you have a grandfathered in Verizon or AT&T unlimited data line, it may be worth holding if you heavily use data. However, if you're only using a couple of gigs a month, you're likely still overpaying.

Anyways, effortpost done.

Falaanla Marr fucked around with this message on 07-24-2013 at 11:24 PM.

Rodent King
Stabbed in the Eye
posted 07-25-2013 06:31:49 PM
According to a leaked Verizon internal calendar, the phone I'm looking at will be released next week. In the meantime I've borrowed a friend's old phone to have something to get by with.

As for the advice to ditch phones altogether, my job really depends on being able to get ahold of me whenever/wherever so that's not an option.

The day spent without any phone was unnerving. It's probably a bad sign that its absence affected me so much, but missing it was like missing a thumb.

Every couple of minutes I'd think: "I should call Caitlyn" or "Where is that restaurant I'm meeting Dave at?" and reach reflexively for a phone that wasn't there.

My inner child is bigger than my outer adult.
Brahmin Bloodlust
High Priest of Drysart
posted 07-27-2013 08:01:36 PM
quote:
Rodent King enlisted the help of an infinite number of monkeys to write:
According to a leaked Verizon internal calendar, the phone I'm looking at will be released next week.


Went to send you a private message about this, but it was broken, without giving away specifics, you're going to be waiting longer than the AUG 1 date originally stated. SUPERSEKRETVERIZONINSIDEINFO

Peter
Pancake
posted 07-29-2013 10:39:10 PM
Goto Nearest Local Store, Buy Cheapest Verizon Prepaid Phone, Goto Verizon wireless website and plug in the Phone's ESN/MEID/MSNBC/WTFBBQ. Then wait for the phone you want to come out?
All times are US/Eastern
Hop To: