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pre paid cell

wiscodh

Monkey
Jun 21, 2007
833
121
303
Sooo, we decided we didn’t want to spend 160 a month for 2 phones with unlimited data after our subsidized orginal droids have been off contract for almost 2 years.

We went to best buy and picked up 2 htc 4g’s on virgin mobile. Score 220/per phone and 35$ a month for unlimited data, txt and 300 min. Perfect right?

Sprints service is terrible in Portland. We traveled back to Vermont and had no service if we were not in Burlington. I found out later that virgin mobile does not roam on Verizon towers like full-fledged sprint service, I would have to dig to find that article again.

So dilemma, do I take it in the rear again from the big 2 or put up with not being able to even make a call in my house, work, car, or anywhere? Are there better prepaid carriers?
 

Pesqueeb

bicycle in airplane hangar
Feb 2, 2007
40,145
16,539
Riding the baggage carousel.
Thanks for the info.

how do i know if the phone is unlocked? any other tips n tricks?
Toshi talked me into Straight talk in the above mentioned google+ thread. I was (still am actually, waiting for my SIMS to show up) with Verizon, but I just went to craigslist and searched for "iPhone AT&T". There are a metric sh1t ton of iPhone 4 and 4s available, at least in my area of CO, from hipsters/yuppies looking to offload them to pick up an iPhone 5. I managed to find a guy selling two iPhone 4s (plural) and picked them up for 320 bucks in pretty much flawless condition. IIRC a at&t or t-mobile compatible phone will pretty much port directly to Straight Talk using the other link Toshi mentions in his post.
 

syadasti

i heart mac
Apr 15, 2002
12,690
290
VT
Make sure you go with the ATT sim option unless you are sure T-mobile has better coverage in your typical locations (home, work, etc).
 

wiscodh

Monkey
Jun 21, 2007
833
121
303
Make sure you go with the ATT sim option unless you are sure T-mobile has better coverage in your typical locations (home, work, etc).
ok, so i am working on getting 2 phones that were ATT, both unlocked. Pick the ATT sim card option, order sims, get sims, port numbers, profit?
 

syadasti

i heart mac
Apr 15, 2002
12,690
290
VT
Don't pay extra for unlocked phones. Straight Talk sim works fine with locked ATT phones with the ATT Straight Talk sim. I am using mine with a locked ATT phone. I bought the phone full-priced from Amazon so ATT gave me the unlock code but I haven't yet put another carrier's SIM in it to unlock it - its typically necessary when you travel outside of the country and want to use the local carrier's sim/system.
 
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Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,037
7,554
Yup. Our iPhones are still locked to AT&T (although they are unlock eligible--just haven't done it) and yet they're working fine with the AT&T compatible Straight Talk sim.

Only downside is loss of visual voicemail but Google Voice Lite plus the app takes care of that, for free.
 

Pesqueeb

bicycle in airplane hangar
Feb 2, 2007
40,145
16,539
Riding the baggage carousel.
FWIW, we've (the wife and I) experienced problems with picture texts and when the wife tried to forward her travel itinerary. Some googling makes it appear the jailbreaking the phone IS necessary for MMS texting. I'm at work right now so I can't do it, but another google search makes it seem fairly easy to jailbreak yourself if you're somewhat technically savvy.
 

wiscodh

Monkey
Jun 21, 2007
833
121
303
man, firefox and explorer are going nuts with bad certificates from the straight talk site......now i am nervous
 

wiscodh

Monkey
Jun 21, 2007
833
121
303
few days so far. was a pain in the rump to port my number over from virgin mobile. been pleasntly supprised with how good the service is. Read that they may throttle data after heavy use. Been streaming pandora all day at work since my company blocks pandora/spotify/grooveshark. Soo lets see if they throttle me soon.