I did read your post. Your post was what made me zero in on a Gophone and call ATT. I also went by an ATT store today. I was told that with the smart phone, I would not be able to use the 15 data package because the smart phone used the Internet all the time.
I explained to the guy that I only wanted an expensive phone so I could use the features if I needed them. I did not plan on using them. I also explained to him that I wanted an expensive phone so I could take quality photos and listen to mp3s. (free stuff after the cost of the phone)
I also have several health related text files that I wanted to be able to display on the phone. I use Gmail and Google Drive. While I also do not plan on using either from the phone, I would like to display the information and store it on the phone.
I had money in hand and was ready to buy the phone, but he said that I would not be able to use a smartphone without a 25 per month package. I then had to pay extra to actually use the smartphone features.
I still want a good quality phone, but I was trying to get it for 15 bucks per month. (reserving the right to add data when needed)
I asked him if he had any prepaid phones that would take quality photos and a good quality mp3s without using a data package and he said no. The prepaid phones had a 1Mpix camera and poor mp3 player.
I would be pleased to hear if I am incorrect, and I may be, but I am repeating info I got from ATT.
You're certainly allowed to want what you want. I've never had cell service, but I do have more smart phones and PDA's than I can count on my fingers and toes. I do have some opinions.
1) you want more than you're gonna get for what you're willing to pay. People with lots of $$$ seem to swear by the iPhone.
2) NEVER assume anything about a phone from the specs. Cameras are one such area. The range of focus is often dismal. Closeups can be problematic. I have a Treo 650. It takes wonderful 640x480 pictures. I also have a Treo 850. Much higher resolution camera. Outside, on a day that's not too dim or too bright, it does indeed take pictures that take up much more space, but the quality is lower than the 650. Indoors, there's no comparison. The 850 pictures are worse than horrible. The 650 is very competent in low light. I've had discussions with others who expressed the same opinion. Megapixels sells phones, but doesn't necessarily mean better pictures.
Mp3's are another disaster area. I have a drawer full of mp3 players about the size of a bic lighter that run off one AAA cell. Plays all day on a rechargeable cell. Takes 10 seconds to swap it out and keep going. I can operate it with one hand thru my shirt pocket. I experimented with Smart Phones for mp3. I dropped them on the floor. I couldn't operate 'em without ripping them out of the case on my belt and using both hands to navigate menus. PITA.
GPS is another issue. Depending on where the satellites are at the moment, a smart phone on your belt in the car may not work well. A Bluetooth GPS on the dash can work much better and still talk to your phone or Pda. But you can buy a whole GPS appliance for less than the cost of a bluetooth GPS these days. And both are cheaper than a typical cell plan.
If you do find something that meets your goals, report back. I'd like one too.
I also find that if there's both wired and wireless that the wired is faster because so few people are using it.
When we bought a tablet we at first were going to buy an iPad to support the local economy, but it had too many drawbacks as something to take on trips, the biggest ones being the lack of a USB port or memory card slot. Not a problem when you're at home, or when you have another computer to dock with, but a big problem when traveling with only the tablet.
I understand, and the employees there only know what they know. and they only know what they're told. . I have no doubt he believed what he was telling you, but he's wrong. . In fact I found it hard to believe too, as you can see if you read my thread reffed below. Because I figured if it was true, I'd have heard of it before. In fact I fell into it sort of by accident.
My ex-gf told me her new phone had wifi. I'd never heard of a cell phone with wifi before, and it sounded free. What with work and home, I'm near wifi almost all the time except when i'm in the car. Someone on the att newsgroup gave me an ATT webpage where I could buy a recon smartphone (although they only had one model) to be used as a gophone, but there was no way on that page to buy it with the same plan I already had -- $100 for 11 months or until I used it all up, whichever came first, at $2 a day. I thought that all gophones were prepaid (isn't that what makes them "go".) so I was confused. I even had to chat with the chat girl on that page, and she told me pretty much what the clerk at ATT told you, that I had to buy one of the two plans on that page.
But I went back to the ng and they insisted, so I looked for the same phone elsewhere, and found it at walmart, but when I got there it was in ATT gophone packaging and mentoined on the outside someting about a data plan, and I gradually realized it was just an in person version of the webpage, with new phones instead of both new and reconditioned.
For some reason, I looked on the web and found the phone in Ebay
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features are listed here, and for other phones, go to
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where they have oodles of information.
Like I say, I don't know the phone well enough yet, so I'm not recommending this model. I chose it because it was listed as ATT and it had all the features I wanted, especially FM Radio (real radio, from radio stations with antennas, not webradio or podcasts). It works fairly well, especially if I didn't insist on listening to a comparitively weak public radio station. But there are definitely apps that won't run on it. The phone has only been out since December, or February. Is that so little time that the apps haven't been accomodated to it yet? OTOH, I don't need every app to run on it as long as some app will do what I want. 1
I lost out on a previous auction, but for this onet I only paid $46 plus 10 dollars shipping. , and it was in excellent condition. Things like car chargers are available very cheap on the web. Like 5 dollars. Vinyl screen protectors are like 4 or 5 dollars for 3, instead of 21 dollars for one at Best Buy.
And all I had to do was take the Sim from my el cheapo go phone with the 100 plan and put it in this phone.
So my total cost was $56 dollars plus whatever it cost to get the first gophone. Not much iirc and most of the money went to minutes.
Maybe that's because the cheapest phone could not use data. It is just a phone. I can't even download ringtones, and I can't connect it to my computer. It has no jack except the charging jack and the earphone jack. No data jack and it has no bluetooth. . It has 20 built in ringtones and that's all you can have. It has no camera. So whatever service they sell with it has no data, because it has no use for data.
(Someone gave me a nicer phone,, into which I put the sim card, but I lost that phone at home somewhere. So I went to ATT and they gave me anotehr Sim card for free and put it in the first phone. So I was using the first, simplest, cheapest phone when I bought the smart phone.
This ng is not very busy, so it's easy to find my three threads. The first one probably is not interesting to you but this one is. I didn't cover everything it says. You should read it. There are probalby other threads there that will int erest you, especially if you have decided to go with AT&T.
Newsgroups: alt.cellular.attws Subject: Wifi reception that doesn't use AT&T data Date: Fri, 20 Jul 2012 18:47:38 -0400
And read this one too. It has info beyone the question. : Newsgroups: alt.cellular.attws Subject: If I do get a data plan, does it roll over like minutes? Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2012 05:14:07 -0400
And the answer to the question is No. Every month you lose whatever is left in your data plan, unless there is some exception to that that they didn't know about. I would hate that.
Also read this.
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It's hard to understand. This paragraph "Data Services for Smartphones
To use data services, smartphone users must be on a monthly rate plan and purchase a data feature package. Data Pay Per Use is not available with smartphones on any GoPhone rate plan." seems to mean that someone like me who is not on a monthly plan but on a 100 dollar plan, can't buy a data package even if he wants to. (though I think I could hcange to a monthly plan if I tried. )
The rest of it should also interest you, and if you don't understant, ask on alt.cellular.attws BTW, not every cellerar provider or manufacturer ng is active.
Camera: 3.2 MP Family Line: AT&T Fusion Cellular Band: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 HSPA/WCDMA (UMTS) 850/1900/2100 Carrier: AT&T Model: At&t Fusion U8652 Storage Capacity: 512 MB Features: 3G Data Capable, Bluetooth Enabled, GPS, Internet Browser, Music Player, Touch Screen, Wi-Fi Capable, Speakerphone Color: Blue Bundled Items: Wall charger & Usb Charger
Horrors. I don't think so. I know someone who actually totally melted when she couldn't check Facebook.
It would be nice to get to get whatever $5 a month used to buy, so that on rare occasions when there was no wifi, I could get some data. And it's people who felt like that who got pressured into something last April.
But, for me, only if I could roll over the unused part, and that's not going to happen. Maybe in a couple years I'll crack, but I need to get more friends first.
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