Cell Phone rant

[Lintasare]

You might try Virgin Mobile. They have month to month plans that are very reasonable. I have a smart phone through them and pay $30 a month for unlimited data and texting and 300 min of calling. They run on the Sprint network though. And I know Sprint isn't very good in some areas.

 

[MrsJackSparrow4Life]

My mom, my aunt and my cousin all have a Samsung Intensity and have been quite happy with it.

 

[Goofy_Disney_Dad]

We use Verizon and have the same issues you have as far as not wanting data plans. I looked on Verizon to see what phones were available for my son when he dropped his phone playing basketball and couldn't find anything that didn't require a data plan.

I called Verizon directly and the rep somehow had access to all kinds of phones not included on the website offerings. You might want to give them a call and explain your problem. You might be surprised at what they can do for you. And a pretty decent price as well.

 

[DMRick]

My son has a Samsung Intensity through Verizon. It has a slide out keyboard

Not as good, IMO as the Octane. That one is sold in Verizon stores..the Octane you have to get online, although sometimes Target has it.

 

[spacemountainmom]

Thanks for the responses and ideas. We ended up at Target this morning and I was browsing the cell phones. The rep was really nice about checking stuff for us and we ended up switching to A T & T, got some decents phones, added a line for ds and it will cost us about the same as Verizon was costing us. They were able to waive the activation fee and we walked out with 4 new phones and it didn't cost us a dime.

Now - I am trying to figure out my new phone. I really need a techie!!!

 

[tvguy]

My mom, my aunt and my cousin all have a Samsung Intensity and have been quite happy with it.

My wife and I have the Intensity II from Verizon with the slideout keyboard. Verizon store had it as a phone that didn't require a data plan, but guy in the store wanted to charge me $50 for it. I pointed out I have a new every 2 plan, and that their website listed it as a free phone. He doubted me, but quickly checked their website, and seemed surprised that it was free.

 

[Chelley00]

Avoid the Samsung flight, I believe it is. It's a slider phone with a full keyboard. That thing is horrible. But there are a few texting phones available. They have full keyboards, but are not designed to go on the internet, and do not require a smart phone data plan.

DS16 has a Flight and he loves it

 

[ols386]

We have Sprint, and have 5 phones on our plan. The phones have a small keyboard (very small) on them for texting, but no data plan, which is what we want.

 

[MrsJackSparrow4Life]

My wife and I have the Intensity II from Verizon with the slideout keyboard. Verizon store had it as a phone that didn't require a data plan, but guy in the store wanted to charge me $50 for it. I pointed out I have a new every 2 plan, and that their website listed it as a free phone. He doubted me, but quickly checked their website, and seemed surprised that it was free.

Quite often I have noticed a difference in price between in-store and online with Verizon. I always make sure to check the online price before getting a phone in-store, since there always seems to be an online deal or credit going on.

Verizon sends out their on-line orders with 2 day shipping, plus I don't have to wait in line for an hour+ to pick out my phone, so I don't mind waiting for the order.

 

[DisneyLoverUSA]

It is time for our family to update our cell phones. We currently have three phones and all text. Why is is next to impossible to find new cell phones that have keyboards and don't require a data plan? Are we just the only family in America who doesn't want a data plan?

I just can't see spending an additional $90 a month for a service that I neither want nor need. The other issue is that we were planning to add ds12 to our plan finally. So that would add another $40+ a month to add a line for him and data. Our cell phone bill would more than double at that point.

I am getting beyond frustrated with the whole situation. I would just say what the hay and keep our old phones, but all three phones are in poor shape. My dh's is literally about to fall apart.

Anyone have any suggestions? Thanks for letting me vent!

If you can find them any where the Samsung Impression has a slide out QWERTY keyboards and is NOT a smart phone. I use A T & T and got it through them but I don't think offer it anymore. You can probably find some on Ebay. It's a touch screen phone with a real keyboard. I loved mine.

 

[mrodgers]

We just upgraded 2 basic Tracfones with 100 and 80 units/month for the cost of $17 to 2 AT&T GoPhone smartphones with data and text.

The way GoPhones work is you put money in your account and use that money to purchase what you want.

I paid $10 for 1000 texts on each phone and put $5 for 10MB data on my wife's and $25 for 500MB data on mine. If we don't put more on the next month, we just lose it. I don't know if I could have enabled the phones without data, but it will only roll over and continue next month with data if I put more on at that time.

If I don't put more data on next month, I would still have wifi access and would pay a per KB charge if on the 3G data. There are plenty of apps to turn the 3g data completely off so that you wouldn't pay for any more data.

I didn't pay for a calling plan because we never use the phones for calls. I would be charged $0.10/minute now, but there is a $25 calling plan also (250 minutes I think?)

Texting it is $5 for 200 texts and $10 for 1000 texts. We won't use 1000 in a month and they will roll over, so I will refill with 200 for $5 next few months until the overall balance including rollover is depleted enough to need another $10 1000 text package put back on again.

Overall, it should cost me $5 for text and $5 for data for quite a few months for each phone, $20 total. Every 4 months or so, I'll probably have to put $10 1000 texts on and up the data for $25 for 500MB. I don't think you can beat that deal if you are one of the few who don't have a phone glued in your hands non-stop. Sure beats the $140 or more it would cost to have a contract for 2 phones.