?The cheapest phone service in new jersey
December 2, 2014 3:18 PM Subscribe
I have been a happy user of Tmobile for a few years, using their $10/(3 month) minimal service. Sadly, my Nokia N900 has bit the dust, and I must replace it. I am now using an ancient Samsung candy-bar, but would like to get the absolutely cheapest android there is. But I don't know the territory.
I make/receive 1-3 calls per month(generally, 1) , and have been accumulating credit even at $10/(3 month) and it seems TMobile has the cheapest service for this. If there is something cheaper, I'd like to know. Yes, I am cheap. Also, old.
I would also like an android phone to replace the Nokia n900, since I program android, and could not find reasonable programming resources for n900 (nokia seems to have removed all their old stuff; and even the QT kit seemed--obscure).
I make/receive 1-3 calls per month(generally, 1) , and have been accumulating credit even at $10/(3 month) and it seems TMobile has the cheapest service for this. If there is something cheaper, I'd like to know. Yes, I am cheap. Also, old.
I would also like an android phone to replace the Nokia n900, since I program android, and could not find reasonable programming resources for n900 (nokia seems to have removed all their old stuff; and even the QT kit seemed--obscure).
Best answer: Cell minute resellers like PTel and Black Wireless have pay as you go plans and rates comparable to what you're paying now. I think they both charge $10 for 2 months, but the minutes roll over. There are others - look for "pay as you go" and "mvno". PTel and Black both sell their own SIM cards that you can put into any unlocked phone, though I think they both sell phones as well.
For buying phones, there's Glyde, who sells used refurbished phones. Others too, I'm sure. There are places who probably sell Android phones for less, but they tend to be locked to a specific phone service provider. Unlocked phones let you switch providers just by switching out the SIM card.
posted by still_wears_a_hat at 5:09 PM on December 2, 2014
For buying phones, there's Glyde, who sells used refurbished phones. Others too, I'm sure. There are places who probably sell Android phones for less, but they tend to be locked to a specific phone service provider. Unlocked phones let you switch providers just by switching out the SIM card.
posted by still_wears_a_hat at 5:09 PM on December 2, 2014
If there is something cheaper, I'd like to know.
ting. i was going to say ringplus, but how you use it ting will be cheaper.
buy this phone for $35, it's better than anything else under $100 and works perfectly on that service. Seriously, it's exceptionally good even if it was $100, and for $35 it's a no brainer. don't buy anything else under $100, they all run outdated versions of android and have terrible screens and stuff. it's as cheap as the cheapest ones, but it's actually good and has awesome battery life.
Pay like $15-20 a month and enjoy your sweet phone.
EDIT: i can't read good, it's back to $80 on the boost site. still, that phone is regularly on sale for $35-50 and that's what you should buy.
posted by emptythought at 5:41 PM on December 2, 2014 [1 favorite]
ting. i was going to say ringplus, but how you use it ting will be cheaper.
buy this phone for $35, it's better than anything else under $100 and works perfectly on that service. Seriously, it's exceptionally good even if it was $100, and for $35 it's a no brainer. don't buy anything else under $100, they all run outdated versions of android and have terrible screens and stuff. it's as cheap as the cheapest ones, but it's actually good and has awesome battery life.
Pay like $15-20 a month and enjoy your sweet phone.
EDIT: i can't read good, it's back to $80 on the boost site. still, that phone is regularly on sale for $35-50 and that's what you should buy.
posted by emptythought at 5:41 PM on December 2, 2014 [1 favorite]
Ting. My fiance has been using it for a while now and is very happy with the service/reception, customer service, and the price. I'm switching as soon as it makes sense for me to break my stupid AT&T contract.
If you do a quick google search for ting reviews, there are people who have their affiliate links up on their reviews and you can get $25 credit if you join by using that link, plus those people also get credit on their account. So it's a win-win.
posted by never.was.and.never.will.be. at 8:43 PM on December 2, 2014
If you do a quick google search for ting reviews, there are people who have their affiliate links up on their reviews and you can get $25 credit if you join by using that link, plus those people also get credit on their account. So it's a win-win.
posted by never.was.and.never.will.be. at 8:43 PM on December 2, 2014
I have an iPhone on tmobile's $3/mo for 30 minutes/texts and 10c/minute after and it works great. I can get a daily data pass if I need it but I never do.
posted by michaelh at 9:15 PM on December 2, 2014
posted by michaelh at 9:15 PM on December 2, 2014
You don't make calls much, but do you like texting and data? In that case, for $35 a month you can get unlimited texting and data, + 300 minutes of talking per month on Virgin Mobile. (And no contract.) Paying $35 to have a fully functional Android smart phone is the cheapest I am aware of. They have some super cheap phones available too -- $30 brand new, or buy a used one on eBay or something.
If you think you don't need unlimited texting and data, something like Ting may be cheaper. But I always found some months I was more active than others and went over, paying way too much per message anyway.
posted by AppleTurnover at 9:58 PM on December 2, 2014
If you think you don't need unlimited texting and data, something like Ting may be cheaper. But I always found some months I was more active than others and went over, paying way too much per message anyway.
posted by AppleTurnover at 9:58 PM on December 2, 2014
Ting ting ting ting ting -- we have a winner. Seriously, if inexpensive is important to you there is no better choice. Not only will they automagically shave down your plan level dependent on usage (yes, down), they have terrific customer service that beats all other providers, and this despite using the network of Sprint, which scores low on several categories.
That said I also like the Virgin Mobile text/data plan, but probably won't switch back.
posted by dhartung at 10:49 PM on December 2, 2014 [1 favorite]
That said I also like the Virgin Mobile text/data plan, but probably won't switch back.
posted by dhartung at 10:49 PM on December 2, 2014 [1 favorite]
as a random throwaway comment in addition to what i previously said, i would never ever use virgin mobile again. sprints network can be ok, but virgin and boost have seriously the rudest shittiest phone support people i've ever dealt with. it's cheap, and you can tell that's exactly where they cut a corner.
tmobile has lovely and even awesome support that regularly goes the extra mile, and everything i've heard about ting says they do too. you don't want to go into the black hole that is virgin mobile though.* Hell, even straight talk(walmarts cheapie tracfone based service) has decent support.
Several internet cheapass sites i frequent have also mentioned net10 as being a good option, especially since you can bring essentially any phone to it. I think they have silly rules about what plans you can use on what phones though(IE android phones must have the $30+ plans) which is the awesome part about ting and tmobile.
I use my phone a lot, so i have straight talk. Which is the same thing as net10, it's all owned by tracfone. If i didn't pull down several gigs of data a month though, i'd do ting in a second. The only other big advantage of straight talk/net10 is that you can use at&t or verizons networks with the right phones, at those cheap prices. Only really matters if you care about having service with max data speed everywhere though.
*It's ranty, but i'm STILL mad about buying a $100-on-sale phone which only worked on their service, and then less than a year later after it had been inactive for a little while and i tried to reactivate it "oh sorry, that device is outdated now we can't activate it again" when it had been on sale until a couple months before... then they had no problem auto-activating a flip phone that was several years old. and that isn't even getting into all the times they were rude or useless. and holy crap, they would get SO rude. Other friends of mine have the "oh yea sorry you bought that phone but we don't sell it anymore so you can never use it again" thing from them too.
posted by emptythought at 4:19 AM on December 3, 2014 [1 favorite]
tmobile has lovely and even awesome support that regularly goes the extra mile, and everything i've heard about ting says they do too. you don't want to go into the black hole that is virgin mobile though.* Hell, even straight talk(walmarts cheapie tracfone based service) has decent support.
Several internet cheapass sites i frequent have also mentioned net10 as being a good option, especially since you can bring essentially any phone to it. I think they have silly rules about what plans you can use on what phones though(IE android phones must have the $30+ plans) which is the awesome part about ting and tmobile.
I use my phone a lot, so i have straight talk. Which is the same thing as net10, it's all owned by tracfone. If i didn't pull down several gigs of data a month though, i'd do ting in a second. The only other big advantage of straight talk/net10 is that you can use at&t or verizons networks with the right phones, at those cheap prices. Only really matters if you care about having service with max data speed everywhere though.
*It's ranty, but i'm STILL mad about buying a $100-on-sale phone which only worked on their service, and then less than a year later after it had been inactive for a little while and i tried to reactivate it "oh sorry, that device is outdated now we can't activate it again" when it had been on sale until a couple months before... then they had no problem auto-activating a flip phone that was several years old. and that isn't even getting into all the times they were rude or useless. and holy crap, they would get SO rude. Other friends of mine have the "oh yea sorry you bought that phone but we don't sell it anymore so you can never use it again" thing from them too.
posted by emptythought at 4:19 AM on December 3, 2014 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thanks for all the responses.
Glyde looks like where I will get my replacement phone, and Ptel & Black Wireless seem to have working $10/month plans similar to what I am now getting from Tmobile.
My current Tmobile plan is now described as 'Legacy', which means that it stopped being sold in August 2014, and only continues for users who had the plan before August. It has been subject to many billing errors since then, and the tmobile website gives incorrect information about renewal times, minutes left, etc. I expect the plan to disappear sometime soon, so the replacements may be welcome, though at $10-$12/dollars per month, they are 3-4 times as expensive as my tmobile $10 every 3 months plan.
Most of the responders seem not have noticed how little I use a cellphone. I don't do smartphone-phone stuff. I use a land line for most calls. The cell phone is mostly for what I would have used a pay phone in the 20th century--messages like 'i am here' and 'i will be somewhere at sometime'. Even $10/month seems excessive for two calls/month.
But...you can stand on my lawn anytime.
posted by hexatron at 11:28 AM on December 3, 2014
Glyde looks like where I will get my replacement phone, and Ptel & Black Wireless seem to have working $10/month plans similar to what I am now getting from Tmobile.
My current Tmobile plan is now described as 'Legacy', which means that it stopped being sold in August 2014, and only continues for users who had the plan before August. It has been subject to many billing errors since then, and the tmobile website gives incorrect information about renewal times, minutes left, etc. I expect the plan to disappear sometime soon, so the replacements may be welcome, though at $10-$12/dollars per month, they are 3-4 times as expensive as my tmobile $10 every 3 months plan.
Most of the responders seem not have noticed how little I use a cellphone. I don't do smartphone-phone stuff. I use a land line for most calls. The cell phone is mostly for what I would have used a pay phone in the 20th century--messages like 'i am here' and 'i will be somewhere at sometime'. Even $10/month seems excessive for two calls/month.
But...you can stand on my lawn anytime.
posted by hexatron at 11:28 AM on December 3, 2014
Once you've filled $100 on T-Mobile PAYG, your minutes last a year and cost 10 cents even for a $10 refill. Sounds like you should already be over that hump, so you're probably best off staying where you are.
posted by wierdo at 4:23 PM on December 3, 2014
posted by wierdo at 4:23 PM on December 3, 2014
In your question, you specifically said you wanted an Android phone. Android phones are smart phones. If you don't do "smart-phone stuff" then you should not have specified that you wanted an Android phone in your question. Responders answered the question based on you wrote. Maybe you have no idea what Android is, but it is not a term that is interchangeable with the word "cell phone." You want a cheap Nokia phone from the 1990s, it sounds like.
posted by AppleTurnover at 9:33 AM on December 4, 2014
posted by AppleTurnover at 9:33 AM on December 4, 2014
So if I understand right you want an Android phone so you can play with Android development while also using it for occasional basic phone purposes and if you want to do stuff that needs internet access you can do that while in range of wifi, so you don't care about data plans.
In your situation why not just replace the phone and worry about the plan later?
You can probably just take the SIM out of your old phone and put it in the new phone and have everything work. You may have to cut the SIM down (I think the Moto G, as others say a common recommendation as the cheapest decent Android phone, takes a micro SIM?). If that doesn't work or (as you fear) the plan goes away, you can always shop for new prepaid plans later.
posted by bfields at 11:08 AM on December 4, 2014
In your situation why not just replace the phone and worry about the plan later?
You can probably just take the SIM out of your old phone and put it in the new phone and have everything work. You may have to cut the SIM down (I think the Moto G, as others say a common recommendation as the cheapest decent Android phone, takes a micro SIM?). If that doesn't work or (as you fear) the plan goes away, you can always shop for new prepaid plans later.
posted by bfields at 11:08 AM on December 4, 2014
Response by poster: Two weeks later--I am a pretty happy camper.
Glyde supplied me with a lightly-used HTC myTouch phone for $40, and sent an apology when the phone didn't arrive on time, though it did arrive a few days late (the apology noted that they pestered the seller, too)
The new phone is perfect except for some cosmetic grindage. The old sim transferred immediately, my old plan continues its chancy existance, and the SD card continues to work.
And I give a big recommend for Glyde, which seems to act as a broker. Glyde escrows the $ until 3 days after you recieve the phone (or until you say it's ok), so if you were mailed a box of rocks could never be charged for it.
posted by hexatron at 4:09 PM on December 17, 2014
Glyde supplied me with a lightly-used HTC myTouch phone for $40, and sent an apology when the phone didn't arrive on time, though it did arrive a few days late (the apology noted that they pestered the seller, too)
The new phone is perfect except for some cosmetic grindage. The old sim transferred immediately, my old plan continues its chancy existance, and the SD card continues to work.
And I give a big recommend for Glyde, which seems to act as a broker. Glyde escrows the $ until 3 days after you recieve the phone (or until you say it's ok), so if you were mailed a box of rocks could never be charged for it.
posted by hexatron at 4:09 PM on December 17, 2014
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by needs more cowbell at 4:47 PM on December 2, 2014