I've got an iPhone 4 and 2 yr contract with AT&T ending this June. I was about to buy an iPhone 4S from Virgin Mobile, because the service is way cheaper than AT&T, but have been reading about how awful the data speeds are with Sprint (network VM uses).
Then I found the thread about Straight Talk, and was going to use that with my current iPhone, but I see that AT&T phones no longer work with the service (also not crazy about giving WalMart money).
Any advice? I could stick with AT&T, but I'd prefer to find something cheaper (unless the service is much worse). I talk very little on the phone; and my data use isn't terribly heavy.
had virgin with no complaints until we traveled to the north west, but take mikes advice, howard forums
jimtron
New Member
posted: Feb. 8, 2013 @ 9:46a
thanks folks
kenmoreland
Soggies Suck!
posted: Feb. 9, 2013 @ 2:27p
The first thing you should do is have AT&T unlock your iphone. The big carriers are willing to unlock phones of current customers, but may not be willing to help after you cancel your contract.
You don't give any concrete numbers about your usage, or how much you are currently paying, so I am going to toss out an idea from left field.
T-Mobile is working to get iphone owners switch over. They are refarming some of their current spectrum to the 1900 frequency to use data with AT&T iphones. (If this frequency isn't available in your area, data speeds would be limited to 2G/EDGE.) There is a map of the refarming here.
In addition to data availability, you want to find out if T-Mobile had decent call quality in your area. In Seattle T-Mobile routinely gets better rankings than AT&T.
If you think T-Mobile might be a fit for you, it is cheap and easy to test it out. T-Mobile frequently has offers on prepaid sim cards for free or $1, with free shipping. Then you could pick a prepaid plan and try it for a month.
If you are averse to prpaid plans, you could sign up for whatever postpaid plan suits you, and just cancel before the end of the trial period.
jimtron
New Member
posted: Feb. 9, 2013 @ 2:49p
Thanks, I'll look into T-Mobile...I think they would work in Chicago where I live with my current iPhone. Also thinking seriously about going with Net10 with my current phone.
BADADVICE
Cranky Member
posted: Feb. 10, 2013 @ 3:18p
My experience with Virgin was awful. They double billed me, so I requested a refund. This set off some sort of internal fraud alert in their system and resulted in Virgin turning off all service to my phone in the middle of the night. They kept the service off for 2 weeks! Tech support is all Asia based and they have little authority to take corrective action.
It was a huge mess and never again.
jimtron
New Member
posted: Feb. 10, 2013 @ 3:27p
Good to know. Looks like I'm going to give Net10 at try.
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