Android device in US. Galaxy S/Inspire/Atrix

C

crthegreat

Disciple
Hello All,

I am moving to US and planning to buy a cell phone there as soon as I reach. With AT&T or T mobile contract. These are the phones which I am looking at.

Samsung Galaxy S
HTC Inspire
Motorola Atrix

Currently I use Huawei android device, base model. It is too slow, so planning to not take it. Will be buying a new one. Any help is selecting one among these 3 will be really helpful. Thanks in advance.
 
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Why not any other options ? Just check wirefly.com for Tmobile deals on android phones. Many of them are free with 2 years contract. I was initially lured to get one but the contract term and early termination fees were deterrent.

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agantuk said:
If you can, go for VZ. They have the best network in the US, as also a much better line up of Android phones compared to any other operator.
Click to expand...

Only if he does not plan to come back to India anytime soon. Since Verizon is CDMA.

Also check out MetroPCS, They have good no contract plans with unlimited data.
 
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yes it is for longer term. At least 2 years. I will be pursuing my higher studies and most of the students in this university use either At&T or T mobile. And I think free calls are applicable only for same network. So thought of going either with At&T or T mobile.
 
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Let me know where you will be moving and I can suggest carrier. If you decide ATT, then go with Atrix hands down or wait a little more for Samsung S2, which might get released with qwerty keypad. With Tmobile you can choose sensation or Mytouch 4g slide. Also do not choose Verizon as it is expensive and cdma. Also there are better Android phones releasing for Att and tmobile in the future, if you decide to wait a little longer. One piece of advice, if you are not going for long term, then buy the phone off craigslist without contract. That way you can go with prepaid plan or even cancel monthly plan without ETF (EARLY TERMINATION FEE) Phones cost anywhere from 300-350 (dual core) off craigslist and you can meet the buyer and check the product before buying Else if you buy a phone with contract for 2 years and decide to cancel , you will be responsible for 350 dollars - 10 dollar deduction each month. That is for Att. I believe Tmobile has something like 275 dollars. Between Tmobile and ATT, I find Tmobile cheaper in both prepaid and monthly for both voice and data. Tmobile offers unlimited data and also prepaid data plan for day or month. PM me if you have any questions.

Source: I am from Denver, Colorado and an Att/Cingular customer since 2000. Briefly Tmobile customer from 2004-2008.
 
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aradhakr84, I am going to Ohio, Columbus. I loved S2 mainly since it is so sleek. But with qwert it will be so bulk. Also T mobile releasing S2 variant Attain. It looked pretty good. But not sure when it will release. I will PM you for more details. Thanks :)
 
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Columbus is such a beautiful city, I was in columbus (actually in Dublin which is about 15 miles from downtown and dayton which is about 40 miles from columbus during 2007 college holidays) You will love the city.

Anyways back to topic, since you are going to a major city like Columbus you will absolutely have best coverage with T-Mobile and ATT. I do not know if this is your first time coming to US, if it is go with prepaid plan with T-Mobile. Remember, you can use any phones with T-Mobile prepaid plan. So you have something you like in ATT lineup you can use it. Just make sure the phone has T-Mobile baseband before buying. This is just my suggestion.

Yeah, PM me about anything you would like to know.
 
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My wife uses T-mobile and we have not faced any issues with coverage here. The plan that we are on is a prepaid one costing 50$ all inclusive per month with unlimited calls and texts to US numbers and unlimited EDGE data (great for google navigation).

Good for her since she has many relatives here and can talk unlimited.

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Btw sorry for going off topic but i have heard that there are few websites for the prepaid refill (Tmobile-AT&T etc) which give discount. Anyone know of any such sites ? Like for me it will be 50$ per month so somewhere where it costs less than 50$ to recharge for 50$ :S
 
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I may be wrong but isn't your plan a monthly no contract plan for 50 dollars with unlimited text, web and calls. So isn't that fixed price of monthly 50 dollars for unlimited text, calls and data with first 100 mb at 4g speeds? So how is refill possible in this plan? Or Are you are asking for discount to refill your T-Mobile TOGO card?

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Also how is 4g speeds around Dallas area. Since you are in Plano please share your data speeds. I find 4g speeds faster in Dallas than my hometown Denver
 
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^^ Yes that is exactly the plan. But i don't have a 4G device so no idea about its speeds. I just took it for unlimited everything.

I am new so i have no idea about this recharge stuff. Will it be similar to India that every 30 days i top-up my account with 50$ to extend my service for one more month, right ?

And yes it is no contract plan.

Someone on the Howardforums told me that people use callingmart.com for recharges where they offer some small discounts.
 
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There is no refill as it is a monthly plan. Also yes, You pay 50 bucks + applicable tax to get the monthly service. And also yes, You are in month to month basis. You can stop anytime you want and not have to pay ETF. That is what I love about T-mobile and its pricing.

Also the other one you are talking about is not a monthly plan, but just buying minutes like it is done in India. For example, you pay 100 bucks and buy minutes card from say Walmart, Safeway, Best buy or wherever. Then activate it and use it till it is over and then you buy or refill over again. So this is different than 50 dollar unlimited monthly plan you seem to have. For this yes you can go to website like callingmart.com and buy the refill card of 100 dollars for say 88 dollars and save like 12-13 dollars.

The thing is lets say you are in 50 dollar plan this month. Next month you decide not to pay 50 or not to go for monthly plan, you can just buy minutes card and use it with your existing number since you have prepaid no contract phone number.
 
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aradhakr84 said:
Columbus is such a beautiful city, I was in columbus (actually in Dublin which is about 15 miles from downtown and dayton which is about 40 miles from columbus during 2007 college holidays) You will love the city.

Anyways back to topic, since you are going to a major city like Columbus you will absolutely have best coverage with T-Mobile and ATT. I do not know if this is your first time coming to US, if it is go with prepaid plan with T-Mobile. Remember, you can use any phones with T-Mobile prepaid plan. So you have something you like in ATT lineup you can use it. Just make sure the phone has T-Mobile baseband before buying. This is just my suggestion.

Yeah, PM me about anything you would like to know.
Click to expand...

Oh that is great to know Columbus is beautiful :)

Yup this is my first time in US. So if going for prepaid plan then I need to buy phone separately right? Without contract it is pretty costly I think. SGS1 costs around $400 without contract but with contract it is $100. Anyway I will be using phone for 2 years so is it not better to buy with contract?
 
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Yes, you need to buy phone seperately.

I don't think SGS I like Vibrant 4g, Captivate or even Vibrant cost 400 dollars. They cost around 185 - 200 dollars for a slightly used and with box/accessories. You can get any phones, even dual core for around 300-350 dollars used or slightly used. I can guide you to buying an excellent phone there and still not get tied up with contract.

Unless you are planning to buy brand new from store, then yep the price will be 499 to 599 dollars depending on model. But I never go to store as I buy phones from craigslist as I get like new and also save loads of money. I have a free upgrade available being an ATT customer for so long, but I am keeping that for Apple or probably nexus prime if they come to ATT network.

Of course you know that warranty works different here in the States. Usually anything happens you are taken care of. Also some sellers sell phones with extended warranty. So buying slightly used here is different than in India.
 
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With craigslist you can actually see the phone listings in columbus so that you can go and buy it in person. That is why craigslist is more popular next to ebay to buy phones in US. It is like Sulekha used in India. Reliable, cheaper, worst case you do not like it just say no and move on. The prices is also amazing. Of course, Ebay is the best. But with craigslist there is negotiation.
 
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