TIME FOR NEW CELL PHONE & GOOGLE PROJECT FI

[gleninjersey 2,141]

I've had my phone (Mtorola Triumph) for over 3 years now. Battery seems to be dieing. Starting to look at new phone. I've been very happy with Virgin Mobile and started looking there first.

 

I look for good value for my money and was drawn to the LG VOLT. On sale for $129 which is $50 off "regular" price. Seems like nice phone and reviewers seem to give it mostly 4 or 5 stars.

 

While looking at different phones and plans I noticed Boost Mobile has the same phone for $99! Both Virgin Mobile and Boost Mobile are owned/on the Sprint network. Virgin Mobiles no contract plan is $35 for 300 min talk, unlimited text & 2.5 GB of data. Boosts no contract is $30 (after $5 deduction for using autopay) and you get unlimited talk, text & 2 GB data I believe

 

So looks likes I'll be "switching" to Boost Mobile to save the $30 on the phone and $5 every month for service. Have to do a little more reading/research. Maybe I'll see if I can just replace battery on this phone and squeeze a little more life out of it. I only pay $25 a month right now and that's hard to give up!

 

Also, yesterday Google announced they will begin offering cell service. They will be offering basic (talk, text) for $20 & then $10 for each GB of data. Your account gets credited back for unused data. They will be on Sprint & T Mobile netwok and use Wi-Fi hotspots. Only draw back is it will only be available on their Nexus 6 phone which costs $650 dollars.

 

For people paying $80+ for their monthly phone service this could be a game changer. Goggle is offering payment plan to purchase the Nexus 6. If you aren't a data hog and can stay under 2 GB data you could easily save $30-$40 or more over the long run.

 

What do you think of Google's Project Fi? It will be very interesting to watch to see if it takes off and what the competition will do in response.

[1LtCAP 4,264]

tmobile......unlimited everything for something like 70 bucks a month.

[Howard 538]

Much depends on where you live or travel.  Where I am Verizon or some other provider that uses their network is the only real option, assuming you actually want to have a cell signal.

[louu 399]

If your happy with what you have now and the only problem is the battery just get a new battery off of amazon.

 

You can probably get a 2 pack of Anker batterys with a wall charger (for just the batt) for like ten bucks.

[1LtCAP 4,264]

yaknow? on the battery note? my galaxy s2 is going on 4 years old, and the battery's still holding up rather nicely. i'll probably still be upgrading to the s5 pretty soon though.

[jackandjill 683]

With Verizon, we pay 80 for 10GB data and 15 for each smart phone with unlimited voice and text.  Not sure if these other plans can beat that.

[1LtCAP 4,264]

With Verizon, we pay 80 for 10GB data and 15 for each smart phone with unlimited voice and text.  Not sure if these other plans can beat that.

is unlimited more than 10gb?

 

 that said, mom wanted to go to verizon. i took her to the verizon store in the echelon mall. they proceeded to try to ass rape her. she walked down to the tmobile store, and they gave her exactly what she wanted....

[Johnny 0]

As much as I dont like Verizon's prices their coverage is better than the rest. Driving out from deep withing the Allagash Wilderness on logging roads last winter my verizon phone got a signal 30 minutes before my buddy got one on his AT&T phone. Years ago we got some of those Boost mobile phones for an event at work. They worked well enough in NYC but in North Jersey they were terrible. If you travel alot and go off the beaten path Verizon is your best bet.

[djg0770 481]

With 5 phones on our plan, two of which are smert phones, I have shopped around and I can't do better than Verizon, believe it or not.

[Krdshrk 3,878]

I have an "off brand" carrier for my work cell phone (MetroPCS).  MetroPCS uses T-Mobile's network.  It's a bit finicky to get signal - even in NYC.  Verizon is my personal carrier and while expensive, it gets the best coverage.

 

GoogleFi using Sprint and T-Mobile's network is good and all, but it doesn't have the coverage I need.

The Nexus 6 is a great phone though, but it's too big for my liking.  I have a Nexus 5 right now.

[Michael2013 56]

I'm on Sprint, two "dumb" phones but the plan has 1GB data.  Looks like I can switch to smart phones keeping the same plan.  Messaging and roaming are free unlimited.  Cost - $70 plus taxes et al.

My phone is ten years old Sanyo SCP-7050, rugged, reliable.  It was time the battery didn't hold well, I had to charge every day.  I think because of hot and humid weather.  I removed the battery, cleaned with alcohol, let it dry - and it's alive and well again.  I have to charge it less often than once a week.  Have to add, I'm not on the phone 24/7

[AverageJoe 95]

Project Fi is being talked about all throughout my building(I'm a T-Mobile Operations Engineer)...as long as there is T-Mobile, Sprint, or Wifi...you have coverage...Google is testing the waters for something big.

 

Also, the price on phones, don't let a low introductory cost foll ya...that $99 phone will still cost you 600+ in the long run, you just pay for it as part of your monthly bill.

[irwing 1]

I use AT&T, the data speed I get is simply incredibly fast and the coverage is great wherever I go.

I would think you could opt for a low data plan and with the free carry over data they give you the google will not save much if anything

 

[MidwestPX 172]

Call me weird but I'm starting to move away from Google products.  I'm tired of being their product and them mining my emails or location data.  I stopped using Gmail for this reason and now use Outlook for my personal email.  My next phone won't be an Android-based phone but will likely be a Windows phone.  With Google offering cell phone service, I can't help but wonder just how much more data mining subscribers will be allowing them to conduct as part of the terms of service.

 

As far as cell service, we use Ting which is a contract-less provider that runs on the Sprint network.  They've recently added a GSM network as well.  We pay $90/month for four lines and you pay for what you use.  Ting's customer service has also been absolutely stunning.  I've only had sour experiences with Verizon and AT&T customer service so Ting was a refreshing change.

[gleninjersey 2,141]

Hey MidWestPX, you're weird!!!

 

$90 for 4 lines!! That's great! I know people who pay that for one phone! That's just crazy to me If you NEED your phone for business purposes or live in an area where you really only have one choice, I get it.

 

I think most people have simply been conditioned into expecting to pay $75-100 a month for their cell phone. Kind of like most NJ people have been conditioned to think guns are evil and only cops should have them.

[MidwestPX 172]

No doubt.  My wife and I were paying $130/month to AT&T.  My in-laws were paying $140/month to US Cellular.  We saved $180/month by combining our plans and switching to Ting.

[gleninjersey 2,141]

So went with Boost Mobile and the LG Volt. Holy smokes there is almost too much stuff and too many options! Off the bat the actual phone is MUCH better than my older phone.

 

I picked it up after work yesterday. Trykng to figure out how to download the / find the few apps I actually used on my old phone on to this one. In particular trying to find the navigation app. Phone comes with something called "Scout". Looks like it is a navigation / find your friends app. I don't care where my friends are! Just want to know how to get from point "A" to point "B".

 

I'm sure I'll figure it out over the next few days.

[Vlad G 345]

Google couldn't pay me to make me carry one of their phones with me.

 

Verizon has been decent for me, I've had coverage from the swamps of North Carolina to the back woods of NY. The only place I've ever seen their coverage fail has been the non-urban parts of Alaska, but really what can you expect?

[DeerSlayer 241]

Come visit me out here in Sussex County, with anything other than a Verizon phone and we'll see who can make a call. For now I'll stick to a carrier that has service everywhere. My business depends on it.

[Malice4you 627]

So went with Boost Mobile and the LG Volt. Holy smokes there is almost too much stuff and too many options! Off the bat the actual phone is MUCH better than my older phone.

 

I picked it up after work yesterday. Trykng to figure out how to download the / find the few apps I actually used on my old phone on to this one. In particular trying to find the navigation app. Phone comes with something called "Scout". Looks like it is a navigation / find your friends app. I don't care where my friends are! Just want to know how to get from point "A" to point "B".

 

I'm sure I'll figure it out over the next few days.

If the old phone was an android, but if youve added your same gmail account to the new phone, go to the google play store, find the three bars (settings), go to "my apps" then hit "all"

 

Anything you installed on an old android on that gmail account will show up there, and you can install it on the new one, assuming it works on the current version of android you are using.

[gleninjersey 2,141]

If the old phone was an android, but if youve added your same gmail account to the new phone, go to the google play store, find the three bars (settings), go to "my apps" then hit "all"

 

Anything you installed on an old android on that gmail account will show up there, and you can install it on the new one, assuming it works on the current version of android you are using.

Thanks. Did that for the alarm clock app I had on old phone. Old phone had a navagation app that came with it. I think it was Google Navagation. From a little research it appears they did away with the Google Navagation and now us Google Maps for navagation.

 

I liked being able to use my contacts on the old app. Doessn't look like I can do that on Google Maps? Still learning the new phone & features.

 

Anyone able to recommend navagation app that will use your contacts?

[InFamous 311]

Thanks. Did that for the alarm clock app I had on old phone. Old phone had a navagation app that came with it. I think it was Google Navagation. From a little research it appears they did away with the Google Navagation and now us Google Maps for navagation.

 

I liked being able to use my contacts on the old app. Doessn't look like I can do that on Google Maps? Still learning the new phone & features.

 

Anyone able to recommend navagation app that will use your contacts?

 

All Android did was integrate the "Navigation" app into the "Google Maps" app since it was redundant to have both. They're the same mapping system and same app, just had 2 icons on the phone.

[gleninjersey 2,141]

All Android did was integrate the "Navigation" app into the "Google Maps" app since it was redundant to have both. They're the same mapping system and same app, just had 2 icons on the phone.

I get that. Wish they had kept the ability to use addresses in contacts. Perhaps they did and I jusf need to figure out how to do it.

[AverageJoe 95]

I get that. Wish they had kept the ability to use addresses in contacts. Perhaps they did and I jusf need to figure out how to do it.

If you add their address to the contact under "address"...you can then hit the little directions icon to the right, and itll open up maps/nav.

 

 

 

 

[gleninjersey 2,141]

Nice. Thanks AverageJoe!