Post#17 » by fugop » Mon Mar 21, 2011 11:10 pm
My cell service with AT&T was never actually the problem, it was the customer service. I don't like paying bills; as soon as I signed up for AT&T, i enrolled in auto pay so that I wouldn't have to think about it. Probably three times a year, the intersection of AT&T and Bank of America would erupt in nonsense, with the auto-pay being denied as fraudulent, AT&T sending me a paper statement, me mailing a check, auto-pay working a week later, and me with a credit of several hundred dollars on my phone bill. I'd call and talk, and nothing would ever get resolved. It was just nonsense.
I had an original iphone, not even a 3g. The data plans were cheaper back then, but it was obviously slow (I probably couldn't have downloaded 5gb if I'd had the phone downloading at max speed all month). I liked the phone's build quality, and it served me well, so I kept it for over three years. I began looking at new phones in January, and decided that the new iphone plans just weren't enough bang for the buck. I also use linux almost exclusively, and hated having to boot into windows just to sync my phone.
I decided to be cheap, so bought an unlocked Nokia N8 for $330. T-mobile has a no-contract plan for unlocked phones that gives 1000 anytime minutes, unlimited data (5GB throttle) and unlimited text for $69.95. Enrolling in auto-pay knocks $5 off the price. With tax and fees, I'm paying around $72 a month. I was paying $110 for my old phone plan, and a new plan would have been ~$120.
The N8 is awesome hardware, terrible software. It's a dead OS, symbian 3 -- of course, I bought the phone a few days before the Nokia-Microsoft partnership was announced, so I didn't realize quite how dead it was. Some aspects of the user interface are just jaw droppingly dumb.
But it has fantastic battery life, an unbelievable camera, a decent email app, a couple of decent browser options, a good looking screen (if low res compared to the top android/iphone screens), a real GPS system, and a sturdy build quality. I like the solidness of the metal.
The plan was to save a few hundred dollars my first year, and ~$1000 over the life of the phone. I'm not exactly a talker, so the 1000 minutes should be plenty. I installed skype for conference calls, about the only thing that I do which actually consumes anytime minutes.
If t-mobile drops the plan, I'll probably use the N8 as a PMP/GPS/camera, and get an android something or other. I am wary of giving google too much control over my life. I seriously considered just getting a dumb phone and tablet rather than smart phone, but I don't generally think tablets are smart purchases for now.