Cell Phone Plan That Doesn't Use Sprint

[purplock]

I rooted my phone. I live in a major city. Can I get a cell phone plan not connected with Sprint? I want a cheap cell phone plan and I don't like Sprint's options.

Also could anyone recommend me a great cell phone plan (even prepaid would be ok)?

 

[BergerKing]

Go Phones use AT&Ts network, and Verizon has prepaid options, as does T-Mo, last I saw. My daughter is using a Verizon one, last I heard, and loves it.

 

[apinkel]

You can look into cricket, virgin mobile and boost (all three of these use or roam on sprint towers)... although I'd recommend selling your optimus and buying one of their androids instead of trying to flash a sprint phone to their network. Even if you can flash it you often time run into issues with a few features not working or something changes on their network and breaks some feature on your phone. All three of these offer some pretty decent mid-range android phones that will be a step above the optimus.

6 Standout Smartphones for Prepaid Plans | PCWorld


There are also prepaid options from t-mobile and straight talk that are pretty cost effective. I can't tell you much about them since the GSM carriers don't have good coverage where I'm at so I didn't bother to check them out. You wouldn't be able to use your optimus with these since they aren't CDMA.

I flashed a droid X to cricket and, while I'm glad I did it just because I learned a lot, I ran into enough issues that for my primary line I wouldn't mess with the bring your own route with the prepaid carriers. Of course YMMV.

 

[duffkitty]

Try looking at Ting. https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...ac&u=https%3A%2F%2Fting.com%2F&token=FxZUF0jh

It's based on Sprint's network but is supposed to be really flexible on their plans and it automatically adjusts your plan so you don't overpay for stuff not used and don't get overages.

 

[apinkel]

Huh... hadn't heard of ting before. That's not a bad looking option... any idea if they've been around long?

 

[codenamegamma]

i got my optimus s though ting, if you already have a device then ting wont work for you, but if you need a device they offer the optimus s for $150, but i was able to get $50 off the device though hak5, but while that did save on the device i ended up paying like $60 for my first month of plan, and onetime activation and all that jazz. but ive been fairly happy with it. whats cool is if i dont have money or running close to what i can pay as far as my plan goes, i can just turn off what im running close to. like if i only wanna pay for the basic 100 text messages, if i get to 99, i can turn that off on the website. same goes with the voice and the data. the plans are pretty cheap as well. the small plan, costs $15, $3 for voice - 100 minutes, $3 for texts - 100 texts, $3 for data - 100mb and $6 for keeping your phone activated. for $15 thats not bad.


anyway hope that helps.

i forgot to mention, that you can do tethering right off the bat, no rooting, or paying extra, as long as you pay for the data, they dont care of you tether or not.

 

[apinkel]

Wow... that's impressive. Pretty darn good selection of phones too including the photon and Epic Touch... although you pay full pop for the phones ($500+). But still, it would only take a year or so to pay off one of those devices vs. going thru Sprint with their subsidized model.

 

[purplock]

I just checked out Ting, and it looks like a great option if you're in the market for a new cell phone. I want to keep my existing cell phone. So that's too bad. The website mentions that there's a way to hack phones to use with Ting: https://help.ting.com/entries/21098852-can-i-bring-my-existing-device-to-ting

Can I bring my existing device to Ting?

Hi Michael,

In order for a device to function on the cellular network, the serial number of the device must be "known" by the network. So the only way to get an existing phone of yours working on our network is to root the device and then have it register on the network using an ESN/MEID of one of our registered devices. It's possible, since other Ting customers have done it... with varying degrees of success based on their devices. Check out our Hacks section in help for more information.

If you're not interested, or uncomfortable hacking your phone (and buying a Ting phone), then the answer to your question is no (sorry about that).

Can anyone give me a translation of the above? E.g. what does this mean: "then have it register on the network using an ESN/MEID of one of our registered devices"?

FYI I checked out the hacks section referred to but didn't see this addressed (or if it was it went over my head because it was too techincal).

 

[duffkitty]

I just checked out Ting, and it looks like a great option if you're in the market for a new cell phone. I want to keep my existing cell phone. So that's too bad. The website mentions that there's a way to hack phones to use with Ting: https://help.ting.com/entries/21098852-can-i-bring-my-existing-device-to-ting



Can anyone give me a translation of the above? E.g. what does this mean: "then have it register on the network using an ESN/MEID of one of our registered devices"?

FYI I checked out the hacks section referred to but didn't see this addressed (or if it was it went over my head because it was too techincal).

Not sure if this is right but sounds like if you buy a phone from them (any phone) you can change the esn on your current phone to it by hacking it and use it with Ting. Esn tampering is beyond my knowledge.

I heard about Ting on TWiT and they offer a $50 off promo as well. It supposedly was started by nerds fed up with carrier plans gouging customers for things they don't use. I bet a majority of the users on this forum can get a plan with almost no voice and just data and maybe text and spend half what we pay to Sprint.

The good/bad is you don't have a contract, that's why they don't really subsidize your phone. That's why I'm renewing with Sprint unfortunately, rather pay more in the long run than drop 600 on a new phone.

Edit: Forgot to mention that Ting is a reason I do love Sprint. They effectively allow other carriers to use their network as a dumb pipe. Freedom Wireless and Ting are essentially Sprint's service with a different carrier acting as a middle man. Thats why I was rooting for Lightsquared's LTE to go through since that would help change the current cell phone industry.

Imagine a world full of Ting's and Freedom Wireless'.

 

[Achiyan]

check out prepayd.com. they are based on sprint towers. 45 bucks prepaid for unlimited everything. thats what i have my optimus s on.