The Samsung Galaxy, S4 seems to be the preferred phone. AT&T is offers this phone for $49.99 with contract only. But what's in the contract?
Following is forum exchange at GaryNorth.com's Specific Answers. Members' comments are separated by an asterisked line as follows ******.
The discussion begins here:
Over the years I have worked for most of the cell providers. You must answer a few questions before asking your questions.
1. Are you going to travel and want coverage most of the way. Then you are limited to AT&T and Verizon.
2. Can you accept limited service? If so, take a long look at T-Mobile. Buy $100 of minutes on the prepaid plan and then only $10 a year after that. That is $.85 a month for very limited use. (How limited is the use?) The $10 gives you 100 minutes a year, but my first year I only used 61 of them. The unused minutes carry over, so your first year of 1000 minutes can last you a long time.
3. If you plan to stay in one metro area, then pick your "Eat all you can" plan. For a fixed amount, you get unlimited, but the coverage is very limited as you travel.
4. Ask all of your friends, as there could be a far better option for you in your local area.
T-Mobile has very limited equipment; that means limited capacity. Many of our sites are co-located. That means that several carriers cooperate for tower space and emergency generator capacity. T-Mobile uses the same equipment (Ericsson) as AT&T. My keys open up both.
My friends are able to unlock a phone for use by any carrier. Unless you are doing something special, don't worry about LTE (4G). It's not for conversations.
Don't believe any of the advertising of coverage by any company. They all lie by parsing the advertising wording in a misleading way.
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ptel.com uses T-Mobile networks, so be sure you're covered.
Mobile phones are generally locked to a carrier. You need to find which carrier your iPhone belongs to and take it there; otherwise, it will need to be unlocked which I believe may now be illegal (the laws changed just last year). Regardless, you can find a local mobile shop to do it for $5 to $30. If it is not GSM [here is a list of GSM carriers in the US], which uses a SIM card, it will not work with ptel. AT&T and T-Mobile are the GSM carriers.
I bought an unlocked Nexus 4 from Google for $300, now $200, and put a ptel sim card in it. Voila!! The phone needs to be unlocked.
The Nexus 4 has hardware comparable to top-line $600-700 phones but costs much less. Google makes money on ads, not hardware, and I've heard that the 8GB version is sold right at cost.
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No recommendations on a carrier, but in general try to avoid a contract if you can. I'm 1 year into a 2 year Verizon contract and I'm getting socked with $80+ per month for data and voice and will certainly look for something cheaper when my contract is up. I just shake my head at how stupid I was when I see the monthly bills...
That $49 offer is AT&T's offer. I need to contact them, and not Amazon, about the 2-year contract. Their contact number is here.
BRICK & MORTAR LOCATIONS
AT&T Diamond Bar
1257 South Diamond Bar Blvd.
Diamond Bar, CA 91765
909-861-7888
STORE HOURS
M-Sunday: 11am-7pm
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AT&T Rowland Heights
1015 South Nogales Street
Rowland Heights, CA 91748
626-820-0692
STORE HOURS
M-Sunday: 11am-7pm
Looking for an AT&T store near you? Check out this list.
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