SF Optimized Phone and Plan

[may71]

I've been thinking of getting a smart phone primarily so that I can have mobile access to SF. There are a few other things that I'd like to do with it, like occasionally use ride sharing services, take pics, and make phone calls, but I'm anticipating that 99% of my usage would be for SF. I really don't care about watching video.

I don't know very much about smart phones. It's all still pretty new to me. I don't have any cell phone at the moment. Cell phones tend to give me headaches, and until recently all of the plans I've seen seem really expensive. I might be able to deal with the headache issue by getting ear buds and a microphone for calls.

I'd like to avoid a pricey plan if I can. I'm expecting to access SF via phone maybe 8-30 hours a month initially, but possibly ramping up to 80-100. There are some cheap plans out there that offer unlimited 2G, which might be good given my anticipated usage.

There are a couple of problems. One is that even the unlimited 2G plans are not truly unlimited. There's a clause about it being "within reason". So I'm not sure how much data usage there would be for that much time on the phone.

Another issue is the connection speed. "2G" speeds seem to vary pretty widely between plans. I'm not sure what results you would get with the differing connection speeds. The unlimited 2G of the plan I'm considering may only be 64kbps. I can get 1G of 4G data for $10 per month. Not sure how fast I would use up the 4G data.

I'm anticipating being able to use the phone in an area where I'll have desk space and a wall outlet. With the plan I'm considering, I think I'd be able to tether to a laptop for the 4G data, but tethering is disabled for 2G. I might be able to manage ok using the phone for 2G if I could plug in a full keyboard to the phone, and put it on a stand. I don't think it would work though if I was trying to type full posts with my thumbs.

I'm not sure how hardware would effect performance. I'm guessing if the phone has a lot of ram, that might allow for greater page caching. A larger screen might make reading threads easier.

If anyone has any suggestions about what US plan, or what phone to get, I would welcome them.

 

[Walker]

Overthinking much?
T-Mobile is unlimited data. It is high speed to start with and then slows down.
Any smart phone is going to get you into SF at this point. They'll all surf pages and answer calls. You're not looking for anything fancy here.
Don't over pressure this man. Do you analyze everything like this? Just curious. I like it.

 

[Nick]

There are a lot of different plan options you could get. One question, will you be using it somewhere with wifi? If so you can significantly reduce the amount of data you need by connecting it to the wifi. I use a TON of data every month if you include skype, SF, games, random googling and a host of other things. I usually only use about 3GB of data a month on my plan though because I'm connected to wifi a majority of the time. IF you have wifi you can look into prepaid plans and might be able to get a deal that won't cost as much. Just a thought for you.

As for what phone? If that's all you using it for then just about any smartphone is going to get you there.

 

[may71]

will you be using it somewhere with wifi?

Most of the time, probably not

 

[may71]

Overthinking much?

Ok Mr. Wise Monkey, I'll break it down

T-Mobile is unlimited data

There's lots and lots of unlimited data plans. The problem is that most of these plans are $30-$80 a month. I hear lots of people have monthly bills over $100.

I don't want to pay that much on the regular, so I'm trying to get something cheap-o. I just don't know if 2G, or the particular 2G plan that I'm thinking of is going to be fast enough. I think in principle a 2G unlimited plan would be fine for my needs, I just don't know if the 64 kbps speeds are going to cut it. The lack of tethering for 2G might be a problem too.

 

[may71]

Thank you to everyone who replied to this thread who doesn't have a monkey avatar and a name that begins with "W"

 

[Bloop]

I would in your case, buy a second hand phone and go for a sim only deal, if these exist where you are. You can buy older models of phones which will still function well to surf the web and would be suitable for you if 99% of use is going to be for SF. If you go this way, you have the phone so now you'll need a sim and sim only deals can be as cheap as £5-£10 a month for a decent package and usually the contract only lasts 12 months so you can switch things up as after 12 months I'm sure you will know what you like and dislike about your phone and package.

I would recommend an iphone for somebody who is new to smartphones. Just need to find a store that sells second hand phones where you are and decide on the model (e.g. iphone 5s, iphone 6, iphone 7) based on your budget.