Posted: 5/2/2013 5:39:47 AM EDT
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So...I'm finally looking at switching to a smart phone. I have a few options available, and curious as to arfcom's recommendations.
Basic info: I have a regular feature phone, that is eligible for upgrade with contract. Verizon. Also on my plan is my father's HTC Thunderbolt, which has a grandfathered unlimited plan. I take care of his bills, as he's in an assisted living facility. I think his peak usage was around 200mb in a month. Naturally, an unlimited plan at $30 a month is a waste for him. My plan is to switch his phone to a standard 1GB policy, and transfer the unlimited plan to whatever phone I go with. So, this is where the questions come in to play: Do I buy a used phone, without contract, or get a new phone WITH contract? Part of me says the subsidized price is hard to beat. However, if I get an older 4G phone, I can jailbreak it (if legal) and not only have the unlimited data plan on it, but can also use the mobile hotspot feature without getting raped. As far as I understand, they don't currently allow mobile hotspot on grandfathered plans. But at $30 a month, who would want it anyway? I have no plans to abuse the feature...but it would be nice to have broadband available for occasional road trips and whatnot. Currently looking at a Thunderbolt because...well... they're fairly cheap, and i'm familiar with it. I thought about a G'zone commando, but it's 3G only, which seems kind of pointless if i want to share bandwidth. Ideas/recommendations? |
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I'm on Verizon as well, and you have to outright buy the phone from them at full price instead of the subsidized (with 2-year plan) price to keep your grandfathered unlimited data. That means you're looking at paying $600+ for the phone...and if you try to save money by buying the phone from anybody else but Verizon you can't pay for the ~$7-10/month insurance on the phone so your expensive phone is then at the mercy of breaking and you being SOL. ...so said the customer service reps on the phone, and the manager of my local Verizon store.
As far as tethering devices to any Android phone, simply buy a program called "FoxFi" from the Google Play store for around $7 and you can tether all you want and Verizon rarely, if ever, will find out about it (no jailbreak/rooting is needed of your phone to use this program). |
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I'm on Verizon as well, and you have to outright buy the phone from them at full price instead of the subsidized (with 2-year plan) price to keep your grandfathered unlimited data. I understand that. But that's the thing... i'm NOT replacing the phone that's on the unlimited plan. Many people online have stated that they've been able to upgrade a different line to a new subsidized smartphone, THEN, transfer the unlimited bandwidth plan to that new phone. Essentially, you're getting the phone at the subsidized price, AND getting the unlimited bandwidth plan. |
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So...I'm finally looking at switching to a smart phone. I have a few options available, and curious as to arfcom's recommendations. Basic info: I have a regular feature phone, that is eligible for upgrade with contract. Verizon. Also on my plan is my father's HTC Thunderbolt, which has a grandfathered unlimited plan. I take care of his bills, as he's in an assisted living facility. I think his peak usage was around 200mb in a month. Naturally, an unlimited plan at $30 a month is a waste for him. My plan is to switch his phone to a standard 1GB policy, and transfer the unlimited plan to whatever phone I go with. So, this is where the questions come in to play: Do I buy a used phone, without contract, or get a new phone WITH contract? Part of me says the subsidized price is hard to beat. However, if I get an older 4G phone, I can jailbreak it (if legal) and not only have the unlimited data plan on it, but can also use the mobile hotspot feature without getting raped. As far as I understand, they don't currently allow mobile hotspot on grandfathered plans. But at $30 a month, who would want it anyway? I have no plans to abuse the feature...but it would be nice to have broadband available for occasional road trips and whatnot. Currently looking at a Thunderbolt because...well... they're fairly cheap, and i'm familiar with it. I thought about a G'zone commando, but it's 3G only, which seems kind of pointless if i want to share bandwidth. Ideas/recommendations? Why would you not use your upgrade form Verizon? If you plan on staying with Verizon for 2 more years at least, then use your upgrade. Not using it and buying a phone off craigslist is a terrible idea. Horrible. You want one of these brands: HTC Samsung Motorola You can root any of them. Jailbreaking is for iPhones, Rooting is for Android. Same thing, different name. |
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Why would you not use your upgrade form Verizon? If you plan on staying with Verizon for 2 more years at least, then use your upgrade. Not using it and buying a phone off craigslist is a terrible idea. Horrible. Multiple reasons. A: not having to have a contract is a big plus. B: My understanding was that unlocking/jailbreaking/rooting smart phones technically became illegal in January. Therefore, if I purchase a phone privately, there's plausible deniability that it was legally rooted beforehand. If I purchase a subsidized phone, it would be pretty clear that I modified the phone, which may, or may not, incur full retail charges. Am I wrong? |
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Why would you not use your upgrade form Verizon? If you plan on staying with Verizon for 2 more years at least, then use your upgrade. Not using it and buying a phone off craigslist is a terrible idea. Horrible. Multiple reasons. A: not having to have a contract is a big plus. B: My understanding was that unlocking/jailbreaking/rooting smart phones technically became illegal in January. Therefore, if I purchase a phone privately, there's plausible deniability that it was legally rooted beforehand. If I purchase a subsidized phone, it would be pretty clear that I modified the phone, which may, or may not, incur full retail charges. Am I wrong? A- It's a big plus only if you don't intend to stick with your current carrier. From the sounds of it, you don't intend to change from Verizon....so why would you not use your upgrade? Also, when you use your upgrade, the old phone you are replacing becomes an immediate discount by selling it on craigslist. So a brand new $200 w/ 2yr contract phone, found with a store coupon for $99, combined with a discount from the old phone....means you brand new top of the line, will last you move than 2 years phone only costs $0-50...hell you might even make some money. B- You posted in a public forum. Your plausible deniability is gone. It doesn't matter though...the carriers know which phones are rooted and which aren't already. You would not win any legal battle. Now, will you ever be caught in a legal battle over rooting your phone? Most likely not, as your chances of being that guy are next to zero. I think you would have better chances of winning the lotto, or getting struck by lightning. Look, I have rooted every android device I have ever owned. I bring them into Sprint when something goes wrong with the hardware, and they replace my phone. They don't care if its rooted when it's a hardware issue. They probably won't notice its rooted either if you intend on running the stock rom as well. Me- "My phone wont turn on" Sprint- "Ok we will send you a replacement in the mail. Mail the old phone back" Me- "OK" Another thing, you can always undo rooting your phone....especially if you have S-OFF I can't get into the infinite details revolving around this topic.....but I can give you clear cut advice: Use upgrade, buy new phone (assuming you and your father don't intend to change carriers) S-OFF (optional) Root Install 3rd party tether app ????????? Profit |
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B- You posted in a public forum. Your plausible deniability is gone. It doesn't matter though...the carriers know which phones are rooted and which aren't already. You would not win any legal battle. Now, will you ever be caught in a legal battle over rooting your phone? Most likely not, as your chances of being that guy are next to zero. I think you would have better chances of winning the lotto, or getting struck by lightning. DMCA. We're talking the same thing that MPAA has used to ruin many innocent people's lives. AS for posting in public....there are plenty of legally rooted phones available online. Paranoid? yes. lol... Rightfully so? meh... who knows. I'd rather keep things on the up and up. Cheap insurance when dealing with pockets deeper than mine. |
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I'm not going into the root/don't root thing.
I upgraded my Thunderbolt to the Samsung S3, in December. I like the S3 for several reasons. 1) Batterylife is better. 2) Upgrades were *not* happening on the Thunderbolt. Promised Aug 12, delivered Jan 13? Nah, thanks. 3) Lots of S3 users out there - so plenty of upgrades/cases/spare parts. Con: S3 doesn't do the direct connect thing very well, unlike the T-bolt. Stupid MTP. Good luck, regardless. |
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B- You posted in a public forum. Your plausible deniability is gone. It doesn't matter though...the carriers know which phones are rooted and which aren't already. You would not win any legal battle. Now, will you ever be caught in a legal battle over rooting your phone? Most likely not, as your chances of being that guy are next to zero. I think you would have better chances of winning the lotto, or getting struck by lightning. DMCA. We're talking the same thing that MPAA has used to ruin many innocent people's lives. AS for posting in public....there are plenty of legally rooted phones available online. Paranoid? yes. lol... Rightfully so? meh... who knows. I'd rather keep things on the up and up. Cheap insurance when dealing with pockets deeper than mine. After looking at what really got outlawed....they didn't outlaw rooting or jailbreaking, we still have legal barriers protecting us there. What was outlawed is UNLOCKING your phone (that S-OFF thing I was telling you about). Which is not a big deal if you stick to the brands I mentioned above. |
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After looking at what really got outlawed....they didn't outlaw rooting or jailbreaking, we still have legal barriers protecting us there. What was outlawed is UNLOCKING your phone (that S-OFF thing I was telling you about). Which is not a big deal if you stick to the brands I mentioned above. I'll have to do some more research, as clearly I'm a bit foggy in this area. 
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After looking at what really got outlawed....they didn't outlaw rooting or jailbreaking, we still have legal barriers protecting us there. What was outlawed is UNLOCKING your phone (that S-OFF thing I was telling you about). Which is not a big deal if you stick to the brands I mentioned above. I'll have to do some more research, as clearly I'm a bit foggy in this area. I bolded the important parts. This is from the EFF: https://www.eff.org/is-it-illegal-to-unlock-a-phone <snip> Legal protection for people who unlock their mobile phones to use them on other networks expired last weekend. According to the claims of major U.S. wireless carriers, unlocking a phone bought after January 26 without your carrier's permission violates the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) whether the phone is under contract or not. In a way, this is not as bad as it sounds. In other ways, it's even worse. <snip> First, the good news. The legal shield for jailbreaking and rooting your phone remains up - it'll protect us at least through 2015. The shield for unlocking your phone is down, but carriers probably aren't going to start suing customers en masse, RIAA-style. And the Copyright Office's decision, contrary to what some sensational headlines have said, doesn't necessarily make unlocking illegal. |
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- Ditch Verizon
- Buy a Nexus 4 - Order a Straight Talk or NET10 SIM kit - Enjoy your kick-ass, contract free phone and unlimited talk/text/1.5GB data for $45/month |
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After looking at what really got outlawed....they didn't outlaw rooting or jailbreaking, we still have legal barriers protecting us there. What was outlawed is UNLOCKING your phone (that S-OFF thing I was telling you about). Which is not a big deal if you stick to the brands I mentioned above. I'll have to do some more research, as clearly I'm a bit foggy in this area. Unlocking a phone means you can use the phone on different carriers if their bands support it. IE, buying a phone for AT&T then unlocking it to use on T-Mobile instead. The carrier can still unlock the phone for you, you just aren't supposed to do it yourself anymore. If the phone comes unlocked, your fine. If the carrier unlocks it for you (like if you do a lot of international travel and use foreign SIM cards) your fine. This is not the same as rooting/jailbreaking/etc. Worst that can happen with that is they could *potentially* deny a warranty/insurance replacement on your phone if it is broken. I've never heard of that actually happening but if the phone is broken and you need to swap it, break it real good. |
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So...I'm finally looking at switching to a smart phone. I have a few options available, and curious as to arfcom's recommendations. Basic info: I have a regular feature phone, that is eligible for upgrade with contract. Verizon. Also on my plan is my father's HTC Thunderbolt, which has a grandfathered unlimited plan. I take care of his bills, as he's in an assisted living facility. I think his peak usage was around 200mb in a month. Naturally, an unlimited plan at $30 a month is a waste for him. My plan is to switch his phone to a standard 1GB policy, and transfer the unlimited plan to whatever phone I go with. So, this is where the questions come in to play: Do I buy a used phone, without contract, or get a new phone WITH contract? Part of me says the subsidized price is hard to beat. However, if I get an older 4G phone, I can jailbreak it (if legal) and not only have the unlimited data plan on it, but can also use the mobile hotspot feature without getting raped. As far as I understand, they don't currently allow mobile hotspot on grandfathered plans. But at $30 a month, who would want it anyway? I have no plans to abuse the feature...but it would be nice to have broadband available for occasional road trips and whatnot. Currently looking at a Thunderbolt because...well... they're fairly cheap, and i'm familiar with it. I thought about a G'zone commando, but it's 3G only, which seems kind of pointless if i want to share bandwidth. Ideas/recommendations? I'd look into a nokia lumia 822. |
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I'd look into a nokia lumia 822. Windows....yuck. lol.... I deal with enough windows issues throughout the day. I'm definitly leaning towards something android. Yeah it totally makes sense to judge a phone OS based off of experiences using a desktop OS. 
Seriously look at the user reviews and compare them to every other phone. They are high for a reason. |
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Yeah it totally makes sense to judge a phone OS based off of experiences using a desktop OS.
Seriously look at the user reviews and compare them to every other phone. They are high for a reason. Allow me to reiterate: I am looking for something android. I have zero interest in a Windows phone for many reasons. 
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I just bought the HTC One and am absolutely in love with it. Upgraded from a S2 so it was a pretty big upgrade in hardware, yet not bogged down with silly features like eye-scroll or whatever the S4 has. My only issues with the HTC One are no user replaceable battery, and no SD slot. Mind you, 32GB is probably plenty for most. But still...I don't trust the battery to last the life of the phone. |
| I had a ton of problems with the HTC ONE X (the previous version)... specifically with the battery not working as it was supposed to, so not dead, but not fully functional. HTC sent me four replacement phones over a six month period until I received one that worked. I'd imagine they would do the same on the HTC One so long as it is a hardware issue and not something like the phone being rooted causing the issue. |
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I had a ton of problems with the HTC ONE X (the previous version)... specifically with the battery not working as it was supposed to, so not dead, but not fully functional. HTC sent me four replacement phones over a six month period until I received one that worked. I'd imagine they would do the same on the HTC One so long as it is a hardware issue and not something like the phone being rooted causing the issue. ouch...... I had that same thing with my last phone. 4 RMAs. Of course, they don't send you a new phone, but usually a reconditioned one. |
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Why would you not use your upgrade form Verizon? If you plan on staying with Verizon for 2 more years at least, then use your upgrade. Not using it and buying a phone off craigslist is a terrible idea. Horrible. You want one of these brands: HTC Samsung Motorola You can root any of them. Jailbreaking is for iPhones, Rooting is for Android. Same thing, different name. Not really. Jailbreaking on iOS is similar, but it mostly allows you to install apps and shit that are NOT in the Apple App Store. Android can install apps from anywhere natively. You have to enable an option in the settings to do it, but you can download an APK and install it without rooting. Rooting just gives you root level access to do some things that you can't do without it... things like change certain system settings and such. |
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I just bought the HTC One and am absolutely in love with it. Upgraded from a S2 so it was a pretty big upgrade in hardware, yet not bogged down with silly features like eye-scroll or whatever the S4 has. My only issues with the HTC One are no user replaceable battery, and no SD slot. Mind you, 32GB is probably plenty for most. But still...I don't trust the battery to last the life of the phone. If you are able to come to terms with those two facts, this is the best phone available currently; especially when rooted and bloatware removed. |
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I had a ton of problems with the HTC ONE X (the previous version)... specifically with the battery not working as it was supposed to, so not dead, but not fully functional. HTC sent me four replacement phones over a six month period until I received one that worked. I'd imagine they would do the same on the HTC One so long as it is a hardware issue and not something like the phone being rooted causing the issue. ouch...... I had that same thing with my last phone. 4 RMAs. Of course, they don't send you a new phone, but usually a reconditioned one. HTC sent me two brand-new phones when I simply emailed them about problems I was having...they were giving them out like banks give out pens. |
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So.... left home at 6:45am, 100% charge. GPS use to work. Random apps running in the background (lync, skype, etc). Few surf sessions on lunch, etc.
Currently at 78% battery. Also tried FoxFi. connected, ran a speed test, and it died. I think i went over it's self imposed limit before the test completed. Nifty app.... if it works. Still debating paying for the full version. |