Advice Needed: Seems I'm Getting A Smartphone

[Kathianne]

My brother just called, seems he won a Virgin Mobile phone at golf outing yesterday. He wants me to have it and he'll pay for the phone service, it bothers him that I work late at night and don't have phone in car. He asked which plan I want, told him cheapest. He said, "I don't think so, I think you'll use the data for internet and perhaps texting. Look at the comprehensive plans and choose." So it seems for $35 a month one gets 300 minutes, $45 gives 1200 minutes. That makes sense, no? He thought so.

Here's my question, is the data thing necessary to get apps and such? I like the idea that I can be at the grocery and add to my coupons or check on them.

Anyhow, the phone is Kyocera Rise with the pull out keyboard, 'querty?'. Anyone know how that works? The reviews on Amazon look good.

[Marcus Aurelius]

My brother just called, seems he won a Virgin Mobile phone at golf outing yesterday. He wants me to have it and he'll pay for the phone service, it bothers him that I work late at night and don't have phone in car. He asked which plan I want, told him cheapest. He said, "I don't think so, I think you'll use the data for internet and perhaps texting. Look at the comprehensive plans and choose." So it seems for $35 a month one gets 300 minutes, $45 gives 1200 minutes. That makes sense, no? He thought so.

Here's my question, is the data thing necessary to get apps and such? I like the idea that I can be at the grocery and add to my coupons or check on them.

Anyhow, the phone is Kyocera Rise with the pull out keyboard, 'querty?'. Anyone know how that works? The reviews on Amazon look good.

Most carriers require you to have even a minimal data plan if you get a Smart phone.

[fj1200]

My brother just called, seems he won a Virgin Mobile phone at golf outing yesterday. He wants me to have it and he'll pay for the phone service, it bothers him that I work late at night and don't have phone in car. He asked which plan I want, told him cheapest. He said, "I don't think so, I think you'll use the data for internet and perhaps texting. Look at the comprehensive plans and choose." So it seems for $35 a month one gets 300 minutes, $45 gives 1200 minutes. That makes sense, no? He thought so.

Here's my question, is the data thing necessary to get apps and such? I like the idea that I can be at the grocery and add to my coupons or check on them.

Anyhow, the phone is Kyocera Rise with the pull out keyboard, 'querty?'. Anyone know how that works? The reviews on Amazon look good.

Yes, 1200 minutes makes sense depending on how much you're on the phone. 'QWERTY' keyboard; just like your computer. You can save data by downloading on your home wifi and not use minutes by calling after 7? or whatever they call "after hours." But congratulations, your new phone is better than mine. You might even be able to drop your land line and port that number to your cell; we did that 5 years ago.

[Kathianne]

Most carriers require you to have even a minimal data plan if you get a Smart phone.

That wasn't the issue. Will it be worth having 'unlimited' data and whatever? How are these used?

[WiccanLiberal]

I use mine a lot more than I ever thought. Using it right now. And I also use wifi whenever I can. You definitely need data plan for apps etc

[jimnyc]

That wasn't the issue. Will it be worth having 'unlimited' data and whatever? How are these used?

Depends on how much you'll use surfing and if text messages contain pictures and such. I get 10gig of data transfer and have never come close to the limits, but I don't use the mobile much. If affordable, unlimited will certainly give you peace of mind, and then go nuts on the phone without worries!

[Kathianne]

In general, I don't like texting as a means of communication. All of the problems of the internet, with family and friends? No thanks. Too many ways to be misunderstood. I can see texting to say, I'm leaving now or stuck in traffic, that's about it.

However, while I had one of the first 'smart phones' back when, I really only used it as phone and speaker phone and to check weather. ;)

Now it seems that apps are everywhere. Then I read news from internet. So, yes, it seems that $45 a month is reasonable and can't see using more than 1200 minutes a month on voice, since I still am keeping my home phone, unless by some miracle I can hear well on the mobile.

[Marcus Aurelius]

That wasn't the issue. Will it be worth having 'unlimited' data and whatever? How are these used?

Depends on the cost. I have a family plan with Verizon, and a 4gig data plan. We generally used about 70% on average each month. We're constantly texting and online though.

[Marcus Aurelius]

I use mine a lot more than I ever thought. Using it right now. And I also use wifi whenever I can. You definitely need data plan for apps etc

Most smart phones can be set to use your homes WiFi automatically when it's in range, to save on the data plan usage.

[logroller]

My wife uses less than 1 gb data per month and she's not that good about using wifi when available, so I'd say you don't need unlimited data. I do have unlimited data, and probably don't need it; however, Verizon no longer offers it so I'm hesitant to drop it. But you can usually change your plan, (and I've even done so after getting stuck with international roaming charges and received it retroactively)-- so I'd say start low and monitor your usage.

[tailfins]

My brother just called, seems he won a Virgin Mobile phone at golf outing yesterday. He wants me to have it and he'll pay for the phone service, it bothers him that I work late at night and don't have phone in car. He asked which plan I want, told him cheapest. He said, "I don't think so, I think you'll use the data for internet and perhaps texting. Look at the comprehensive plans and choose." So it seems for $35 a month one gets 300 minutes, $45 gives 1200 minutes. That makes sense, no? He thought so.

Here's my question, is the data thing necessary to get apps and such? I like the idea that I can be at the grocery and add to my coupons or check on them.

Anyhow, the phone is Kyocera Rise with the pull out keyboard, 'querty?'. Anyone know how that works? The reviews on Amazon look good.

I asked my carrier about a smartphone. Apparently it will triple my bill. The closest I will get to a smartphone is a Nexus 7 and wheel into a McDonald's or Starbucks parking lot if I need internet.

[Thunderknuckles]

My wife uses less than 1 gb data per month and she's not that good about using wifi when available, so I'd say you don't need unlimited data. I do have unlimited data, and probably don't need it; however, Verizon no longer offers it so I'm hesitant to drop it. But you can usually change your plan, (and I've even done so after getting stuck with international roaming charges and received it retroactively)-- so I'd say start low and monitor your usage.
Have to echo LRs comments there. It's good advice. You'll probably find your data usage going up over time as you use the phone for other things at which point you can always upgrade to another plan. My wife and I currently have 6GB/month. At first we averaged a little over 1GB between the both of us. Now we are usually over 3GB every month.
It's all the "smart" stuff that the phone can do that starts to reel you in.

[Kathianne]

I asked my carrier about a smartphone. Apparently it will triple my bill. The closest I will get to a smartphone is a Nexus 7 and wheel into a McDonald's or Starbucks parking lot if I need internet.

Virgin Mobile is 'no contract,' that's important to me as it would lock my brother in, not me. They have some 'pay as you go plans,' but he wants me to be able to use it for reading news and stuff like that. He also wants to know what he'll be paying monthly.

He asked me before but I turned him down, I figured I didn't need to have one. However since he won the phone, he's insistent. He already has one from work and another from home, his wife has 3. Why? Only she knows! LOL! Then again, she's the one with 3 chihuahuas. As I said in OP, lowest monthly plan has unlimited data and messaging, but only 300 minutes. $45 gives unlimited data and messaging and 1200 minutes. I'm unlikely to go over that, I'd use my home phone for such.

http://www.virginmobileusa.com/why-choose-us/

[Kathianne]

My wife uses less than 1 gb data per month and she's not that good about using wifi when available, so I'd say you don't need unlimited data. I do have unlimited data, and probably don't need it; however, Verizon no longer offers it so I'm hesitant to drop it. But you can usually change your plan, (and I've even done so after getting stuck with international roaming charges and received it retroactively)-- so I'd say start low and monitor your usage.

I'm unsure what you are saying here, that your wife's usage and mine are somehow connected? Sort of a vagina duologue or something?


Have to echo LRs comments there. It's good advice. You'll probably find your data usage going up over time as you use the phone for other things at which point you can always upgrade to another plan. My wife and I currently have 6GB/month. At first we averaged a little over 1GB between the both of us. Now we are usually over 3GB every month.
It's all the "smart" stuff that the phone can do that starts to reel you in.

All the plans include unlimited data and messaging. The difference between the plans was minutes of voice. $10 difference gave 4X the minutes, from 300 to 1200.

My question was how is data used? Apps? Viewing online? Etc.

[PostmodernProphet]

four of us on a family plan.....I use my smart phone for phone calls, GPS, reading books, email.....I hardly use any data, my wife even less.......my son listens to Pandora for music a lot......we have a 5gig plan and generally don't even come close to using 3.......

but, if you were on a 4G network and watched a HD movie on your cell phone you could burn off 6Gig in one movie.....\\(oh, and I recently gave up my office landline and ported my office number to my cellphone.....now the bill for all four on the family plan is less than the old bill for my office).......

[PostmodernProphet]

Sort of a vagina duologue or something? .

I'm sure that would require unlimited data......

[Thunderknuckles]

I'm unsure what you are saying here, that your wife's usage and mine are somehow connected? Sort of a vagina duologue or something?



All the plans include unlimited data and messaging. The difference between the plans was minutes of voice. $10 difference gave 4X the minutes, from 300 to 1200.

My question was how is data used? Apps? Viewing online? Etc.
Yeah, basically anything that requires your phone to connect to some remote server and download information. Most of my data usage comes from Pandora, YouTube, and watching some Netflix stuff. Apps use data but not very much depending on the app. I wound't put too much faith in "unlimited" data. The standard pratice for providers is to throttle your bandwith if they see you using a large amount of data. They only get away with it because technically you still have unlimited data but the download speeds are such that it makes it almost useless. Even so, I doubt you'll ever have an issue. You don't strike me as someone who will become glued to their phone all day long like my wife is with that confounded iPad of hers :)

[Marcus Aurelius]

not that you'd nee to worry with an unlimited data plan, but if you have wireless internet at home, you can set your smart phone to use your wifi to save it from using your data plan time. It is also a shit lot faster when you do that.

[Kathianne]

not that you'd nee to worry with an unlimited data plan, but if you have wireless internet at home, you can set your smart phone to use your wifi to save it from using your data plan time. It is also a shit lot faster when you do that.

I have wi-fi, but why would I mess around on phone, when I've got my laptop? LOL! Call me ancient, but I go for the biggest screen. ;) Once home, I'd put the phone on the charger.

I've no interest in gaming, minimal texting. More interested in reading news, checking out email, watching videos of breaking news.

So, what makes a 'smartphone' smart? I'm looking at apps that will give me further savings while shopping.

My computer is over 7 years old, the system no longer is supported. My 'phone' will take Google Chrome, so what will I find?

[DragonStryk72]

That wasn't the issue. Will it be worth having 'unlimited' data and whatever? How are these used?

Generally the unlimited plans are best. A lot of things, such as apps, app updates, and whatnot pull data, so you could be using data you're not even aware of. I find it best to just do the unlimited plan, and be done with it.

[DragonStryk72]

I have wi-fi, but why would I mess around on phone, when I've got my laptop? LOL! Call me ancient, but I go for the biggest screen. ;) Once home, I'd put the phone on the charger.

I've no interest in gaming, minimal texting. More interested in reading news, checking out email, watching videos of breaking news.

So, what makes a 'smartphone' smart? I'm looking at apps that will give me further savings while shopping.

My computer is over 7 years old, the system no longer is supported. My 'phone' will take Google Chrome, so what will I find?

Well, you've got things like the Starbucks app, if you're coffee-centric. It doubles as both gift card and a swipe card for your purchases to get stars that add up to free coffee. There are groupons that are out, and several stores have their own particular apps, especially delivery places and whatnot.

I have the Weatherbug app on my phone, so I'm kept apace of what the weather's going to be like, and then of course, there's my ebook collection that I keep on there, so whenever I'm in a long line or waiting around or some such, I have my books right there.

Then, as well, I have an app for posting on forums. The major news stations may have apps of their own as well. Generally, if you want to do something, there's an app for it.