Tracfone costs me about 80 dollars a year. iPod Touch will add another 299 to that. So for two years, 460 is my total. iPhone 5 is 300, Verizon/ATT with a 1 gig data limit plus taxes is just about 100 dollars A MONTH. Over two years, that's 2700 dollars. Not buying an iPhone 5 is an easy decision. It's not really the fault of the iPhone, though. It's the fact that cellular subscription prices are completely moronic.
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iPod touch iPod5 + dumb phone vs. iPhone 5
- Thread starter BigCanoe
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SpinalTap
macrumors regular
I wanted the GPS functionality of the iPhone 4S, plus it's cell phone capability, but primarily a music and podcast player.
Rather than buy a monthly data plan, I pay for telephone calls only on my iPhone on a pay-as-you-go top-up basis. That means that I can take all the advantages of free wifi hotspots (and wifi at home) and only top up my telephone account as and when I need.
The GPS usage is not dependant on a data plan (using CoPilot Live).
EE is my phone provider in the UK by the way.
Rather than buy a monthly data plan, I pay for telephone calls only on my iPhone on a pay-as-you-go top-up basis. That means that I can take all the advantages of free wifi hotspots (and wifi at home) and only top up my telephone account as and when I need.
The GPS usage is not dependant on a data plan (using CoPilot Live).
EE is my phone provider in the UK by the way.
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Similar strategy to SpinalTap. Using a Virgin Mobile smart phone for $25 a month and a tethered iPad gives you the best of both worlds.
Solomani
macrumors 601
Heh. Sounds like me. A bit too frugal to see myself spend $90+ monthly just for a smartphone contract. But apparently I've convinced myself that I make enough (annual salary) to splurge on pricey gadgets like the $299 iPod Touch 5 at least once a year.
Everything that an iPhone can do I can already do on my Mac/PC... and can easily access the web through the free WiFi at work.
So yes it is a viable strategy not just for poor cash-strapped teenagers, but many adults like me that have decent-paying jobs, and we would rather save our heard-earned salary on more practical things.
Again, the one-time cost of the iPhone (on contract plan from AT&T, Verizon, etc) is not the issue. It's the fact that I have much better things I can do with $90-100 each month than to cede that money to the carriers for a smartphone with features that I won't use even 60% of.
In the US, you can still get a unlimited data plan for non-smart phone for $10 per month from AT&T.
Take that SIM out and put that in an unlocked GSM phone which is capable of tethering via bluetooth. Then use BT to tether to your iPT.
This is the cheapest data plan for your iPT, and you get unlimited data as well.
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I have a droid phone where I'm stationed in Japan for the added functionality (including GPS maps that are partially in English) but when I go back to the USA on travel its a prepaid clamshell and my iPad or iPod touch all the way!
Just out of interest.
Which carrier do you use for your prepaid data plan, that also gives you WiFi hotspot?
Would be a very cost effective way. You'll lose some convenience of contact management, and also have to manage two devices.
Giuly
macrumors 68040
My particular concern with that was finding a dumb phone with LTE and personal hotspot capabilities.
Concerning the US, I'd go with a Virgin Mobile broadband2go prepaid plan and an iPad with cellular. If you live in an area with LTE, $35 for unlimited data is pretty amazing. Add some EarPods and a VoIP app for telephony.
Same goes for the iPod Touch, but with a Virgin Overdrive Pro personal hotspot.
Concerning the US, I'd go with a Virgin Mobile broadband2go prepaid plan and an iPad with cellular. If you live in an area with LTE, $35 for unlimited data is pretty amazing. Add some EarPods and a VoIP app for telephony.
Same goes for the iPod Touch, but with a Virgin Overdrive Pro personal hotspot.
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For now, you won't find a dumb phone with LTE, but HSPA/HSPA+ is plenty fast already. But HSPA network in the US is not as good as the rest of the world.
Solomani
macrumors 601
In the USA yeah, the prices are completely moronic. In Asia and the EU... they (usually) have far lower monthly rates.
I would just get the AT&T data for the 3 week max trip on my iPad for the convenience of it....
This is something i'm looking at. My son is getting my ipod touch for his birthday and i know i'll be missing it very soon, but i do like the idea of my music and the main apps i use being on my phone. Carting the touch and my phone when travelling light(say to the supermarket) is mildly annoying.
Right now in the uk, the price of the 64gb iphone is too much for me, say £270 then £36+ per month.
I pay £15 for 5gb on a mifi, to which my current ipod is connected to most of the time i'm not at home.
I'll probably go for the 5th gen touch but will see what i think rolling around without it for a while before i take the plunge.
Right now in the uk, the price of the 64gb iphone is too much for me, say £270 then £36+ per month.
I pay £15 for 5gb on a mifi, to which my current ipod is connected to most of the time i'm not at home.
I'll probably go for the 5th gen touch but will see what i think rolling around without it for a while before i take the plunge.
Personally, I've never found carrying both devices to be a problem. Most of the time I wear jeans, so the touch goes in one pocket and my cell phone, keys, etc. go in the other one while my wallet goes in my back pocket. I have had moments where I'll reach for the wrong device (say, grab for the pocket my touch is in when I want to send a text or reach for my phone pocket when looking to play a game), but as long as I spread stuff around significantly (and make sure to not put my car keys in the same pocket as my iPod!) it doesn't get too annoying. But that's just my preference. If you find it annoying, then that's perfectly okay. To each his own 🙂
Project, my ipod is in a griffin case (number of times it's slipped out of the trolley and onto the floor lol) so not that thin.
It's only mildly annoying as i'll end up taking my handbag anyway.
I guess i'm already talking myself into another touch, i just need to wait until griffin get that updated case over here. Been very impressed with the survivor case so far, the touch goes places i'd never take my ipad (sitting in the grandstands at a race track i'm not so worried if it gets dropped)
It's only mildly annoying as i'll end up taking my handbag anyway.
I guess i'm already talking myself into another touch, i just need to wait until griffin get that updated case over here. Been very impressed with the survivor case so far, the touch goes places i'd never take my ipad (sitting in the grandstands at a race track i'm not so worried if it gets dropped)
IPod touch and dumb phone will work if you do not need data everywhere. I would rather pay the 15 dollars extra a month to carry one device.
I'm 27 and I still use an old phone with an iPod touch.
I was left without music when my Nokia N95's microSD card slot started refusing when I was travelling in Africa about 3 years ago. Probably something to do with a sandstorm in Namibia. When I got down to Cape Town a few weeks later I popped into an iStore (Apple re-seller) in the V&A and was talked into getting a cheap iPod Touch 2nd generation as the 3rd gen was coming out. They let me use one of their macs to transfer my music across... The phone worked OK otherwise so it was just the music I needed, but I was so impressed with the iPod that when I got home to the UK I sold it and bought the 3rd gen.
And I've been using two devices ever since; though I was left short again when my N95 stopped working and my iPod got pickpocketed while living in New Zealand. I had to wait weeks for my old Sony Ericsson W300i (still working perfectly after 6 years!) to arrive from the UK and for the iPod touch 4th gen in white to be released.
Felt quite liberating and old fashioned without a phone for a while; though I miss the pictures that the N95 used to take as the camera on the iPod 4 is bloody awful - that is the major motivation for me updating the the new iPod.
Going to keep with the w300i until it falls apart. The battery still lasts almost a week. NEVER ever getting a contract again after Orange ripped me off when I was in Africa. On PAYG I barely spend £10 a month. Free WiFi is widely available around the world so I don't really need 3G connection.
I was left without music when my Nokia N95's microSD card slot started refusing when I was travelling in Africa about 3 years ago. Probably something to do with a sandstorm in Namibia. When I got down to Cape Town a few weeks later I popped into an iStore (Apple re-seller) in the V&A and was talked into getting a cheap iPod Touch 2nd generation as the 3rd gen was coming out. They let me use one of their macs to transfer my music across... The phone worked OK otherwise so it was just the music I needed, but I was so impressed with the iPod that when I got home to the UK I sold it and bought the 3rd gen.
And I've been using two devices ever since; though I was left short again when my N95 stopped working and my iPod got pickpocketed while living in New Zealand. I had to wait weeks for my old Sony Ericsson W300i (still working perfectly after 6 years!) to arrive from the UK and for the iPod touch 4th gen in white to be released.
Felt quite liberating and old fashioned without a phone for a while; though I miss the pictures that the N95 used to take as the camera on the iPod 4 is bloody awful - that is the major motivation for me updating the the new iPod.
Going to keep with the w300i until it falls apart. The battery still lasts almost a week. NEVER ever getting a contract again after Orange ripped me off when I was in Africa. On PAYG I barely spend £10 a month. Free WiFi is widely available around the world so I don't really need 3G connection.
It's not remotely close to 15 dollars extra a month. My Tracfone is 8 dollars a month, no contract. I can text/talk and even get data(it uses the pre-paid minutes). Verizon/ATT/Sprint average out to be about 90-100 a month. That's ridiculous. Virgin Mobile will eventually get it, but that's 40 dollars a month, still way more than 8 dollars a month, and it's on a crappy network.
I pay $10 every 4 months for cell service on page plus. I barely use any of the minutes so paying for a huge plan doesn't make sense for me. The phone I bought cost me $60 and should last a long time. For other things and apps I have the touch. Yes I would like to have data everywhere but the costs just don't justify it and my use for that would be limited to foursquare type apps so again it's really not worth it and I don't need it. If I could get data for like $5 a month on my touch then I would get it but that is about all I am willing to pay for data considering my use.
Minhimalism
macrumors 6502a
This is why I'm glad my family has T-Mobile. All four of us are using an iPhone 4 with unlimited grandfathered data for $165 a month total, and that's after tax too. Current Verizon and ATT plans are just ludicrous..
And to be relevant to the thread, I used this combination for a while too! iPod touch 2G with an LG Lollipop. I wish I could do the same with the new pretty blue iPod touch, but I'm too sucked into the phone world and convenience of having one device!
Up till a week ago, that's what I had. I had that set up for two years and I just got the iPhone. I don't miss carrying two devices around but it was a lot cheaper.