I finally gave up my iPhone

[oban14]

Rather than pay AT&T 75 a month for horrible cell coverage, I've gone with Virgin Mobile for 25 a month. Unlimited data, SMS, text, etc and 300 minutes.

While I'll be the first to acknowledge that the phone is no where near as good as the iPhone, it was 70 dollars and provides sufficient email, IM, and web access. The coverage is better in San Francisco, and more than anything I simply can't justify 600 dollars extra per year for a slick interface that doesn't allow me to get on the web or make phone calls reliably.

My contract is up and I don't plan on signing another one until the data rates from the major carriers come way down. If VM comes out with an Android or iPhone (fat chance in the US) I'll buy one again, but until then... it will be a fat iPod touch. I'm actually impressed with what this phone does for 70 dollars and if I get sick of it, scratch it, or a better phone comes out it won't be any great loss.

BEST OF LUCK TO ALL OF YOU, AND MAY THE REIGN OF TERROR KNOWN AS AT&T BE CHALLENGED SOON!

 

[LordOBoogie]

I have great reception on AT&T. Just lucky, I guess.

 

[cooljoe349]

Hrmmm works great for me. Weeeeeeeeeee

 

[TheShinyMac]

Have a nice trip!, see you back in a few months

 

[Thedeathbear]

I have great reception on AT&T. Just lucky, I guess.

ditto. 3G and full bars everywhere I go. Goodbye.

 

[oban14]

Yeah, I hear people get great coverage outside of SF and NYC. Unfortunately... I'm usually in one or the other.

I do hope, if nothing more, that Virgin Mobile succeeds in lowering unlimited data plans from the major providers.

 

[Vertigo50]

Cool story, bro.

 

[HarrisonB]

Yeah, I hear people get great coverage outside of SF and NYC. Unfortunately... I'm usually in one or the other.

I do hope, if nothing more, that Virgin Mobile succeeds in lowering unlimited data plans from the major providers.

how much data can you consume on your cereal box phone? I know you aint streaming MLB, NBA games and soon to be netflix.

 

[oban14]

how much data can you consume on your cereal box phone? I know you aint streaming MLB, NBA games and soon to be netflix.

Typically under a gig per month, probably less without the iPhone. The problem I ran into is that all of the pay as you go services seem to charge so much by the megabyte once you go over 20 or 30 MB that it wasn't worth it...

I'm hopeful that an Android will come out for VM in the next few months. In any case, I'd rather pay 25 dollars for an average phone I can use than 75 for an iPhone that can't give me a reliable signal.

Quite frankly, I'd rather pay 25 dollars a month for a phone that just lets me talk. If the iPhone had good coverage I could probably justify the 50 dollars extra, but I basically feel like I've been providing charity to AT&T over the past 2 years.