Sprint Mvno's and Prepaid

[vtimmy13]

Hi guys, you might not know alot about me but im 19 years old and can not afford the expensive rates of contract plans but am in love with new technology... I currently use a Virgin Mobile 35$ beyond talk plan with a Htc evo 3d (htc evo v 4g). Anyways really looking forward to buying a samsung galaxy S3 but i was wondering what is anybodys expierence with the other mvnos and can i get cheaper.. LIke i know republic wireless is dirt cheap... but its only phone is a old ass motorola 2.3 gingerbread

 

 

So the point of this topic, is to discuss sprint prepaid carriers, or rumors of new devices, carriers, or plans! 

[gr8nuguy]

check out Ting.com and see how it compares  (offers voice roaming unlike virgin )

[iansltx]

The cheapest you'll see the S III up front on a non-contract carrier without going to eBay is $400...which will buy it on Virgin Mobile or Boost Mobile. If you want lower monthly costs for still-unlimited service...and don't want to wait for Boost's shrinking payments to hick in...you can pay $440 for the phone and $45 per month to Straight Talk. At which point you're making back the extra $40 by the end of month 4, end up $50 ahead a year in, break even monthly-fee-wise for six months and then lose $5 per month until, at month 28, you should have bought Boost in the first place. But a fair bit changes in two-and-change years.

 

All that said, you can get a Galaxy S III for $300 off of eBay, and Ting's plans start at a much lower price than Virgin Mobile, Straight Talk or Boost Mobile's. The catch is that there's no such thing as unlimited on Ting; your $35 will buy you, for example, up to 500 minutes, 1000 text messages and 500 MB of data. Minutes and messages are pretty reasonably priced, but data (though, yes, the data to carry VoIP is theoretically slightly cheaper than equivalent minutes, and SMS is definitely cheaper) is rather expensive, at around $20 per GB. If you want to not worry about data usage, Virgin or Boost is a better idea. Though the $10 difference between an eBay S III and a Virgin Mobile S III can pay for a few gigs of data.

 

There are other providers out there, but their plans are generally nothing to write home about. Except maybe Voyager Mobile, which offers Bring Your Own Phone like Ting, but with a $39-per-month unlimited-everything option. Haven't tried using that plan though, so no guarantees as to whether it has, for example, voice + SMS roaming like Ting.

[vtimmy13]

voyager mobile is so interesting... but i never hear anything about them... so i dont know how it will be... 

[cletus]

I use Ting myself. There is a whole thread on it here http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/2606-the-ting-thread/

 

 

Remember that Ting has that most MVNOs on the Sprint do not have: Voice and SMS roaming on Verizon. I actually find this the best selling point over other MVNOs. Voyager may be cheaper but the lack of roaming kills it for me.

 

 

On the other hand, if lack of coverage doesn't bother you then the $30 T-Mobile plan might work for you if you never leave the city. Although my experience with it left a lot to be desired (such as reliable data coverage)

[vtimmy13]

Yeah if anybody ever used voyager please speak up!

[DJBPace07]

I wonder if Sprint has any kind of reduced access for prepaid/MVNO customers as in certain frequencies may not be available for use or reduced network priorities...