No Contracts! Period!

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No Contracts! Period!

by Paul
(remote Minnesota)

I would pay fair market value on a phone. I would pay up to $150 for a decently featured phone (camera, web & of course, phone). Don't do much shopping online so that isn't important, nor are texting features (use couple times a week). Best battery would be a top feature that would swing me to buy, and/or phone that connects my laptop via USB. Those two features together would sway me into purchasing.

"No Contract" with the rapid changing of the guard in telecommunications advances, one could be stuck in a contract with obsolete equipment/technology (or have to ante up more bucks to upgrade). No-brainer IMHO....

Comments for
No Contracts! Period!

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Jun 29, 2010

Importance of battery
by: qbseven

To the commentors on having a good battery: right now I have an LG. Granted, mine does not have a lot of bells and whistles, but my standby lasts a good two weeks, if not more. Have never run it out on talk time which the longest for me would be about 45 minutes. Good advice to really research the battery before laying out cash for a phone!

Jun 29, 2010

Good Point on International
by: qbseven

A very valid point on overseas users - once more proving they are "higher on the curve" than we are! I spend winters in Mexico in a small city on the coast. When I get there, I just pick up a PP phone at about $30/mo. Can call back home and around Mex.....then just pitch, or give it back when I leave. Prob even cheaper is Skype

Jun 29, 2010

prepaid is best
by: theo

I dropped my contract and went with Net10 to save money and got a really decent Samsung T401G with a full slide-out qwerty keyboard and all the bells and whistles for $79.99! I am paying 10c per minute for my calls, 15c per minute for overseas calls and 3c each for texts with no roaming fees or long distance charges. I am now paying far less per month for my cell phone than when I was on contract and because of that I can afford to upgrade my phone any tome I like!

Jun 23, 2010

No Contract Phone Plans
by: PrepaidWirelessGuy

Great point about the rapidly changing industry and being stuck with an old phone! Fortunately most carriers allow you to upgrade at the discounted price once per year even when you're in a 2 or 3 year contract. However, in this fast-paced industry, even a year can seem like a lifetime! And then you're stuck with them for another 2 or 3 years. Even worse is if your carrier doesn't have the phone you want, then you're really stuck!

I also think there's a lot to be said about your battery life requirements. I remember back in the day when I could not charge my cell phone for a week or two at a time. Mind you it was much less feature-rich (and no Web), and not as many people had cell phones (i.e. less people calling me), but now I can barely make it through the day without charging my smartphone.

I know battery life isn't a sexy feature carriers and manufacturers can market, but it's becoming more and more important, and I hope they're working on research and development to improve in this area! I expect customers WILL start to make this a top priority feature when comparing phones and carriers.

Jun 23, 2010

I agree, contractless prepaid has advantages
by: Janine at prepaid.com

With Unlimited plans to suit any lifestyle and need and so may convenient ways to pay, prepaid makes sense for more and more mobile customers. The US seems to be catching up to the rest of the world where 73 percent of mobile customers are Prepaid. In Mexico it is almost 90 percent and in some countries in Europe, such as Italy and Spain, it is even higher!

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