My transition from ‘dumb’ phone to smartphone was far from seamless. In my usual spend-thrift way, I started shopping around for the cheapest smartphone I could find. I tried the HTC G1 and one of the many Blackberry flavors before deciding that, from a hardware standpoint, a used iPhone really was the best option available. However, I was not a fan of AT&T’s iPhone plan. The idea of doubling or tripling my monthly cell phone bill was not very enticing.
Quest for the Cheapest Smartphone Plan
I started researching alternatives and ended up settling on a plan from H2O Wireless which was charging $40/month for unlimited voice calling and text messaging. It had no data, but I wasn’t interested in data since I was near a WiFi signal 90% of the time anyway. I had also already seen the slow connection speeds of AT&T’s crowded 3G network and had no interest in paying a premium to access it.
Now that I had “a plan for a plan” in place, I started shopping eBay to complete my quest for the cheapest smartphone. At any one time, eBay has thousands of iPhones being sold by the folks who simply ‘must’ have the latest gadget from Apple. I soon found what I was looking for and once the package arrived in the mail, I was able to insert the H2O SIM card seamlessly into the iPhone’s SIM card tray. A quick re-boot and I was in business, making unlimited voice calls and text messages on the iPhone for only $40/month.
Switching iPhones
The story continues. About a year later, my girlfriend (now wife) convinced me to upgrade from the iPhone 3G to the iPhone 4 so we could video chat with the front facing camera. I found a deal on eBay and bought it, only to discover that Apple had changed the SIM card tray on the iPhone 4 to only accept the micro-SIM card format. I thought the cheapest smartphone idea was dead in the water, until I did a little research online. Apparently, the contacts were the same on both SIM cards! I quickly got out a pair of scissors and the H2O SIM card and trimmed it down to size. By the way, you can find a used iPhone 4 on Amazon for under $200. For the price to value ratio, this is the cheapest smartphone you can get today.
Voila! There I was still holding the cheapest smartphone for my needs.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
My plan is insanely expensive – we Canadians, in general, spend a lot more per month on cell phone plans, but I’m paying even more than the norm – over $100/month. I got sucked into it when I was young and dumb and wanted to sign a contract for a really long time to get a “reduced price” iPhone.
My plan runs out this year and I am SO EXCITED for that day.
$100/mo is lot to pay for any cell phone plan! I was at a barbecue yesterday and we were discussing how most things in Canada are more expensive than the US. Everything from milk to gas to car insurance to cell phone plans.
Straight talk now offers a $45 unlimited everything plan, and you can order the micro-sim from their website for about $14. It will fit the iPhone 4 or 4s. No jail breaking, unlocking or hacking required. Note: if you use data in excess of 3GB, straight talk may call and threaten to kick you off of their network.
Thanks for the tip, Merle. That last sentence sounds like it is spoken from experience.
I wish we could find a plan for $40. My wife is still paying about $70 for just talking – no text or data. That would make it about $100 if we did all that. Ridiculous!
Pay as you go is the trick to paying a lot less for your cell phone. Either that, or having a family plan maxed out with 5 users.
My contract with T-Mobile expires the middle of June…woo-hoo!! Can I call you and have you buy me a phone? (been thinking I’ll prob go with Straight Talk)
Absolutely Lucy, give me a call or email me some time. I enjoy finding tech deals for folks.
hesitated to buy a refurbished iphone . I spent losts of time to search google to buy iphone and finally bought iphone 4 .got almost brand new iphone 4 with $370 and very happy with my phone.
I just think I need to share
irefurbishiphone.com