It’s official, TechnoDiva has liberated herself from overpriced cell phone contracts!
I was lamenting paying over $120/month to my former carrier for my SMARTPHONE to one of my Diva buddies and she said,
“Switch to Boost”
I looked at her like she was crazy and she laughed and said
“Seriously, I’ve been with them for years, it’s on the Sprint Network.”
Now that surprised me because my only thought about Boost Mobile were the old commercials with the tagline “Where you at?” Poor grammar aside, I always thought of pre-paid mobile as synonymous with poor coverage and bad credit. NOT SO!
I always thought of pre-paid mobile as synonymous with poor coverage and bad credit.
I think this is one of the biggest finds of the year for me. What many people don’t know is that there is a whole new side to prepaid mobile with GREAT PHONES, GREAT COVERAGE and AFFORDABLE PLANS!!!
So after paying that last $120+ phone bill, and her sharing her $40/month unlimited plan (with shrinkage) I was curious.
PHONES
I started doing the research and found that BOOST MOBILE is indeed on the Sprint Network AND they have an AWESOME selection of phones from which to choose.
Click the image to read more about the phone!
I started of with the Motorola XPRT. It’s cool, in fact it reminded me of my old Blackberry Curve and I LOOOOVED the $99 price tag (yes the thing with prepaid is that you have to buy your phone, but more on that later). I am a fan of the physical keyboard. I know many people are happy with the touchscreen thing, but PERSONALLY I’m not feeling it (and yes I have tried). I like how I can use just one hand to handle this baby, and of course it works on the Android operating system, which I love. Ultimately, however, I returned it. The phone is great, but it was missing one key feature…arrow keys! What my Blackberry had that this phone lacks is directional keys and/or a touch pad to move the cursor about easily. Also the screen is a little too small for my reading tastes (yes I often use my Kindle App to read on the go).
So I when back and exchanged the XPRT for what I wanted in the first place the Samsung Transform Ultra ($199). So far I am VERY HAPPY with it. It has the slider keyboard, which is nice because there is PLENTY of space for my fingers to type LOL. See a review here.
SERVICE
So far the service has been great. Please note its 3G vs 4G, but in my experience, 3G is more than sufficient to handle my needs. I can watch video, make calls, and even use my phone as a modem when I’m on the go. Call clarity is fine and SPRINT has a national network that works great.
PLAN
The Android unlimited plan is $55/month and they have the shrinkage program that reduces the bill by $5 every 6 months if you pay on time. You can reduce the bill by up to $15, so me eventually paying $40 a month for UNLIMITED talk, text, & data can’t be beat.
Wrapping up, I am LOOVING it right now and if ANYONE has a contract ending soon, TRULY consider liberating yourself and getting a prepaid plan. Yes you have to buy your phone, but think about it, you can spend $100 – $300 for a phone up front and pay less than $60/mth for a plan OR get a “free” phone and pay $100 or more monthly for a plan AND be stuck in a contract! After about 6 months, you have paid for the phone and after 2 years you paid for the phone 3 times over!
For me when my phone broke two weeks before my contract was up and my ONLY option was to get a new phone, instead of “upgrading” and paying about $60 for a new phone with Verizon, I choose to buy a phone on the BOOST network (you can often find deals on EBAY or AMAZON) and then go with a prepaid option. Virgin Mobile & BOOST are BOTH on the SPRINT NETWORK so I am confident about the coverage and when my contract is officially up on the 10th I will port over my old number (currently I am forwarding calls to my temporary number). I’m happy and will update you with any developments as I move forward with this new experience in mobile technology!
-Stay Fabulous!
