Looking to try out AT&T.......

[Guidos Dad]

I've been on Verizon for some time and service where I live and where I work has always been real good. But.....I'm not holding my breath and just am not feeling very hopeful that VZ is going to embrace WP even after 8 comes out. I've had a Trophy for about a year and my contract has run out back in April, so I'm thinking of getting an AT&T windows phone off ebay to try out their service for next 3-5 months off contract. If I find the service sucks in my area well..then I just go back to VZ and light up my Trophy again and then WAIT for WP8. But I hope I find the service OK to convince me to stay on it. At least AT&T seem to want WP to make it in the cell market.

My question is looking for advise on what to look for as far as a phone. I've seen some NEW Samsung Focus S' going in the $250-$275 range while the 900's and Titan 2's NEW are in the mid to upper $300's and above. Watching also to see If I can find something that looks decent used. I bought the Trophy used off ebay. What is the opinions on the Focus S? Even though its 3G/nonLTE4g, I like the 4.3 screen and that it has 16GB memory which my Trophy has and I've got about 10gig used with a small handful of apps and a bunch of music.

Is the camera decent on the Focus S? That's been my one big disappointment with the Trophy is the crappy camera on it. I use my camera on it quite a bit at work.

Just looking for hopefully enough good comments to convenience me to try getting a Focus S over being temped to spend $100+ more $$ for the newer stuff.

 

[palandri]

The only thing I would like to mention is, you may have to call AT&T to order a SIM card. AT&T stores have a habit of telling customers you have to sign a contract even if you own the phone. Of course, that isn't true.

I ran into this in Illinois in two different AT&T stores. I finally had to call AT&T to order my regular SIM card and my Pay As You Go SIM card. I mentioned this to AT&T when i called them, and they said they have no control over what the people in the stores say.

 

[Guidos Dad]

I talked to a couple people at my local store telling them I what I was looking to do and they said I could get the sim card there. They didn't say anything about having to sign a contract, so hopefully its not an issue.

 

[ninjaap]

If you buy the phone new in the box, it should come with an unused sim card. You could always contact the seller to make sure. If it does, you may not even need to go into a store. You can just call ATT to activate it over the phone. Don't forget the $36 activation fee they probably won't tell you about, but will show up on your first bill.

 

[Guidos Dad]

If you buy the phone new in the box, it should come with an unused sim card. You could always contact the seller to make sure. If it does, you may not even need to go into a store. You can just call ATT to activate it over the phone. Don't forget the $36 activation fee they probably won't tell you about, but will show up on your first bill.

yes, the sales lady did tell me about the activation fee. They were all very nice there at this store. The lady I talked to showed me her 900 she uses. She really likes it. I talked also to an HTC rep there. He was nice and informative talking about and comparing different phones for me. I'd asked them about android phones because I also talked with them about getting the Nexus on Google Play for $350 and try that out on ATT. Funny that they did not know about that deal. I showed them the website. After looking at that even the HTC guy said he'd recommend jumping on that if I decided I wanted to try android and try out ATT off contract.

 

[bigkevbosky]

Ugh - don't spend $200 - $300 on a WP7 AT&T phone now, when we're literally two months away from finding out about the new WP8 devices.

I'd recommend either an excellent condition Focus or Focus Flash - both can be had new in box for under $150. You could also go for a Dell Venue Pro if keyboards are your thing, again you can get them new in box for $135 - $140.

The Focus Flash has a smaller screen, but is an HSPA phone. The Focus and Venue Pro are 3G devices, but I had pretty good speeds with the Focus, and it can enable HSDPA for faster uploads.

And if you REALLY need LTE - I've seen the Focus 2 go on Ebay for under $200. Recently I've seen plenty of Lumia 900s on Ebay around $225 or less in good condition. Can't go wrong with that.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-...0881728273?pt=Cell_Phones&hash=item27c9583f11

If you want the absolute cheapest WP7 device you can get just to test the AT&T network, you'll probably have to go with an LG Quantum or HTC Surround.

 

[TMavC5]

AT&T offer 30 days satisfaction, why not go that route? Alot simpler!! You'll know off the bat if you have coverage or not.

Sent from my Lumia 900 Cyan using Board Express

 

[Guidos Dad]

Ugh - don't spend $200 - $300 on a WP7 AT&T phone now, when we're literally two months away from finding out about the new WP8 devices.

I'd recommend either an excellent condition Focus or Focus Flash - both can be had new in box for under $150. You could also go for a Dell Venue Pro if keyboards are your thing, again you can get them new in box for $135 - $140.

The Focus Flash has a smaller screen, but is an HSPA phone. The Focus and Venue Pro are 3G devices, but I had pretty good speeds with the Focus, and it can enable HSDPA for faster uploads.

And if you REALLY need LTE - I've seen the Focus 2 go on Ebay for under $200. Recently I've seen plenty of Lumia 900s on Ebay around $225 or less in good condition. Can't go wrong with that.

Nokia Lumia 900 - 16GB - Cyan (AT&T) Smartphone 6438158429550 | eBay

If you want the absolute cheapest WP7 device you can get just to test the AT&T network, you'll probably have to go with an LG Quantum or HTC Surround.

if I was going to get a wp8 phone right away, I would agree that it would be foolish to spend that much on something I would use only 2-3 months. But I don't plan on buying something right away. I'm going to wait awhile to see hopefully a half dozen or more phones from different makes to study a little bit and then make a choice. So in the meantime I do want one with a little bit bigger screen than my Trophy and with a good camera because I do use my phone a lot for work. That's why the Focus S looked attractive if I can find one for the low to mid $200s. Thanks for the recommendations on phones. I'll check them out some.

 

[Guidos Dad]

AT&T offer 30 days satisfaction, why not go that route? Alot simpler!! You'll know off the bat if you have coverage or not.

Sent from my Lumia 900 Cyan using Board Express

I talked to the ATT people a about that rout also. Just not sure a about the limited time to try things out. I read and hear of a lot of people who do that though trying out phones.

 

[scottcraft]

Have you looked on craigslist? I see windows phones on there quite regularly.

Sent from my Rezound

 

[thecaringkind]

I recently jettisoned Verizon & my old Trophy to step up to A Lumia 900 on AT&T. Paid $19.99 for the phone via amazonwireless, (I don't mind the two year contract). That's a crazy great price for a phone that just doesn't get enough love. By the time my upgrade comes around there will be plenty of WP8 phones available especially since I am now with a carrier that supports the platform & gets the new tech out there pretty fast. Adios Verizon. I won't miss you.:dry