Options for delayed 920 upgrade

[JohnIvory]

A popular complaint amongst 920 owners is the fact that there are no acceptable upgrades today for those that bought phones 2 years ago. Contracts are about to end and Microsoft has not even hinted at the possibility of a proper flagship being released in the near future.

For those that don't want to continue paying AT&T for a phone they're no longer subsidising, you may want to consider MVNOs in the United States. I'm personally on Straight Talk with an AT&T compatible 920, which I bought off contract two years ago when the 920 was released. For $45 a month you get 3 GB of 4G data (with a very rare smattering of LTE) and throttled speeds beyond that. Because of this I'm actually ready to wait out the uncertainty with regards to a new Windows Phone flagship, even if that means waiting till Windows 10's release. If your contract is almost up and you don't want to sign a fresh contract for a phone you don't think is worth it, an MVNO to carry you with reduced costs in the meantime might be worth looking into.

 

[dlusted]

I don't see why people are complaining.....
I had the 920, and have recently upgraded to the Lumia 930 on O2 UK Refresh. So, I pay ?15 towards the phone (?360 over 12months); but even if another flagship is announced prior to Win10 all I have to do pay the remaining, sell this 930 and get the new one.

Personally, there is nothing wrong with the 930. Only issue for me is with O2, and holding back the GDR1 update so I can use Cortana again

 

[JohnIvory]

I don't see why people are complaining.....
I had the 920, and have recently upgraded to the Lumia 930 on O2 UK Refresh. So, I pay ?15 towards the phone (?360 over 12months); but even if another flagship is announced prior to Win10 all I have to do pay the remaining, sell this 930 and get the new one.

Personally, there is nothing wrong with the 930. Only issue for me is with O2, and holding back the GDR1 update so I can use Cortana again

See you're in the UK. I can imagine that all those that live outside the US probably don't have problems upgrading to the 930, unless they're really going to miss glance that much. For those in the U.S. it's only the 1520, or coming soon M8 and 830, the first of which is a year old, the second with a subpar camera and questionable history of support, and the third a level lower than flagship. The 920 essentially launched Windows Phone 8 here in the US, and its buyers are now ready to sign new contracts and update their phones. But there're no worthy phones in sight.

 

[colinkiama]

See you're in the UK. I can imagine that all those that live outside the US probably don't have problems upgrading to the 930, unless they're really going to miss glance that much. For those in the U.S. it's only the 1520, or coming soon M8 and 830, the first of which is a year old, the second with a subpar camera and questionable history of support, and the third a level lower than flagship. The 920 essentially launched Windows Phone 8 here in the US, and its buyers are now ready to sign new contracts and update their phones. But there're no worthy phones in sight.

well the international 830 and 930 is available on Amazon US but I don't thing you are going to get LTE

 

[Aresjr21]

I personally believe the L830 is a great stop gap phone in between the wait for another L920 caliber phone. Or an unlocked L930 despite everyone saying it doesn't meet their definition of successor, it is the followup to the L920.

 

[JohnIvory]

I personally believe the L830 is a great stop gap phone in between the wait for another L920 caliber phone. Or an unlocked L930 despite everyone saying it doesn't meet their definition of successor, it is the followup to the L920.

The problem is that if you buy the 830 on contract, you're going to have to pay full price for whatever phone comes out whenever next year, or pay a few hundred more and sign a new contract at that time as well. If you don't buy the 830 and stay on AT&T, you're essentially paying the same thing that contractors pay, except you don't have any new phone that has been subsidised by the contract prices. That's what's pissing off a lot of 920 owners and why they're considering moving to move to iPhone or Android. Both have excellent devices lined up currently and you get to pay subsidised prices for them.

 

[cba191]

I was in the same boat. I just decided to get to used 1520 off ebay to hold me over until the Windows 10 phones show up.

 

[JohnIvory]

well the international 830 and 930 is available on Amazon US but I don't thing you are going to get LTE

I know, but none of that is ideal for US customers. You'll be paying full price for those phones and unless you get on an MVNO like I suggest, you'll essentially be giving AT&T money while NOT getting to use their LTE network. What we have here is a terrible situation filled with compromises for people on AT&T with ending contracts.

 

[JohnIvory]

I was in the same boat. I just decided to get to used 1520 off ebay to hold me over until the Windows 10 phones show up.

That's also a smart choice, provided the price is right. A lot of people simply don't want to sign a fresh contract for the 830 and have it lying around useless when a flagship shows up and they have to pay full price to get it.

 

[cba191]

I'm still on contract, but I won't renew it. I figure it will save money with a full price phone when the new ones come out and the lower priced contracts.

 

[JohnIvory]

The problem I have with that is that you're still paying the exorbitant prices for data and voice on AT&T with no contract benefits. Not renewing your contract doesn't mean your bill goes down. It stays the same whether or not you signed a contract with AT&T. That's why the MVNOs are a good idea. You keep your current phone, your bill goes down, and when the flagship shows up you can simply sign a new two year contract and go back to AT&T

 

[cba191]

I could switch to a gophone type plan and save almost $500 a year. But by buying a new unlocked phone, I'm free to shop around.

 

[JohnIvory]

Yup. Unlocked is always best.

 

[Aresjr21]

Well after my contract with AT&T expired I picked up a cheaper plan than I previously had. It takes effort to have a lower plan, I just wouldn't go so far to another carrier mainly because I am satisfied with ATT services and support of my phone OS.

 

[cba191]

That's why I'm thinking about going with Cricket. It's still ATT, just better pricing. I like the coverage I get with ATT. I have heard horror stories about StraightTalk, but I'm on contract for another month or two.

 

[Laura Knotek]

well the international 830 and 930 is available on Amazon US but I don't thing you are going to get LTE

You're right about lack of LTE.

 

[JohnIvory]

I've been on StraightTalk for a while now and I've had no problems at all. Sometimes data just stops working and I have to toggle it on and off to get it back on again but that's about it. Cricket is also a smart choice. I used them back when they were still independent and CDMA.

 

[Laura Knotek]

The problem I have with that is that you're still paying the exorbitant prices for data and voice on AT&T with no contract benefits. Not renewing your contract doesn't mean your bill goes down. It stays the same whether or not you signed a contract with AT&T. That's why the MVNOs are a good idea. You keep your current phone, your bill goes down, and when the flagship shows up you can simply sign a new two year contract and go back to AT&T

There also are some people who still have other family members on contract with AT&T whose contracts already got renewed or aren't up for renewal at the same time.

 

[BobLobIaw]

Another reasonable option if you want to stay with AT&T is to put together a mobile share package. My mom and sister joined my account and now I get 10GB of shared data with my L920 (split three ways, that's over 3GB per person) for slightly over $50/month (including taxes).

 

[Mr Lebowski]

You're right about lack of LTE.

You can buy RM-985 830's (unlocked) on eBay and that will get you LTE in USA.

You can use your RM-985 device on the LTE 700* (17*), 850 (5), 1700 (4*), 1900 (2), 2600 (7); WCDMA 850, 900, 1900, 2100; and GSM 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz networks.

* T Mobile's LTE bands