So, after 30+ years of paddling, our canoe turned over this morning and we discovered that there was a hole in the waterproof bag. A fairly big one.
Anyway, my primitive cell-phone is fried and I am considering a "smart" phone. My standards are so very low that none of you may be able to help me, BUT: I want to spend about $100. and I want to continue using my AT&T GoPhone account, which costs me a total of $100. a year. All I want to do is make phone calls, mostly using Bluetooth in my car, and browse the internet. I am not interested in games. The guy on Chat at AT&T recommended an AT&T Fusion 2, which I guess is an entry-level smart phone, but reviews make me concerned about its battery life. The other "smart" offering on their page is the Galaxy Appeal, about $150. I am not sure whether or not I can buy and use any other phone with the Gophone account, as the Chatter claims not to know and can't reach a human being by phone. If anyone has any ideas, I'd appreciate them.
A smart phone on Go phone will cost a minimum of $65 a month, you can bring most GSM phones on Go, but at least to me the occasional internet browsing is not worth an extra $700 or so a year.
If you really want to move to a pre-paid smartphone the more affordable options are Virgin and Boost, but even those are between $35 and $55 a month depending on features.
The Walmart T-Mobile plan is $30 still, I believe. That's the lowest possible price point. The previous poster had it correct though. I'd guess what he really wants is a cheap phone and a cheap tablet. The latter fills the portable web surfing requirement, with WiFi, the former just replaces his current phone. This will still run north of $100, but will save money by the second month. Alternatively, he could get a cheap smartphone to fill the tablet role for even greater portability (keeping the phone inactive).
I'm somewhat considering doing something similar with my next phone. With the prevalence of WiFi, and the ability to pay for individual days or months via various systems, I'm having trouble justifying the huge monthly expense that a phone is.