The Great Hyper-Intelligent and Simple Cellular Telephone Debate of 2014

ST3WD

H'okay, here's the deal you might say:

I use Walmart's Straight Talk service since my income is unreliable at best for now. I hate to admit I need a phone, but I won't get a job post-partum or be able to coordinate with people if I have an emergency dealing with school/scheduling or... 

Every 30 days I spend $30 for 1500 minutes/5000 texts/2GB of data. Not bad and I never use it all because I'm lame and have no life. It works because I use this phone:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Straight-Talk-Samsung-R375C-Prepaid-Cell-Phone-with-30-All-You-Need-Plan-Refurbished/29002544

Not great for web surfing, so I barely even touch data. 

Now, I have found that this model is starting to have problems making/receiving calls and delays texts after about a year of use. Some people upgraded the phone with improvement, some blamed the service and switched with improvement. Seeing as I intend to stay with this horrid provider because of financial restrictions, I'll probably have to upgrade between the new year and LO's arrival. 

My options as far as I can tell:

1) Stick with the crappy dying phone designed to break on the crappy service until it actually stops functioning.

2) Get another cheap, new phone for the crappy service, continue paying $30 monthly for service.

3) Get a nice-er, refurbished (smart)phone for the crappy service provider, paying $45 monthly for unlimited everything. 

I wanted some suggestions on what to look into as far as models go. I try not to sit on my phone like a mindless drone. I've owned smartphones before, and liked being able to play games or use the internet wherever, especially for my commute. The convenience was wonderful, but my dependence on the device upset me in the long run. If I start taking the bus again when I'm working/in school, I'll want another one for the games/music/apps for learning Spanish/etc. If I'm not and I'm just working around the house or taking care of LO, it'll probably prove more than distracting for me. (ADHD + lazy + no willpower = no productivity) I haven't been too bad lately about staying on task, but I'm trying to be realistic about how I'll feel once I have a baby to provide for and providing stress to me. 

Do you guys have (or have you formerly owned) a particular smartphone that gave you the most bang for your buck? What do you look for in a phone? Is there a better non-contract service I'm unaware of? Why is something so trivial so stressful? (Side question: Do your kids take over/demand your phone in a tantrum because they want to play on it? If not, how do you prevent it?) Is a $200 cap for a refurbished phone unreasonable?

Thank you for reading and helping me!

TL;DR - 1st world probz, I want/will eventually need a new phone. Suggestions for specific models to look at upgrading to? TIA, lovelies!

20thirteen

I'll have to check into this post a little later when I'm off work, but I will definitely put some input on this!! 

20thirteen

I forgot to come back to this, but here I am! BD had a noncontract smart phone from Walmart… He got an android which was pretty good for the price. I don't know what the android phones are, so I can't tell you which one it was… it was reliable and it work is pretty much all I can say… I, on the other hand, have an iPhone. I started with the iPhone 3 and graduated to the iPhone 4 and then graduated to iPhone 5 which is what I have right now. I'm due for an upgrade next month, and I'll probably move up to iPhone 6. Only for more storage, lol. When you look for a new phone, also check out what kind of storage your phone will have… The operating system takes up a lot of storage on its own, and then you have to worry about how much the apps will take, like what's inside the apps that will take up storage… I like the iPhone, because it's not confusing to me, lol. Also, my brother is kind of an Apple nerd… And he would recommend an iPhone above an android any day…

DD will see my phone on the floor, and sometimes she'll poke around at it for maybe a minute or two… But then she hands it to me. So far, she has not had a tantrum so that she could play with it… And I'm not that kind of parent anyway. She hasn't bothered to play with my phone since I removed fruit ninja… Because I needed more storage space for photos... Lol... That's another thing you're going to have to watch out for… You're gonna take a whole bunch of photos of your kid and then you're going to be like "oh shit, I don't have enough storage on my phone but I can't delete any of these pictures!"

I know I didn't answer all your questions… But I hope I helped a little bit, at least...

ST3WD

@20thirteen No, thank you! I'm having trouble finding an iPhone for my price range refurbished, which is why I wanted to see if anyone had an Android they like. I've used both kinds and have no real loyalty.

To clarify: I wasn't trying to say children who play with the technology are misbehaved or the parents are bad at raising them. 

I see a lot of screaming kids that only stop when they get a phone in their hands.

Or what-I-shouldn't-but-honestly-do-assume-are lazy parents at stores and offices just hand the phone over to an upset kid. 

Or worse, when the child wants their attention but they don't want to/can't deal with the child at that moment. If it's a few minutes in the checkout line and that's what works for your family, more power to you, but it seems no one is teaching patience anymore. 

A few years back, I had an image branded in my head of a little kid trying to get his mom's attention while she was on her phone. She eventually handed him the phone, which occupied him, and pulled out a different device. 

A few minutes later, he wet his pants. 

She dragged him of to the restroom, scolding him, even though he had tried to tell her that he needed to go. Everyone else in the waiting room starting shaking their heads in agreement with the mother since they had all been paying attention to their phones rather than the room. He sniffled while wearing a paper towel skirt the rest of the time they were there.

Most awkward visit to the financial aid office in.my.life. 

20thirteen

ST3WD said:

To clarify: I wasn't trying to say children who play with the technology are misbehaved or the parents are bad at raising them. 

I see a lot of screaming kids that only stop when they get a phone in their hands.

Or what-I-shouldn't-but-honestly-do-assume-are lazy parents at stores and offices just hand the phone over to an upset kid. 

Or worse, when the child wants their attention but they don't want to/can't deal with the child at that moment. If it's a few minutes in the checkout line and that's what works for your family, more power to you, but it seems no one is teaching patience anymore.  

My brother is kind of like that, and I didn't take it (or mean it) the way I guess I presented it to you, about me not being "that type of parent".  I meant it like I know a few parental friends who are like "I'm getting my 2 year old a tablet, which one should I get him?" and I'm like "None, a 2 year old doesn't need a tablet!!!!!!!!!" I'm sure they limit the time on there, or, at least, I know my bro does for his soon-to-be 5 year old.  I think that less tech is better, but that's partly because new tech is confusing and makes me feel like a grandma who just doesn't get it.  I feel like too much tech weakens imagination and my daughter seems to have a LOT of that and I don't want to water the fire, you know?

tig594

I've been with Boost for ages simply because I refuse to waste money on that contract crap.  With Boost I get unlimited everything for $40 a month.  My service is excellent.  I am on my 2nd Kyocera Hydro (it's waterproof and an android) and it works great for what I need.  I use phone/text/web a lot.  If you're interested, keep an eye on the Boost site for deals on phones.  They are probably all on sale right now.