Customers discuss Fire Phone data plans and decisions made more difficult due to current phone plans, etc.
Thought I'd drop off a couple of tips from an Amazon forum on the coming Fire Phone, which will be shipping on July 25. I'd not looked into the plans myself, as I have a the Nokia Lumia 1020, a Windows Phone, and just began my new data plan in December as a low-price update -- and I actually bought it for the 40-megapixel camera, which I now use more than my super expensive pocket Sony. I'll report on my experience with a review copy of the Fire Phone though.
From the forum thread (typos corrected):
' Sue says:
I just called At&T and asked about the phone plans for the new phone and they have 2.
One is $45 a month which includes unlimited call and texting with 1g of data. The second is $60 a month and that includes unlimited calls and texting with 2g of data. These prices go for the individual plan as well as the no contract phone.
I called because the phone is calling to me and I am weakening.
+++
Jimi says:
I am an existing AT&T customer with an old iPhone 4 and about a year and a half beyond my last contract. Now I'm glad that I was given a new computer instead of a new phone for my last birthday. I have been phone shopping for a while, so I quickly pre-ordered the 64gb Fire phone.
The system said I can continue on our grandfathered unlimited plan. I may actually end up using more data with my new phone and the new Prime music feature. '
Reminder: the phone is $199 to start, with a 2-year monthly data plan, but comes with a free YEAR of $99/yr Prime (Prime members would get an additional year added to their current Prime program.)
There's an option to get the larger-storage 64GB model for $299 with a 2-year monthly data plan with AT&T.
Essentially then, the $199 phone with 32G is $99 after saving on $99 Prime the first year, when opting for 2 yrs of a monthly data plan.
Here's the original blog article on the phone's unusual features, as learned on Launch day.
As I said in another post here, I'd check out Cricket and Straight Talk wireless. I don't see why you wouldn't be able to plug their SIM into a Kindle Phone.
ReplyDeleteI was looking at Straight Talk's and a person would still have to pay a lot just for the phone itself, and the cheapest plan is $30/,mo. and includes onlyh 100 MB of data. $45/mo for unlimited, which would be more like it. Interesting! Thanks!.
DeleteNot sure what you mean by 'have to pay a lot just for the phone'. It's an expensive phone whether you pay for it up front or over the course of 20 months. At least one could save some on the monthly charges with another wireless company, or have more flexibility with AT&T plans.
DeleteNot sure, Tom. Paying essentially $99 (if one's a Prime member) and the basic data plan each month for 2 years is likely to be less than the amounts I saw for the data plans for 2 years + the cost of the unlocked phone. What you get is flexibility of a sort with somewhat cheaper plans but the add'l cost of the phone is fairly large. Not sure of the benefits of the data plans insofar as reception and effectiveness of 4G-LTE.
Delete