Prepaid plans or cards for Android PHONES?

Question

I need to access the Web via my Android phone's cell radio only occasionally. Therefore, I am not interested in a monthly plan (and certainly not in a 2-year minimum contract).

I thought that finding a prepaid web access card (or plan) for Android phones would be as easy as finding one for voice but it turns out way more difficult than I had hoped for:

• T-Mobile's attractive Web DayPass works with phones, but not with Android ones.
• Verizon's Prepaid Mobile Broadband is not intended for phones at all (Android or not).

What are my options really as far as minimizing the cost of occasional web access via my Android phone, legally and reliably ?

At this point, I am flexible as to whether the solution is for CDMA or GSM (it is still much less expensive to buy a new phone than to sign for a 2-year contract)

Answer 1

You can get the LG Optimus V from Virgin Mobil for $150 (total) and pay $25/month for unlimited data and texts and 300 minutes/month of talk time. There are three drawbacks. (1) The screen is a bit small. (2) The internal memory is only about 200MB, so you are limited as the number of apps you can have (even moving apps to the SD card). (3) Virgin Mobile uses the Sprint network which seems to be more limited than say Verizon.

Later this month (I think) Virgin Mobile will also off the Motorola Triumph with 2GB internal memory and a larger screen and a faster processor and a front facing camera (which the Optimus doesn't have, so maybe that's four drawbacks). I plan to switch to the new phone as soon as I can.

Answer 2

AFAIK the carriers are simply not interested in doing anything except forcing people with smartphones to pay unreasonable amounts for data plans.

One thing you could do is get Verizon's Prepaid Mobile Broadband in the "hotspot" form. You can plug it in wherever and it effectively rebroadcasts the cell network as a Wi-Fi network. You can connect your phone to that Wi-Fi. It's not perfect, since it's not portable to anywhere without a power outlet (AFAIK it can't use batteries), but perhaps better than nothing.