Chocolate Lover
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Joined: Dec 17, 2010 15:54:19 GMT -5
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Post by Chocolate Lover on Jun 1, 2015 11:17:35 GMT -5
Those that buy phones on Ebay and Craigslist, have you ever had a bad experience? My niece bought an iPhone off Craigslist and it had dead spots on the bottom of the screen. I tend to buy a generation or two back from the new models and save a ton that way. I need to replace DH's phone soon but mine has the bigger crack in the screen.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Jun 1, 2015 11:18:28 GMT -5
We've not traveled much (unless you count to either Seattle or Vancouver) since we got our phones, but I know that with my iPad it was always easier just to use my data plan. I suspect this summer our data usage is going to be a lot more as we have several trips planned.
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Deleted
Joined: Oct 12, 2024 7:27:43 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Jun 1, 2015 11:26:10 GMT -5
Chocolate Lover - Between for myself, my son and my ex I've bought lots of phones of Craigslist and eBay and have only had one semi-bad experience. An S3 I bought and realized later had gotten wet at some point. It still appears to work fine, and I think only the battery was effected (the battery indicator was red). I replaced the battery with a new one and it holds a charge now, but I'm I'm not currently using that phone (it's on deck to replace mine if it ever dies). DS and Ex are both using iphone 4's that I bought for $100 each over a year ago with zero issues. If you buy off ebay just stay away from the sellers with low ratings. There are sellers on there with 10,000 99% positive ratings just selling phones that are careful about describing their products and will gladly take returns or make things right if you're not happy.
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Chocolate Lover
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Joined: Dec 17, 2010 15:54:19 GMT -5
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Post by Chocolate Lover on Jun 1, 2015 11:29:55 GMT -5
Chocolate Lover - Between for myself, my son and my ex I've bought lots of phones of Craigslist and eBay and have only had one semi-bad experience. An S3 I bought and realized later had gotten wet at some point. It still appears to work fine, and I think only the battery was effected (the battery indicator was red). I replaced the battery with a new one and it holds a charge now, but I'm I'm not currently using that phone (it's on deck to replace mine if it ever dies). DS and Ex are both using iphone 4's that I bought for $100 each over a year ago with zero issues. If you buy off ebay just stay away from the sellers with low ratings. There are sellers on there with 10,000 99% positive ratings just selling phones that are careful about describing their products and will gladly take returns or make things right if you're not happy. Thanks MPL. I haven't done Ebay in ages but do pick sellers with LOTS of feedback when I do. Good to hear most are easy to work with if something isn't right. You have me looking at Ting. Again.
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shanendoah
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Post by shanendoah on Jun 1, 2015 11:38:23 GMT -5
I've bought many phones off of eBay. The closest thing I had to a bad experience was ordering a phone I thought would work with my carrier (I was on Sprint, ordered an old Nextel phone) but didn't. Well, it did, but it took a couple of weeks going around with the service folks (all of whom were helpful, just not knowledgeable about the Nextel phones) to get it to work. My ticket finally made it to a guy who had been a Nextel service rep when Sprint bought out Nextel and was still around. He was able to make it work. But I've always gotten exactly the phone I ordered and never had any problems with the phone working.
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Deleted
Joined: Oct 12, 2024 7:27:43 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Jun 1, 2015 12:05:01 GMT -5
We've not traveled much (unless you count to either Seattle or Vancouver) since we got our phones, but I know that with my iPad it was always easier just to use my data plan. I suspect this summer our data usage is going to be a lot more as we have several trips planned. At least you have control. You can choose to use more or not if you want to and budget that into your Summer travel. I love the gas meter app with Ting so you can see where you are in each Tier (Talk, Message, Data). Some months I completely shut it down the last few days because I'm about to "tier up" and some months I loosen up and start using it at work more (no wifi) because I have lots of room and not much time.
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wvugurl26
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Post by wvugurl26 on Jun 1, 2015 14:05:05 GMT -5
My last two phones have come off eBay and been fine. Just read reviews on sellers carefully. I have one of the old unlimited data plans with Verizon. I pay $101/month. I'm sure there are cheaper deals but my phone works everywhere I am regularly. I travel a good bit.
My brother had Sprint for years and their service sucked monkey balls on the five hour trip to visit family. That trip is made at least once a month if not more. He switched to Verizon and magically had coverage in all these new spots. I'm very willing to pay more for something that works where I need it to work. Plus WiFi at work is not an option. Oh and all other carriers have spotty coverage in my work building. I guess it's a design thing. The government contracts for our Blackberries are with Verizon so they put Verizon boosters everywhere.
But if Sprint has good coverage then of course it's cheaper to go with Ting.
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Lizard Queen
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103/2024
Joined: Jan 17, 2011 22:19:13 GMT -5
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Post by Lizard Queen on Jun 1, 2015 14:12:01 GMT -5
We've not traveled much (unless you count to either Seattle or Vancouver) since we got our phones, but I know that with my iPad it was always easier just to use my data plan. I suspect this summer our data usage is going to be a lot more as we have several trips planned. At least you have control. You can choose to use more or not if you want to and budget that into your Summer travel. I love the gas meter app with Ting so you can see where you are in each Tier (Talk, Message, Data). Some months I completely shut it down the last few days because I'm about to "tier up" and some months I loosen up and start using it at work more (no wifi) because I have lots of room and not much time. Are the tiers for each phone, or are they lumped together? Like, say I have 2 phones on Ting. 1 uses 10 texts this month and the other 40. Do they each have to pay for the 1-100 tier?
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Deleted
Joined: Oct 12, 2024 7:27:43 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Jun 1, 2015 14:38:59 GMT -5
At least you have control. You can choose to use more or not if you want to and budget that into your Summer travel. I love the gas meter app with Ting so you can see where you are in each Tier (Talk, Message, Data). Some months I completely shut it down the last few days because I'm about to "tier up" and some months I loosen up and start using it at work more (no wifi) because I have lots of room and not much time. Are the tiers for each phone, or are they lumped together? Like, say I have 2 phones on Ting. 1 uses 10 texts this month and the other 40. Do they each have to pay for the 1-100 tier? It's shared. But, you can also customize each phone online for what it can do in regards to each tier. I have DS set with a 250MB limit for data.
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Lizard Queen
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Joined: Jan 17, 2011 22:19:13 GMT -5
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Post by Lizard Queen on Jun 1, 2015 18:33:41 GMT -5
Are the tiers for each phone, or are they lumped together? Like, say I have 2 phones on Ting. 1 uses 10 texts this month and the other 40. Do they each have to pay for the 1-100 tier? It's shared. But, you can also customize each phone online for what it can do in regards to each tier. I have DS set with a 250MB limit for data. That sounds great. I think DH and I combined can do better than what we're paying for Virgin Mobile and Tracfone. I don't think we're quite ready to switch yet, though.
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Ava
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Post by Ava on Jun 3, 2015 18:33:01 GMT -5
Ok, I just want to update. I know you guys are like me and like to how the story ended. Sometimes I read a thread and the OP never says what happened in the end. Makes me want to know.
I was about to go with Ting but I still kept my eyes and ears opened. Yesterday I was at Walmart and found something I liked. It's prepaid but you can enroll in the website for automatic renewals. They have a good selection of phones. They have a Samsung for $100, not the latest model, I guess, but good for what I need. The plan costs $35 a month with unlimited text and talk and 2.5G data. I plan to use mostly the wifi at home.
So I'm happy with that. It probably won't be a great phone but it's enough for me.
Thanks for all the comments
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