Expert: DebiN - 1/1/2010

Question
Greetings!  I'm planning on buying an unlocked 3G cellular phone on eBay.  I will also need to buy a cellular phone plan, (GSM) with lots of time since I'm a heavy data user.  Once I get the voice service SIM card from my service provider, my understanding is that all I need to do is pop it into a compatable 3G phone, and I will have access to all their high speed data services for the number of monthly minutes authorized under my plan, (as long as the phone has been unlocked for that specific carrier).  Is that the way it works, or do I have to purchase a "voice and data" plan to get the right kind of SIM card?  This is pretty confusing to a newb like me!  Any recommendations on carriers/plans/3G phones to give me my best "bang for the buck"?  Thanks!  

Answer
Joe -

The best thing that you can do is to purchase your service and phone from a GSM carrier versus buying a SIM unlocked 3G phone on eBay. If you buy from your carrier, you will get a subsidized phone (much lower cost) with a 2 year agreement that is basically helping to pay for the cost of the phone and then the right voice and data plan for you. You won't have to code anything and the phone comes with a 12 month warranty and is guaranteed to work on your carrier's network. You will have the ability to use all applications that your phone and carrier support.

If you choose not to do this, and you buy a SIM unlocked phone and then buy a prepaid card from a GSM carrier, then you can put the SIM card into the unlocked phone and provided that the phone works on the US bands of 850 and 1900 on both GSM and HSDPA (many, many phones only work on 3G outside of the US, not in the US - they have to state that they work on these two bands for BOTH GSM and HSDPA), it will work for voice and text. In order to get it to work for data, you have to program the settings for your specific carrier for both WAP (Internet) and MMS (picture messaging). If you successfully program the settings and the phone has the ability to work on the 3G network, then you will be fine.

To clarify something you wrote - "...with lots of time since I'm a heavy data user", time equates to voice and minutes, data is something different unless you are referring to a prepaid plan which if you are in fact a heavy data user, I strongly recommend against prepaid because it is not worth the money. For a heavy data user, you should be purchasing post-paid only with a voice plan that is appropriate for your voice usage and an unlimited data plan.

So, if you tell me what city and state you live in, what carrier you think you might be interested in (i.e., do you have friends and family who are mostly with one particular carrier so that your calls would be free (mobile to mobile) and what phone you think you are interested in and what you are wanting to use it for, I can definitely help you and give you some options. Let me know. Thanks. DebiN