Switching to $30 Prepaid Plan. Worth it?

[EnjoyMoosic]

My girlfriend's father works with Sony and he can get me the Xperia Arc S for $250. Now I understand T-Mobile's 3G operates on 1700mhz? (What a pain, haha.) How much slower is 2G compared to 3G? Is the slower speed even worth paying for?

Now I also understand AT&T's 3G is compatible with said device. Should I pay another $20 and just get their $50 unlimited GoPhone plan? (Gosh, I'm so cheap, hahaha.)

Any input would be appreciated!
-Thanks. (-:

EDIT: I'm on Sprint's 3G with a TP2 at the moment, and it's pretty slow, haha. Perhaps I won't notice a difference with EDGE. (;

[eric12341]

Yes its worth it, I'm using an HD7 on the prepay now and I love it. I would look on eBay and Craigslist for a cheaper but good phone tho. The At&t gophone plan sucks especially for smartphones.

[EnjoyMoosic]

Thanks for the reply, but unlike the HD7, the Arc S doesn't support T-Mobile's 3G..

Does anybody have a 2G speed average?

[Kies]

2G speed is relative to local network traffic and local tower type.. if you've got an EDGE only servicing tower, it WILL be slow. If you have excellent signal and no or little EDGE traffic, you can expect .10-.20Mbps which is OK but not good for anything other than light downloading and browsing with Opera Mini or mobile web sites. Most streaming music services work OK with excellent EDGE speeds.

[jet1000]

How much slower is 2G compared to 3G? Is the slower speeds even worth paying for?

Now I also understand AT&T's 3G is compatible with said device.
Should I pay another $20 and just get their $50 unlimited GoPhone plan?

2G is very slow and not worth it. However, the $50 AT&T Go Phone plan only has unlimited data for what they consider dumbphones. Some unbranded smartphones have been known to work on it though I doubt the Arc will work, since AT&T carries Sony Ericsson phones.

[samlehman]

I just went from tmobile's EM+ plan to simple mobile, but SM's 3G is slow as hell and reading about them makes me regret doing this. what would I have to do to switch back and get on the $30 plan? Can I bring my own device (nexus one)? I guess I'm technically a 'new activation' now. Will I be able to use my old tmobile SIM card?

[yomuppet]

You can use your old device, but you need a new "activation kit", which includes SIM card + activation code. Buy on Amazon or from Tmobile

[EnjoyMoosic]

Thanks for the input, everybody! (-:

Perhaps I'll consider investing in a G1 or any comparably cheap device before makin' the switch..

[eric12341]

I've been throttled to 2G before and the only thing I couldn't do was watch videos.

[cmstlist]

AT&T does recognize the Arc S:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comm...rc_s/?sort=old

Backround: I've had issues with AT&T with my HTC Desire about 8 or 10 months ago, and they shut off my data connection completely. After using AT&T devices for a while, I picked up the Xperia arc S and made it about two days before I got the text about my data plan. I don't mind paying for the smartphone package, but is anyone else out there still using an unlocked device with any luck of keeping the medianet package?

If AT&T detects the IMEI on postpaid, it's a good bet they do too on prepaid.

[PhoneCreator123]

You should try Straight Talk its a ATT MVNO With Unlimited Talk/Text/2GB of Web for $45 dollars