Buying a dead horse, AT&T Go Phone for $2.99!

CA · 02-12-2012, 02:20 PM

It’s a GSM flip phone, and we suspect at PhoneNews.com that it is in preparation for AT&T switching all GoPhone devices to a minimum requirement of UMTS. AT&T is preparing to put steps into place that will help them wind down GSM nationally, to prepare for reallocating GSM spectrum for LTE, and relying on UMTS/HSPA+ as their bridge between the two technologies.

http://www.phonenews.com/deal-samsun...n-store-19830/

He makes a good point, but I'm getting me one, and I'll jam the battery in something.

Wind away!

**zephxiii** · 02-12-2012, 02:47 PM

I noticed their website pretty much only had 3G gophones....moving on!

**johnhere** · 02-12-2012, 02:53 PM

I figured they would allocate it sooner or later, looks like sooner rather than later now.

**Extraordinary** · 02-12-2012, 03:22 PM

I bet this can't be used on postpaid and doesnt come with any airtime??

CA · 02-12-2012, 03:41 PM

Originally Posted by Extraordinary

I bet this can't be used on postpaid and doesnt come with any airtime??

Don't know, but I was trying to get doom posters, not post payers doing replacements.

**zephxiii** · 02-12-2012, 03:52 PM

It sure can be used on postpaid...but I wouldn't want a phone w/o UMTS. The only restrictions I ever saw on gophone were SIMs that got locked to a certain phone...you could always call CS and lock the SIM to whatever phone you wanted, but you couldn't freely move about handsets until you got a standard SIM.

**uncreative** · 02-13-2012, 06:49 AM

My son uses this on postpaid. I might pick up a couple of these for the next time(s) it goes through the washing machine.

**CeluGeek** · 02-13-2012, 08:08 AM

I hope AT&T doesn't rush into things like shutting down their GSM network. At least until voice over LTE is fully implemented. As of right now, users of LTE handsets still use the UMTS (3G) network for voice, maybe even the GSM network every now and then. Imagine all current GSM-only users migrating to UMTS handsets and all of a sudden you have those former GSM users along with the usual UMTS users and the LTE users all clogging the UMTS network for voice calls. SMS could be a concern too but SMS uses less capacity on the network so that shouldn't bring as many headaches.

**zephxiii** · 02-13-2012, 08:37 AM

The majority of the userbase already is on UMTS so it is unlikely there is going to be a sudden influx and strain. They won't shut GSM down anytime soon...however they can tune down the amount of spectrum it uses since they are moving devices away from it which is what they should be doing since HSPA/LTE is way more efficient.

**mommusic** · 02-14-2012, 08:52 AM

well in my area there is no 3G, just Edge...

**CeluGeek** · 02-14-2012, 09:16 AM

^ Then that $3 Samsung will work perfectly in your area.

**25jive1** · 02-16-2012, 05:44 PM

I'm a sucker for a $3 phone. I bought one at Best Buy a few days ago, unlocked it for .99 cents off ebay. Its running on T-Mo right now. The SIM card hasn't been popped out of the card yet.
If I ever take a trip to Mexico I'll activate the SIM for the cheap AT&T rates there.

**cmstlist** · 02-16-2012, 08:26 PM

The bit about refarming GSM spectrum to LTE... seems really unlikely for AT&T, as they already have devices which use two other distinct LTE bands. More likely that they just want to refarm it to UMTS because they can't get their customers onto LTE fast enough to relieve the strain.

**fonezfonz** · 02-17-2012, 01:22 AM

The shipping cost kills it for me.

**n7as** · 02-17-2012, 05:33 PM

I just bought 5 of these a107's at BestBuy today. I got an unlock code off eBay and unlocked the phone.

If I put the SIM from my other A107 that I am presently using with a balance of $22, will that SIM work ok in the new unlocked phone or will it mess with my balance? I don't want to try it and have a negative surprise.