So I am in the market for a new phone and a new carrier. My old phone's screen died and the older phone I replaced it with also died after i dropped it ... twice. I am new to the website, but have done my own research and have learned some things.

I am mostly concerned with overall value of the phone/plan.

I live in Phoenix and thus I should have good service with many carriers. But my main goal is to reduce my monthly spending. Right now I am in a 50$/mo talk/txt plan with NO data on my old phones(now broken). So my goal is to spending less or the same on a monthly plan that is better. I don't talk a lot and mostly use txt. I have not used a smartphone so I do not know exactly how much data I would expect to use.

I have looked in mostly virgin mobile/tmobile services. They have much cheaper per month plans than att/verizon. I am considering prepaid and not prepaid services. Mostly I want to get a good smart phone and save some monthly $$$.

If possible I would like a phone with a fast processor to play some games and higher end apps, wifi capability, a good screen, decent camera, and high data speed capability. I know a few of the high end phones are nice would not mind a galaxy S2/HTC one X etc... Although I dont know if there are some cheaper alternatives that have comparable or just slightly less performance. I would consider spending ~ 300 on a good phone with a less expensive plan.

I am mostly looking into the bring your own phone type plans. This way I can save on the monthly budget. I am also considering prepaid services because they can save some more $$.

I guess my first question is what is the difference between prepaid vs the contracts... besides what they say
IE: Tmobile BYOP $50/mo 2 yr contract 500min/UNLTDtxt&low speed data/2gb high speed data
VS Tmobile monthly 4g $30/mo 0 yr contract 100 min talk/unlimitedtxt/unlimitedlow speed data/2gb high speed data (this plan does has only minutes and does not differentiate between mobiletomobile/nights/weekends right?)

Is it the phone selection? I can use any phone for the either plan as long as it works on their network? I tihnk I am just paying $20/mo for 400 minutes and a contract... If I use my 100 minutes what happens? Do i still get txt/data? Do I get a per minute rate? or it all stops.


Then there is virgin mobile. I think they just have limited phone selection and only 3g service. However the $35/mo plan with 300 minutes sounds appealing. If they have a phone I can live with it might be the best.

I don't talk a lot but 100 minutes seems low(might be able to get away with it). 300 minutes seems about perfect.

Just a waaayyy lost in this new smartphone age and trying to find the best deal and same some cash.

Any and all help/suggestions/ideas would be greatly appreciated. Open to all options. Sorry for the long first post.

Thanks a bunch!