Pay As You Go -- Engadget Mobile

pay as you go posts

AT&T's $3-a-day unlimited calling, Samsung a177 both go live

by Chris Ziegler posted May 11th 2009 @ 11:37AM

Today AT&T begins selling an interesting new GoPhone pay-as-you-go option, offering users unlimited domestic local and long distance for $3 a day, only on the days that you use it. If all you need is a sheer crapload of voice minutes, this actually stacks up really favorable against AT&T's postpaid offerings, which price unlimited service at $99.99 a month -- with this, you'll be paying between $84 and $93 a month, assuming you end up springing for service every single day. Of course, the tradeoff is that you're stuck bringing your own phone to the network or picking up one of AT&T's GoPhone devices -- which tend to dominate the low end of the spectrum -- but then again, if voice is really your thing, odds are you don't care about how many accelerometers your phone features.

On a related note, Samsung's a177 (pictured) has gone live on AT&T's site, bringing a solid text messaging experience to the prepaid market. As you might expect of a $99.99 no-commitment phone, all you've got is a VGA cam -- but roughly $110 a month for unlimited contract-free voice and texting on a top-tier carrier might be enough to sway a few in the a177's direction, assuming value leaders like Boost, Cricket, and Virgin Mobile aren't picking everyone off.

Read - Samsung a177
Read - $3-a-day option

T-Mobile UK rolling out annual data plan for BlackBerry

by Chris Ziegler posted Apr 24th 2009 @ 8:57AM

We can think of a wide variety of BlackBerrys we'd rather have, but let's take a good, hard look at what T-Mobile UK is proposing here: basically, it wants you to shell out £179.99 (about $265), and in exchange, you get the venerable BlackBerry Pearl 8110 plus a full year of unlimited email and web access. That works out to something like $22 a month for unlimited on-device data -- and on top of that, you'll be paying as you go for voice minutes, texts, and MMS messages. Not a terrible deal by any stretch, but we'd characterize this one less as blowout pricing and more as creative deal packaging. Oh, and we'll take a Curve 8900 with that, T-Mobile, thankyouverymuch.

O2 UK shows the LG Cookie sporting a new whiter look on Pay & Go

by Sean Cooper posted Feb 14th 2009 @ 8:02AM

O2 seems to like LG's KP501 Cookie so much that its decided to offer it in white with shiny metallic accents in the Pay as you go realm. Pricing is listed as £99 (roughly $140) and for that money you'll get stuff like a 400 x 240 touchscreen display, a 3.2 megapixel sharpshooter, Bluetooth, FM radio, and so forth. Sound like it's too good to be true? Well, it isn't, though, you'll need to sit and wait a tick as this guy is listed as "coming soon" to shops and the O2 online store.

Orange UK gets pay-as-you-go BlackBerry Pearl 8120

by Sean Cooper posted Jan 30th 2009 @ 8:37AM

Orange UK has chosen to Launch RIM's BlackBerry Pearl 8120 as a PAYG number for all the would be messengers out there who prefer to remain sans plan. Price for this exclusive indigo set seems set at £145 (roughly $200) and should be landing in a shop near you in early February. Price of admission -- handset aside -- includes needing to grab an Animal package (Dolphin, Canary, Racoon, or Camel) and taking out a £5 BlackBerry internet service deal as well. Enjoy! At this point, pay-as-you-go is about where this set should be in terms of its age, you listening, Fido?

Verizon killing pay-as-you-go data plans, making other changes

by Darren Murph posted Nov 3rd 2008 @ 8:21AM

Rumors on this one have been flying in the VZW world, but now it looks like we've got some confirmation on the matter -- and chances are, some folks won't like it one bit. According to a leaked document from within the company, every new PDA / smartphone launched on or after November 14th will "require a data feature / plan of $29.99 or more." Additionally, Pay As You Go, 1X Block and the 10MB data plan / feature will be unavailable for those very phones on the same day. Ready for more? In 2009 (vague, right?), "select" Mobile Web 2.0 devices will also require a data feature / plan. We are told that those who have one of these soon-to-vanish plans can keep it so long as they stick with their current phone, but as soon as the upgrade bug bites, be ready to pony up for data, too.

[Via Boy Genius Report]

O2 announces iPhone 3G Pay & Go pricing / launch date

by Darren Murph posted Sep 2nd 2008 @ 5:01PM

We've known that a pay-as-you-go iPhone 3G plan was in the works at O2 since June, but the carrier has at long last fessed up and provided the formal introduction. The iPhone 3G Pay & Go plan will be live on September 16th, enabling users in the UK to purchase the handset sans contract for £349.99 (8GB) or £399.99 (16GB). Yeah, it's quite a bit more than free on contract, but those prices do include unlimited browsing and WiFi for the first 12 months after the phone is activated. Once that honeymoon ends, you're looking at £10 per month to keep browsing. Also of note, Visual Voicemail is conveniently omitted from Pay & Go phones, but if you're cool with that, you can get going in a fortnight by heading to your local O2, Apple or Carphone Warehouse store.

[Via Stuff, thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Rogers set to launch Nokia 5310 on Pay As You Go plan

by Sean Cooper posted Feb 20th 2008 @ 10:48AM

Rejoice Rogers music lovers, as there she is, the least beautiful -- though, rather affordable -- cell in the world, the XpressMusic Nokia 5310. Mobileincanada has spilled the beans on the upcoming release of this handset on Rogers, and for a purported bargain-basement price of $99 bucks, we're sure it'll find an audience in the chilly north. No word on when we'll see this lining the shelves, though we'll drop some hints as soon as we know more. Oh, and if you're hitting up the source for this, you're better off reading en français -- if you can dig that language -- as the translated site's a bit challenged.

FCC spills beans on Sony Ericsson K205a

by Sean Cooper posted Sep 17th 2007 @ 8:45PM

Sony Ericsson may be gearing up for a product launch as the FCC spills the beans on a new -- and rather uninteresting -- handset. The K205a (that "a" does stand for Americas) packs a dual-band 850 / 1900 radio, IR for goodie transfer between devices, and we're honestly not sure what else. We doubt that this'll wring your wallet for much more that a nifty, and in turn should prove popular with the pay as you go crowd. We'll have more details on providers and such as we hear 'em.

[Via PhoneScoop]

Sagem's stylish my411x for the prepaid crowd

by Chris Ziegler posted May 11th 2007 @ 1:00PM

Gone are the days when going with a prepaid account meant sacrificing style or functionality in your choice of handset; actually, we think those days have been gone for a while now in Europe, but at any rate, add the Sagem my411x to the list. The fashion-friendly candybar features a mirrored front, media player with dedicated buttons, Bluetooth, and a VGA cam -- groundbreaking features by no means, but hey, when you consider that it goes for £49.99 (about $100) contract-free, it ain't bad. Look for it now on Orange in the UK.