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Virgin Mobile USA, a wholly subsidiary of Sprint Nextel corporations, currently offers two types of phone plans which do not require a service contract agreement, enabling you to quit their service at any time. As with  Boost Mobile Phone Plans, The Virgin prepaid phone plans mainly aim at young people who need to stay connected using their phones at affordable costs. The plans are   “Beyond Talk” monthly plans and  Virgin Mobile payLo plans.

Virgin Mobile Beyond Talk  plans

Virgin Mobile USA offers a three-tier cells phone plans called Beyond Talk Plans with the cheapest plan starting at $35 per month with unlimited text messages, web email and 300-min anytime minutes. The second cheapest plan costs $45 per month which also comes with unlimited text messages, web email but with longer anytime minutes at 1200 minutes. The most expensive Virgin phone plan costs $50 per month with unlimited text messages, web email and unlimited anytime minutes. The third plan is comparable to the unlimited plan offered by Boost Mobile.
If all anytime minutes are used before the end of a month, you will be charged additional overage minutes at 10¢ each which will be deducted from your  cash balance.

Virgin Mobile payLo plans

Virgin Mobile USA also offers Paylo, another three-tier phone plans with similar scheme to the Beyond Talk Plan. You need to make upfront payment by credit card, Paypal and other payment methods to start using the plan. The basic starts at $20 per month with 20 ¢ per minute for talk . In case you run out balance before   the one-month period ends you will be charged additional minutes that cost 10¢ per minute. The additional minutes will be deducted from your balance or you can restart your plan at any time for $30.

Basic rate

The basic rate costs 20¢/minute. The basic rate has  no monthly charge, but the customer need to buy  at least $20 every 90 days  to keep the account alive. Unused balance will be accumulated if  it is not used. For example, a never-used phone might carry $20 after three months, $40 after six months, and so on.

400 minute plan
The second payLo option requires a $20 monthly payment, which allows the Virgin Mobile customers to use 400 minutes at a rate of 5¢/minute. Any extra  minutes cost 20¢/minute.

1500 minute plan
The third Virgin Mobile payLo plan costs  $30 a month which allows customers to use 1500 minutes, a 500 message pack and a 10 MB data pack for Web access. Any extra minutes cost 10¢ per minute while  any additional messages and megabytes are charged at the basic rate (15¢ per SMS/MMS, $1.50 per megabyte)
Text and Web access

Additional Service
With the payLo,  Virgin Mobile customers can also use standard services such as text messaging and multimedia messages as well as  web access. Text message costs 15¢/text while MMS costs 25¢/message.  Virgin Mobile payLo plan users need to  pay $1.50/MB of Web usage which will expire within 24 hours after purchase in order to access the web.

Sprint, the third largest US carrier, currently doesn’t offer prepaid cell phone plans. The carrier has yet to hop on the prepaid phone plan wagon  like other major US carriers such as  Verizon Wireless and AT&T  which have rolled out their own prepaid phone plans. Most players of  prepaid phone plans in the US are smaller carriers targeted at youngsters. Those include such name as Cricket, Boost Mobile, US Cellular etc. Sprint, however, offers the prepaid phone plans through its subsidiaries and companies it has partnership with or those using its network. There are several of them but the most familiar names are probably Virgin Mobile and Boost Mobile. Both carriers have been acquired by Sprint and are essentially operating prepaid Sprint phone plans under different names.

Loyal subscribers of Sprint  network has several choices to make in terms of choosing  the suitable prepaid phone plans  that meets  their needs . This post outlines an overview of the prepaid plans offered by Boost Mobile which operate over Sprint’s network, providing an insight into  Boost Mobile Cell Phone plans pricing scheme  and services in details.

Boost Mobile Prepaid Cell Phone Plans Monthly Unlimited

Boost Mobile currently offers “ Monthly Unlimited” at  just $50 per month for unlimited talk, text messages, data and email with no contracts  The plan also includes basic services such as  Voicemail, long distance and call waiting.

One of the advantages of the prepaid phone plans offered  by Boost Mobile is that in case you miss on a payment you don’t need  to start over. The company also offers the so-called shrinkage package, meaning the longer you pay for the monthly charge  the less you pay for their monthly unlimited rates. With Shrinkage you can reduce  your  monthly payments from $50 to as low as $35/month . If you make one-time payment for a six-month period your monthly fee is reduced by $5 dollar to $45, in case you make payment for a one-time 12-month period, the monthly fee is reduced  to $35 per month. See the bellow table and screenshot for detail:

Boost Mobile Pay as You Go Plan

Boost Mobile also offers Pay As You Go plans,  all nationwide calls and texts are set at  10¢/minute or 10¢/text message. With this plan you may also use other services such as unlimited instant messaging and unlimited web use which cost 99 ¢ per day and 35 cents per day respectively.   See the table bellow for the complete rates:

T-Mobile, which is currently in the process of being acquired by AT&T to create the largest US carrier, provides six methods to pay the monthly bill.  The T-Mobile phone bill can be paid by EasyPay, credit card,  by phone, via  mail, online payment and payment at a payment store. The bellow payment methods may, however, be subject to change once the acquisition by AT&T  is completed but they at least are helpful for new T-Mobile customers or those just signing up for the T-Mobile cell phone plans. The most convenient way is obviously to pay T-mobile bill with Easy Pay which enables you to make recurring payments automatically.

A. Pay T-Mobile Bill  At a Local Payment Center with T-Mobile Store Locator

You can pay  T-mobile bill at the nearest T-Mobile store. To find  the nearest  payment center from your address you may visit T-Mobile store locator and then follow the bellow steps:

1. From Find a T-Mobile Retail Store, within the Select a location type drop-down menu, select Payment center locations.
2. Enter your address and select submit.

B. Make Payment Via Email Paying Via Mail

To pay T-Mobile bill via   mail, you can submit the bill to four payment mail addresses located in Cincinnati, Los Angeles. St Louis and Dallas. Before you make payment you need to make sure that you provide your account number. See the bellow T-Mobile payment addresses for details.

PO Box 742596
Cincinnati, OH 45274-2596

PO Box 790047
St. Louis, MO 63179-0047

PO Box 51843
Los Angeles, CA 90051-6143

PO Box 660252
Dallas, Texas 75266-0252

C. Pay T-Mobile Bill Online

C.1. Payment with Credit Card

To pay T-Mobile bill with a credit card, you may refer to thee bellow instructions:

Log in to My T-Mobile

1. After logging in to My T-Mobile home page , go to the Make a payment button (located on the top right side of the page)
2. Select the amount of the bill you want to pay
3. From the Payment method section, click to select the radio button next to ATM/debit or credit card, and enter the necessary information.

Click Next to move to the next screen. Confirm the payment you have just made when done.

C.2. Make Payment With Electronic Check

1. To make a payment using an electronic check, perform the following steps:
2. Log in to My T-Mobile.
3. After logging in to My T-Mobile, under Manage, click Billing & Payments.
4. Click the Make a payment button or the Pay your bill link on the left side of the screen.
5. Select the amount you want to pay under the Payment amount section.
6. Click the radio button next to Checking account.
7. Enter the checking account information required, and click Next to continue.

C.2. Pay T-Mobile Bill With Easy Pay

To register with T-Mobile EasyPay, visit the following link ” Sign up for EasyPay

To establish recurring checking, ATM, debit, or credit card account EasyPay service from My T-Mobile, perform the following steps:

1. Log  in to My T-Mobile, then under Manage, click on Billing & Payments.
2. Locate Sign up for EasyPay in the EasyPay box, click Sign up for EasyPay.
3. You may choose to either pay the bill with the account or card that you wish to sign up with, or, you can choose to simply sign up and not make a payment by selecting the radio button under the Payment amount section.
4. Click to select the radio button under Payment method to pick the type of account you want the automatic payment to come out of.
5. Enter the account information in the required fields, and then click Next.
6. Click on the  Terms and Conditions check box, you need to agree to the T-Mobile  terms and conditions after which click SUBMIT.

D. Paying over the phone

You pay T-Mobile bill over the phone via an automated phone system alternatively you may also contract T-Mobile  Customer Care by dialing 611 or 1-877-453-1304. Note : You will  incur a processing fee of  $5.00 if you make T-Mobile bill over the phone.

Source : http://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-1723

For unclear reasons and unlike its rival Verizon, Sprint Palm Pre and Palm Pixi can not be used as a Wi-Fi router. Some Sprint Palm owners get around this restriction  by using Verizon’ native mobile hotspot app which requires patching, sort of hacking the phone. By using the trick  Palm Pre users can tether their device with other Wi-Fi-enabled devices like notebook, iPod Touch etc , much like you can do with other Sprint Mifi  4082 mobile hotspot and other Sprint smartphones with mobile hotspot capability like HTC Evo 4D mobile hotspot.

Another alternative and legal method to tether Sprint palm Pre is to use a third application. Currently two, if not only two, apps that can make Sprint Palm Pre as a mobile hotspot are My Tether and Fre Tether.The former costs $14.95 for while the latter is totally free of charge.

Enable Sprint Palm Pre Mobile Hotspot With My Tether App

My Tether enables  you to use your palm Pre to connect to the Sprint network  and allows you to tether over USB, or Bluetooth PAN, effectively  turning your Palm Pre into a Sprint  mobile  hotspot to share Sprint 3G EVDO connection. MyTether also enables you to turn Palm Pre into a Wireless Network adapter by letting you share the WiFi connection on the Pre instead of your Sprint 3G network when tethering over Bluetooth or USB.

My Tether (image credit : precentral.net)

The latest My Tether is able to enable USBNet on the Palm  Pre via the User Interface (UI), as well as enable DHCP for tethering without the hassle of having to ssh in to enable anything. Before using the Free Mytether you will need to uninstall similar applications from your Pre to avoid software conflict. The step-by-step guide on how to install My Tether and use the Sprint Palm Pre as a Wi-Fi hotspot can be found here.

Free Alternative : Using Free Tether

FreeTether is free and open source tethering app for webOS which can make  your Palm Pre  into an access point or gateway that allows you to share your device’s internet connection with other devices via WiFi, Bluetooth as well as  USB.  FreeTether is a homebrew, non-Catalog app.

Free Tether (image credit : precentral.net)

Before installing the app you need to be familiar with the procedure on how to install such an app on your Pre via PreWare. The complete instructions on how to install and use the app can be found here and here .

Do you often wake up at late night and spend the sleepless night watching TV yet you do not want the rest of the family to hear the sound of the movies or music you are watching and listening? One way out of this situation is you can  to grab a wireless headphone and listen to the TV with headphones. You can also do this with a computer, see the following link for details : connect wireless headphones to computer .

As wireless headphones has become must-have  household items, listening to  TV show on your flat screen TV or watching DVD  with headphones can be a convenient way to spend the lonely night while your kids , spouses and other family members sleep.Then,  How to connect wireless headphones to TV?  that’s a piece of cake, just follow the step-by-step instructions bellow.

Wireless headphones typically consist of a  transmitter base, connection cables and the wireless headphones itself with a rechargeable battery in it. It also comes with power adapters to supply the transmitter base with power.

How To Connect Wireless Headphones To TV?

• First of all , of course, you need to charge the headphone before using it. Connect the transmitter with power switch it on  and then place the headphone on it as instructed in the vendor manual. Let the headphone be fully charged to avoid damage to it.

• Connect the transmitter with the TV  audio output (usually located at the back of most TVs) by plugging the red and white ends of the transmitter cable into it. Plug the other ends of the cables into the transmitter audio inputs. If your TV comes with a headphone audio port you can just hook up the TV headphone port with the transmitter port using other cable provided by the headphone vendor.

• Switch on the headphone, adjust the volume  and start indulge yourself in serenity while watching TV or movies.

Still not have a headphone yet? One of the wireless  headphones for watching  movies or listening to TV is Sennheiser RS130 wireless headphone, one of the best-selling headphones on the market.  It provides a superb sound quality with negligible noise. There are also other wireless headphones with excellent quality from other brands to choose from, click the following link to find out more : wireless headphones for tv .

HTC Evo 4G is one of the five Sprint’s 4G mobile hotspot phones currently on sale for $99,9 with a two-year service agreement.  Got a HTC Evo 4G and want to use it as a Wi-Fi  hotspot  but you do not know how to set it up? Or you have done so but still got error message and unable to tether it with other Wi-Fi enabled devices? Read on to find out more:

How Setup Sprint HTC Evo 4G as Wi-Fi hotspot:

• First of all of course you need to switch on  your Evo 4G, after that  Press Menu and select All apps
• Tap Sprint Hotspot
• Next : Tap OK on the introduction screen
• You will be prompted to put a new name in the Router name (SSID) text box, or use you can just use the default router name
• Pick  a network security method from the Security list; There are three security options available, namely WEP, WPA and  WPA2. It is recommended that you use WPA2 since it is the latest and most secure  security encryption. After you select the security method enter a network password  in the Password box
• Select the Sprint Mobile Hotspot check box that is located at the top of the screen of your Evdo screen to activate the newly-created Wi-Fi hotspot
• An icon will appear in the status bar indicating that Sprint mobile hotspot is active. If your area has been covered by the Sprint 4G network an 4G icon will appear in the status bar, yet if there is only 3G network there is an 3G icon instead.

How to Troubleshoot Sprint HTC Evo 4G Errors

In rare cases some  HTC Evo 4G users have hard times activating the mobile hotspot feature, unable to connect to Sprint network and or get error message when trying to connect it to their Wi-Fi clients. Here are a list of possible causes for the errors and how to fix them:

You got the following error :
“Data Call Failure. Error Code 67 .Registration failure. Your PCS Vision username and/or password may be incorrect. Please try again”

The above error may occur if you want to use the phone as a 4G mobile hotspot and have yet to activate your Sprint mobile hotspot add-on. Sprint imposes additional charge of $10  for 4G hotspot data plan. You need to make sure your account has been  attached to the data plan ( Sprint mobile hotspot costs $29.9 and $10 for addon 4G plan). In this is the case you need to contact Sprint Customer service and have them add the data plan your HTC Evo 4G.

The second scenario is you have incorrectly set your phone date, this thing happened to my Sprint Community fellow forum member who set the date several weeks ahead. This can cause the mobile hotspot to stop working even if you have subscribed to the Sprint  mobile hotspot data plan.

And this error very rarely happens as most parts of the US has been covered by Sprint 3G network ; Sprint users who roam to remote or rural areas  can not activate the mobile hotspot. This is because the Sprint Evo 4G mobile hotpot only supports 3G/4G network, so if you travel to areas where there are no either 3G or 4G signals you won’t be able to use it as a Wi-Fi hotspot.

See Also : Sprint Overdrive 4G Mobile Hotspot

Reference :

Setup HTC Evo as Mobile Hotspot

Sprint Overdrive mobile hotspot is among the first 4G mobile hotspot device to arrive at Sprint. The device is much like Mifi from Novatel but with different name. The Overdrive is made by Sierra Wireless, one of the leading wireless USB modem manufacturers. Along with Sprint Mifi 4082 mobile hotspot the Overdrive is an excellent wireless internet solutions for  those in need of fast internet connection while on the go. The 4G Mifi-like device is also an alternative to Sprint 4G mobile hotspot smartphones,  mostly Android-run mobile hotspot-enabled smartphones like Sprint HTC Evo 3D and Samsung Epic.

Currently Sprint is expanding its 4G Wimax as well as building 4G LTE networks across  major US cities. To take the full advantage of this Sprint 4G mobile hotspot device your area where you live needs to be within the carrier’s  4G  coverage. To find out if your city has been covered by the latest wireless broadband technology see the Sprint 4G map coverage here .

Sprint Overdrive (image credit: Sprint)

Sprint Overdrive 4G Mobile Hotspot  Plan and Price

The Sprint Overdrive 4G mobile hotspot costs $49.9 after a $50 mail-in rebate with two-year contract agreement for Sprint’s 3G/4G Mobile Broadband Connection Plan, which costs $59.99 per month. The Overdrive sports a sleek and compact design measuring 3.14 inches tall by 3.14 inches wide by 0.61 inch thick and weighing around  4.51 ounces. Just like Novatel’s Mifi devices the Overdrive comes with an LCD front display showing such indicators as battery and signal strength as well as connectivity. There is also Micro USP port to store microSD to share files with Wi-Fi client connected to it, however you need to buy the microSD yourself since it is not provided by the Sprint. The microSD slot can store up to 16 GB of files that can be shared with up to five Wi-Fi clients. One notable advantage of the Overdrive Sprint mobile hotspot is that it can share the internet with up to eight devices, three more than its Novatel Mifi peers.

Setup:

To start using the Overdrive there is no installation required you just need plug it to your computer and switch it on by pressing the power button. Once the Sprint Overdrive mobile hotspot on you can search for the available networks and put the passcode on the LCD display to connect to the internet. Also unlike Mifi devices and wireless USB modems there is not a web interface. To monitor your data usage and other option you need to open your browser and type the following address : http://overdrive.

Key Features :

1. Storage : MicroSD slot for shared storage up to 5 connected devices with support for memory cards up to 16 GB.
2. Navigation : GPS capable: built-in Wi-Fi GPS capability
3. Wi-FI range : up to 150 feet
4. Data Speed:  Peak download speeds of more than 10 Mbps; peak upload speeds of 4 Mbps; average download speeds of 3-6 Mbps.
5. Display : 1.4-inch LCD (128 x 228 pixels)
6. Battery: 1830 mAh with access time of 3 hours of use and 36 hours standby time

One downside of the Overdrive is its battery life which is just 3 hours when used, shorter than other Mifi devices which typically last around 4 hours yet overall the Sprint 4G Overdrive mobile hotspot is a great choice for who want wireless internet at DSL speed, and to be specific, those who have been covered by Sprint’s 4G network.

Are  you a frequent traveler and need a phone with mobile hotspot capability to access and share internet connection while on the go and plan to buy a Sprint mobile hotspot phone? Bellow is a list of Sprint 4G phones along with their key features that you can turn into a mobile hotspot which should serve as a reference for you before deciding to buy one that fits your needs. As in other carriers , currently HTC smartphones  are the ones to feature prominently at Sprint.  This, I assume, because the HTC smartphones like HTC 3D supports up to eight devices that connect to it , three more than the usual five supported by other Sprint mobile hotspot phones.

Sprint mobile hotspot phones is an alternative to using Sprint Mifi plans using using Mifi devices such as Sprint Mifi 4082 Mobile Hotspot which costs you $50 per month.
In order to use this mobile hotspot feature you need to pay a monthly fee of $29.9 data plan, a premium data additional  charge if you use on a 4G network and of course you need to use it along with the Sprint cell phone plans. The good news is currently (as of July 2011) Sprint does not impose a data cap on 4G mobile hotspot use.

Sprint Mobile Hotspot 4G Phones

Currently Sprint offers nine mobile hotspot phones, all if which are Android phones with Samsung S Nexus 4G and HTC 3D being the latest to join the club. Of the nine Sprint hotspot phones , five devices are 4G phones. Those 4G phones are Samsung Epic, HTC Evo, HTC Evo 3D, Samsung Nexus S 4G and HTC Evo Shift.

HTC Evo 3D
The latest and hottest Android phone from HTC, Sprint HTC Evo 3D is the one of the first 3D smartphones in the US that is loaded with many advanced features. The EVO 3D runs on 1.2GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. The Snapdragon processor supports advanced 3D technology, including full 1080p 30-frames-per-second HD video and stereoscopic 3D video capture and playback. At $199.9 with a two-year service agreement HTC Evo 3D is currently the costliest Sprint 4G mobile hotspot phone.

Key features and technical specs:

• Display :4.3-inch 3D QHD (960×540) display with pinch-to-zoom and tactile feedback
• Camera : Dual 5 megapixel cameras, to capture 3D video and images and a 1.3MP front-facing camera
• OS : Android 2.3 operating system with deep integration of Google services
• Video : Capture video in HD quality, 2D at 1080p and 3D at 720pOutput HD content to a compatible TV using HDMI or DLNAMedia player with 3.5mm stereo headset jack
• Price : $199.99 with a two-year contract

HTC Evo  4G

The predecessor of HCT Evo 3D  which created much hype the first time it was launched more than one year ago. The Evdo 4G sports a similar design to the Evo 3G  and according to many reviewers lives up to the hype.

Key features and technical specs:

HTC Evo Shift

The Evo Shift is the third 4G phones launched by  Sprint with affordable price. At $99.9 with a two-year contact the device is the cheapest Sprint 4G phones along with HTC Evo 4G and Google Nexus 4G. The Shift sports a sleek design and comes with physical slideout Qwerty keyboard. The phones runs on slower 800 Hz Snapdragon processor and features a smaller screen (3.6 inch)  than its siblings.

Key features and technical specs:

• Operating System : Android 2.2-powered phone with 4G wireless connectivity
• Display : 3.6-inch touchscreen display, and slide-out QWERTY keyboard
• GPS turn-by-turn directions via Sprint Wi-FiCamera
• Canera : 5-MP camera with HD video capture
• Memory and storage : microSD expansion to 32 GB
• Price : $99.9 with a two-year contract

Samsung Epic 4G

The Samsung Epic is also one of the hottest 4G Android phones Sprint currently offers. The device sports a gorgeous design, powerful processor and super AMOLED display. The Epic runs on 1GHz Hummingbird processor and comes with 5 megapixel camera with flash. The phones also  features an impressive physical Qwerty keyboard and a front-facing camera for video call. The Epic is offered at $149.9 with a two-year contract.

Samsung Nexus S 4G
The Nexus S 4G is the successor to the Nexus S, one of the most popular Samsung smartphones in the US. Just like the Nexus S, it sports a sleek and slim design and offers a great combination of gorgeous design and powerful performance. It is powered by 1 GHz processor which enables you to perform multi tasking smoothly. The Sprint Samsung Nexus S 4G phone sports a 5-megapixel back camera and a front-facing one for video chat

T-Mobile’s the one and only mobile hotspot device is offered at $79.9 with a two-year contract, which is comparable to other devices from other carriers .  The T-Mobile 4G hotspot device  is a ZTE-made Mifi-like device , a sleek and glossy mobile hotspot device which makes  it quite different from other mobile hotspot devices. The ZTE MF61 sports a sleek and compact design, weighing only 2.6 ounces and measuring at 3.9 x 2.1 x 0.5 inches, which  is a bit smaller than other mobile hotspot devices available  on  other US carriers. The ZTE MF61 has a glossy black front made of  mostly plastic material and a  rubberized black back cover also made of plastic.

T-Mobile 3G/4G MF61

Design

Between the front and back there is  a neon green strip of matte plastic separating the two. There is also  a small LCD screen on the front showing  battery life indicator , signal strength, the number of devices connected and what  connection type you’re currently on. This display screen turns off by itself after a few seconds and can be turned back on by pressing down the power button, located on the side of the device. You can switch on or switch off  the device by pressing  and holding  this button for  few seconds. There is also a micro SD slot to store your files, strangely however, unlike Sprint Mifi 4082 device you can’t share the data on the micro SD with other devices connected to it. It also comes with a user interface which enables you to send and receive text messages, a feature recently not available on other mobile hotspot devices. One area T-Mobile ZTE MF61 shines is its battery life, while average battery life of  most Novatel Mifi devices  is around 4 hours, the device battery life is much longer at around five until six hours.

Data Plan Cost

T-Mobile 4G mobile hotspot data plan comes with three-tier “unlimited” data plan costing $85, $55 and $30 for 10Gb, 5Gb  and 200 Mb data caps respectively. The data plan is not actually unlimited, the term “unlimited” mean you can still use the device if you have used up the data caps but a much slower rate. The throttled-down speed after the bandwidth quota has been reached is at 100 Kbps or 0,1 Mbps, from the initial speeds of  3.5 Mbps up to 5Mbps  for download and 1.8 Mbps for upload. Meanwhile,  Sprint Mifi 4082 3G/4G mobile hotspot offers true unlimited at  $59.99 per month.

T-Mobile 3G/4G MF61 Mobile Hotspot Setup

There’s practically  no setting-up process needed with the T-Mobile 4G Mobile Hotspot. The device comes with a built-in network name (SSID) and an encryption key printed on its label; you need to take out  the battery to see the encryption key. Like most mobile hotspot devices it can share internet connection with up to five devices. T-Mobile ZTE  MF61 supports both 3G and 4G networks, you can easily switch to 3G if your area has not been covered by 4G network.

Security Setup

You can customize the hotspot you create with the device and perform the setting-up by typing the usual 192.168.0.1 IP address in the web browser after which, much like with a conventional wireless router,  you will be prompted with a  windows configuration settings. You may setup security settings based on WPA encryption and other settings such as security settings based or MAC address filtering.
Even though T-Mobile MF61 is the only mobile hotspot device the carrier offers it got a 4-star rating from leading review sites and  overall,  delivers a fast, convenient way to connect up to five devices to the carrier’s  network. Its strength points , as has been partly mentioned above, are : longer  battery life, user friendly interface and fast speed, particularly when you’re using it in a 4G network. The only downside is its data cost which is pretty expensive compared with similar services offered by other US carriers.

Plan on switching carrier or you just want to change plan and seek cheap AT&T phones? Then you have arrived at a right place. Bellow is a round up of  five cheap AT&T phones. What I mean by cheap is, to be precise, is affordable phones  which cost you less than 50 dollars with features you may expect from a smartphone. The bellow list does not include AT&T high-end phones. Phones which only deliver basic features are also excluded from the list.

Five Cheap AT&T Smart phones

Samsung Focus

Samsung Focus is one of the few Windows 7 phones from AT&T . The device is  offered at $49.99 with a two-year contract. The smartphone has won positive reviews from experts and average users alike. The Samsung focus sports a 4-inch super AMOLED touch screen, a 5-megapixel camera with HD 720p video capture capability , 8 GB internal memory, microSD memory expansion, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth stereo music and GPS for navigation. The smartphone measures 4.02×2.01x 0.71 and weighs about 6 ounces.

Cnet in its review gave a four-star rating for the phone singled it out as an alternative for those seeking an alternative to the iPhone with better multimedia features and a more organized user interface than Android phones.
If you want to buy this cheap AT&T phone you will be required to subscribe to a minimum data plan starting at $15 per month. One shortcoming of this AT&T phone is currently there is no a copy paste function yet.

LG Quantum

Like the Samsung Focus LG Quantum is also running on Windows 7 OS and  sells $49.9 with a two-year contract . The smartphone has slide-out full Qwerty keyboard and sports a 5-megapixel autofocus camera with with LED flash, 3.5-inch touchscreen display (480 x 800 pixels) with proximity and light sensors.

At around 6.2 ounces the smarphones is one of the heavier smartphones yet despite its heavy body the LG Quantum comes loaded with robust features such as sleek design and sturdy body. The phones dimension is at 4.7 inches by 2.3 inches by 0.4 inch thick. Other features include GPS capability, HD video capture capability, 16 GB internal memory, Wi-Fi networking (802.11b/g) to  access hotspots while on the go.

Pantech Crossover

The phones is called the crossover due to the fact it is actually  a crossover device between a feature phone and a smartphone. The phone has pretty basic features , such as a 3-megapixel camera without a flash and a 3.1-inch screen. The Crossover run on the old  Android 2.2. Nonetheless, it is one of the few AT&T  Android mobile phones to have a physical keyboard. The others are the Motorola Flipside and the Motorola Flipout and LG Quantum. Provided that you do not set your expectations too much, the Crossover makes for a decent entry-level smartphone.

The display has a 320×480-pixel HVGA resolution and 262 k colors with sharp graphics and text, but everything just seemed that much tinier. The phone also features a built-in proximity sensor and accelerometer. Currently Pantech Crossover is offered at $49.9 with a two-year contract with minimum data plan that costs you $15 a month, a price that makes it to league  the AT&T afordable smart phones.

Motorola Flipside

Over the past two years Motorola has aggressively churned out  a wide range of Android smartphones, The Motorola Flipside  is one of devices initially unveiled at CTIA, and one of the three devices designed for AT&T. The Flipside is the only one among them that has  a conventional touch-screen handset with slideout QWERTY keyboard. The Flipsise runs on Google Android 2.1 (Eclair).

It comes with a 3.1-inch touch screen, a 3-megapixel camera, and supports  32GB of expandable memory. The Flipside costs $49.99 with a two-year contract agreement. The Flipside has a dimension of 2.09 inches by 0.6 inches by 4.25 inches and weighs 4.64 ounces.

The iPhone 3GS 8G

The predecessor of the iPhone 4, the iPhone 3GS is currently still on sale at AT&T for $49 with a two-year service agreement. The iPhone 3GS has  the same dimensions as its predecessor, yet it is a bit heavier at 4.76 ounces compared with the previous model which weighs 4.7 ounces. The iPhone 3Gs is everything that a smartphone has to be. It manages business tasks, such as email, document retrieval and management, and navigation. One area where the iPhone shines is you can download hundreds of thousands of free and paid apps to customize the device to handle additional business needs, such as real estate, financial, and medical.

I guess I don’t need to go further into details outlining what features the iPhone has since you, including me, must have been the object of the buzzes and hype  surrounding the launch of the smartphone around 2 years ago. The above list  cheap AT&T smart phones may change over time as AT&T continue to expand its offerings.