This is a pretty big subject here. Modifying game consoles....What does this mean for the user? Pretty much opening the machine wide-open and showing off what it's hardware is really capable of....You think your Xbox360 is just good for playing Xbox360, Xbox1 and DVDs? No, using modifications, you can play emulators from other consoles from the old school Nintendo to Nintendo 64 as well as Sega hardware! Ever had a favorite game on one console from the 70s/80s/90s but didn't have the console to play it and didn't think it was worth hunting down a console on ebay or craigslist just to play that one game? Well, more than likely it can be emulated on an Xbox360 or even a PS3! Some systems like the PSP can play NES, SNES and Genesis games on the go! I wouldn't be surprised if this is what Nintendo was thinking of when they made the Virtual Console for the Wii and 3DS. Being able to play classic games on ONE console, and I am sure they were hoping it would cut down on the hacking and modification...but no, the Wii has been hacked up and down! BUT.....with hacking and modification comes the LEGAL aspect of it. Downloading ROMS for games that you don't own is NOT legal. You can't LEGALLY download Super Mario Bros ROM and play it on an emulator. Now, of course, I seriously doubt you are going to have the cops or FBI knocking on your door asking you to show your legal cartridge of Super Mario Bros for NES.....but, its still a risk. Like when people smoke a joint or speed down a road....you are taking a risk of getting caught, you can do it all you want, but you are taking a risk with each time! Also, modifications to game systems *WILL* void your warranty...you are installing unsupported software or hardware to your system altering the way the machine works, thus voiding your warranty. Some systems, like the PSP, Wii, PS3, Xbox1, PS2, all can be modded without taking the system apart. Others like Sega Saturn and Xbox360 will require the system to be taken apart. Then you got "hardware mods" or "hard-mods" and "software mods" or "soft-mod" that can be done to most of these. Sure, all these systems have a "mod-chip" of some sort that can be programmed to play back-up games off a burned disk or off an external hard drive, but these always require soldering....and sometimes, ALOT of wires. Chips can also be expensive....$25 is what I paid for my WiiKey plus the WiiClip. I have no soldering skills, so I needed the clip thing. What this does is, allow someone else to do the soldering for you, ship you the unit with the WiiClip and you snap it onto the chip inside the Wii console....again, these chips require console disassemble and voiding warranty. Now, they have software mods for the Wii...however...Nintendo has gotten a little bit smart with their DVD-ROM drive changes over the years. As of now, I don't think you can even modify the newest revisions of the Wii to play games off DVD-R....BUT...you can STILL play games off a SD card or external USB hard drive! I do prefer the hard drive method myself....you don't have to fool with burning disks, and ALOT of Wii games aren't even a full 4.37GB so you can fit ALOT of Wii games onto an external hard drive. New Super Mario Bros Wii for example is around 365MB for the game. so you could EASILY get that on a 512MB card even! I've had 5 games on a 4GB card before....they were my favorite games on the Wii at the time, and I pretty much left the SD card in the Wii and when I played it, 9 times out of 10, I could just load the game I wanted to play off the SD card! Now again, you can download Wii games off the web, but also, this is ILLEGAL....Only back-up your games you PAID for! This is great for families with small kids and/or indoor pets. You know how it is, kids leave games laying out, drop them, crack them, scratch them. That $50 Xmas present is too scratched to play before New Years! Or you lay it on top of the console, forget to put the disk up later on, go to work or sleep and your pet knocks it onto the floor and plays with it! Damaged disks are highly likely in any situation...handling them on a regular basis will get scratches on them. My favorite system is the Xbox360. I used to have a flashed DVD-ROM for playing burned games. Ripping Xbox360 games is a pain in the butt (when done legally of course)....you got to have what they call a "Kreon" DVD-ROM drive in your computer. This allows the computer to read the Xbox360 game. If you put an Xbox360 disk into a computer that isn't equipped with a Kreon drive, you will get a DVD video saying "to play this disk, insert into an Xbox360" (or something very close to that). so the disc has security preventing you from copying it like you could Sega Saturn or PlayStation1/PlayStation2 discs...Pretty much the security of the Xbox360 is in the DVD-ROM....so if your DVD-ROM drive matches the Xbox360 hardware for YOUR machine, it will load the disk. So, when you flash your DVD-ROM drive, you are taking your current firmware from your DVD-ROM, dumping it onto your PC, altering it a little bit, then re-flashing to your current DVD-ROM, put the DVD-ROM back into the Xbox360 and if you did it right, you should be playing back-up games. Microsoft has made many alterations to the Xbox360 DVD-ROM to prevent such hacking, but so far has been a success, every time they release a new DVD-ROM in a system, it gets hacked with a little time. Some drives are easier to do than others. I personally prefer the Toshiba-Samsung drives of the earlier 2005 model Xbox360s. However, these came with the Xenon motherboard which had a VERY high failure rate. I've had 2 Xbox360 fail on me, but repaired one. The first one, i just didn't know what I was doing and could have probably been easily fixed. Now, my current Xbox360 has a JTAG hack. This allows you to do ALOT more with an Xbox360 than a flashed drive. Flashed drives just allow you to play burned games....there is no hardware modification to the actual console, just the DVD-ROM. JTAG hack lets you do ALOT more. JTAG allows you to rip games to your Xbox360 from DVD-ROM and convert them to be played without a disk in the system like a Demo or XBLA game would do. Also they have "Games on Demand" or "GoD" games, this is like OnDemand movies on your cable or satellite company. You browse a selection of games on the internet from your Xbox, find one you want, pay for it and it downloads to your hard drive. These can take up ALOT of space! Xbox360 games average around 6.5GB for the older ones and now these newer games are 7.5GB. So, if you have the 20GB hard drive, you are NOT going to get very far. The JTAG hacked Xbox360s allow you to take a standard SATA hard drive from pretty much any computer shop and put it on your Xbox360. You will need to at least have an Xbox360 official hard drive laying around to take apart and get the SATA cable out of it that hooks up to your Xbox360 hard drive. sadly the cables aren't very long so its not like you will have a hard drive sitting next to your Xbox360 out of view. You can (if you are very careful) put your new drive inside the original housing of an Xbox360 official drive. I chose not to b/c if i fill up my drive, i want to be able to swap drives back and forth in less than a few minutes. Xbox360 Offical Drives are really nothing special at all. In fact, my 20GB drive was a Samsung drive. My MacBook has a 500GB Samsung drive...they look identical, except for the 20GB says 20GB on it and the 500GB says 500GB on it. I replaced the drive with a 640GB Western Digital from Best Buy for only $60. This is MUCH cheaper than what Microsoft sells the "offical" drives for and there is no reason for them to do this. The Offical 250GB Xbox360 drive sells for $109. I Paid just about half that for more than 2x more space! You can replace the Xbox360 hard drive on a non-JTAG but its a MAJOR pain in the ass and you can't use a 640GB drive like I did, you have to use drive sizes that MS officially supports, 20GB, 60GB, 120GB, 250GB and 320GB. The non-JTAG method requires you to hook it up to a computer and all that mess. Using a JTAG you can just put it on the Xbox360 and format it like any other removable storage on Xbox360. However, JTAG Xbox360s cannot be used on Xbox LIVE! JTAG has advantages and disadvantages.....but I am not an online gamer and with PSN and Nintendo Connect being free, I don't think that Xbox Live should cost money! (yea, I have heard the Xbox Live service is better because the servers are better or something of that nature...but still, not buying it)
So, that is my blog on Game Console Modification. It can lead to legal issues if you abuse it, it can lead to preventing disk damage if you are careful in how you use it which could lead to saving money. To me, its just plain FUN to modify them! :)
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
YouTube Channel
I have some YouTube videos at this link here. I cover video games, various A/V equipment. Show off my Betamax, VHS and Laserdisc players. I even have videos of me smoking! Who knows what all I will put up there, only time will tell! So PLEASE Subscribe to my channel! I will try to update on YouTube as much as possible, as well this site too!
Google AdSense
I just signed up for Google AdSense about a week or so ago and I have become obsessed with refreshing the page to see my income....I wonder how long this will last for me....I tend to lose interest in things quickly so hopefully this will keep me busy. At least now my parents won't say i'm WASTING time on the computer, when I am enjoying myself, posting new blogs, posting new YouTube videos, makin money on my blogs......I hope this actually works out for me! This would be great! it's close to Xmas and I could use some Xmas money to buy gifts for my family!
Grindr & Other Gay Mobile Apps
Remember the 90s? Logging onto AOL or Prodigy or whatever other method of getting onto the internet via dial-up modems? Logging into your favorite chat site with plain text....black text on white background.....no graphics, smilies showed up as the characters that make them up? Then came sites like Gay.com where you actually posted profiles with a photo and "localized" chat? Instead of going to AOL M4M, you could actually use Gay.com and go to your STATE!? That was awesome then wasn't it? Logging into your favorite room to chat with folks online that are gay when you felt like you didn't know other gay people were around and you find out you got a gay person living less than a mile from you! Then other gay sites like ManHunt and Adam4Adam came along, so now we got multiple venues for finding gay people in your area. ManHunt made it even MORE local....by your state AND local cities or regions of your state. You didn't have JUST Tennessee or JUST Texas profiles, you could get it to narrowed down to Memphis, TN or Dallas, TX.....that was awesome wasn't it? Now you knew alot of the gay folks in your specific area! THEN....Smartphones came along with GPS built in and full internet on the go! Then in 2008, Joel Simkhai breaks that barrier of needing to be at home at your computer (or at work with a laptop, etc...)....since smartphones were all the rage, iPhone being the most popular one...Joel Simkhai gave us an app called Grindr. Using this app allows u to find other gay/bi/curious people in your area according to proximity! The closer the person is to you, the closer they show next to your photo! If you are only into guys 30+ years old, then you can set it only show guys over 30, if you are into guys UNDER 30 you can set it to show only guys under 30 years old! If you are into 25-40, you can set that filter too! Unlike other sites like ManHunt where you have to update your location manually...Grindr uses GPS (or even over wifi) to determine your location! Go out of town, fire up Grindr and it automatically knows where you are and who is close! Grindr pretty much changed how we check out local gay men in our area! Then we got other programs like Growlr, it's marketed toward the "bear" crowd or "bear chasers".....We also have other Grindr type apps like Scruff and Jack'd and MaleForce. But I do believe Grindr is the most popular one (even though to get the best out of it, you gotta pay a monthly fee!) How things have changed over the past 15 or so years! Imagine what things will be like in 15 years from now.....
The Word "Faggot"
Faggot.....it's a pretty commonly used word to describe homosexuals.....but....its in a very negative offensive manner. But, it hasn't always been this way: According to the dictionary, the word "faggot" actually reads like this:
So, according to the dictionary, the PROPER meaning of "faggot" has nothing to do with homosexuality)....
Then we have the word "fag"...that is another word for a cigarette.
Then look at the word "Gay"....it means "happy"! Remember THE FLINTSTONES cartoon? The theme song where it has the line "We'll have a gay ole time?"..do you HONESTLY think that had anything to do with Barney & Fred butt-bumping or Wilma & Betty muff-diving?
IMO...The word "faggot" is an over-hyped hateful word for homosexual men that people take WAAAAAY too much offense too. Comedy Central even had an episode of South Park where they changed the meaning of the word "faggot" to annoyingly loud and obnoxious people who drive motorcycles (and if you were CURIOUS about getting one, u were bike-curious LOL, which when pronounced comes out as bi-curious).
Does the word "Faggot" offend me? No, it's just a word to me...I will admit to saying a bit....To me, it's just over-hyped word by folks like the forbidden N-word...and recently, the R-word (that's so recent, I have to tell you the "R-word" is "retarded"). I personally take no offense to the word. And yes, I am a homosexual man myself.
faggot1 esp US, fagot [ˈfægət]n1. a bundle of sticks or twigs, esp when bound together and used as fuel2. (Engineering / Metallurgy) a bundle of iron bars, esp a box formed by four pieces of wrought iron and filled with scrap to be forged into wrought iron3. (Cookery) a ball of chopped meat, usually pork liver, bound with herbs and bread and eaten fried4. a bundle of anythingvb (tr)1. to collect into a bundle or bundles2. (Clothing, Personal Arts & Crafts / Knitting & Sewing) Needlework to do faggoting on (a garment, piece of cloth, etc.)[from Old French, perhaps from Greek phakelos bundle]
So, according to the dictionary, the PROPER meaning of "faggot" has nothing to do with homosexuality)....
Then we have the word "fag"...that is another word for a cigarette.
Then look at the word "Gay"....it means "happy"! Remember THE FLINTSTONES cartoon? The theme song where it has the line "We'll have a gay ole time?"..do you HONESTLY think that had anything to do with Barney & Fred butt-bumping or Wilma & Betty muff-diving?
IMO...The word "faggot" is an over-hyped hateful word for homosexual men that people take WAAAAAY too much offense too. Comedy Central even had an episode of South Park where they changed the meaning of the word "faggot" to annoyingly loud and obnoxious people who drive motorcycles (and if you were CURIOUS about getting one, u were bike-curious LOL, which when pronounced comes out as bi-curious).
Does the word "Faggot" offend me? No, it's just a word to me...I will admit to saying a bit....To me, it's just over-hyped word by folks like the forbidden N-word...and recently, the R-word (that's so recent, I have to tell you the "R-word" is "retarded"). I personally take no offense to the word. And yes, I am a homosexual man myself.
AT&T Contract Vs Pre-Paid Which is better?
Say you are looking to get your first cellphone, or change carriers, or just want a cheaper plan.....well, I can help you with this....
Step 1: Selecting Your Phone
This part could easily be one of the cheapest or most expensive part. There are lots of phones for free on the AT&T network on contract....then there are phones that cost $500+ without a contract. Pick a phone that suits what you need. If you just want to make phone calls, then don't worry with getting an Android, Blackberry, or iPhone. These phones require a minimum of $15/month for internet on contract plans. If you text alot and prefer a full keyboard, there are phones out there that don't require data plans, that will have this feature. A few phones by Pantech have full keyboards but do not require the minimum $15/month data plans. You can find a few of these phones on AT&T website when selecting your phone. Pantech Laser & Pantech Link do not require the data plan and feature the full QWERTY keyboard for texting.
Step 2: Pick your Plan
This is where more of your money gets eaten up than you realize. I personally would recommend going pre-paid but we will get to that later on and why I prefer it. Again, if you are JUST going to talk on your phone. Voice plans on contract go for $39.99/month for 450 daytime minutes and 5000 Night/Weekend minutes. If all or most of your family and friends is on AT&T network, then you shouldn't have to worry about using your minutes up because all calls from AT&T to AT&T network don't count against your minutes, even on this $39.99/month plan. Be careful though.....people *WILL* text you. No matter how many times you say you don't like text, or don't pay for unlimited text, someone *WILL* end up texting you. These texts are now 30 cents per message! Now, say you pick a free phone on 2 year contract for $39.99/month. In 2 years, you're total amount spent (excluding those texts you will end up getting!!!) comes out to $959.76 plus taxes....so, I would add another $96-$100 on taxes for a grand total of $1,055.76 to $1,059.76. BUT...these contracts are dependent on your credit! If you have less than what AT&T requires for no deposit, then you could very well be paying HUNDREDS for a deposit! (My credit sucks and I tried to buy an iPhone and they wanted $700 deposit!)...BEWARE!
Now, if you are looking for texting as well. Add $20/month to your plan! AT&T NO LONGER OFFERS 1000/texts for $10/month!!! You have pay by text at 30 cents each, or $20/month for unlimited! This is where I say it is cheaper to go pre-paid than contract!!! You will see a HUGE difference! If you get the basic GoPhone from WalMart, its $20 and comes with $5 (I believe) in credit for your account. So right out of the box, you are good for 50 minutes (10 cents/minute) of calling. Texts on pre-paid are 20 cents a message so $5 will get you 25 texts! On a contract, $5 would only be ~16 texts!! ALSO, Pre-paid DOES have the $5/200 messages AND the $10/1000 messages plan! As well as the $20/unlimited plan! If you get the $39.99/month voice plan add the $20/month for texting for a total of $59.99/month for 2 years for a total of $1,439.76 before taxes. I would estimate about $140 to $180 in taxes for a Grand Total of about $1,579.76 to $1,619.76 (and this is if you get a FREE phone!). Pre-paid offers a $20 phone.and get this...$50/month unlimited minutes/texts/MOBILE WEB....yes, you browse mobile web on $50/month PRE-PAID. So, let's do the math here. $20 for the phone plus $50/month for 2 years (to match the contract) runs about $1,220! Taxes not included....*IF* you were to buy a smart-phone, say (for example) an iPhone. AT&T will say it's NOT supported and will refuse you customer service when you call (or at least they do for me...)
Let's do contract rate on smart-phones. Smartphones will run you about $50-$300 depending on what phone you get. Let's say you go cheap and get an iPhone 3GS for $50. Get the cheapest minutes at $39.99/month. Add the MINIMUM $15/month data plan (200MB). That's $54.99/month..that doesn't include texting. Let's add that in too! $20/month plus $54.99 = $74.99/month!! that's still only getting you 450 minutes, 5000 N/W minutes and unlimited AT&T to AT&T! for 2 years w/o texting, you are lookin at $1,319.76 for the contract, plus taxes there. Plus $50 for the phone....I'd estimate around $130-$160 for taxes for a Grand Total of $1,449.76 to $1,479.76 for 2 years plus $50 (and that's buying a cheap 3GS and not the 32GB iPhone 4 that is $299!)....NOW, let's add $20/month on top of that for text! So, 450 minutes, 5000 N/W minutes, unlimited AT&T to AT&T, 200MB of data, and unlimited text....$1,799.76 plus taxes I would estimate around $180-$220 for a Grand Total of $1,979.76 to $2,019.76!! This isn't even including the phone and any deposit you may have to pay!! Again, this is MINIMUM minutes AND data!! They will eat you alive on overage on both of these!!!
MY Conclusion!
If you want the best advice I can give you on what to do for a phone, go buy a $20 GoPhone just to get the SIM card.....then fork out the $200-$500 for an Android phone or an iPhone on craigslist....you can probably find them cheaper depending on where you live. I have seen iPhone 3GS for $150 where I live. I have seen Android phones for $60! Blackberry will not suffice for this information. Using an Android or iPhone, download a program called Line2 by Toktumi. This will give you 7 days free (unless it's changed since I signed up, it used to be a MONTH free when I first got it!) to try out this app, which I know you will love! Line2 gives you a phone number for texting and for calls incoming and out-going! yes, it works just like a cellphone! The DOWNSIDE, it doesn't do photo messages! Activate your iPhone or Android phone with the SIM card included with your $20 GoPhone.....DO NOT ACTIVATE THE SIM WITH THE INCLUDED PHONE!! YOU WILL BE LOCKED IN FOR 6 MONTHS!! Now that you have an active phone. Go buy a $15 card and a $25 card. Use the $25 card to add 500MB Data package to your phone. If you DO need photo messages, use the $15 card to buy either 200 messages or 1000 messages. If you do more than 1000 PHOTO messages in a month, you need a new hobby!! So, with the Line2 app, again, you can make UNLIMITED calls and receive UNLIMITED calls for $9.95/month!!! NO TAXES! If you pay for a YEAR in advance, you only pay $99.95! That's getting 2 months FREE at an already LOW price! $9.95/month will get you UNLIMITED incoming/outgoing minutes AND text messages! So,. my advice, pay the $99.95 for the YEAR. Depending on how much data you use (and remember, ALL iPhones and Androids have Wifi! So if you already have Wifi at home or work, then you are NOT using your data package! Plus TONS of places provide free Wifi, such as McDonalds, B&N, Starbucks, hotels, etc...)....Pretty much, you are going to be covered with Wifi unless you don't have it at home or you are in your car! (PLEASE: DO NOT TEXT & DRIVE!)....On Pre-paid phones, you can dial *777*3# and see how much data you have left. You should know within a month or two how much data you are using. Unless you are doing streaming media from YouTube, Xfinity, XM radio or whatever content you are streaming....you shouldn't go over your data! Besides, like I said, the only time you are really going to be using the 3G data is when you are in your car or out of a Wifi area! IF you are you using MORE than 500MB of 3G data a month, you are really going overboard IMO...You have to add at LEAST $5/month in your data before the end of the month (AT&T will send you a free text message to let you know in advance when your data is up)...$5/month will buy 10MB....of data...that doesn't sound like much, but on Line2, your text will use MAYBE 3kb per text. $5 (10MB) will buy you at LEAST 3,413 texts!! Minutes do not use much data either....I have talked on 3G for an over an hour and barely went thru 15MB! What I do is, buy 500MB for $25. Then every month add $5 for the next 4 to 5 months! So for about $50, I have internet for about half the year! So, estimate about $100/YEAR on my data! (on contract, it's a MINIMUM of $180 for a year!!)...of course, I do have Wifi pretty much everywhere I am except driving! Also, if you do need photo messages, buy cards as needed. As long as you don't let it go over your 30 days of service, any unused messages will carry over (this works for data as well!). So, let's break this down....
GoPhone: $20 (needed for SIM)
$15 & $25 card (only get the $15 one if you need photo messages, otherwise don't buy it!) $25-$40
iPhone/Android off Craigslist: Avg of $250
Line2 app download: FREE
Line2 Service: $9.95/month or $99/year
Considering I would be buying $25 cards TWICE a year and adding $5/month to my data to keep it active and carry over about 10 times, you're looking at (and they don't sell $5 cards...) so I would get 4 X $25 cards, apply the first $25 on 500MB data package, then $5/month for 5 months (that's the 2nd $25 card), then apply the 3rd $25/ card on 500MB, then $5/month for 5 months (the 4th $25 card)....so, $100 for my data....I don't do photo messages since I can get photos using e-Mail or Yahoo IM using the data package!
$100/year for data x 2 years = $200 (plus sales tax and $1 9-1-1 fee on each card, they may even sell $100 cards, not sure)
$99.95/year for Line2 x 2 years = $199.90
iPhone/Android off Craigslist for avg price of $250
TOTAL: $649.90 (and only $200 of that has sales tax and 9-1-1 fees)
YES, $649.90 for TWO years of UNLIMITED minutes, UNLIMITED text and pretty decent amount of internet....I have been doing this for going on 2 years myself....it's REALLY worth it!
VERDICT: Pre-paid with an expensive Smart-Phone is the BEST route for goin on AT&T!!!
Step 1: Selecting Your Phone
This part could easily be one of the cheapest or most expensive part. There are lots of phones for free on the AT&T network on contract....then there are phones that cost $500+ without a contract. Pick a phone that suits what you need. If you just want to make phone calls, then don't worry with getting an Android, Blackberry, or iPhone. These phones require a minimum of $15/month for internet on contract plans. If you text alot and prefer a full keyboard, there are phones out there that don't require data plans, that will have this feature. A few phones by Pantech have full keyboards but do not require the minimum $15/month data plans. You can find a few of these phones on AT&T website when selecting your phone. Pantech Laser & Pantech Link do not require the data plan and feature the full QWERTY keyboard for texting.
Step 2: Pick your Plan
This is where more of your money gets eaten up than you realize. I personally would recommend going pre-paid but we will get to that later on and why I prefer it. Again, if you are JUST going to talk on your phone. Voice plans on contract go for $39.99/month for 450 daytime minutes and 5000 Night/Weekend minutes. If all or most of your family and friends is on AT&T network, then you shouldn't have to worry about using your minutes up because all calls from AT&T to AT&T network don't count against your minutes, even on this $39.99/month plan. Be careful though.....people *WILL* text you. No matter how many times you say you don't like text, or don't pay for unlimited text, someone *WILL* end up texting you. These texts are now 30 cents per message! Now, say you pick a free phone on 2 year contract for $39.99/month. In 2 years, you're total amount spent (excluding those texts you will end up getting!!!) comes out to $959.76 plus taxes....so, I would add another $96-$100 on taxes for a grand total of $1,055.76 to $1,059.76. BUT...these contracts are dependent on your credit! If you have less than what AT&T requires for no deposit, then you could very well be paying HUNDREDS for a deposit! (My credit sucks and I tried to buy an iPhone and they wanted $700 deposit!)...BEWARE!
Now, if you are looking for texting as well. Add $20/month to your plan! AT&T NO LONGER OFFERS 1000/texts for $10/month!!! You have pay by text at 30 cents each, or $20/month for unlimited! This is where I say it is cheaper to go pre-paid than contract!!! You will see a HUGE difference! If you get the basic GoPhone from WalMart, its $20 and comes with $5 (I believe) in credit for your account. So right out of the box, you are good for 50 minutes (10 cents/minute) of calling. Texts on pre-paid are 20 cents a message so $5 will get you 25 texts! On a contract, $5 would only be ~16 texts!! ALSO, Pre-paid DOES have the $5/200 messages AND the $10/1000 messages plan! As well as the $20/unlimited plan! If you get the $39.99/month voice plan add the $20/month for texting for a total of $59.99/month for 2 years for a total of $1,439.76 before taxes. I would estimate about $140 to $180 in taxes for a Grand Total of about $1,579.76 to $1,619.76 (and this is if you get a FREE phone!). Pre-paid offers a $20 phone.and get this...$50/month unlimited minutes/texts/MOBILE WEB....yes, you browse mobile web on $50/month PRE-PAID. So, let's do the math here. $20 for the phone plus $50/month for 2 years (to match the contract) runs about $1,220! Taxes not included....*IF* you were to buy a smart-phone, say (for example) an iPhone. AT&T will say it's NOT supported and will refuse you customer service when you call (or at least they do for me...)
Let's do contract rate on smart-phones. Smartphones will run you about $50-$300 depending on what phone you get. Let's say you go cheap and get an iPhone 3GS for $50. Get the cheapest minutes at $39.99/month. Add the MINIMUM $15/month data plan (200MB). That's $54.99/month..that doesn't include texting. Let's add that in too! $20/month plus $54.99 = $74.99/month!! that's still only getting you 450 minutes, 5000 N/W minutes and unlimited AT&T to AT&T! for 2 years w/o texting, you are lookin at $1,319.76 for the contract, plus taxes there. Plus $50 for the phone....I'd estimate around $130-$160 for taxes for a Grand Total of $1,449.76 to $1,479.76 for 2 years plus $50 (and that's buying a cheap 3GS and not the 32GB iPhone 4 that is $299!)....NOW, let's add $20/month on top of that for text! So, 450 minutes, 5000 N/W minutes, unlimited AT&T to AT&T, 200MB of data, and unlimited text....$1,799.76 plus taxes I would estimate around $180-$220 for a Grand Total of $1,979.76 to $2,019.76!! This isn't even including the phone and any deposit you may have to pay!! Again, this is MINIMUM minutes AND data!! They will eat you alive on overage on both of these!!!
MY Conclusion!
If you want the best advice I can give you on what to do for a phone, go buy a $20 GoPhone just to get the SIM card.....then fork out the $200-$500 for an Android phone or an iPhone on craigslist....you can probably find them cheaper depending on where you live. I have seen iPhone 3GS for $150 where I live. I have seen Android phones for $60! Blackberry will not suffice for this information. Using an Android or iPhone, download a program called Line2 by Toktumi. This will give you 7 days free (unless it's changed since I signed up, it used to be a MONTH free when I first got it!) to try out this app, which I know you will love! Line2 gives you a phone number for texting and for calls incoming and out-going! yes, it works just like a cellphone! The DOWNSIDE, it doesn't do photo messages! Activate your iPhone or Android phone with the SIM card included with your $20 GoPhone.....DO NOT ACTIVATE THE SIM WITH THE INCLUDED PHONE!! YOU WILL BE LOCKED IN FOR 6 MONTHS!! Now that you have an active phone. Go buy a $15 card and a $25 card. Use the $25 card to add 500MB Data package to your phone. If you DO need photo messages, use the $15 card to buy either 200 messages or 1000 messages. If you do more than 1000 PHOTO messages in a month, you need a new hobby!! So, with the Line2 app, again, you can make UNLIMITED calls and receive UNLIMITED calls for $9.95/month!!! NO TAXES! If you pay for a YEAR in advance, you only pay $99.95! That's getting 2 months FREE at an already LOW price! $9.95/month will get you UNLIMITED incoming/outgoing minutes AND text messages! So,. my advice, pay the $99.95 for the YEAR. Depending on how much data you use (and remember, ALL iPhones and Androids have Wifi! So if you already have Wifi at home or work, then you are NOT using your data package! Plus TONS of places provide free Wifi, such as McDonalds, B&N, Starbucks, hotels, etc...)....Pretty much, you are going to be covered with Wifi unless you don't have it at home or you are in your car! (PLEASE: DO NOT TEXT & DRIVE!)....On Pre-paid phones, you can dial *777*3# and see how much data you have left. You should know within a month or two how much data you are using. Unless you are doing streaming media from YouTube, Xfinity, XM radio or whatever content you are streaming....you shouldn't go over your data! Besides, like I said, the only time you are really going to be using the 3G data is when you are in your car or out of a Wifi area! IF you are you using MORE than 500MB of 3G data a month, you are really going overboard IMO...You have to add at LEAST $5/month in your data before the end of the month (AT&T will send you a free text message to let you know in advance when your data is up)...$5/month will buy 10MB....of data...that doesn't sound like much, but on Line2, your text will use MAYBE 3kb per text. $5 (10MB) will buy you at LEAST 3,413 texts!! Minutes do not use much data either....I have talked on 3G for an over an hour and barely went thru 15MB! What I do is, buy 500MB for $25. Then every month add $5 for the next 4 to 5 months! So for about $50, I have internet for about half the year! So, estimate about $100/YEAR on my data! (on contract, it's a MINIMUM of $180 for a year!!)...of course, I do have Wifi pretty much everywhere I am except driving! Also, if you do need photo messages, buy cards as needed. As long as you don't let it go over your 30 days of service, any unused messages will carry over (this works for data as well!). So, let's break this down....
GoPhone: $20 (needed for SIM)
$15 & $25 card (only get the $15 one if you need photo messages, otherwise don't buy it!) $25-$40
iPhone/Android off Craigslist: Avg of $250
Line2 app download: FREE
Line2 Service: $9.95/month or $99/year
Considering I would be buying $25 cards TWICE a year and adding $5/month to my data to keep it active and carry over about 10 times, you're looking at (and they don't sell $5 cards...) so I would get 4 X $25 cards, apply the first $25 on 500MB data package, then $5/month for 5 months (that's the 2nd $25 card), then apply the 3rd $25/ card on 500MB, then $5/month for 5 months (the 4th $25 card)....so, $100 for my data....I don't do photo messages since I can get photos using e-Mail or Yahoo IM using the data package!
$100/year for data x 2 years = $200 (plus sales tax and $1 9-1-1 fee on each card, they may even sell $100 cards, not sure)
$99.95/year for Line2 x 2 years = $199.90
iPhone/Android off Craigslist for avg price of $250
TOTAL: $649.90 (and only $200 of that has sales tax and 9-1-1 fees)
YES, $649.90 for TWO years of UNLIMITED minutes, UNLIMITED text and pretty decent amount of internet....I have been doing this for going on 2 years myself....it's REALLY worth it!
VERDICT: Pre-paid with an expensive Smart-Phone is the BEST route for goin on AT&T!!!
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