opinions on my cell phone and plan?

[FLA]

My almost 3 yr old iPhone 5s seems to be running on fumes, it constantly has to be recharged, even if it's not used since the last charge. I did all these tricks from the web to extend battery life and am not seeing a decent improvement. Also, it's 16gb and running out of room, I had to delete a bunch of apps, podcasts, photos and that didn't help much. I do not store my music on it.

Just in case this thing croaks, I called ATandT because I am due for an "upgrade". I got my 5s for $100 last time I got an upgrade plus turning in old phone. These days if you want an iPhone "upgrade", you are buying a phone outright or over time. There appears to no longer be any benefit to you when they deign you can upgrade.

My brother, very tech, said get an iPhone 6s, spend the extra $100 now and you won't have to update a phone again as soon. It doesn't seem to have any special features over the 6 that I care about except battery life. But I trust him.

Atandt will charge me $749 for 6s and will give me $100 for my old phone. So I called Apple, same price but $200 for my old phone. So definitely going through them, they transfer your old phone stuff and get you started for free. Atandt never helped me with anything.

I lowered my plan from 3gb to 2 gb data, it rolls over for one month if you don't use it. According to them, I was using barely any data, most stuff is over wifi. So my plan is $55 unlimited talk and text, rolling over 2 gb data. I get a 24% discount from my old employer. Atandt will honor that discount as long as I don't leave and then try to come back. So unless some other plan is really fantastic, I am hesitant to leave atandt. Last time I had Sprint and couldn't make calls from my home. I've had no dead spots with current provider.

So any compelling reasons not to get the iPhone 6s over the 6? And any advice on my $55 plan? Oh, and would you fork over another $125 for Apple Care Plus, you still have to pay $100 if your phone breaks?

[97guns]

I'm from the camp of buy it cheap and throw it away after you use it. I have a cheap $225 HUAWEI with a 6" screen that's been awesome, does everything my buddies iphone6 will do. I've had it for a year and if I can get another year or 2 out if it I'd be really happy

My girlfriend bought top of the line Samsung a few years ago, its always giving her trouble but she is hesitant to get a new phone because it was a $600 phone, divide it by 3 years and it's $200 a year, divide my $225 phone by 3 and its $75 a year.... giving me trouble? I'll throw it away

[FLA]

I like Apple because every device and my laptop is Apple. It all syncs in the cloud like magic and I have always found it intuitive and easy to use compared to Windows products. I really want to stay with Apple. I go from my tablet to my phone a lot and they keep up with each other and they are the same if I am working on something.

I know I don't need an iPhone but I finally have 4 things that play so well together. I've been taking classes from when I bought my macbook and I've learned a lot. Plus the household, my kids, everyone is on Apple so it's easy.

I have memory and cognitive deficits since whatever the heck happened to me last year. I need simple and I need to be able to work with everyone else with no glitches. Learning a whole new brand of phone would not be easy for me.

[97guns]

Check eBay, might be cheaper

[Jluke]

Have you ever looked into Boost Mobile? They use the Sprint network.

They currently have the 6S, 64GB on sale for $550; and you can get a plan for $30/month.

If you have a "family type plan" then the above may not appeal to you.

Technically speaking, the 6S has 2GB RAM, whereas the 6 only has 1GB. That is a first for Apple in increasing the RAM and could justify the 6S purchase.

[Spiffster]

My vote is for Cricket, which is on At&T's network. Never a dropped call and family plans are insanely cheap. 5 phones for 100/month! The network also uses GSM phones which are much easier to port to different GSM providers (AT&T, T-Mobile) than CDMA phones (Verizon, Sprint).

The latest Samsung phone S6, can be had for $430, last I checked. I have an S6 and absolutely love it, especially with the Gear VR.

[pflyers85]

I made the switch for Verizon to Cricket almost a year ago and I couldn't be happier. The $35 basic plan gives me 2.5 GB of 4G LTE data which is more than adequate for me as I use WiFi as much as possible, and unlimited call and text. Also there are no fees each month added to the plan. The price you see for each plan is the price you will pay. As Spiffster said, Cricket runs on the AT&T network and I have never had an issue with coverage or dropped calls. Essentially you would get the same service on the same network for $20 less a month.

[FLA]

on Cricket and plans like it, can you bring your own iPhone with you or do you have to use one of their phones? I do not need a family plan at all. I had Sprint in the past and could not get coverage in my own home or near it. Back then it was no big deal, I have a landline. I still do but do not use it at all, it's part of the cable bundle. All my medical people, contacts, etc. use my cell. I would want a cell that definitely works in my home since we are dealing with smartphones now. So if Cricket is ATandT, is there any negative to switching? It seems almost too good to be true.

switching from Apple, while cheaper, means I have to learn a whole new phone and system. With my memory and cognitive deficits, I don't think it's worth it even though other phones are cheaper. I am willing to pay extra for the benefits to me for Apple.

[FLA]

can cricket allow you to watch a movie over streaming or is it too slow?

[FLA]

alright, I called Apple, they will sell me an unlocked phone but still help me transfer all of my stuff over. They said I need a sim card from cricket. Is this sim card business and keeping your own phone number hard to do with Cricket? they sound like the best solution although I do occasionally stream part of a movie when waiting at MD appts. As long as I can still do that, can figure out a sim card and keep my same phone number, this sounds like the plan to go with.

[97guns]

Consumer cellular is also on the at&t network and no contract, with voice/data plans starting at $20 a month

[FLA]

ack, I am so wary of giving up my 24% discount, even though Cricket and similar make sense. I am paying $40 at AT&T for 3 gb data and according to their graph of usage, I don't even use 1gb a month.

[Spiffster]

Cricket uses 4G LTE and should do fine streaming video... until you hit your data limit, then you get throttled WAY down... but still usable for email and casual browsing. I stream music from google play music all the time and I have only managed to hit my data limit a few times, but my plan has upgraded data. 5GB IIRC... just bump your data plan if you need to. They should have no issue porting over numbers from any service.

[FLA]

Cricket uses 4G LTE and should do fine streaming video... until you hit your data limit, then you get throttled WAY down... but still usable for email and casual browsing. I stream music from google play music all the time and I have only managed to hit my data limit a few times, but my plan has upgraded data. 5GB IIRC... just bump your data plan if you need to. They should have no issue porting over numbers from any service.

thanks for this. I spoke to Cricket today, they were pushing the 5gb data plan hard, even when I said I historically use less than 1gb a month. He said the people who get the 2.5 gb plan end up hating it because "apps use too much data". Well, they sure don't on my old plan, why should this be any different? Hopefully, when I go tomorrow, I get a better sales clerk.

I bought the iPhone 6s and I think it's beautiful, lol.

[pflyers85]

thanks for this. I spoke to Cricket today, they were pushing the 5gb data plan hard, even when I said I historically use less than 1gb a month. He said the people who get the 2.5 gb plan end up hating it because "apps use too much data". Well, they sure don't on my old plan, why should this be any different? Hopefully, when I go tomorrow, I get a better sales clerk.

I bought the iPhone 6s and I think it's beautiful, lol.

Yeah he is just trying to sell you a slightly more expensive plan. You are likely going to use the same apps that you used on the same 4G LTE network so its not like you will magically use more data. Even if you somehow needed to upgrade to the 5gb plan its no big deal because Cricket is a prepaid carrier and you are not locked in to any plan. It's just a month by month payment and at anytime you are unsatisfied with Cricket you can take your phone to another carrier (prepaid or contract).