[Discuss] OT: a Noplan Phone?

[tmetro+blu at gmail.com (Tom Metro)]

Richard Pieri wrote:
> Go to the T-Mobile to Go site and find an Android phone that you
> like.  Buy it with the one month pre-paid plan.  Then activate
> airplane mode which turns off all of the radio transceivers.  Turn
> WiFi back on.  Let the one month expire.

Sounds reasonable, if you want warranty coverage and a local place to
take your phone for service. (I'm assuming T-Mobile will still support
the hardware, even if your account is expired.)

But if you don't need those services, why not buy used? You can find
slightly behind cutting-edge phones in like-new condition there for a
few hundred.

As far as I know, any Android phone should happily connect to WiFi
networks and run any number of VoIP apps regardless of whether the phone
has an active carrier account.

I'm not sure if an active account is necessary in order to receive OS
updates, which unfortunately are brokered through the carrier. That's
one place you might be hampered, or it may just pull them from an
unauthenticated site. (If you are adventurous, load your own ROM, and
this will be irrelevant.)

 -Tom

-- 
Tom Metro
Venture Logic, Newton, MA, USA
"Enterprise solutions through open source."
Professional Profile: http://tmetro.venturelogic.com/