# help me pick a smart phone and plan! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 15, 2019, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-smart-phone-and-plan/838714 "2019-08-15T23:30:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![bobsmom101](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobsmom101/32/2867_2.png) [@bobsmom101](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobsmom101)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2019, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-smart-phone-and-plan/838714/21 "2019-08-16T22:44:16Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > Google Fi is easy and low cost to try out, and pretty good if you sign up. I found it did surprisingly well in my rural area where I suspected it would falter. Bonus is international data is treated as domestic in many countries, calls and txts overseas do cost a little but one can get around that easy enough with things like whatsapp. \ Their coverage map shows only 3G available at my address. ---
**Author:** ![bobsmom101](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobsmom101/32/2867_2.png) [@bobsmom101](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobsmom101)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2019, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-smart-phone-and-plan/838714/22 "2019-08-16T22:54:17Z")
> [@peccavi](#): > > FWIW: > > My immediate family lives near Ukiah is an isolated valley. I’ve found, while visiting, that AT&T offers marginally better service than Verizon (I have both, one for work, the other personal), but both are pretty much 1-2 bars at best. However, over the years, I’ve noticed that the natives seem to all carry phones on U.S. Cellular, which seems to give them reasonable coverage (where coverage is possible- there are lots of dead spots). Interesting. The AT&T map just shows “coverage” – same as the Verizon map that I know doesn’t work, at least for 3G. US Cellular is showing “partner” coverage only with “roaming” for data. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-smart-phone-and-plan/838714/23 "2019-08-17T00:53:11Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > I used to own a samsung galaxy J7, wasn’t too impressed by it. The 16GB of internal memory meant I couldn’t download very many apps (many apps are memory hogs and you can’t move them to the external SD card). I ended up having to constantly delete apps to make room for new ones. Just checked and I have 79 apps installed on mine (not counting built-in bloatware.) Altogether that takes up around 8 GB, which includes around half a gig of off-line dictionary databases. That would still leave around a gig free in the 16 GB model. And photos and video can be stored directly to MicroSD. 16 GB (around 9 usable) is a _lot_ of space to play with for apps. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-smart-phone-and-plan/838714/24 "2019-08-17T01:11:13Z")
BTW, two really cheap providers I’ve been looking at are [Ting](https://ting.com/rates) and [Tello](https://tello.com/buy/custom_plans). ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-smart-phone-and-plan/838714/25 "2019-08-17T06:42:05Z")
> [@bobsmom101](#): > > Both neighbors across the street have no problems (AT&T and Verizon). My house seems to be in a local dead spot. Then what you should be looking at is cell phone booster/antenna to strengthen the signal. One company which offers these is Wilson Electronics with its Weboost products, although there are probably cheaper options: > **[How Cell Phone Signal Boosters Work - weBoost](https://www.weboost.com/how-it-works)** > > Our boosters increase cell coverage by taking the signals from the outside cell tower, amplifying those signals, then delivering them inside. ---
**Author:** ![bobsmom101](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobsmom101/32/2867_2.png) [@bobsmom101](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobsmom101)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-smart-phone-and-plan/838714/26 "2019-08-17T16:03:50Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > Then what you should be looking at is cell phone booster/antenna to strengthen the signal. One company which offers these is Wilson Electronics with its Weboost products, although there are probably cheaper options: > [How Cell Phone Signal Boosters Work - weBoost](https://www.weboost.com/how-it-works) Yes! Yes! Exactly what I need, but holy cow, look at those prices! I will investigate further. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-smart-phone-and-plan/838714/27 "2019-08-17T17:25:52Z")
The best forum site I know of to discuss cell phone issues is Howard Forums: > **[HowardForums: Your Mobile Phone Community & Resource](https://www.howardforums.com/forums.php)** > > Discuss your favorite mobile phone carriers and cell phone manufacturers ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2019, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-smart-phone-and-plan/838714/28 "2019-08-18T03:17:10Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > The photos and video aren’t as good as on a DSLR or flagship phone, but are far from bad. I had already been thinking of putting some sample video from my Galaxy J7 Crown on YouTube for others considering the phone, and [finally got around to it](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrWAxzz0lrTAXvmKYO_WXeg/featured) today. Also, [here](https://imgur.com/a/CSvPEPV) are a few photos. (I like macro shots.) All of them are cropped only and not otherwise enhanced, except for the first caterpillar photo and the two snail ones, which have been tweaked slightly. I haven’t been anywhere picturesque enough since getting the phone to try landscape photos. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2019, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-smart-phone-and-plan/838714/29 "2019-08-18T03:29:43Z")
BTW, Imgur drastically downsized some of those photos, and seeing the details was kind of the point, so [here](https://www.sendspace.com/file/kb51qa) they are in a zip if you want to download it. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2019, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-smart-phone-and-plan/838714/30 "2019-08-18T16:07:25Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > I had already been thinking of putting some sample video from my Galaxy J7 Crown on YouTube for others considering the phone, and [finally got around to it](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrWAxzz0lrTAXvmKYO_WXeg/featured) today. Those are really really good, Darren. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2019, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-smart-phone-and-plan/838714/31 "2019-08-18T16:51:03Z")
OP: one thing which might help in that people who want to call you would only have one number to call (instead of both a cell phone number and a landline number) is Google Voice (free). It forwards calls to both your cell phone and landline and you answer the phone which is convenient (landline in home, cell phone elsewhere). > **[Google Voice](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Voice)** > > Google Voice is a telephone service that provides a U.S. phone number to Google Account customers in the U.S. and Google Workspace (G Suite by October 2020) customers in Canada, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. It is used for call forwarding and voicemail services, voice and text messaging, as well as U.S. and international calls. Calls are forwarded to the phone number that each user must configure in the account web portal. Googl... [https://voice.google.com/](https://voice.google.com/) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-smart-phone-and-plan/838714.md?page=1)