pierretong

Hey! I'm going to be going to college this upcoming fall in Clemson, South Carolina and am looking at a cheap android cell phone option and saw the LG Thrive as an option. I am currently on an AT&T GoPhone plan and saw that they have the LG Thrive android phone but the data packages look ridiculous ($25 for 500 MB, $10 for 100 MB, $5 for 10 MB) while Virgin Mobile with the exact same phone (except called the LG Optimus V) is unlimited for $25. A couple of questions though:

1. How much data am I going to need? I am on a college campus so there is wi-fi most of the time (not everywhere I go but most places). I check facebook, twitter, email and sometimes watch youtube videos.

2.Would it be better off to start on the AT&T GoPhone data plan and see how much data I actually use since AT&T has better coverage? or vice versa and start off with Virgin Mobile? What would you do in this situation?

Thanks a lot for any comments!

greg4android

commented on my experiences in the Optimus V forum.

have had good luck with the THRIVE so far as far as reception and call quality. I use wi-fi for data.

you DO NOT have to buy a data plan . . .

marcandroid

Pierretong,

The Thrive is a really nice phone for the price. Eventhough it's a lot cheaper than some of the other devices on the market, it pretty much holds it's own. I would advice purchasing at least a 16G microSD card because the 2G that's installed will barely get you around the block.

As far as the data plans, I agree thay are ridiculous. I use a Verizon MiFi portable OTA modem for my data when I'm not using secured public WiFi. Since you're going to be using campus WiFi I can only assume that it's included with your room and board or your tuition so I would advise using that as much as possible. Especially data intensive media such as lectures or movies that can run anywhere from 20MB to 700MB.

As stated before a data plan w/AT&T is not required but sometimes, for some strange reason, they will deduct money from your balance for accessing public WiFi if you don't have a data plan. So I purchase the $5 10MB plan for emergencies only just to be on the safe side.

Hey, Good luck! and keep posting because the Thrive is a really good phone and we need more people supporting it.

greg4android

That statement is simply INCORRECT! This phone does NOT force you to have a data plan. I didn't have one for the entire month I had mine.
NO WHERE does it make you sign up for one. I've been running on Wi-Fi
since I got the phone. ALSO, no where in my billing detail do I see a deduction for any data or wi-fi charge. the only misc charge I see on my monthly detail is the $1.00 911 Charge.

I will challenge you to post your billing detail showing where you've been charge a fee for NOT having a data plan.