AT&T GoPhone Review

Thanks to AT&T for sponsoring today’s post!

Have you guys heard? AT&T is hopping on the prepaid phone bandwagon! With monthly rate increases and coverage disparities between providers, the ability to have a phone without a contract can be a huge blessing!

AT&T recently sent me their Samsung Galaxy Express GoPhone to review. This AT&T prepaid phone comes with all the bells and whistles you’d get with a contract phone, but without having to be locked into a lengthy contract. Before I get into some of the specifics about the phone let’s look at a little info about the AT&T GoPhone service.

AT&T GoPhone

With AT&T GoPhones priced from $11.99 to $549.99 (for the iPhone 5s), the AT&T GoPhone is perfect for anyone ranging from the “Mom and Dad are getting me my very first cell phone!” to “I’ve been a cell phone use for 15 years” crowd. You also have the option to purchase a very low cost SIM card kit that will convert your current cell phone into a GoPhone.

AT&T also offers a range of Prepaid phone plans:

$25 Monthly

Talk: 250 minutes
Messaging (text, picture, video): Unlimited
Text to Mexico, Canada, and 100 other countries: Unlimited
Optional Data Add-on: $5/50 MB

$40 Monthly

Talk: 500 minutes
Messaging (text, picture, video): Unlimited
Text to Mexico, Canada, and 100 other countries: Unlimited
Data: 500 MB
Optional Data Add-on: $5/100 MB

$60 Monthly

Talk: Unlimited
Messaging (text, picture, video): Unlimited
Text to Mexico, Canada, and 100 other countries: Unlimited
Data: 2.5 GB
Optional Data Add-on: $10/1 GB

Because the plans are prepaid, and you add prepaid minutes each month, you’re never tied into a lengthy contract. You can adjust your plan as soon as you’ve your 30 day refill.

Getting the phone set up initially was pretty simple. I had a glitch in the beginning, and my phone didn’t register the newly loaded talk minutes (the data was working fine). I made a call to customer service (which number was conveniently already in my contacts) and within 2 minutes–no time on hold!–was talking to one of the nicest customer service reps I’ve ever encountered (for reals! I was amazed).

With my blog, I am constantly on my phone when I’m out and about. I post on my social media pages throughout the day. Reliable signal and fast load times are very important for me–something I don’t always get with my current cell phone service provider. My GoPhone–the Samsung Galaxy Express–quickly became my go-to phone when I was out and about because it was reliable in my usual “dead areas”.

My thoughts on the Samsung Galaxy Express…

(I currently own and use an iPhone 5s–just so you know where I’m coming from)

Likes

I had several likes and a few dislikes with the Samsung Galaxy Express.

First off, this phone has an awesome speaker! Listening to music or video via the phone’s built in speaker is excellent.

While the Android interface took me a little while to get used to, I ended up really liking it–so much so that I’m considering getting an Android the next time I’m in the market for a cell phone.

Loved the size and weight. The phone is really light weight, but didn’t feel cheaply made.

Dislikes

Photo and video quality when using the zoom left a lot to be desired.

I REALLY disliked the placement of the “power” button. With my hand at a natural grip position on the phone, my thumb is directly over the power button. So, often, picking up the phone or switching hands, I’d inadvertently shut the screen off.

The battery power life is not the greatest. It isn’t terrible, but it isn’t great either.

Overall, I liked the phone and I LOVED the AT&T GoPhone prepaid phone plan! With the $60 plan I get more data for less $$ than I get with my current cell phone plan.

Don’t forget that the AT&T GoPhone Freedom Team will be at the Louisiana State Fair from October 30th to November 9th offering hands on demonstrations of the latest devices and a chance to win a device of their own! If you haven’t yet entered the Louisiana State Fair tickets giveaway, you have just a couple days left!