Best cheap prepaid phone for rooting? (3G, contract, capable, Android)

[wrcousert]

I want to get a cheap prepaid smartphone that will be used as a mobile hot spot for my Nook Color. My choices are Metro PCS or Boost Mobile. Both have reasonable prices. I'm assuming that neither will allow tethering without first rooting my phone.

I'm leaning towards Boost Mobile because they have a $2.00 daily plan.

Is anyone else here in the forums doing the same thing?

Is there any way to use my tablet with my phone without rooting it, perhaps using something similar to remote desktop on Windows? I'm pushing 50 and need the larger screen that my tablet has.

[grimace8]

good luck - yr question is way over my head but I saw this printed on a site I like to visit called Androidcommunity.com It might be of interest to you(?)

Android 4.2 also features wireless display functionality, which we’re thinking is a feature that will definitely get some positive attention. The best part is that you only need a wireless display adapter hooked up to your HDMI TV, and you’re good to go. Once you’ve got the wireless display adapter set up, you’re ready to begin mirroring content to your TV from any device running Android 4.2.

[Drover]

Depending on what kind of speed you need, I'd look into options by Virgin Mobile and Straight Talk. If you need 4G, VM is selling HTC Evo 3D's (re-branded as the Evo V) for $300; unlimited data plan is $35/mo with no contract. Straight Talk is selling Samsung Galaxy S2's for $350 and unlimited data plan for $45/mo, no contract. A few things to consider:

1) Neither phone is capable of 4G LTE speeds though you can still get up to 8-10mbps depending on signal strength in your area;

2) If you don't need 4G speeds, both providers have considerably cheaper 3G options available, as in less than $100;

3) Virgin Mobile runs on the Sprint network while Straight Talk runs on the AT&T network. After doing some research I have some serious reservations about the future capacity of the Sprint network. I'd pay the extra $10/mo to access AT&T's network;

4) While both have supposedly "unlimited" data plans, users of both providers have reported being throttled so don't plan on streaming Netflix movies all day. That said, many have claimed you won't get throttled on the Straight Talk phone if you leave the proxy field blank in the APN settings because then the network won't know that you're using a secondary provider and won't put you on a lower access priority.

5) As for rooting/tethering... I've read that there are some apps out there that will allow you to tether the phone by bypassing whatever settings won't allow the phone to tether. Not sure how well they work since I've never tried it myself (don't even own a smartphone actually) but it's worth looking into.