Recommended Cell Phone Providers - Jacksonville/Saint Augustine (Jacksonville Beach: purchase, price)

[JetSetLady]

Hi all, I'm planning a move with my husband to either the Jacksonville Beaches or Saint Augustine/Anastasia Island area in December. Looking for your opinions and expertise on the best cell phone providers that we should look into. We are currently locked into a plan in Toronto for the next year, so I'm trying to figure out if it's worthwhile to pay the early cancellation fee (~$400) and start fresh, or to hang onto our plan but with additional fees (~$115/month) for US coverage. Ideally we'd like to keep our current phones, but will purchase new if there's an issue. A bit about our needs:

Husband - iphone5s: Will use primarily for local calls in the Jacksonville/Saint Augustine area
Myself - Samsung Galaxy S3: Will use both in the Jacksonville/Saint Augustine area, but also travel frequently around the US for work (currently Texas) and would like the ability to make/receive calls while there as well

If folks can point me in the right direction, I would really appreciate it. I know there are a ton of options, but oftentimes locals just know best!

[SaintCabbage]

Not as many options as you think in the deep south. AT&T is going to be your best coverage and dominate the local area. Verizon is available, but signal can be an issue at times. Sprint is for hobos who don't want their phones to actually be able to place calls.

[Ruger20]

Originally Posted by SaintCabbage

Not as many options as you think in the deep south. AT&T is going to be your best coverage and dominate the local area. Verizon is available, but signal can be an issue at times. Sprint is for hobos who don't want their phones to actually be able to place calls.

lol

[Peter the Brit]

In St Augustine metro pcs works and is reasonably priced

[Pedal Wench]

You would think that moving out of the country (and being able to prove it) might be enough to get a company to waive early termination fees!

[Ruger20]

Originally Posted by Pedal Wench

You would think that moving out of the country (and being able to prove it) might be enough to get a company to waive early termination fees!

I don't think dieing gets you out of early termination fees. Hmm, seems there may be a punn involved in that last sentence.

[JetSetLady]

Thanks for the tips! So it sounds like my best bet is to try with AT&T and Metro PCS. Do you also know whether there are reasonable options with either carrier that do not involve locking into a contract? I actually just verified with my phone provider that my cancellation fees will be more in the ballpark of $650!!! I'm trying to avoid running into the same problem once in NE Florida...

[SaintCabbage]

AT&T does not need a contract if you pick a data sharing plan, in fact it's much cheaper than a contract on a monthly basis.

[bobsim]

I've been with Solavei for almost two years now. My payment is $45.38 and that's unlimited talk but limits on data, I was on unlimited everything and it was $68 a month. No contract and no problems. They use T-Mobile lines. I believe T-Mobile also has no contract service available. Never had a signal issue either.

Honestly I can't understand the idea of locking into a contract with any service provider, their performance should be their security.

[Florida2014]

Go with Straight Talk. You can bring your own phone and you get unlimited talk/text/data* for $50/month and it uses both AT&T and Verizon's network. Phone choices used to be very limited but they're now doing the bring your own phone program.

*they can "throttle back" data usage if you go crazy during your month and slow things down; however, if you're a normal person and don't spend 10 hours a day with your head buried in your phone that shouldn't be an issue for you. If you go direct thru AT&T or Verizon you're definitely limited on the data.