Help with Prepaid data plans and smart phones

[MATHA531]

I joined this forum what is it now five or six years ago and learned quite a bit from the wonderful folks here and became a "pseudo" expert on gsm voice stuff (with emphasis on pseudo) and the source of inexpensive prepaid plans (yes I am a very cheap person and am always looking for the cheapest way out).

Okay so I'm a dummy when it comes to data so please bear with me guys. I have a few friends in London and visit them two or three times a year(they come and visit me and it works real well; they love New York and the cheap prices of things here, I like the theatre and the cheap prices of the theatre there. Their first visit is to Walmart to stock up on blue jeans, tshirts and the like). In any event, I was taught here about using a stick modem to access the web on my notebook when I stay where not every flat has free wifi and don't want to spend the day sitting in Starbucks or Mickey D.

Having said that, I have found a great app on my smartphone here that enables me to listen to most any radio station in the world. I can be whizzing along on the Santa Ana Freeway in LA listening to WFAN radio in NY through the input jack on the car radio (and also using it as a gps, remarkable).

So here goes. I need suggestions on a relatively cheap smart phone where I can load android apps. My prime interest is the UK but I would also want to be able to roam through the eu at reasonable rates. Now I know roaming rates are coming down within the eu for data but being the cheap person I am, I want it to be as cheap as pssible.

The other question as part of this and I posted something like this on a sports blog about six months ago. CBS radio has restricted access to its streaming radio stations on the internet outside the USA. So I can no longer listen to my hometown radio stations streaming on the net although as I understand it there is software that masks your location to beat that idiotic restriction. So as part of the advice I hope I can get here, and as I said, five or six years ago it was this forum that gave me my first info on things like sim cards and prepaid voice plans, if anybody has that android app and would try to see if they can get radio station WFAN in New York, it would be very helpful to me.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

[drama queen]

Originally Posted by MATHA531

I joined this forum what is it now five or six years ago and learned quite a bit from the wonderful folks here and became a "pseudo" expert on gsm voice stuff (with emphasis on pseudo) and the source of inexpensive prepaid plans (yes I am a very cheap person and am always looking for the cheapest way out).

Okay so I'm a dummy when it comes to data so please bear with me guys. I have a few friends in London and visit them two or three times a year(they come and visit me and it works real well; they love New York and the cheap prices of things here, I like the theatre and the cheap prices of the theatre there. Their first visit is to Walmart to stock up on blue jeans, tshirts and the like). In any event, I was taught here about using a stick modem to access the web on my notebook when I stay where not every flat has free wifi and don't want to spend the day sitting in Starbucks or Mickey D.

Having said that, I have found a great app on my smartphone here that enables me to listen to most any radio station in the world. I can be whizzing along on the Santa Ana Freeway in LA listening to WFAN radio in NY through the input jack on the car radio (and also using it as a gps, remarkable).

So here goes. I need suggestions on a relatively cheap smart phone where I can load android apps. My prime interest is the UK but I would also want to be able to roam through the eu at reasonable rates. Now I know roaming rates are coming down within the eu for data but being the cheap person I am, I want it to be as cheap as pssible.

The other question as part of this and I posted something like this on a sports blog about six months ago. CBS radio has restricted access to its streaming radio stations on the internet outside the USA. So I can no longer listen to my hometown radio stations streaming on the net although as I understand it there is software that masks your location to beat that idiotic restriction. So as part of the advice I hope I can get here, and as I said, five or six years ago it was this forum that gave me my first info on things like sim cards and prepaid voice plans, if anybody has that android app and would try to see if they can get radio station WFAN in New York, it would be very helpful to me.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

EU operators do not generally allow free roaming across EU for data. Expect to pay minimum of 50c -€1 when outside of the country where you buy your SIM.

You are usually better to buy a SIM in each country.

The only exception I know of is Vodafone Ireland who currently offer free roaming across Europe for national daily rate of 99c per day for 50MB. Other deals are limited to specific countries and operators.

[inquisitor]

Originally Posted by MATHA531

So here goes. I need suggestions on a relatively cheap smart phone where I can load android apps.

You'll find Android phones starting from € 100, but I won't recommend these as they have slow processors, little battery life and haven't got Android updates for a while and won't get any in the future.
There are two relatively new phones, that give very good value for money since prices have come down in view of their successors appearing soon. One is the Motorola Milestone 2 (the European version of the Droid 2), which has a very handy hardware keyboard and has been offered here in Germany for ~ € 220.
The other is the Samsung Nexus S, Google's flagship phone, which features NFC-technology (relevant for soon to be introduced payment services) and a front-facing camera that allows video calls (e.g. free of charge via Google Talk) and sells at ~ € 250 recently. Another advantage of the Nexus S is it's support of the American 1700-MHz frequency (so-called "AWS band") so you could use it even on T-Mobile's 3G network in the US, while the Motorola Milestone 2 would only work on AT&T's and T-Mobile slow 2G networks.
In the US they also sell another version of the Nexus S, which supports AT&T's 3G frequencies (850 and 1900 MHz) besides the primary European 3G band at 2100 MHz.
So if you happen to be a AT&T or T-Mobile customer you should consider buying a phone, which you could use at home and in Europe.