The more information the better. I am in the states and 8.1 is available only to previewers and developers.
I will go to the store when 8.1 is available to the public as preinstalled not an update.
As far as I can see, all Windows phones now sold will have 8.1 preinstalled.
I am still trying to figure the best $ way to do this. I know the new phones pick up Wi-Fi much better. There are a lot of considerations like contract vs. non, amount of data, buying the phone outright and just using Wi-Fi but I do not know if the phone has to be activated and how is a carrier necessary?
We’ve been over the “buying outright” vs “contract” in the other thread and you understand the savings purchasing outright, correct?
Phones are not activated per say. Not like a Windows PC OS nor the OS on the phone. There may be a carrier’s activation fee involved where they enter the SIM card information into their system so to use the phone on their network. I had no activation fee with my AT&T prepay plan. Don’t remember if the SIM card cost me anything. If it did, it was like $20.
Now I just saw that since we can legally unlock our devices here in the U.S., which sparks competition for lower prices, AT&T and perhaps others are giving away free SIM cards with no activation fee, but requires a new 2-yr wireless agreement with data (min $14.99/mo.) or Mobile Share (min $30/mo.) plan. See the fine print at the bottom of this page:
BYOP - Bring Your Own Phone or Tablet to AT&T and Save
I have a pay as you go phone for calls and texts but no data unless home or at a hot spot. It is easy to just go to a carrier and take out a plan for like 2 GB but by the time they add up taxes, fees, insurance, activation, you are in the $100. plus range for only 2 GB data.
2 GBs of data is a lot of data. On average, I only use roughly 300 to 400 MBs on average per month, but I live around a big city where there’s hotspots just about everywhere at most restaurants, stores, and bars. The phone will usually switch to the hotspot, but it’s a good habit to check the icons just in case. I don’t stream movies, videos, and avoid sites with a lot of pictures while on data. I’ll wait to get on a WiFi hotspot.
I bought my AT&T-branded Nokia Lumia 1520 outright during a pre-Christmas MS online Store special, went to the local AT&T brick & mortar store here in town (one can set up an appointment on their online site, which is nice), told them I wanted the $40/mo prepay plan ($43.60 w/ tax), obtained the SIM card, they installed it into the phone, activated it, and I was on my way in 20 minutes as a happy camper.
The AT&T $40 prepay plan gets me 500 minutes of call time, unlimited text in various countries, and 500 MBs of data. More than adequate for me. The $25 plan would not be enough.
You may want to try other carrier's sites, but here’s AT&T’s:
GoPhone plans
You can press any of the carrier’s for a no contract phone here:
Windows Phone For AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, & Verizon - Microsoft Store
There are numerous other carriers you can find with a Bing search.