This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Boost Mobile. All opinions are 100% mine.

Two weeks ago, a package arrived at my office. It contained two phones to activate on Boost Mobile and some Re-Boost cards to get me started. The phones they sent were the Motorola i1 and the Blackberry Curve 8330 to give me a couple different ways to check out the Boost Mobile network, the activation process, and the many ways they provide for paying on your account.

In the photo above, the Blackberry Curve 8330 is on the left and the Motorola i1 is on the right. Both offer great ways to stay connected with Facebook and Twitter, but I had some challenges along the way.

My Personal Activation Processes

I had a fast and painless activation process… and a hair-pulling and frustrating one, too. Let’s start with the easy one.

When I got my phones, I pulled them about and began poking around the Re-Boost area at Boost Mobile’s web site while also reading the enclosed instructions. Each phone came with an activation kit with instructions on how to get your phone up and running quickly. I decided to start with the Motorola i1, because I’m a fan of the touch screen smart phones and this one just looks great. To say the activation was simple doesn’t do it justice. I just followed a few simple prompts, entered some numbers, chose my area code and prefix and my new phone was activated in about five minutes. The easy setup and the unlimited everything $50/month plan I chose had me wondering if this might even be a viable alternative to my pricier iPhone service. After activating the i1, I wasn’t yet able to log into my account with my four-digit pin, so I decided to call and find out how long that might take while also asking if I could set up the second phone on the same account. This is where things went down hill.

After working my way through a couple menu options in the automated phone support system, I found myself on the phone with someone pretty quickly. She also had problems logging into the My Account area with my information, so I decided to just give it a try the next day and asked about activating the second phone on my account. After telling me this was not possible, she began setting up the Blackberry and I explained that I planned to set that one up online as well, thanked her, and the phone call ended. I then set up the Blackberry online in the same way I set up the i1. The only thing I did differently was chose the $3/day unlimited plan. Once again, the setup went smoothly, but the phone did not activate right away. It was getting late, so I set it aside and about a week passed before I decided to call and find out what was going on.

My first call left me talking to a support representative who told me that the account notes indicated that I had called in three days after activation and canceled the account. As you might guess, I certainly wouldn’t do that before reviewing the phone and service. Stunned, I explained that I had not canceled anything and would like to get the activation completed. This, I was told, could happen with a mere $10 re-activation fee. It’s not a lot and I completely understand the fee under normal circumstances, but I hadn’t canceled any accounts and protested the fee until the support rep agreed to waive it. While attempting to re-activate the phone (which, by the way, had never actually been completely activated yet), he noted that the account was beyond his ability to fix and he would have a tech work on it. This, I was told, should take two to four hours.

A few hours later, I called back and another support rep named Eric told me that he would uncancel the account. Didn’t the last guy do that? He said the account was all “jacked up” and he couldn’t fix it and that even his supervisor agreed I needed to talk to the technical support department to get it cleared up. The tech I was transferred to said that he’s a general technician and I that I would need to talk to a Blackberry tech and transferred me again. The Blackberry tech couldn’t hear me and I couldn’t hear him, so he called me back on my wife’s phone. As with each person before him, I was told that I, or someone with my pin, had called in to cancel the account and that it was all messed up. Again, I asserted that I had not even called, I had definitely not canceled the account, and I was told by two people before him that the $10 re-activation fee would be waived. After he argued about this at length (and he kept his calm while I did not), I insisted he get a manager and he did. The manager talked to me about the account, reluctantly agreed that it was possible that someone there made a mistake, and eventually transferred me to another department to set up a new account with a credit for the Re-Boost card I had applied.

I talked to Kim in this department and she said she would set up the new account with a new phone number, which was great news. Unfortunately, she warned, she would not be able to activate this phone so soon after it was canceled on another account without first submitting a special request form. Willing to accept any small success, I thanked her when she said that someone would call me back within 24 hours. I hung up and relaxed a little.

48 hours later, I called and navigated the automated phone support to get to a person again. I spoke to someone who said she could not look up any anything on the new account without a phone number, but I didn’t have a new number yet without the account set up. I asked her to try looking it up with the old phone number. She said there was no notes on any of my previous phone calls other than the note that I had called to cancel. After venting a bit, I asked if she could just set up a new account for me with the promised credit. She explained that she could not transfer me to the case department for the old case with the promised credit, nor could she credit me any more than $10 as that was her allowed limit per account. When I asked for a supervisor, she said that no supervisor there could, either, for the same reason, but that she could generate a request with a case number. At my request, she set up a new account for me with a $10 credit and opened a case for the remaining $40. This time, I asked for and was given a case number. At this point, the account was set up and activated quickly and I was finally able to start using the Blackberry Curve 8330.

To be able to definitely review the process as good or bad is hard. While the automated phone system hung up on me several times and the human customer support was an absolute nightmare for the second activation, my first phone was the easiest cell phone activation I’ve ever had and the second was just as easy over the phone once the customer support issues stopped plaguing me. I can only hope this was an isolated experience.

Posting to Facebook and Twitter

Once I had both phones activated, I decided to try updating my Facebook and Twitter accounts from each phone. I update both social networks pretty often while I’m out, especially to share fun or crazy photos of stuff I see while driving around or shopping. Last month, having my social media in my phone allowed me to post this photo to both Facebook and Twitter while I was out for a bike ride. In the past, I’ve used my phone’s Facebook integration to post that I would be out at a club or event and was able to instantly know when a friend replied to say they were coming out too. Social media integration on the go helps improve my actual social experiences and Boost Mobile’s unlimited plans eliminate the worries that those of us with limited data plans have about overage charges.

After downloading Facebook and Twitter apps to each phone, I sent out some tweets and updates, read tweets and updates an played around with all the features. Tweeting and updating was easy from both phones after some quick experimentation and poking around.

The best option for Facebook on most platforms seems to be the official application. The experience on Android is perhaps a little better than the iPhone Facebook app I’m so used to. It’s very similar, but shows recent photos along the bottom. The app sits in the application tray, but can be dragged onto one of the home screens for even faster access. In short, keeping up with my friends (and now even my dad) on Facebook is fast and easy on the Motorola i1. On the Blackberry, the Facebook experience is a little different. At first, finding the downloaded application was a task. The Blackberry stores these social applications under the Communities screen. Once in the application, it was obvious that it came full-featured, but navigating through all the features was cumbersome. This may become easier with use, but it was not immediately smooth moving from the News feed to other areas of the application.

Twitter was a very similar experience on the Blackberry as Facebook on the Blackberry. Both made sending an update pretty simple, but everything else wasn’t nearly as easy. Twitter on the i1 (or most any Android phone, really), is an experience that depends on your app selection. The first application I chose had problems even connecting to my account, so I moved on to an app called TweetCaster, which looks and feels great. It loaded quickly and enabled me to read my friends’ tweets, update my own, check my DMs and messages, and even access and manage favorites with a clean and simple interface. When it comes to tweeting on the Motorola i1, it’s just a matter of choosing the best Twitter application.

How Re-Boost Works

One of the things I liked about Re-Boost was the different ways they have to do it.

As you might guess from the screen shot above, you can pay on-line, in-person, or by phone. The online process, as I’ve mentioned above, was really fast and simple to do, and I imagine the phone and in-person options are just as easy. While in a Boost Mobile store, recently, I watched as someone else paid in the store and the process didn’t take long at all.

Payment can be made via a debit or credit card and this can be done as you go or you can set up automatic payments to avoid forgetting. What I really liked, though, was the Re-Boost cards. They can be purchased in different amounts and used for yourself or given away as gifts.

When you Re-Boost, either by Re-Boost card, credit/debit, or a payment in person, you are simply adding funds to your account, to provide you with another month or day of service, more minutes, or added features.

Boost Mobile Plans And Phones

One of the things that makes Boost Mobile unique is all the plans geared to fit any consumer. Alongside the traditional monthly plans, they offer daily, pay as you go (per minute), and monthly and daily plans for Blackberry. $50 monthly for unlimited everything is my preferred plan and a pretty good deal for the money compared to other companies.

The phones shown in this review are pretty feature-rich and the i1 is just downright smooth. Boost Mobile’s phone line-up ranges from high-end smart phones like the i1 down to more budget-friendly phones like the $29 i290. Although I liked the i1 a little more, the Blackberry Curve 8330 felt oddly comfortable in my hand. I didn’t expect it to as a touch screen phone fan, but its weight, size and general feel just felt like the ideal.

Final Thoughts

Despite customer service issues, setting up and activating my phones on my own was a breeze. The phones, themselves were great, as well. Data felt a little sluggish at times on both phones, which may be the price of unlimited data accounts, but not having to worry about overages may be an acceptable trade-off. Boost Mobile seems to be a more budget-conscious solution, especially if you don’t want to jump through all the credit check and application hoops other companies often require.