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I totally don't know which provider to choose for the galaxy nexus!!!
Should I pay $750 for the GSM version??
I would be able to
-get the $30 walmart/tmobile plan
-no contract
-able to save $$ overtime....
-Speeds wont be fast as the Verizon model
Or
Get the Verizon Nexus!
-I have LTE in my area
-My bill would be $79.00 plus taxes
If you was in my position, which model would you get?
whats more important to you? speed or cost?
For me, it was a pretty easy choice. I use wifi the majority of my day, at work and home. So I go for cost
Easy decision for me, I'm stuck on Verizon until I get rid of my ~$1100 in ETFs, plus the LTE is fantastic around here. It's nothing to pull 16 Mbps down.
Ez decision. Big red robs you and make you think you like it. Pay the money upfront for the phone and get your tmob plan to make it back in the short and long term.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Well you get what you pay for.
$30 vs. $80.
5-7 mbps vs. 20+mbps
100 minutes vs. 450 minutes
unlimited text vs. 0 text
Is the $50 premium worth it? Do you really need more than 7mbps down? I would say no unless you are tethering. GSM HSDPA+ is perfectly fine for a phone. Nobody needs 20mbps to stream media of any kind.
You wanna be the tortoise or the hare? Lol
I was in the same boat on AT&T after having been bitten by the iPhone 4S bug. After a few weeks, I totally realized I never should have bought it. Battery life is great and all and the apps are well designed, but there is something about having the same phone as my mother that rubs me the wrong way. Verizon's LTE is mighty tempting as well and even though we just launched a few LTE devices on AT&T, none of them caught my eye.
I ultimately decided to go with importing since my monthly bill would be lower with my work discount. LTE is great, but I can't imagine doing anything with it that I can't do on AT&T's HSPA network. Plus with how the launch of this phone has gone, I didn't want to take the risk that this would be Verizon's first and last Nexus phone. Hopefully AT&T does decided to launch an LTE version of the Nexus in the next six months. If not I'll just wait for the next Nexus....
I would also add... if you plan to travel outside of north america get the gsm phone, cdma doesn't work outside of North America (ok china and india?)
also. i've been using tmobile and not at&t which is awesome where I live. (~9mbit/s down). I cannot speak to the battery usage of LTE, but I hear its terrible
I say go with GSM
(note CDMA/LTE version is slightly heavier [15g] and thicket [0.5mm])
It was easy for me.
Got the imported GN. Went into AT&T store renew my contract by getting a iphone 4S for 200 hoping that I would be able to sell it for 500+ on ebay etc. That would help me cover some of damage that importing GN did to my bank. lol.
FastMhz said:
You wanna be the tortoise or the hare? Lol
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Please explain what you can do on the LTE network that is impossible on a 7mbps+ HSDPA+ connection?
I use slingbox, tunein radio and SiriusXM without a hiccup.
How would Verizon make this stream better??
These outrageous LTE speeds only benefit users if you are tethering to download an .iso or something. Outside of that, it's marketing gold.
Discuss.
If I get the verizon lte model I may actually get the Big old Cheese during a wootoff for once with the better speeds and ping.
All of these posted speeds are nice, assuming that for both AT&T and Verizon provides the same level of coverage and network performance as promised. Even though my area is in HSDPA+, AT&T service is crap and isn't worth a damn during peaks times when I need to use my phone. I'd be lucky to get 1MB down if that.
fr4c said:
All of these posted speeds are nice, assuming that for both AT&T and Verizon provides the same level of coverage and network performance as promised. Even though my area is in HSDPA+, AT&T service is crap and isn't worth a damn during peaks times when I need to use my phone. I'd be lucky to get 1MB down if that.
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This is *exactly* the problem. Here are my AT&T HSPA+ speeds on my GSM Galaxy Nexus:
From my house -- 5 mb/s
From random place in the west part of the city -- 10 mb/s
From downtown at 10 PM -- 5 mb/s
BUT, from downtown during the business day, when it matters -- 0.5 mb/s
It's what I call the football game effect. At a football game, AT&T phones get basically zero service, whereas Verizon's CDMA network is capable of normal speeds. Downtown has that same issue during the day, as will any crowded area (shopping mall, etc).
This is the reason why I'm likely going to switch to Verizon if they ever release the phone. Enjoying LTE has less to do with the crazy 50 mb/s speeds than it does with enjoying reasonable speeds even in crowded areas. I'll still keep the GSM phone for international travel, though.
I wanted a GSM device and I didn't want anything a carrier had a chance to mess with. This meant importing. Yeah, I paid about $750, but it was worth it. I get updates prompt from Google, I don't worry about carrier apps that can't be uninstalled, I can change phones whenever I want without having to call or get permission from my carrier, and I'm stuck on AT&T for a while anyway.
I'm very happy with my purchase. Honestly, with the VZW one, you'll be tied in to a contract anyway. You'll end up paying more than the phone's cost over that time regardless. The GSM import is just more up front. And if you can get WiFi fairly often, then it's worth it to go with the cheaper plan.
Also, to reply to the poster above me: I haven't had any issues with speed in Boston on AT&T. It seems pretty consistent. Maybe your area is more of a problem area? I know a lot of people hate on AT&T, but I've found their network to be quite stable.
Hi fellow nexus users, I have a UK handset that I got from handtec I've been using on tmobile for the past couple weeks and I really enjoy it.
However my family wants to move our plan to ATT asap for various reasons.
Is there anything I should know? We all have unlocked phones (and nobody but me cares about 3g/4g) so I want to go month to month, I don't want to get into a contract.
Any plans that you guys think are good, and will work well with the galaxy nexus?
We're lookin for about a 1000 minutes shared between the 4 of us, data plans on all phones, no texting (We all use google talk or bbm).
I just did the same thing. Switched from Tmo to ATT
Im on the 450min plan with unlimited messaging. Unlimited messaging gives you unlimited mobile to mobile minutes for any cell phone on any network. I rarely if ever call landlines so this plan works for me - all my calling is free and i barely dent the 450 min allotted for other calls.
Im also on the 2GB dataplan. ATT does not reject the IMEI in the GN: they just add a generic smartphone data plan to your phone. If you want a "4G" plan you need to have the ATT rep input the IMEI of a 4G phone such as the Atrix. With the non 4G plan in Miami Im getting around 3down and 1up pretty consistently whereas on TMo i was getting 3-4up and .8-1 down (only outside, never indoors).
If you bring your device in to the store you can sign up for service and not be on a contract. They only bind you if you get a subsidized phone. I am currently contract free. As an added benefit, I no longer drop coverage walking into buildings and ATT doesnt have the MMS bug that TMo does.
Wondering why would you ever switch from T-Mobile to AT&T if you're in a metro area. T-Mobile has much cheaper plans, better data speeds, and full duplex voice.
I'm not sure if you guys did the right thing, but good luck.
milan03 said:
Wondering why would you ever switch from T-Mobile to AT&T if you're in a metro area. T-Mobile has much cheaper plans, better data speeds, and full duplex voice.
I'm not sure if you guys did the right thing, but good luck.
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T-Mobile does have cheaper plans but does not always have better data speeds (location dependant). It's really hit or miss speed wise in Chicago. Both networks get bogged down by congestion. Recently I haven't seen large deviations in speed in Chicago, Charlotte, Newark, Atlanta or Denver, but YMMV.
I see almost identical data speeds usually between the two carriers with AT&T being a bit more consistent and T-Mobile peaking a little higher but overall being less consistent.
There are instances where T-Mobile's backhaul / lesser congestion has helped. Atlantic City saw around 7mbps with T-Mobile and only 3 mbps on AT&T at the airport but T-Mobile also had some nasty dead spots and tower issues there that caused AT&T to be a more effective option outside of the airport. I was stuck on a 3G connection that was slower than Edge (I literally forced the phone into Edge so that the data connection was usable).
The *much* bigger advantage that AT&T can offer is using the 850 Mhz spectrum over T-Mobile's 1700/2100 combo for 3G/4G. 850 penetrates building much better. With T-Mobile I'd often drop to edge inside of buildings whereas I'll stay on 3G/4G (HSPA) with AT&T. AT&T does not utilize 850 everywhere, but where they do the signal penetration is much appreciated.
krohnjw said:
T-Mobile does have cheaper plans but does not always have better data speeds (location dependant). It's really hit or miss speed wise in Chicago. Both networks get bogged down by congestion. Recently I haven't seen large deviations in speed in Chicago, Charlotte, Newark, Atlanta or Denver, but YMMV.
I see almost identical data speeds usually between the two carriers with AT&T being a bit more consistent and T-Mobile peaking a little higher but overall being less consistent.
There are instances where T-Mobile's backhaul / lesser congestion has helped. Atlantic City saw around 7mbps with T-Mobile and only 3 mbps on AT&T at the airport but T-Mobile also had some nasty dead spots and tower issues there that caused AT&T to be a more effective option outside of the airport. I was stuck on a 3G connection that was slower than Edge (I literally forced the phone into Edge so that the data connection was usable).
The *much* bigger advantage that AT&T can offer is using the 850 Mhz spectrum over T-Mobile's 1700/2100 combo for 3G/4G. 850 penetrates building much better. With T-Mobile I'd often drop to edge inside of buildings whereas I'll stay on 3G/4G (HSPA) with AT&T. AT&T does not utilize 850 everywhere, but where they do the signal penetration is much appreciated.
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I agree 100%. I could get faster speed tests with TMo standing outside - Inside buildings I can barely break 2mbps down. I get much more consistant results with ATT everywhere. The cost didn't seem worth the lesser service.
I drop from full bars coverage to 1 bar EDGE / no service the minute i walk into my one story office building at work. At my desk I often miss messages (i get them later than I need to) and cant make calls. With full 3G signal I type in a website and it takes a while to start loading, in comparison ATT is almost instant
Maybe theoretically TMo is a good deal but in South Florida I get much much better service with ATT. I've switched between them a few times (whenever I see a phone I like) and Im sure I made the right decision.
Does anyone know of any official plans by att to offer the GN subsidized? I know that if anyone actually knew anything, it would be reposted everywhere, but even a glimmer of hope will be welcome.
In NYC metro area T-Mobile is running circles around AT&T's network in terms of data speeds, latency and especially voice quality. I've seen speeds approaching 30mbps on T-Mobile's 42mbps DC-HSPA handsets and 18mpbs on my GN using $30 PrePaid plan.
AT&T crawls down to EDGE speeds and sometimes time outs during the peak hours when the data becomes unusable. Dropped calls are day to day reality, and I've grown accustomed to that and never ever make important calls using AT&T's network. Plus the plans are almost twice as high. Not recommended.
What is the $30 prepaid plan you use? How many minutes do you get with that?
kinggheedora said:
What is the $30 prepaid plan you use? How many minutes do you get with that?
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100 minutes, unlimited data (5GB of 4G speeds then lowered to EDGE), unlimited texting, pre paid no commitment. It's honestly my dream plan.
milan03 said:
100 minutes, unlimited data (5GB of 4G speeds then lowered to EDGE), unlimited texting, pre paid no commitment. It's honestly my dream plan.
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Could you link me to this plan?
What do you mean by "Full Duplex Voice" on T-Mo vs ATT
milan03 said:
100 minutes, unlimited data (5GB of 4G speeds then lowered to EDGE), unlimited texting, pre paid no commitment. It's honestly my dream plan.
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Yeah it's the ONLY reason I was willing to buy an unlocked Nexus and go T-mobile, was going to wait for VZ.
I came from Virgin Mobile's 300min version, I would call the t-mobile plan perfect if it was 200 minute, but it's still an insane deal.
As is, I'm using groove IP to make calls out when I'm in wifi in order to save minutes in case I'm out and I need to use my voice minutes.
But $30 for 5GB of H+ is just awesome sauce!
http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-plans
I'm on $30 plan myself. At home I use GrooveIP on wifi for VOIP and no minutes used (technically only needing minutes outside of my place).
Saving HUNDREDS of dollars a year is worth it over the slightly slower speeds I get on Tmo over ATT. Also helps pay for the price of the GN easily.
Plus I'm using a company that is much more customer-friendly. Lower plan prices when off contract are something to be supported.
I just wish T-Mobile had International Data plans. I travel to Europe once a month, and $15/mb for international data roaming insane when you can buy 125mb international data plan from AT&T for $50/mo.
ksujace said:
What do you mean by "Full Duplex Voice" on T-Mo vs ATT
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It has to do with how the receive (RX) and transmission (TX) audio are handled. You can either have both RX and TX on 100% of the time or they can be multiplexed into one channel to save bandwidth. It's a misnomer because half-duplex usually means something like this:
Caller1: Hello. Over.
Caller2: Hello. Over.
Caller1: What are...(interrupted)
Caller2: Are you... oh, sorry... Go ahead.
Caller1: What?
Caller2: Huh? Oh. Go ahead! Over.
Caller1: I hate this AT&T half-duplex CB radio crap! When will they get full-duplex??? Over.
Caller2: Can you repeat that? Over.
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ksujace said:
I just wish T-Mobile had International Data plans. I travel to Europe once a month, and $15/mb for international data roaming insane when you can buy 125mb international data plan from AT&T for $50/mo.
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If you're there that often, I'd suggest a prepaid SIM. It's not as if AT&T international data plans are economical. I racked up close to $400 of roaming last month for a two week trip to London. All expensed, so no biggie. But it's still pants down, no lube.
ianwood said:
If you're there that often, I'd suggest a prepaid SIM. It's not as if AT&T international data plans are economical. I racked up close to $400 of roaming last month for a two week trip to London. All expensed, so no biggie. But it's still pants down, no lube.
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I'm in the same boat , all expensed , so don't really care. I don't like having multiple phone #'s when over there. (travel to Switzerland 1 week every month)
tmobile is awesome if i stay outside or never travel. But then, so is cricket.
milan03 said:
100 minutes, unlimited data (5GB of 4G speeds then lowered to EDGE), unlimited texting, pre paid no commitment. It's honestly my dream plan.
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Do you have any idea on how bad AT&T throttles speeds on their unlimited data plan?
My AT&T contract is about to expire. I thought I would give a TMO monthly 4g a shot. I've driven 700 miles in the last 2 days along I-40, data coverage is non existent.
GNEX stays on G and sometimes R.
Any secret APN settings I need to know about?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA
My weekly commute between Austin and Houston is same - almost non-existent data coverage. Once in a major population area, then everything's good.
Too bad at&t break-up fees mostly went to DT, otherwise TMo could really use it to shore up the data coverage.
It would help if you stated where you lived or travel to so people within the same city could provide you a basis of comparison.
Oh man this reminds me of the days I was on Tmo. Its best to just sign back on with At&T or get VZW
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Tmo is really good if you're within their HSPA+ areas...but you can't beat $30 a month with unlimited text and Web (1st 5gb @ 4G) and 100 mins.
babymatteo said:
Tmo is really good if you're within their HSPA+ areas...but you can't beat $30 a month with unlimited text and Web (1st 5gb @ 4G) and 100 mins.
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Exactly. You need to be in a decent size city in order to utilize TMobile. Anywhere outside it's a hit or miss, more likely a miss.
Let's see, you're comparing a PREPAID (no roaming) vs a POSTPAID (roaming).
Of course it's not going to go well if you're travelling down highways in middle of nowhere.
I love tmobile - choose your carrier dependent on your needs. Check a coverage map before signing up.
wonshikee said:
Let's see, you're comparing a PREPAID (no roaming) vs a POSTPAID (roaming).
Of course it's not going to go well if you're travelling down highways in middle of nowhere.
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Bingo. You don't get to roam on AT&T like their Postpaid plans. You kinda had to know what you're getting into with Prepaid.
T-Mo is great in cities, but you're kidding yourself if you think you're gonna get HSPA+ (or even UMTS) on a freeway between cities. Just not how their coverage is.
You could look at Straight Talk, which is an AT&T MVNO. You could probably get a bit better coverage with that. Still doesn't roam but AT&T's footprint is probably better.
It all depends on where you're usually at. For the particular areas in So Cal where I typically travel, live, and work, AT&T is by far the worst of the carriers I've had (T-Mo, Verizon, ATT).
OK, I'll be a little more specific. I took a trip from Little Rock, AR to Knoxville, TN. I traveled along a major Interstate, Interstate 40. I recall seeing "4G", for a reasonable amount of time (maybe 2 minutes worth), in Nashville. I say that's reasonable because I drove through Memphis so quick I guess my phone never had a chance to find "4G" data service.
I spent the entire trip swapping out sim cards, mainly using the TMO. When I would become frustrated with the TMO service, mostly on "G", I would pop in my AT&T sim. Instant "4G" service. One second TMO "G", the next AT&T "4G". Not really sure how this is possible. They both charge about the same for their service, but their service is not the same.
I paid $60 for TMO unlimited talk, text, and data. Only later to find that, with those whopping 46 kilobytes per second download speeds, when I was lucky enough to get data, I would never even get close to my metering limit of 2 gigs. With those speeds I would be lucky to even use up 1 meg of data.
How can they charge so much for their "Nations largest 4G network"?
WHAT A JOKE.
I thought AT&T was ripping me off with their prices. I know feel like I have the greatest network provider on earth.
I did call the StraighTalkSIM folks to ask about data speeds. They were kind enough to let know that the fastest speeds I would see would be equivalent to AT&T's "3G". I can live with that for a cell phone bill that would be about 40% of what I pay now. I'll probably give them a try.
dmappdev said:
OK, I'll be a little more specific. I took a trip from Little Rock, AR to Knoxville, TN. I traveled along a major Interstate, Interstate 40. I recall seeing "4G", for a reasonable amount of time (maybe 2 minutes worth), in Nashville. I say that's reasonable because I drove through Memphis so quick I guess my phone never had a chance to find "4G" data service.
I spent the entire trip swapping out sim cards, mainly using the TMO. When I would become frustrated with the TMO service, mostly on "G", I would pop in my AT&T sim. Instant "4G" service. One second TMO "G", the next AT&T "4G". Not really sure how this is possible. They both charge about the same for their service, but their service is not the same.
I paid $60 for TMO unlimited talk, text, and data. Only later to find that, with those whopping 46 kilobytes per second download speeds, when I was lucky enough to get data, I would never even get close to my metering limit of 2 gigs. With those speeds I would be lucky to even use up 1 meg of data.
How can they charge so much for their "Nations largest 4G network"?
WHAT A JOKE.
I thought AT&T was ripping me off with their prices. I know feel like I have the greatest network provider on earth.
I did call the StraighTalkSIM folks to ask about data speeds. They were kind enough to let know that the fastest speeds I would see would be equivalent to AT&T's "3G". I can live with that for a cell phone bill that would be about 40% of what I pay now. I'll probably give them a try.
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Sorry that T-Mobile Prepaid doesn't have service in your area (no roaming + leave the city = no service)...
Try Straight Talk because it uses AT&T. You still don't get roaming though, so the footprint is smaller than the actual AT&T coverage map. You'll get full HSPA+ speeds where available with Straight Talk.
I've been with Sprint for 10 years and have always been happy until I moved to Los Angeles where the service is beyond awful. Although some spots were not too bad, there was enough that it made streaming anything unrealistic, etc. Of course "not to bad" for Sprint was like 250kbps in LA. I started complaining a few months ago and they explained that a lot of it has to do with Vision being deployed in LA and so I've been waiting patiently. You can tell where Vision has gone in, but again the inconsistent coverage makes my phone frustrating to use. Even where Vision has gone in, you are only getting about 1mbps and with WiMax being pretty much useless, Sprint is only now implementing what everyone has been paying for over the course of several years.
Anyway, I told them I wanted out and after going back and forth for awhile they said okay. In other words, because their installation of Vision disrupts current service or a prolonged period of time, if you push a little bit they will let you out without ETF. The one condition is that you send them "whatever phone is linked to your number at the time of cancellation." This is interesting because you could switch your line to a cheap phone and send that back in and then sell your Epic Touch.
As has been suggested on several other threads, I am moving to a month-to-month solution off contract for much cheaper.
Google now sells the unlocked Galaxy Nexus for $350 (which you could probably mostly cover by selling your Epic 4g) and then you have a lot of options, but the cheapest solutions are:
1) T-Mobile Month-to-Month: $30 per month for unlimited data (5GB at high speed), unlimited text, but only 100 voice minutes. I'm going with this because I don't make many calls and I can use WiFi calling at school or at home.
2) Straight Talk is a joint venture between Walmart and TracFone Wireless. For $45 a month, you get unlimited everything and you can choose a sim card that works on either T-Mobile or AT&T. The catch here is that the TOS really limits what you can use the unlimited data for. There are several threads dedicated to this in the Galaxy Nexus forum, but if you leave out the proxy information when setting up the APN, they will only throttle your data around 5GB.
Anyway, hope this info helps someone.
So basically you're ditching sprint because they're upgrading LA from unusable sub 200kbps speeds to 1mbps + speeds at last?
Tf? You managed to somewhat live with crappy service for many months and now you that they're upgrading their service... you don't like it?
Bye.
No, I haven't lived with crappy service for many months. I had years of good service at my previous location and since moving to LA (which was not that long ago), the service has been horrible. According to Sprint reps, Vision deployment is just about complete here in LA and the majority of spots still have horrible reception and data transfer speeds. Lastly, 1mbps is not a good speed when T-Mobile and AT&T HSPA+ can offer much better speeds. 1mbps is what everyone should expect from a 3g service. WiMax is a joke and I'm not going to stick with Sprint and buy an LTE capable phone on the off-chance that Sprint's LTE blankets LA with good coverage in a reasonable amount of time.
lilotimz said:
So basically you're ditching sprint because they're upgrading LA from unusable sub 200kbps speeds to 1mbps + speeds at last?
Tf? You managed to somewhat live with crappy service for many months and now you that they're upgrading their service... you don't like it?
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HSPA+ that ATT and Tmobile uses is 3.5g technology. Theo Max of 21 mbps..
EVDO Rev A is actual 3g technology... Theo max of 3.1 Mbps
Network Vision 3g speeds are 1-2 mbps average and sometimes a tad over 2 but always under 3mbps which are the same or faster than Verizon 3g. ATT and Tmobile HSPA 3g usually is around 2-4 mbps or lower depending on area which is equivalent to Sprint / VZ 3g.
Oh and bye!
Another one that will not end up well. Best of luck on all your ventures.
I have the S3 with Verizon but am thinking to maybe make the switch to the S4 on T-Mobile, and pay the Verizon etf (8 months into my contract)
While Verizon service has been excellent, the data costs have been getting a little to expensive for me, as sometimes I need to increase my data to 4 or 6gb from my normal of 2gb.
I was looking at the plans and I like getting unlimited everything for $50+$20=$70+$20 per month for 24 months for the S4, if I don't buy it outright.
Right now I'm paying approx. $125/mo. with 2GB data.
I'm also paying $35/mo. to Virgin for there bb2go Unlimited Data 4G Wimax service so I can tether my pc and S3.
Total cost comes to approx $160 now.
Compared to approx. $70 for Tmo service Unlimited.
Not sure of Tmo service in NYC and Florida.
I see that LTE will not fully be implemented until between the summer and the end of the year.
I don't want to get stuck with LTE promises like I did with Sprint LTE promises prior to switching to Verizon.
I'm in the middle of researching and wanted to get some real world feedback on Tmo service in the areas mentioned.
Also, before possibly porting to Tmo from Vz, I'd want to try out the service for the trial period, which means I'd need a new number, but if I liked Tmo, I would eventually want to port my present #. I gotta do some research on that one.
Bump.
Any feedback re NYC voice/data reception is appreciated.
There is Tmobile LTE in NYC, parts of it have yet to be turned on. And I keep reading more and more parts of Florida are seeing better data performance.
I'm in the same boat as you, thinking of leaving version for tmobile and Tmobile keeps looking promising from what I've been reading and seeing.
Sent from my DROID RAZR
I appreciate your feedback.
Thanks
The issue I have is that I don't want to fall into the same carrier promising bs of LTE like I did with sprint.
I'm not saying Tmo is like sprint re this.
I just don't know if the Tmo network is set up in a way that is vastly different than sprint, in that they'll be able to deliver the LTE network as promised.
With that being said, I'd settle for HSPA+ for now.
How is voice reception?
Update:
From my research thus far, it reappears that Tmo is not consistent.
With that being said, it is a shame that only the most expensive, monopolized carriers offer consistent services (Two Carriers to be specific, which is really pathetic)
I'll continue to research, because as long as I get consistent service both data and voice in the areas I'm mostly in, than I don't care about whether there is consistent service in the areas I'm not in.
I am pretty sure Tmobile's LTE rollout will be nothing like Sprint's. And even thought LTE isn't everywhere yet, Tmobile's hspa+ network still offers some pretty good data speeds
Sent from my DROID RAZR
I just switched from Verizon to Tmo for the same reasons (among others). I live in Atlanta and service has been great. I'm actually driving down to south Florida tomorrow, so we'll see how well service is down there. With that said, it's going to greatly vary on your location. I would check out their coverage map as it seems to give a pretty good indication on what to expect from what I've seen. Its not like Verizon's where they just say if you have 3g/4g or not. T-mobile's actually tells you the quality of the signal.
As far as the LTE, I wouldn't worry about it. Their HSPA+ "4G" network are pretty decent in my tests, with download speeds averaging around 5mb/s. A lot of times it's higher than that, but I've never seen anything lower than 1.5mb/s, and that's with 1 bar of service. Again, this will vary based on your exact location. I can't wait for LTE to launch, but until then, I'm content.
As far as wanting to port over your number after the fact, they can do it when you're ready. When I ordered mine online, I didn't do the port then as it could be ported in transit. After I got the phone, I called them up and they had to first activate the phone along with a new number. Once that was fully activated, they processed the port request and that was done within seconds.
@steveo11284
Thanks for that info.
Much appreciated
Regarding HSPA+, I'd be happy with those speeds until LTE comes online, as the S4 would be able to handle those bandwidths.
I didn't want to be in the same boat as when I had Sprint and the S3. The S3 was not backwards compatible with 4G Wimax, so if you were not in an LTE area, you were stuck with 3G. In addition, calls were dropping all day long. This was about 8 months ago, so maybe Sprint has their LTE available in more areas, although I was in a NYC sprint store 2 weeks ago, which had no LTE, and the S4 was connected to Wifi. The tech had no idea when lte would be available.
I mention Sprint because I don't want to be in the same boat if I port to T mobile. But it looks like Sprint and T mobile are comparing Apples & Pears, and I'll have a much better experience with T mobile re data, even though LTE is not available yet, HSPA+ is available in a majority of markets.
For clarification regarding delayed porting:
- I can try Tmo without porting, and just get issued a new number to try their service re coverage, data, dropped calls, etc.
- if Tmo doesn't work out, I can return the device within 14 days and pay a $50 return fee.
- if Tmo works out, I can ask Tmo to port over my Verizon number. If this is accurate, does Tmo just port over my existing Tmo number that I was given when I purchased Tmo service?
Obviously I would not port my Vz number to Tmo initially because I want to make sure I have acceptable service with Tmo before terminating the my Vz service and paying the etf, which would be $350 less $80
(8 mos. service) = $270
Yeah I wouldn't really compare Tmo to Sprint. I actually tried Sprint first and ended up returning everything a few days later. I've had 0 issues with Tmo though.
Your first 2 things regarding delayed porting are correct. I'm not sure I understand your last one though:
"If this is accurate, does Tmo just port over my existing Tmo number that I was given when I purchased Tmo service?"
Once you port over your number from Verizon, the number that Tmo gave you will get deactivated and will just go back into their pool of numbers to get used again by another customer in the future. Your account at Verizon will automatically be terminated and you'll receive a bill with your ETF on it.
For clarification, I meant that after using the number Tmo assigned me and I decided to keep Tmo service, Tmo would port my Vz number over, and my originally assigned Tmo number world drop off my account.
As you said, the answer is yes.
Thanks
I may just try out Tmo and see how it goes. If it doesn't work out, I'll lose $50, but if it does work out, I'll save mucho dinero on data costs.
When I worked at sprint in launch day in Dallas we thought it was going to have a good launch. Then to find out they put towers around Dallas not in the major parts. It was a horrible launch. I got tmobile before LTE was announced in Dallas. I just got LTE at my home near rockwall and im hitting 40Megs down and 15 up everytime. This is great because the only way to get Internet at my house is through a sloe satellite.
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Sprint LTE roll out is the worst. T-Mobile was the last to roll out LTE and I get LTE now every where I go in California bay area (San Jose, Santa Clara, Cupertino, mountain view, Campbell, willow Glenn, Sunnyvale, even fremont and Hayward). I had sprint for 9 years and left them last year. They still haven't rolled out lte here. They were supposed to start March and should've had it up and running by now. My gf has s3 and she's still yet to see sprint lte anywhere.
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It does look like Tmo is on the ball, and getting to where they wanna be.
A while ago it wasn't like that and that's why I was hesitant.
But if it works for me, I can save approx. $50-60 per month, and have HSPA+ and eventually LTE, but I may get LTE now. I gotta give the S4 a test run.
As I said before, I'm paying on average $130-135 with Vz for 4GB average (varies between 2-4gb, and sometimes 6gb) with TEP + $35 for Virgin bb2go for unlimited Wimax data.
I see that Asurion insurance with Tmo is $11+ compared to Vz Asurion plan for $6.99.
But I just got an Asurion replacement that was borked outta the box, so I stuck with my cracked screen S3. Maybe I'll try Squaretrade.
Just got the T-Mobile M919 S4. I didn't port from Verizon yet as I'm taking the S4 for a trial run, and so far I'm very impressed although it's only been a couple of hours.
Obviously the S4 is a premium device and I'm very happy with the brightness and crispness of the display. But I digress, as this thread is about Tmo.
I have gotten 4G LTE in the locations where I have been so far, and have done side by side speedtests with the S3 on Verizon, and so far the S4 has achieved equal and/or higher speeds in the 3 speedtests.
The dl/ul speeds have been:
Tmo - 16/10, 9/7, 14/8
Vz- 9/13, 5/8, 7/12
I know I'm comparing an S4 to an S3, and don't know if that makes a big difference regarding the speedtests. I was comparing the LTE networks
The speeds are not earth shattering, but what I am happy most about is that I'm getting nice 4G LTE speeds with Tmo, and it's Unlimited for $20/mo.
If things go nicely for the next few days, I'll port over from Verizon and save some nice money monthly, and have Unlimited LTE with speeds that will suffice for my needs. I'll be a very happy camper. I'll also save money by not having to pay Virgin for their Wimax Broadband2go service.
The ironic thing is that across the street from Tmo is Sprint, and their in store S4 is working off their in house wifi network, as LTE is not available yet.
For now, I'm paying the $7.49/mo for the insurance with $175 deductible.
I may switch to Square Trade if I keep the S4, but I'll decide later on.
I'm gonna Root and see how things go.
Update:
Ooops
LTE went bye-bye......
I just have the 4G icon in the tray which must be the HSPA+.
The speeds (cough, cough,) are dl/u:
.79Mbps/.04
2.53/.56
And LTE just came back up
While it appears LTE is inconsistent so far, it is up and running, and this in it of itself won't be a negative in whether I port or not.
Afterall, I think the NYC LTE switch was just turned on recently.
Nyc Tmobile. One bar of LTE. Pic below.
Just hit 17.88Mbps/10.30.....dl/ul
I'll know more this week regarding voice/data/reception/coverage capabilities.
criticalchild said:
Nyc Tmobile. One bar of LTE. Pic below.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If that is only 1 bar of LTE, I can't wait to see those data speeds with more bars
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I was sitting at an intersection this morning near the airport in Palm Beach FL and noticed my phone said 4G LTE.... I did a speed test and WOW. 33mbs down and 17 up! I never got that with Verizon, even before it got congested. Things are looking good!
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Good to hear that about the PBI vicinity
As you can see, things are also looking good in NYC so far.
Considering the 'switches' are just being turned on, and the build out is continuing, I'm impressed with what I've experienced in the past day. Hopefully things will continue to look good and I'll port from Vz in a few days.
Biker1 said:
Good to hear that about the PBI vicinity
As you can see, things are also looking good in NYC so far.
Considering the 'switches' are just being turned on, and the build out is continuing, I'm impressed with what I've experienced in the past day. Hopefully things will continue to look good and I'll port from Vz in a few days.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I saw the same when they were rolling out lte in my area and it didn't take long before it was completely on. I would say less than a month.
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