Develop Bugs

[Q] GSM...how does it work?

Currently I'm on Verizon and to be honest, I hate it. I'm in an area where Verizon doesn't have 4G and AT&T HSPA+ speeds are much higher at my house on my girlfriend's phone.
I'm thinking about going GSM when my Verizon contract is up in August.
Here's my question/s:
How does GSM work and how do you pay for your phone service?
How much data do you pay for?

Just pop my t mobile sim card in and go. I'm on contract with them and pay 30 bucks for 5 gb
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

Exodian said:
Just pop my t mobile sim card in and go. I'm on contract with them and pay 30 bucks for 5 gb
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
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But you don't have to be on contract with a carrier to use a GSM phone correct?

nklenchik said:
But you don't have to be on contract with a carrier to use a GSM phone correct?
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Correct, if you provide your own phone, they will provide a sim card and you pick your plan
Don't bait the trolls.

Depends if you subsidize and sign a contract. Best deal right now is get $30 T-Mobile plan, gnex $400 goggle play and get best phone ever. The catch with T-Mobile plan is 100 voice minutes and 10c minute overages which isn't bad if you don't talk a lot or use Google voice or something. T-Mobile also offers very competitive regular plans. If T-Mobile isn't great in your area Atnt has some decent alternatives especially if you can get a corporate discount. Or try the other carriers. There's a good thread on it somewhere in gnex forums.
teach a man to fish, you feed him for life. teach a man to fastboot, and you create competency. and less threads on xda.

nklenchik said:
Currently I'm on Verizon and to be honest, I hate it. I'm in an area where Verizon doesn't have 4G and AT&T HSPA+ speeds are much higher at my house on my girlfriend's phone.
I'm thinking about going GSM when my Verizon contract is up in August.
Here's my question/s:
How does GSM work and how do you pay for your phone service?
How much data do you pay for?
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Click to collapse
You have some serious reading to do. I think you're confusing "GSM" and "Prepaid"... GSM is a network technology used around the world on hundreds of carriers. Prepaid is a type of service.
nklenchik said:
But you don't have to be on contract with a carrier to use a GSM phone correct?
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Click to collapse
No, its your choice. You don't have to have a contract with Verizon or Sprint either... You just have to buy a phone full price and no one will force you.
If you're going to pay full price for a device, I would recommend going with an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) which runs off of AT&T or T-Mobile's network, but saves you about 50% of the cost of running on AT&T or T-Mobile proper. These are "Prepaid" with no contract. You save money because they're not subsidizing prices of phones, and they often have little or no customer service.
As @rbiter mentioned above, there is a great service plan (which I use) from T-Mobile that is only $30 monthly but of course has severely limited minutes. The other front runner on AT&T's network is "Straight Talk" which offers UL Talk/Text and "Unlimited" (actually like 2gb) data for $45. Above that, T-Mobile offers similar prepaid plans with 2gb throttles for $60 or 5gb throttles for $70. Other options include Simple Mobile which has similar plans/pricing.
I recommend reading the Prepaid thread in General. LOTS of people are doing this with the Galaxy Nexus. Read through and ask in there we'd be happy to help with the specifics.

[POLL]Which provider do you use on unlocked Gnex?

Curiosity mostly, but I plan on dumping verizon soon and getting on the prepaid train.

T-Mobile Prepaid.

My past experience with Pre-paid is the network signal is weaker, I use Cincinnati Bell wireless and they told me I had to get a contract plan to get better service. This was years ago, not sure how pre-paid is these days, would love to find out more anbout it.

Optimus pre paid
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app

LibertyMonger said:
My past experience with Pre-paid is the network signal is weaker, I use Cincinnati Bell wireless and they told me I had to get a contract plan to get better service. This was years ago, not sure how pre-paid is these days, would love to find out more anbout it.
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http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1455014

martonikaj said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1455014
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That's a great post. I have a well paying job but even I can't justify 100+ bucks a month for verizon, much less the verizon gnex. I will probably be joining the GNex with straight talk. Even though I will miss verizon customer service, I think I can deal with paying half that.

martonikaj said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1455014
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Great article, thanks bud. But I don't think it's for me. I pay $260 a month for 3000 min. on 5 business phones shared and unlimited everything else, that includes insurance on all my phones,. Probably gonna drop the insurance. My contract is up in November and I am about to buy a GNex, so not sure what I'm gonna do.

T-Mobile: 2 lines, unlimited talk, text, and 5gb of data (before throttle) for both. Total after taxes comes to $124/month.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app

LibertyMonger said:
Great article, thanks bud. But I don't think it's for me. I pay $260 a month for 3000 min. on 5 business phones shared and unlimited everything else, that includes insurance on all my phones,. Probably gonna drop the insurance. My contract is up in November and I am about to buy a GNex, so not sure what I'm gonna do.
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For large numbers of business phones (or large family plans), you're almost always better off with a shared/contract plan, unfortunately. When you need to manage multiple phones/upgrades/shared minutes, contract plans really help.

Has anyone had any experience with Pure Talk? I am out of luck with tmobile. AT&T is the only signal choice I get unfortunately.

bukithd said:
Has anyone had any experience with Pure Talk? I am out of luck with tmobile. AT&T is the only signal choice I get unfortunately.
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i use straight talk at&t. i had t-mo postpaid & made the switch. in my area, (westchester, ny), straight talk at&t provides me with service in places t-mo didn't, however, data speeds are considerably slower for me. t-mo i consistently saw speeds averaging 10mbps/3mbps vs. straight talk at&t averaging around 3-5mbps/1-2mbps. the speeds are bearable & for $45/month (vs. $100 on t-mo), i really can't complain. good price, good service. have had no problems refilling on a month-to-month basis via their website.

Why waiting Note II USA Version?

Hi, sorry i just want to know why a lot people like Note 2 US version? And they're waiting AT&T or T-Mobile version. So they want to sacrifice high money monthly bill to get LTE? Or something else? I'm apologize i dont mean to offend you guys, i just recommend using STRAIGHT TALK, it works because StraightTalk using AT&T network. Right now i'm using Note 1 with Straight Talk. Only $45 per month (clear without any taxes, by OnLine payment). If you buy 6 month/1 year package will be cheaper(total each month). Remember Straight Talk is NOT LTE/4G, but for me as long we can play smoothly HQ high quality YouTube then that's will be enough. So you guys can save money, instead HIGH monthly bill from AT&T. So we may get Note 2 International version using Straight Talk. Sorry my English is not perfectly. Peace out, dude.

There are a few reasons:
1) straight talk coverage isn't nearly as large as the coverage of AT&T
2) You don't want the AT&T network. There are plenty of areas where service X is better than AT&T.
I happen to live in an AT&T dead zone. And the international network basically only works on AT&T (unless you give up 3g for t-mobile)
3) Some people do do a lot of streaming and want LTE
4) AT&T doesn't give you a discount on plans if you are off contract,
So if you are going to be on AT&T anyway, you might as well have them help pay for the phone.
5) If you want repair/warranty work, it's much less hassle to buy it in a local store.
6) Local stores may let you try out a phone for 30 days, if you aren't sure.
7) Many people don't even know about straight talk
T-mobile has pay as you go plans which are cheaper than on-contract plans. Unfortunately the international note doesn't work on those plans.
If I didn't live in a dead zone, I would do simply mobile for sure. But I do, so I'm going to buy the t-mobile phone (in full),
and get the cheap monthly 4g plan. It's my cheapest option by far.
- Frank

I'm waiting for the T-Mobile version because from what I've read it is in the international version. I guess we'll have more details once the phones are actually out there.

LOL, I alone pay $35 a month on AT&T under a family plan. Which only includes the stupid 2GB Data allowance and unlimited text. With very little shared minutes (I don't talk to much unless the recipient is on AT&T and or on a mobile phone. And weekends is free on voice.).
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Im poor until tax time
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L.T.E. (It's worth the wait, even throttled.)

bongbongcong said:
Hi, sorry i just want to know why a lot people like Note 2 US version? And they're waiting AT&T or T-Mobile version. So they want to sacrifice high money monthly bill to get LTE? Or something else? I'm apologize i dont mean to offend you guys, i just recommend using STRAIGHT TALK, it works because StraightTalk using AT&T network. Right now i'm using Note 1 with Straight Talk. Only $45 per month (clear without any taxes, by OnLine payment). If you buy 6 month/1 year package will be cheaper(total each month). Remember Straight Talk is NOT LTE/4G, but for me as long we can play smoothly HQ high quality YouTube then that's will be enough. So you guys can save money, instead HIGH monthly bill from AT&T. So we may get Note 2 International version using Straight Talk. Sorry my English is not perfectly. Peace out, dude.
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gsm is crap. we need cdma. otherwise there's nothing! just a phone and never any signals.

bongbongcong said:
Hi, sorry i just want to know why a lot people like Note 2 US version? And they're waiting AT&T or T-Mobile version. So they want to sacrifice high money monthly bill to get LTE? Or something else? I'm apologize i dont mean to offend you guys, i just recommend using STRAIGHT TALK, it works because StraightTalk using AT&T network. Right now i'm using Note 1 with Straight Talk. Only $45 per month (clear without any taxes, by OnLine payment). If you buy 6 month/1 year package will be cheaper(total each month). Remember Straight Talk is NOT LTE/4G, but for me as long we can play smoothly HQ high quality YouTube then that's will be enough. So you guys can save money, instead HIGH monthly bill from AT&T. So we may get Note 2 International version using Straight Talk. Sorry my English is not perfectly. Peace out, dude.
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I am thinking of going to straight Talk myself. So I was going to buy a gsm phone and buy there sim card. I guess I am confused on which version of the note 2 I should get it know at&tt just opened new 4G in my area but I am sick of contracts and high prices. I am willing to pay 4-5 hundred usd and still save money over a two year period.
So does the note2 international version get released before the USA version?
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Have too
I have too for now.
I am on Verizons network
and dont pull in a whole lot of change monthly,so its a wait for me for bigred to announce,I figure monday or tuesday they will,they had to wait till apple got the opening sales out of the way,..

I'm on Sprint SERO-P plan. $50+tax a month for 500mins, unlimited text, data(3g &4g), night&weekend, data roaming. Sure I will get suck with another 2years contract but I'm not sure if there is a better plan?

Verizon vs T Mobile plan

My current T mobile plan is: Unlimited Minutes, Unlimited Text, and Unlimited Data (2GB of 4g, then throttled) for $79.99/month, plus a discount, so I pay $78 every month.
Now I never looked at Verizon plans because I have always heard they were so much more expensive.. so tonight I decide to look into it.. and I don't know If I am looking at them wrong or what..
But I see a plan.. SHARE EVERYTHING UNL TALK & TEXT 4GB $70 0612
Which I would read as Unlimited Minutes, Unlimited Text, and 4GB of LTE/4G Data for $70???
Is this correct or what? If it is that means I can get more with Verizon for less than T-Mobile? OR am I not seeing some extra fees and what not?
and BTW, with the 2GB on T mobile, I never go over, the most I used was about 1.8GB a month.. so I don't need unlimited data.

I just made a plan through their mobile website and it looks like they charge an extra $40 per smartphone on top of the plan price. The total for a 4Gb plan would be $110.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

Their "share everything" plans are a great concept, but you probably overlooked the device fee ($40 per smartphone).
They charge a fixed fee for each device that ties into it, and then all devices share all data/voice/text allotments and you simply purchase enough for your combined usage.
It's a great concept for families where everyone uses just a little more than one tier gives them and so instead of all of them having to pay for the next higher tier, they can aggregate and their average ends up with a cheaper combined tier. As an example, if they have a tier at 500MB and everyone uses 600-700MB then they might all have to individually upgrade to the 2GB plan. But, if they combine then they can get away with a single 2GB amongst 3 family members.
One of the big benefits for individual users is that you can share data between your smartphone and your tablet and the tablet only had a $10 fee to buy in. Typically you access things on your tablet or your smartphone, so the usage on both is usually not much higher than the usage on a single plan with one device. Essentially, you could probably get a tablet and add it to your plan for only $10 a month total.
But, at $40 per smartphone I'm not sure how much of a boon it is for families compared to the "add a tablet for $10/month" scenario.

Wow! That's a joke! 40$ a month just because you're using one of their devices, that doesn't even make sense.
So after all the mobile is cheaper
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Yea the plans are REALLY deceptive. I think it's $30 per dumbphone and $40 per smart ON TOP of the $70 for the plan. So even when you share with a flip it's almost like adding a whole nother plan. Tmo is cool because you can add lines and NOT give them data/texting.

Yes, Verizon works well if you have three phones and not much data, ie two people is $75 per person shared 4GB. But for three smartphones it would be $64 for 4GB shared. t-mo is cheaper, but omg you better like edge and gprs even.

joederp said:
Yes, Verizon works well if you have three phones and not much data, ie two people is $75 per person shared 4GB. But for three smartphones it would be $64 for 4GB shared. t-mo is cheaper, but omg you better like edge and gprs even.
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Dunno what you're smoking, I set up a wifi hotspot with my S3 and tether my Nexus 7 to it all the time, no problems streaming hd from Netflix.
Actually, I guess it's all depending on your market. I never have any issues anywhere around the Minneapolis area.

joederp said:
Yes, Verizon works well if you have three phones and not much data, ie two people is $75 per person shared 4GB. But for three smartphones it would be $64 for 4GB shared. t-mo is cheaper, but omg you better like edge and gprs even.
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Uhhh.. grandfathered with data for one phone 2GB and two flips was $140, shared plan was $170. I went with tmo for $95.
Ohh you said PER PERSON. The difference is huge still.

Yeah I'll just stay away from them. To get the same plan with Verizon that I have with the mobile it would be 100$ plus tax... And right now I pay 78.
When I renew my contract I'll most likely get the 500mins (I checked my bills for the last three months and I never go over) unlimited text and unlimited 4G for 79.99$.
Orrr I might switch to simple mobile... Unlimited everything 50$ a month and they use the t mobile towers. I've had them before and had no problems.
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Verizon is $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. Sprint is probably cheaper than Tmobile for the most part + unlimited, but it's very deceptive advertising as their LTE is hardly rolled out anywhere. Their 3G is almost like Dialup too. Just keep Tmobile.

Aria807 said:
Verizon is $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. Sprint is probably cheaper than Tmobile for the most part + unlimited, but it's very deceptive advertising as their LTE is hardly rolled out anywhere. Their 3G is almost like Dialup too. Just keep Tmobile.
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Yeah I've heard plenty bad things about sprint data. Yep ill most likely stick with t mobile or switch to their son simple mobile lol
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Crisisx1 said:
Yeah I've heard plenty bad things about sprint data. Yep ill most likely stick with t mobile or switch to their son simple mobile lol
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I've used Sprint for years and their data is PAINFULLY slow. Even "4g" was giving me 1ish Mbps. I switched to VZW and the service is awesome but the cost is really bothering me. I'm currently on VZW paying $75.00 a month for 4gigs of data 450min and 1000 text messages. Every month I go over in texts and it pushes me to $80ish
I just ordered a S2 from Tmo and I'm going to check out the $30.00 prepaid for a couple of weeks to see how well the service compares to VZW. Upon telling my boss this he laughed and told me Tmo sucks in our area and he just switched to VZW from Tmo so I might be stuck on VZW for the forseable future.

joe_sun said:
I've used Sprint for years and their data is PAINFULLY slow. Even "4g" was giving me 1ish Mbps. I switched to VZW and the service is awesome but the cost is really bothering me. I'm currently on VZW paying $75.00 a month for 4gigs of data 450min and 1000 text messages. Every month I go over in texts and it pushes me to $80ish
I just ordered a S2 from Tmo and I'm going to check out the $30.00 prepaid for a couple of weeks to see how well the service compares to VZW. Upon telling my boss this he laughed and told me Tmo sucks in our area and he just switched to VZW from Tmo so I might be stuck on VZW for the forseable future.
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I would switch to Verizon but they are just too expensive. 2gb data unlimited mins and text=100$ plus tax.
On tmobile I get that for 78$. And don't have to worry about over fees because t mobile just throttles you. The highest speed test I got was 30mb. But average is 10mb and about 2.5 up
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If you want cheap T-Mobile is the way to go. The 2 line unlimited plan for $99 cant be beat, unless you go prepaid. But you probably wouldn't be in the s3 forums if you were wanting prepaid.

If you haven't, try to see if you can get any work discounts. It would probably help a bit on costs.

Lol don't know why people make such a big stink over Verizon. I had them for the last 8-9 years and I switched to Tmobile. It was easier than expected honestly. Sure their network isn't as good as Verizon but it's not so distinctly different where if you put the same phone and did a Web browsing test that someone would tell a difference. If I am downloading a huge rom then it's noticeable but for forum surfing and websites (don't do much more than that at work since... Well I'm working lol and I have wifi at home) its just fine.
It's funny because if you knew me then you would know this doesn't sound like me because I am a spec freak... Also it isn't the cost that bothers me. I work 60 hours a week and I can afford Verizon its just the lack of value. Maybe it's because Verizon doesn't give a **** about its customers and they don't try to hide it. Maybe it's because I do work so many damn hours and if I don't see value in my spending I won't buy it. Idk. Either way I'm thrilled with Tmobile and have no reason to go back. Also, I'm in a sort of crappy Tmobile area where everywhere around me gets 5-25mbs and I'm in the one patch that gets less than 2 lol
Sent from my T999 GS3 @ 2GHZ

For 3 lines with ins.:
Sprint had me at $222 (15% off)
Verizon would have been $228 (25% off data)
Tmobile has me at $180 (15% off)
The speeds are way better than what I had on Sprint even with the EvoLTE and the download speeds are on par with every Verizon phone I have come across. Verizon's upload speeds are faster (like 5 to 2)
Sent from my GS3 via TapaTalk 2

AB33 said:
For 3 lines with ins.:
Sprint had me at $222 (15% off)
Verizon would have been $228 (25% off data)
Tmobile has me at $180 (15% off)
Tbe speeds are way better that what I had on Sprint even the EvoLTE and the download speeds are on par with every Verizon phone I come accross. Verizon's upload speeds are faster (like 5 to 2)
Sent from my GS3 via TapaTalk 2
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Just left sprint for t-mobile, so far so good, I live in Northern New jersey work in queens, haven't had any signal issues yet, strong signal indoors. Defintely a better data experience. I can actuality get a signal and use at my job in LIC. Nice to have functional service. Still have to test in philly where I go a lot, but for right now sprint < tmobile.

akasan said:
Just left sprint for t-mobile, so far so good, I live in Northern New jersey work in queens, haven't had any signal issues yet, strong signal indoors. Defintely a better data experience. I can actuality get a signal and use at my job in LIC. Nice to have functional service. Still have to test in philly where I go a lot, but for right now sprint < tmobile.
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Yeah I'm with sprint now. I switched from tmobile from being customer for 6 years. And I gotta say worst mistake!! I'm so upset with the speeds. I mean I cant even get Pandora to work.
Needless to say I will be turning this pretty gs3 back to best buy and cancel my sprint. And reactivate my T-Mobile account.
Can't believe I shot my self in the foot like that.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

For some who don't know T-Mobile is undergoing a huge network upgrade so expect some big changes soon with service its only getting better from here guys jump on the Tmo express

Reception near pittsburgh pa

Is anyone on here from or near pittsburgh pa if so how is the 4g speeds and coverage I'm asking because I might switch from verizon but I dont want to get it if there is bad coverage or no 4g
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Check the t-mobile website for the network coverage..
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ezsoulja said:
Check the t-mobile website for the network coverage..
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Okay thank you
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Questions and help issues go in Q&A and Help section
Thread moved
Thanks
FNM

I'm in Pittsburgh specifically North Versailles and my speeds are pretty good. I have a constant LTE signal pretty much any where I go around town and the burbs.
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I was going to go with tmobile but with the new plan you have to pay like 200 down then $20 a month for 24 months it makes it almost the same as verizon it kinda sucks cause I was looking forward to unlimited data
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timmyd463229 said:
I was going to go with tmobile but with the new plan you have to pay like 200 down then $20 a month for 24 months it makes it almost the same as verizon it kinda sucks cause I was looking forward to unlimited data
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That's not new, it's been that way for 2 years. It's not a bad deal, Verizon doesn't offer unlimited data anymore. I have two lines with t mobile one with an EIP on the Jump program and 500 mb of data, the other line with unlimited everything plus insurance averages $160 a month after taxes. I priced Verizon and for everything unlimited it's a lot more.
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Rhiannon224 said:
That's not new, it's been that way for 2 years. It's not a bad deal, Verizon doesn't offer unlimited data anymore. I have two lines with t mobile one with an EIP on the Jump program and 500 mb of data, the other line with unlimited everything plus insurance averages $160 a month after taxes. I priced Verizon and for everything unlimited it's a lot more.
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I have 3 phones on verizon we share 8gb of data and have unlimited talk&text I pay 220 a month
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Okay but you mentioned unlimited data, Verizon doesn't have unlimited data anymore, that's my point. Verizon CS is horrible, you wait two years to upgrade and they won't upgrade you early. I have been with AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon, horrid customer service, I switched to T Mobile two years ago and could not be happier. To each their own. If I took off unlimited data my bill would be $150 a month.
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timmyd463229 said:
I have 3 phones on verizon we share 8gb of data and have unlimited talk&text I pay 220 a month
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My monthly bill for 2 phones on their truly unlimited plan is only 130 after taxes. Thats counting eip on my note 2. Wifes lg is paid off. Was 140 then. If you ask me.... no matter how you look at it , 60/month ( not counting eip ) is a hell of a lot cheaper than anywhere else.
Now lets do tmobiles math
60/ month for 24 months = $1440
200 down + 480 (20/month for 24 months)= 680
Over 2 years you will have spent $2120
For verizon, not even counting the initial cost of the phone pre-subsidizing ( 300 ), you already spent more lol.
Verizon= $99/month
$99*24= 2376 + 299 for the note2 = $2675
Mind you, tmobile charges 680 outright and verizon charges 699 off contract for the note 2. You can clearly see they get much more money from you and give you less.
Edit. Last I checked verizons unlimited plan was 99. I cant seem to find anything on their website comparable. Going by my usage on tmobile and their (verizons) family share plan..... id be at the 40gb shared plan....ouch! Its even more ! $300/ month for 2 lines unlimited talk/text and 40gb ( 20gb each if split evenly ). Thank god I have Tmobile!
Id chew through 8gb of data alone in a few days just on netflix. My son watches while we are out of the house. Thats not counting my wife who skype video calls her family everyday overseas. How can you survive on only 8?
I even use wifi while im at home and at work too. When I dont, I can hit 60+gb alone! Keep in mind, each rom download is 1gb, 1 netflix movie is 1gb, and pandora / slacker / youtube add up fast too. Heck 1 movie a day puts you at 30gb / month + lol. I got hooked watching Merlin on netflix. That was 86 episodes and I finished it in 2 weeks. I could only imagine how much data id have used if I weren't on my homes fiber line.
Why buy a phone like this if you are limited in how / when you can use it?
Oh and I have LTE at work and pretty much everywhere when I'm out of the house. Can't beat it!
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I would love to switch to tmobile but I cant see only saving a few bucks to switch to less coverage ....when I looked originally at tmobile I figures about 160 for all three of us then I found out you have to pay about 200 and 20 bucks a month for each sevice which puts it at about 210 I cant see myself switching to save 10 dollars now if it was the 160 a month for all three I would have switched yesterday like I wanted to
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pyraxiate said:
My monthly bill for 2 phones on their truly unlimited plan is only 130 after taxes. Thats counting eip on my note 2. Wifes lg is paid off. Was 140 then. If you ask me.... no matter how you look at it , 60/month ( not counting eip ) is a hell of a lot cheaper than anywhere else.
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Do you have any insurance on your phones? Are you on post paid or pre paid?
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I did have their php protection but recently had a bad experience with asurion. I dropped it on both lines out of principle. She had her phone for 2 years, never used insurance once. I had it for 2 on my galaxy s2..... never used it. 2 years of 7.99/month on 2 lines = 383.92 mind you.The first week i had my note2, i dropped it and broke the screen. Paid the deductible, sent in the phone, and figured all was well. I didnt save any of the tracking numbers they gave me. Well they couldnt find the phone. Billed me another 300 .... wtf. Luckily Tmobile worked with me through it and helped alleviate the $300 charge after weeks of fighting it. It was a "we found it". Oh wait we didnt ". Oh wait we did find the imei in our warehouse. Oh wait again..... we didnt" kind of scenario. Next phones will get a squaretrade warranty methinks.
Had I said I lost it like everyone else would have, they wouldnt have gotten it back anyway. Nope.... im honest... see where it got me?
Anyway my plan breakdown is like this
2x family plan =79.99 /month
2x unlimited data =40 /month
Eip = 20/month
Thats 140+tax but I also get a small discount which knocks about 15-20 off my bill.
Granted im in a major city (Baltimore MD ) and even cricket wireless gets decent coverage. Regardless, I was paying over 220/month for 2 lines on AT&T. That was without unlimited data.
Cricket was 50/ month and tmobile was 60....wasnt a hard choice knowing tmobile had 4g and was getting lte at the time lol
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pyraxiate said:
I did have their php protection but recently had a bad experience with asurion. I dropped it on both lines. My plan breakdown is like this
2x family plan =79.99 /month
2x unlimited data =40 /month
Eip = 20/month
Thats 140+tax but I also get a small diacount which knocks about 15 off my bill.
Granted im in a major city (Baltimore MD ) and even cricket wireless gets decent coverage. Regardless, I was paying over 220/month for 2 lines on AT&T. That was without unlimited data.
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Thanks, I have the same plan but enrolled in Jump on the EIP line because it's cheaper than the insurance alone. What happened with Asurion?
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Rhiannon224 said:
Thanks, I have the same plan but enrolled in Jump on the EIP line because it's cheaper than the insurance alone. What happened with Asurion?
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I edited my post with a whole story lol. Lets just say ill never use asurion again. Tmobile basically ate the 300 for me. Excellent customer service. They treated me better than at&t ever did... and I was with them there way back when they were cellular 1, then Cingular Wireless. 15yrs or so.
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pyraxiate said:
I edited my post with a whole story lol. Lets just say ill never use asurion again. Tmobile basically ate the 300 for me. Excellent customer service. They treated me better than at&t ever did... and I was with them there way back when they were cellular 1, then Cingular Wireless. 15yrs or so.
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Thanks, I have used Asurion before when I was on Nextel, I always said that I lost the phone for that exact reason.
T Mobile customer service is outstanding, when I switched from AT&T and had a $200 etf, I told T Mobile and they gave me a bill credit of $120. I wasn't asking them for anything I was switching my mom over from Sprint and mentioned the ETF from AT&T and they just gave me a credit. I wasn't happy with the HTC Sensations I had purchased and they upgraded me 6 months early and again gave me a $120 credit. Outstanding customer service!
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Rhiannon224 said:
Thanks, I have used Asurion before when I was on Nextel, I always said that I lost the phone for that exact reason.
T Mobile customer service is outstanding, when I switched from AT&T and had a $200 etf, I told T Mobile and they gave me a bill credit of $120. I wasn't asking them for anything I was switching my mom over from Sprint and mentioned the ETF from AT&T and they just gave me a credit. I wasn't happy with the HTC Sensations I had purchased and they upgraded me 6 months early and again gave me a $120 credit. Outstanding customer service!
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Thats just awesome! Most times I call them, I reach the customer service center in the Philippines.... They are always so pleasant
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timmyd463229 said:
I would love to switch to tmobile but I cant see only saving a few bucks to switch to less coverage ....when I looked originally at tmobile I figures about 160 for all three of us then I found out you have to pay about 200 and 20 bucks a month for each sevice which puts it at about 210 I cant see myself switching to save 10 dollars now if it was the 160 a month for all three I would have switched yesterday like I wanted to
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You forget that after the phone is payed for your bill will reflect that. With verizon you keep paying for the phone after you payed it off because it is not a separate line item on the bill.
I have both verizon and t-mobile. When I am in a city I use strictly t-mobile, unlimited (real unlimited) data is a hard thing to beat. The t-mobile LTE speeds aren't bad, I can live with them. Verizon LTE speed is just insanely fast.
I drive all over the country for work. I tried using just t-mobile, but once you get outside of a major city you are looking at edge networks at best on data, if at all. I have to use google maps, and pre-caching a journey from New Jersey to California is just not happening.
When t-mobile couldn't cut it on the dark spots between city lights, I got verizon. I will say I was 4G when I drove from New Jersey to California, LTE even almost the whole way.
If you are in a place where you will tend to stay there, and it is a city with 4G/LTE on T-mobile, they are fantastic. Just don't go to nowhere, usa and expect service.
My verizon bill of $110 versus my t-mobile bill of $70-something.
If I had to pick one or the other, i'd choose t-mobile because of the unlimited data, and then figure something else out for getting navigation off-network outside of major cities. My minimum network data is something north of 12 gigs a month and I can't afford buying it from verizon by the megabyte.

Blue6IX said:
You forget that after the phone is payed for your bill will reflect that. With verizon you keep paying for the phone after you payed it off because it is not a separate line item on the bill.
I have both verizon and t-mobile. When I am in a city I use strictly t-mobile, unlimited (real unlimited) data is a hard thing to beat. The t-mobile LTE speeds aren't bad, I can live with them. Verizon LTE speed is just insanely fast.
I drive all over the country for work. I tried using just t-mobile, but once you get outside of a major city you are looking at edge networks at best on data, if at all. I have to use google maps, and pre-caching a journey from New Jersey to California is just not happening.
When t-mobile couldn't cut it on the dark spots between city lights, I got verizon. I will say I was 4G when I drove from New Jersey to California, LTE even almost the whole way.
If you are in a place where you will tend to stay there, and it is a city with 4G/LTE on T-mobile, they are fantastic. Just don't go to nowhere, usa and expect service.
My verizon bill of $110 versus my t-mobile bill of $70-something.
If I had to pick one or the other, i'd choose t-mobile because of the unlimited data, and then figure something else out for getting navigation off-network outside of major cities. My minimum network data is something north of 12 gigs a month and I can't afford buying it from verizon by the megabyte.
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All that does make sense but I would be buying a new phone every 2 years or even 1 so I would always be paying the $20 dollars a month per phone idk if I want that and traveling to my wife's parents I would only get 2g there at least that's what the tmobile site shows on the map. ..I appreciate the info guys maybe I'll switch to tmobile after my dads plan is up and see how it is
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