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Hi
I'm new to the US, and I'm not familiar with the wireless companies system here..
I have some question:
1. Which service provider is better? I'll be living in Berkeley, CA?? I keep hearing that At&T has bad reception.. which one should I go for??
2. The 30$ data plan: all companies say that this plan is unlimited, but I keep reading (at least for Verizon) it's 5 GB/month.. is this true?? and are there any companies that offer real unlimited data plan...
Because I was thinking of using my phone as a modem for my PC, I don't want to pay more 30-40$ for DSL if I already have a true unlimited data plan
3. Roll over minutes: does this apply only to AT&t, or all carriers?
Thanks in advance guys
duke911 said:
Hi
I'm new to the US, and I'm not familiar with the wireless companies system here..
I have some question:
1. Which service provider is better? I'll be living in Berkeley, CA?? I keep hearing that At&T has bad reception.. which one should I go for??
2. The 30$ data plan: all companies say that this plan is unlimited, but I keep reading (at least for Verizon) it's 5 GB/month.. is this true?? and are there any companies that offer real unlimited data plan...
Because I was thinking of using my phone as a modem for my PC, I don't want to pay more 30-40$ for DSL if I already have a true unlimited data plan
3. Roll over minutes: does this apply only to AT&t, or all carriers?
Thanks in advance guys
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I just left AT&T due to extremely poor customer service. AT&T is the only carrier that offers rollover minutes, but their 3G coverage is spotty, and when switching from 3G to Edge or vise versa, you will experience a lot of dropped calls. If you want to use your phone as a modem with AT&T you have to get a tethering plan which will run you $60/month. Verizon has a much larger 3G coverage area, and you don't have to worry about the network being burdened by iPhone users. Sprint has rolled out 4G coverage in some areas with plans to expand. Sprint has cheaper calling plans, but their subsidized phone prices are higher. All in all, do your research, and check online for reviews of coverage, network speed, and customer service.
1. reception obviously varies by location. VZW probably has the best claim to the best nationwide coverage--their business model has very much focused on network building, and up until very recently, their phone selection sucked because they didn't invest as much in securing great smartphones. Alternatively, ATT has focused investment heavily on having great phones, and haven't focused investment as much on building any of their networks.
That said, ATT has great phone reception in a lots of metropolitan areas. There might even be some areas where they have better coverage. And while their 3G data coverage isn't nearly as broad, where it exists, it has been tested as being the fastest (especially when you're not using an iPhone).
2. No, all wireless carriers have a cap of some kind. Further most will charge an extra $30ish a month on top of the $30ish a month for smartphone data for tethering (using your phone as a modem), and they'll still have a data cap.
3. I don't know VZW's plans.
ive been with ATT for YEARS and their costumer service can kiss my ass because i never use it. why? because they offer best reception where im at. why would i want to find out how good t-mobiles costumer service is? i just want a reliable network. all carriers have crappy prices and conditions here. just find the one that works for you and dont listen to what anyone else says. why would you care if verizon has 3g in montana and att doesnt if you live in LA?? its irrelevant. find the least crappy one for you and stick with it.
Do some research on the difference between CDMA and GSM networks. One may work better than another in certain situations.
T-Mobile has cheap rate plans and free tethering.
Sprint has a WiMax network rolling out, although all of the carriers are working on LTE or some other standard of 4G- Not really a concern at this point, since few phones support it.
Verizon has the best customer satisfaction ratings, but their phones are often locked down with software.
AT&T has a history of dropping calls, but has the fastest recorded data speeds.
No matter whom you may chose, you will end up disappointed over some facet or another. You will need to get DSL or some other form of land-based internet, unless you can keep yourself constrained to the 5GB data caps that ALL of the carriers have.
I guess I'm gonna go with verizon then..
I asked a Veizon representative today about the Touch Pro 2, and he said it's only CDMA ... although on their websitethey say it's GSM Quad Band!!! Is there anything that I'm missing?
Will I be able to use out side the US if travel home?
cheers
duke911 said:
I guess I'm gonna go with verizon then..
I asked a Veizon representative today about the Touch Pro 2, and he said it's only CDMA ... although on their websitethey say it's GSM Quad Band!!! Is there anything that I'm missing?
Will I be able to use out side the US if travel home?
cheers
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Yeah, it's kind of misleading. The Verizon Touch Pro2 is actually a CDMA/GSM hybrid device, which works on Verizon's CDMA network or any GSM network. In theory, you should be able to use it on any GSM network in any country as long as you have a valid SIM card.
you cant trust advertising. it makes it appear that all options are shiney. verizon claims all of its wireless technologies as 3g no matter what they are, whether they have speeds slower than atts 2g or worse. the verizon touch pro will not actually work in the us or canada on gsm. you also need to pay for vodofone service separately to get international coverage. you can flash a radio that will let you use atts network but youll loose the cdma network verizon uses. sprints 4g network is not as promising as i hoped. its slower than atts 3g network and to use it you have to buy a $10 1-day pass that will let you use 4g in about 10 or so cities. its also not on any phones. in terms of data or unlimited plans, i would probably have to recommend t-mobile. even though i think they have the ugliest version of the touch pro 2. verizon does limit there unlimited plans to 4gb a month i think. and yes att is the only one with roll over. i never use my minutes so i up to about 10000 minutes rolled over. i will never be charged overage as long as i live.
I was with ATT when they were known as Cingular for three years. One day I got a call and they said I was using it off their network too much and I had to stop it or they would cancel me. Since I was not even living in their area, it was not going to happen.
So I signed up with Verizon, which did not even sell phones within a hundred miles of where I would be using it. That was in March of 2007. I went to Alaska for 16 months where it roamed constantly. Not a peep from Verizon about not being on their network. When going to a remote village for more than a month where no cell phone would work, I would just call them and they would suspend my phone for the time I was there. No bill at all and no charge for turning it off. So I have to say the customer support from Verizon is the best there is and ATT is the absolute worst.
texascbx said:
I was with ATT when they were known as Cingular for three years. One day I got a call and they said I was using it off their network too much and I had to stop it or they would cancel me. Since I was not even living in their area, it was not going to happen.
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they wouldnt say something like that. the entire gsm network is theirs.
btw att, verizon, and sprint all have horrible customer service. youre going to always loose with any provider.
The Jack of Clubs said:
they wouldnt say something like that. the entire gsm network is theirs.
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Last I checked, Tmobile's network isn't owned by ATT.
thanks a lot for your help guys, I really appreciae that.
I have one final question: Is there a way I can buy verizon touch pro 2 without a contract, and use it with verizon prepaid service (if that is possible in te first place)?
I'm new here and I don't have many people to speak with, and since I'm a student, I could use any some extra money
Cheers
duke911 said:
thanks a lot for your help guys, I really appreciae that. I have one final question: Is there a way I can buy verizon touch pro 2 without a contract, and use it with verizon prepaid service (if that is possible in te first place)? I'm new here and I don't have many people to speak with, and since I'm a student, I could use any some extra money
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I purchased my VZW off contract. Unsubsidized is probably about $500.
Different carriers have different rules for their prepaid services. With GSM carriers, TMo and ATT, it's easy to pop a prepaid sim into any phone. With CDMA (Sprint and VZW), I'm not sure. Best bet is to call and ask.
well i had sprint for ever...I switched to tmobile.. to get that tp2 free through wmdeals.com even though coverage sucks at my house im happy.. I have wifi for data when im home.. when i leave my home i have edge service everwhere.. til i start getting close to mesquite ( texas ) it goes to 3g.. but edge works great with opera mini.. and for updating certain things.. but so far tmobile rocks..
The Jack of Clubs said:
they wouldnt say something like that. the entire gsm network is theirs.
btw att, verizon, and sprint all have horrible customer service. youre going to always loose with any provider.
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That's where you are wrong. They did cancel me and one of my brothers living in another town shortly after I got the call and letter. The explanation was they had contracts with other providers to cover you when your were roaming. And roaming was fine, as long as you did not do it too much. I roamed all the time, for about three years.
I called Verizon today, and the representative said that I can't use their prepaid service on a smart phone... although I'm not really sure about, as she sounded clueless, and I had to do lots of explanation until she got the basic idea..
anyway... I like really the verizon version of the Touch Pro 2..
If I go for month-to-month and get it for full retail (490$).. can I cancel with Verizon after that, and unlock my phone, then use it with some other network like T-mobile or At&T????
I never used CDMA before, and after reading some info, I think GSM is better for me, at least for now...
duke911 said:
I called Verizon today, and the representative said that I can't use their prepaid service on a smart phone... although I'm not really sure about, as she sounded clueless, and I had to do lots of explanation until she got the basic idea..
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You never know with reps. I seem to recall that VZW's prepaid might have some unlimited data intended for dumbphones, which of course they wouldn't want you to use with a smartphone.
There are MVNOs, like Page Plus, that use VZW's network, but have prepaid plans where they probably wouldn't be concerned about smartphone usage (pay per kb instead of unlimited).
If I go for month-to-month and get it for full retail (490$).. can I cancel with Verizon after that, and unlock my phone, then use it with some other network like T-mobile or At&T????
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You can get it unlocked here and use it on ATT or TMo (minus 3g, 2g data still works), and as to whether you can cancel after the fact without penalty, it depends on exactly what you signed up for at VZW.
texascbx said:
That's where you are wrong. They did cancel me and one of my brothers living in another town shortly after I got the call and letter. The explanation was they had contracts with other providers to cover you when your were roaming. And roaming was fine, as long as you did not do it too much. I roamed all the time, for about three years.
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fortunz said:
Last I checked, Tmobile's network isn't owned by ATT.
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well then double check because att hardware can not utilize tmobile 1700 band. if you in the country you are never going to use another carriers network. and roaming only applies to out of country. even if you stand anywhere on the canadian or mexican borders, you wont be charged roaming. the system isnt that fd up.
The Jack of Clubs said:
well then double check because att hardware can not utilize tmobile 1700 band. if you in the country you are never going to use another carriers network. and roaming only applies to out of country. even if you stand anywhere on the canadian or mexican borders, you wont be charged roaming. the system isnt that fd up.
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Well, that's not entirely true. AT&T devices can use T-Mobile's network, just not HSPA (3G), and vice versa. Before I got my 8925, my main phone was an old T-Mobile Blackberry 7200 which I unlocked to use on AT&T. It could make phone calls and browse at EDGE speeds just fine. The 3G bands are f*cked up internationally since they often differ by country and carrier, but the EDGE and basic GSM bands are pretty much compatible with any GSM phone (since most GSM phones are Tri-band or Quad-band capable).
In addition, it's perfectly possible to use another network in the same country. If a company like AT&T doesn't have infrastructure in a remote area and wants to add service there, they'll often strike a deal with a local carrier who does. It's usually a seamless transition for the user, and it doesn't generally cost the user a cent. Rather, AT&T is the one paying the local cellular operator for allowing the AT&T customers use the local carrier's network as opposed to the alternative of having no coverage in that area. AT&T got mad at texascbx because he was costing AT&T money by roaming on these local carriers, which AT&T had to pay.
Lastly, I know people who live near the borders and they always are careful to see which operator they are using. One of them lives near the Mexican border, and has to make sure he's on AT&T's network before he makes a call. If he doesn't check, he might be roaming on the TelMex network and will get billed outrageous fees for a simple call, even though he's in the US.
I was at the mall today, and I talked to a T-Mobile guy, and he said I can get the T-mobile version of touch pro 2 for full retail, and I can use it with their prepaid plan without any porblems.
Then I spoke with a Verizon representative, and he said that I can't do that on their network, however I can buy the device with out a contract and without any plan...
So my Final question (and I guess fortunz answered before,but I still feel like asking coz I don't want to through 500$ away)... If I get the Verizon Touch Pro 2, and get it unlocked here
http://rhodiumw.htc-unlocks.com/
or here
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=578642
will I be able to use it with any carrier?? prepaid or plan??
I don't really mind about the data, as I'll be using WiFi mainly
Thanks a lot
So my contract is up in April, or I can upgrade to a newer phone (maybe if the Galaxy Nexus is available by then I would get that). But what should I do?
I currently have a sprint airave at my house so signal isn't a big issue, although today our internet went down for a couple hours and on my stock prl I couldn't even get a data connection, and using a verizon roaming prl which was stuck in 1x I got around .15mbs down.
But my question is this;
I've heard that sprint is "doing tower upgrades" and they will start to rollout LTE sometime before the end of the year. But verizon already has LTE in my area (super fast..around 20mbs down) But I would have to pay more, and I would be capped. But what does having "truely unlimited data" mean if you can't even get a data connection?.
Is what sprint is doing with their network even worth it?, Or should I just say bye?. I've heard rumors that sprint is moving towards having some kind of a data cap anyways.
Sprint is in fact doing tower upgrades. They have been working hard in the area i live in particular and i have noticed data speed increases. I work at a place that offers sprint, att, and verizon services. We have a sprint Representative that visits about once a week or so and has been pretty open with us about upcoming changes in the past. Through today, i have yet to hear about a data cap, however did hear about their premium data pack that is required may* go up to $15 and other plans may go up as well, to help "cover costs" of the unlimited data. Sprint is cheaper when going to unlimited data, texts, and such. Based off the plans available where i work, switching to Verizon for similar service (except LTE) would cost around $10-$15 more plus tax's, fees, ect.. plus the initial $35 activation fee (assuming you only have 1 line?)
I've been trying to figure out the same thing, upgrade should be available in March/April and whether to upgrade, wait for newer phones or jump ship. I was getting really bad speeds but recent upgrades in my area have made things a lot better.
tempe38 said:
I've been trying to figure out the same thing, upgrade should be available in March/April and whether to upgrade, wait for newer phones or jump ship. I was getting really bad speeds but recent upgrades in my area have made things a lot better.
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Yeah I looked on that network map and they have done a "data capacity" upgrade, but a data speed upgrade is "within next 6 months"
I have an at&t phone for work and the coverage is really good, and I have a verizon LTE card for internet at work and that is around 20mbps. My sprint phone (at home, WITHOUT the airave on) gets around .05mpbs down, if I can even get a data connection. Which I am really glad sprint gave me the airave, but its basically just VOIP. If they really wanted to help out you'd think they would've offered something that didnt require your internet connection...kinda like those wilson electronic antennas.
I too am thinking about the same thing. My contract is up in April, and 3g speeds in my area have been HORRIBLE the past year, I haven't gotten above 100kbps on sprint's 3g in over a year. Completely unusable at times.
I would love to switch to verizon, as their 3g works great (about 1500-2000kbps) and the 4g is amazing (at least 20mbps down in my area). However, I have the same dilemma as you. If I had access to those kind of speeds, I could actually do things that I want to, like stream live tv while at work. However, I have ran the numbers, and even with the 10gb data cap, I would go over that every month.
So to me, it's just not worth paying 80 bucks a month just for data if I am going to have to keep worrying about going over the cap. Luckily, I have the Verizon prl which I an switch to once in a while to actually get decent data speeds. I wil ljust have to live with that until sprint gets lte up and running.
ronartest2005 said:
So my contract is up in April, or I can upgrade to a newer phone (maybe if the Galaxy Nexus is available by then I would get that). But what should I do?
I currently have a sprint airave at my house so signal isn't a big issue, although today our internet went down for a couple hours and on my stock prl I couldn't even get a data connection, and using a verizon roaming prl which was stuck in 1x I got around .15mbs down.
But my question is this;
I've heard that sprint is "doing tower upgrades" and they will start to rollout LTE sometime before the end of the year. But verizon already has LTE in my area (super fast..around 20mbs down) But I would have to pay more, and I would be capped. But what does having "truely unlimited data" mean if you can't even get a data connection?.
Is what sprint is doing with their network even worth it?, Or should I just say bye?. I've heard rumors that sprint is moving towards having some kind of a data cap anyways.
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One thing to remember about data... as long as you don't change your plan they have to let you keep it. think of it in terms of your minutes. plans are always changing and often a year or so after they offer a plan, they no longer offer that same plan, but you get to keep it as long as you never change.and from my understnading if you are a current customer you would be grandfathered in... i have a buddy that has verizon and has had for years. He had an unlimited plan and now that verizon offers no unlimited plan he STILL has unlimited data.
The rumors of capped data on sprint are just that- rumors, sprint has no plans of capping data whatsoever they will throttle the top 1% but that is a rediculous amount of data on my bill we have 4 phones and an data card, we average 200gb of data a month and I've talked to many csr's at sprint who have told me that is pretty average data use for a family with multiple lines. The last person I talked to was the executive Rep for my dads office and he said to be throttled you need to consistently use 500+gb on a single line and then they will only throttle you .5mbps during peak time
I find it weird that everyone is being told that the upgrades are expected on April (I live in Houston). I was told that but then I was also informed that that can not be certain. I waited for over a year to wait for Sprint's improvements which never came. I know it is more money with Verizon I have real good data speeds. I kind wish I would have left to verizon hen they still offered unlimited. Like i said in another post that happens when you put your faith on sprint.
I think it is likely that sprint will be capped as well in the future. If you have unlimited they will most likely let you keep it. Also i don't know who told the above person that 200GB is average for a a family. That is a lot of data. But if you do use that much i guess you must have real good speeds. I guess nobody can really tell you if you should jump the ship since it all depends on your service area. If sprint sucks in your area then it really doesn't matter that another person has great service. For me service was bad so i saw no point in staying with sprint. With Verizon the lowest i have got is 5mbs and that is with low signal. The only thing i do not like with Verizon is that it seems that they charge more for monthly fees. They thing that you should consider is coverage, if you travel like me then Verizon might be worth it as it does have better national coverage.
eljefe18 said:
I find it weird that everyone is being told that the upgrades are expected on April (I live in Houston). I was told that but then I was also informed that that can not be certain. I waited for over a year to wait for Sprint's improvements which never came. I know it is more money with Verizon I have real good data speeds. I kind wish I would have left to verizon hen they still offered unlimited. Like i said in another post that happens when you put your faith on sprint.
I think it is likely that sprint will be capped as well in the future. If you have unlimited they will most likely let you keep it. Also i don't know who told the above person that 200GB is average for a a family. That is a lot of data. But if you do use that much i guess you must have real good speeds. I guess nobody can really tell you if you should jump the ship since it all depends on your service area. If sprint sucks in your area then it really doesn't matter that another person has great service. For me service was bad so i saw no point in staying with sprint. With Verizon the lowest i have got is 5mbs and that is with low signal. The only thing i do not like with Verizon is that it seems that they charge more for monthly fees. They thing that you should consider is coverage, if you travel like me then Verizon might be worth it as it does have better national coverage.
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Multiple csr's have told me that is average for family's with 3+ lines the guys in my dads office use about 100gb a month on their lines alone not including their family's lines his company has over 2000 employees in his office over 60,000 in 28 states all have sprint lines for them and their families as they get a ~60% employee discount for 4 unlimited android lines and a 12gb data card we pay ~ 135 with taxes with out the discount it would be ~320
-EViL-KoNCEPTz- said:
Multiple csr's have told me that is average for family's with 3+ lines the guys in my dads office use about 100gb a month on their lines alone not including their family's lines his company has over 2000 employees in his office over 60,000 in 28 states all have sprint lines for them and their families as they get a ~60% employee discount for 4 unlimited android lines and a 12gb data card we pay ~ 135 with taxes with out the discount it would be ~320
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Don't get me wrong If you are able to use that much that is great. I was never able to get more than 3gb and not because i didn't want to but because for me data speeds were so poor that I really couldn't do much.
eljefe18 said:
Don't get me wrong If you are able to use that much that is great. I was never able to get more than 3gb and not because i didn't want to but because for me data speeds were so poor that I really couldn't do much.
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I average 1mbps down on peak and 2.5 off peak plus I was grandfathered in on unlimited tethering and where we live its dialup satellite or 3g no cable no DSL and no fiber :-( when I was on fios in Tampa I'd eat data like a fat kid eats cake 200gb is low usage for me compared to being on 50mbps fiber I think when I had fios I used data just to use it lol I live in a sparsely populated area and have no issue getting true 3g speeds, we don't get wimax here so that sucks I've only got to use the 4g a handful of times so far which really wasn't all that impressive to me, my dad and I are data hogs tho he uses alot of data for work and he flashes a new rom about everytime I turn around, I used alot of data for work as well and alot for play, we both stream a lot of music and movies and download tons of apps and crap just to play with don't even use probably a 1/4 of the apps we download we are both tinkerers and both have 2 phones, which makes it fairly easy to eat up some data I never really realized how much we used til we actually looked at the usage one month then kept checking to see if we always use that much. I'm not sure but we have something called a preferred buisness prl which may be why our speeds are high even in the city its a perk of having our plan through his work I guess sprint gives a company that spends that kind of money with them a special access to maintain good speeds as everyone he works with gets pretty good average speeds I'm sure they don't want to lose that contract lol I know I wouldn't if I were them
Edit: I was just looking at PRLs it appears the PRL we have is designated for EVDO/Wimax mobile broadband devices with voice service maybe that's y the data is fairly consistent? It is PRL 60750 or 60705 I can't remember for sure it shows up in sense but on aosp(which I'm on) it just shows a blank space where the PRL numbers should be which may be my fault since I built the rom I'm on I may have errored a line of code. Weird, I'm gonna have to check the source when I'm working on the next build, the 607xx PRLs are apparently designated for mobile broadband from what I could find
eljefe18 said:
I find it weird that everyone is being told that the upgrades are expected on April
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I don't know about the others but I was referring to when I can upgrade my phone, not to network upgrades.
Network upgrades are pretty random, I'm not sure with lte but I think they will just activate sprints spectrum on existing hardware making the rollout pretty fast as they wont need to install hardware just make a few adjustments to existing hardware. That's what they did with clear and wimax but clear kind of hit a wall and stopped expanding although now clear has some rather large expansions planned which is why I believe sprint is continuing to support wimax for the next few years atleast, if clear really rolls out alot of.coverage sprint could end up supporting both 4g formats for the foreseeable future giving them a huge edge over the competition
We are legion, for we are many.
I still think Sprint has the best all in one plan with the best price. In my experience data speeds have always been acceptable. My contract is up in May and I see myself staying with Sprint.
-EViL-KoNCEPTz- said:
Network upgrades are pretty random, I'm not sure with lte but I think they will just activate sprints spectrum on existing hardware making the rollout pretty fast as they wont need to install hardware just make a few adjustments to existing hardware. That's what they did with clear and wimax but clear kind of hit a wall and stopped expanding although now clear has some rather large expansions planned which is why I believe sprint is continuing to support wimax for the next few years atleast, if clear really rolls out alot of.coverage sprint could end up supporting both 4g formats for the foreseeable future giving them a huge edge over the competition
We are legion, for we are many.
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Clear is moving towards LTE
Sent from my PG86100 using xda premium
Clear is pushing wimax pretty hard in the Tampa area they send out flyers atleast once a week offering unlimited 4g mobile broadband where my mom lives they actually have the best 4g coverage of anywhere I've had access to wimax
We are legion, for we are many.
I know this is old but I did switch to verizon. I took over someones unlimited data account. I have LTE coverage everywhere I go now.
I recently pulled down 40mbs on LTE.
It is a bit pricey, but it is so nice being able to use a data connection. I am NOT saying that sprint is all around a bad cell provider, but in my area they are awful.
ronartest2005 said:
I know this is old but I did switch to verizon. I took over someones unlimited data account. I have LTE coverage everywhere I go now.
I recently pulled down 40mbs on LTE.
It is a bit pricey, but it is so nice being able to use a data connection. I am NOT saying that sprint is all around a bad cell provider, but in my area they are awful.
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Hey at the end of the day you have to do whats best for you and honestly I do not think I will be under contract again with anyone. Especially not with all these companies offering unlimited everything for half the price and all using 4g LTE.
Free Yourself
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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Click to collapse
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'm buying an At&T GN2 to unlock and use on prepaid Straight Talk, or Solavei, or maybe even T Mobile's 4g prepaid. I'm in the Richmond, Va. area and I wonder...
1. with a prepaid plan, can I get data at 4g speeds with the AT&T variant GN2. If so with which carriers?
2. is LTE available as a prepaid plan through any carrier now or in the future?
3. since the T Mobile variant has more 4g frequencies and LTE hardware that only needs a software update to enable, would this phone be more future proof and more versatile for changing prepaid providers than the AT&T variant?
I've read many posts in all the Note2 forums but I'm still not 100% clear on whether I should wait for my AT&T phone or cancel it and order a T Mobile.
Re buying off contract - I really considered this, and actually tried a "Straight Talk" SIM in my old off contract / unused iPhone 3G for a one month test - to see if I could honestly ditch AT&T and lower my monthly voice+data bill to the $45 / mo they advertise
http://www.straighttalksim.com/support.php
So I carried two iPhones for all of September, comparing the useability of my AT&T iPhone 4 with unlimited data ($109/mo) to the Straight Talk iPhone 3G with unlimited voice and data ($45/mo)
I often travel up and down the west coast on weekends here in California, yet anytime I got more than 15 miles away from home, the Straight Talk iPhone could not access any data. It still showed an active 3G connection everywhere I went - but all this iPhone could display was an endless "spinning ball" anytime i tried to check email or surf the web. Ive become addicted to Internet Radio (WunderRadio) - and many stations i typically listen too flat refused to play on the Straight Talk iPhone .
I even tried a suggestion to toggle "Airplane Mode" on and off - to see it that restores the data connection on the Straight Talk iPhone - it didn't help.
I was going to try a SIM from Boost Mobile, but they use a Sprint Cellular connection, and Sprint has terrible coverage where I live - (San Luis Obispo, CA)
By contrast, my AT&T iPhone always has a working data connection everywhere i go. So I'll stick with what works for me.
Looking forward to my new AT&T Galaxy Note 2 - pre-ordered yesterday.
Elantric said:
Re buying off contract - I really considered this, and actually tried a "Straight Talk" SIM in my old off contract / unused iPhone 3G for a one month test - to see if I could honestly ditch AT&T and lower my monthly voice+data bill to the $45 / mo they advertise
http://www.straighttalksim.com/support.php
So I carried two iPhones for all of September, comparing the useability of my AT&T iPhone 4 with unlimited data ($109/mo) to the Straight Talk iPhone 3G with unlimited voice and data ($45/mo)
I often travel up and down the west coast on weekends here in California, yet anytime I got more than 15 miles away from home, the Straight Talk iPhone could not access any data. It still showed an active 3G connection everywhere I went - but all this iPhone could display was an endless "spinning ball" anytime i tried to check email or surf the web. Ive become addicted to Internet Radio (WunderRadio) - and many stations i typically listen too flat refused to play on the Straight Talk iPhone .
I even tried a suggestion to toggle "Airplane Mode" on and off - to see it that restores the data connection on the Straight Talk iPhone - it didn't help.
I was going to try a SIM from Boost Mobile, but they use a Sprint Cellular connection, and Sprint has terrible coverage where I live - (San Luis Obispo, CA)
By contrast, my AT&T iPhone always has a working data connection everywhere i go. So I'll stick with what works for me.
Looking forward to my new AT&T Galaxy Note 2 - pre-ordered yesterday.
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Click to collapse
Thanks for your reply and insight. I too have had good data connections with At&t, and I don't want to settle for less. I've learned that some phones may be limited on different prepaid plans, I'll check with the providers. I just wonder if a the T-Mobile GN2, which has all the radio bands of the att variant plus a couple extra, might fair better. I'm gonna cancel my order for the att GN2 and look into getting a tmob version. I shouldn't have anything to lose. :fingers-crossed:
Hey all,
I've waited out two generations of this phone in order to get this one but I'm currently on AT&T and my contract is up. The AT&T version has a locked bootloader and from the looks of it, it won't be getting root any time soon. I'm contemplating on whether I should go with the Sprint or Tmobile. How do you guys like this phone on the sprint network?
Are there any issues with wifi tethering with this phone (without paying extra for it)? Has anyone come from AT&T and regretted it?
I'm in the NYC area and I've had Sprint on my company's BB which had pretty good service. How is the service where you are.
This is kinda big decision for me because I've been with AT&T for over 17 years now and I'm going to lose my unlimited data if/when I switch. I know Sprint still offers it but AT&T does not and I want to make sure I make the right decision.
Thank you all in advance
Sprint does not offer unlimited data anymore and they are even trying to convince existing users to switch from unlimited to 20GB shared. Not sure about your area but in mine Sprint always have some problems and excuses. Still I stick with them because of employee discount, current unlimited plan, and other carriers are just expensive (Verizon) or I had them on my "black list" (AT&T).
Check Sprint coverage in here http://coverage.sprint.com/IMPACT.jsp?
Sprint still offers unlimited data.
erik077 said:
Sprint does not offer unlimited data anymore and they are even trying to convince existing users to switch from unlimited to 20GB shared. Not sure about your area but in mine Sprint always have some problems and excuses. Still I stick with them because of employee discount, current unlimited plan, and other carriers are just expensive (Verizon) or I had them on my "black list" (AT&T).
Check Sprint coverage in here http://coverage.sprint.com/IMPACT.jsp?
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Click to collapse
Thanks for you input erik077. When I got a quote from the rep over the phone yesterday they were still offering the unlimited data plan. As a matter of fact the lady was even recommending that I get that instead of the shared 20gb plan. Still, I'm not entirely impressed with their coverage map. There are a lot of bare spots on that map for 4g coverage. But they seem to have good coverage around my home and work.
Anyone else like to chime in?
I have unlimited data and just got sprint. I was in the same shoes as you and I switched to sprint I kept going over my data limit and didn't want to worry about my data overages anymore so I switched to sprint! And now use more data than I ever did. And I get full coverage of sprint spark all over my area! ?
I guess different areas has different plans. I was told plan like mine is not available anymore and in case I switch that's lost forever.
Read the terms; IIRC, the newer unlimited data plans have a data roaming limit set rather low; beyond that limit incurs charges. The grandfathered unlimited data plans don't have a roaming data limit that incurs data fees but Sprint terminates those who abuse data roaming. Lose that plan and it is not possible to go back. The phones are still subsidized as well. That's another trend going away. I'm keeping my Everything data 1500 minute plan with employee discount for those reasons. Not sure about discounts on the other plans. Maybe that's three terms to consider if switching plans or providers.
deeken said:
Hey all,
I've waited out two generations of this phone in order to get this one but I'm currently on AT&T and my contract is up. The AT&T version has a locked bootloader and from the looks of it, it won't be getting root any time soon. I'm contemplating on whether I should go with the Sprint or Tmobile. How do you guys like this phone on the sprint network?
Are there any issues with wifi tethering with this phone (without paying extra for it)? Has anyone come from AT&T and regretted it?
I'm in the NYC area and I've had Sprint on my company's BB which had pretty good service. How is the service where you are.
This is kinda big decision for me because I've been with AT&T for over 17 years now and I'm going to lose my unlimited data if/when I switch. I know Sprint still offers it but AT&T does not and I want to make sure I make the right decision.
Thank you all in advance
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Click to collapse
Which areas of nyc are you in?
I have both T-mobile and Sprint accounts. I'm happy sprint . Spark is great and I usually use about 50 gigs of a data on each phone. I guess what I'm trying to say is I think you should get Sprint since NY has great Sprint service.
ajr0312 said:
I have both T-mobile and Sprint accounts. I'm happy sprint . Spark is great and I usually use about 50 gigs of a data on each phone. I guess what I'm trying to say is I think you should get Sprint since NY has great Sprint service.
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Sprint in nyc was great with my nexus 5...but the note 4 seems to have connecting issues for me
Thanks for your input guys. I'm all over NYC (pretty much all 5 boroughs) and Long Island so I need good service wherever I am at. But I'm in downtown Manhattan most of the time.
@kwazytazz what kind of connection issues are you having? Poor 4g? GPS? Call quality? Please elaborate.
Also, could any of those issue be a problem with your phone?
deeken said:
Thanks for your input guys. I'm all over NYC (pretty much all 5 boroughs) and Long Island so I need good service wherever I am at. But I'm in downtown Manhattan most of the time.
@kwazytazz what kind of connection issues are you having? Poor 4g? GPS? Call quality? Please elaborate.
Also, could any of those issue be a problem with your phone?
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Click to collapse
Mainly poor lte issues in the financial district ..few blocks from seaport..lte would not stay connected and will drop to 3g then 3g will drop and reconnect numerous times..whereas my nexus 5 stays connected 100 percent of the time..maybe I have a defective phone but that's my experience
kwazytazz said:
Mainly poor lte issues in the financial district ..few blocks from seaport..lte would not stay connected and will drop to 3g then 3g will drop and reconnect numerous times..whereas my nexus 5 stays connected 100 percent of the time..maybe I have a defective phone but that's my experience
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Click to collapse
I've got the same issue.
Sprint is decent for lte in nyc. You may have some issues getting lte in SI or Queens but the other three boroughs should be fine.
I think that's fixable with an update tho. Not saying, it's not annoying atm, but Sprint should fix this soon.
How about Long Island? Anyone experiencing connectivity issues in Nassau or Suffolk?
Another thing I wanted to ask about was the GPS. How accurate is it with google maps and its turn by turn? I've read that several people are experiencing issue with it. Not just the Sprint variant.