yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] saint327:
Thanks for the replies. I would want to port my number. I am thinking its either impossible or more trouble than its worth. I've read that voice already roams. Data does not, it would only be for the data.

Perhaps activate is not the word I'm looking for. Maybe associate is a better word.

If it is true that I would have to have two ST accounts to use both SIMS then that is a bummer. I was hoping to be able to swap out the SIMS whenever I wanted and only pay for 1 account. I would only have one SIM active at any given time, but I would want to pick which one was active.

I already bought the TMO ST SIM, so lets assume I start with that. I use that for a while, then I decide to get the ATT ST SIM, activate and associate it with my ST account. I use ATT for a bit, then reassociate the TMO Sim with my account...there by dropping the ATT SIM off the account.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
Yes that'd work. But he's talking about swapping them back and forth throughout the month with the same funds and account, which won't work.

---------- Post added at 11:55 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:52 AM ----------

You can check the coverage maps, but it should be pretty close to the same coverage of a postpaid AT&T plan. They won't be drastically different.

If theres even a small chance you'll end up sticking with it, its worth just buying the Android phone up front that you may want. That Nokia symbian phone will not have a good resale value and you'll never want to use it again. At least a SGSII or GN has high resale value.

You could always just buy a cheap AT&T phone and a cheap T-Mobile phone as well. You could probably find a Galaxy S model for both around $100 each.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] LionAR10:
Look at it this way. The SIM card, in essence, *IS* your phone. It has the phone number, it has the tower information, everything that identifies your phone as a user of a network is contained in there. Your actual phone is a "user interface" to the SIM (to be a bit simplified) in that it's just there to give the SIM the things it needs to do it's job (like radios, microphone & speaker, and power). Each SIM has it's own ID and phone number. In the Straight Talk Bring-Your-Own-Device system that SIM card is your account, they won't replace your SIM if you break it since it's in essence your account. (previously, phones were the basis of accounts, but since a phone was ATT/TMO/VZW etc you couldn't play games with the underlying provider)

You can have more than one SIM active and use your "user interface" phone on it one at a time, but you cannot simply call them up and have them move your service to another SIM on another provider on a whim.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] reuthermonkey:
No specific settings. Just depends on how busy your local tower is. Mine wasn't very busy for that speed test.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] rock7632:
That's great. Which sim are you using? Att or Tmo?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] LionAR10:
ATT .. I wanted the extended coverage over the speed.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] rock7632:
Yeah. In my area speeds for ATT are actually better than Tmo. When I put in my zip code on their website after selecting unlocked GSM phone it automatically suggested the ATT compatible sim. You haven't heard anything of a data cap from Straighttalk, right? I normally use around 2GB per month. I had the Tmo 5gb $30 plan
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] spac3m0nk3y:
This is very interesting and novel idea. Unfortunately for me, coverage in my area sucks, unless you have Verizon service. The only other carrier I have to choose from is AT&T. I've been to too many areas that didn't have any coverage other than Verizon. I think I'll have to stick with VZW for now.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] jvrobert:
Stoked.. After reading this thread I just ordered a T-mobile activation SIM ($1.99), Galaxy Nexus ($654 with accessories) and ported my old number from Sprint to Google Voice. I'll just get a new number on T-mo.

It's nice because I get to cancel my second Sprint line after they raised my price recently with employee pricing fiasco.

Doing the math I come out very slightly ahead over 2 years, but it's hard to make wife and others understand that when I explain $620 phone...
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] goombaypunch:
One thing to point out. While it is nice to have a Galaxy Nexus to be sure, you don't have to have that exact phone to take advantage of this. You could get a Nexus S new for 250-300 and still get the service. it will work with any phone that has the right bands for the service you select ( att or tmo) My brother bought a g2x from craigslist for 165.00 almost like new but no accessories and just popped in a tmo straight talk sim and off he went :) Same for my wife, she likes the new windows mobile at the moment so i got her a Samsung focus (att branded phone) for 135.00 in went the straight talk att sim and off she went. all three of us are on the 45.00 a month unlimited plan and I'll update everyone after a month on how it goes.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
As noted in OP, it's really not clear. People are saying around 2gb is safe to use per month.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] rubiconjp:
Sure but with the GN, you don't have to buy another phone or switch phones if you find yourself jumping for every last best deal out there. Not many penta-band phones out there..
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] kashah:
Other pentaband phones

Its seems like the AT&T Skyrocket and T-Mobile Galaxy SII phones are pentaband as well, after being unlocked. They have interchangeable modems, and it seems like both will support 42Mbps HSPA+ when on T-Mobile, if a Telus modem is flashed onto the Skyrocket. You can read about using the AT&T Skyrocket on T-mobile here, flashing the Telus modem to the Skyrocket, and using the T-Mobile Galaxy SII on AT&T 3G here. The same does not apply to the AT&T Galaxy SII or the international version of the Galaxy SII. Just thought I'd throw some alternative phones out there.

Now, it if there was a prepaid LTE option, we'd be talking.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] jvrobert:
Yeah, that's why I picked GN. Seems best phone (screen resolution important to me, otherwise would have picked GS2) with penta-band right now.

I might have the privilege to dump my GN on the wife in 6 months or so.

Is it likely newer phones coming out this year will have penta-band (or better.. would be hot to have HSPA+/LTE support in a single phone) or is that a dying breed?

What's the landscape like for the future of LTE, is it likely once everyone's moved to it that phone portability will be excellent with all vendors, or will we still have radio-locked phones?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Alex8288:
I will do that then. $50 a month is not bad for unlimited service. I got tired of using groove IP. Lag between voice was annoying. I want to try att, but I think 15 for a sim is ridiculous.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] bobsbbq:
I have a 3 month Straight talk Refill unused PIN. If interested PM me.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
Ya it seems like a good deal, I'll be interested to see where they throttle you on data usage. Agree with you on GrooVe IP lag, kinda gets annoying both to you and the people you talk to. It's just downright unacceptable for long phone calls.

Yeah $15 for the SIM kinda sucks, but I don't plan to leave ST for a few months so I can kinda justify it based on that. Wish they'd drop down their prices like T-Mobile though, where you can pick up a SIM activation kit at any time for about $0.99.

---

One quick note on my ongoing ST activation, I called into ST customer service and spoke to a very nice and helpful representative about my porting process. She said that about an hour before I called they finally got the go-ahead to take the number from T-Mobile and that should be completed soon. It should then take a few more hours after that for ST to do all of the setup on their end after receiving the number, and it'll all be done Monday at the latest. I guess it's hard to be mad when you activate on a Friday night and they're processing it on a Saturday/Sunday even though they quote "2 business days" for the service. I think a lot of companies would wait till Monday to start the process given the wording.

Overall really happy with the way they handled it. We'll see if she was right on the timetable.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] bender29:
I'm on the last few days of my tmobile $30. Speeds have been great when I have a signal in the populated areas (bay area, CA). But the poor overall coverage and high latency have me itching to try ST AT&T.

I know the tmobile prepaid sim is good for 60 days after last payment, but how long is the ST at&t sim good for? I couldn't find any official information on the ST website. Hopefully, it's for longer than 60 days, as, like you said, $15 for the SIM is steep.

Less than 60 days and it pretty much counters the benefit of jumping around carriers..
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
I haven't looked through the ToS, but considering ST says that you must refill before your end date to keep your account active, and they indicate that you can't port a number out of ST if your service runs out, I wouldn't be surprised if it goes inactive very quick after your payment period ends.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] DOHCtor:
If it helps, I gone a over a month and a few weeks with it inactive in the past when I went overseas. When I came back, All I had to do was refill it and it was back up and running again almost instantly.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
My ST SIM (AT&T) finally just activated and is working. I got a call today from ST saying that the information I provided for the number port from T-Mobile didn't work properly. They had a T-Mobile rep on hold for me to talk to and confirm the info, then the port proceeded. It was finished maybe 6 hours later. So it must've been a combination of trying to port on the weekend + something getting input wrong as far as my provided info goes. Glad it finally got figured out and it actually couldn't have lined up better, as my T-Mobile service just ran out at midnight tonight from nonpayment.

Lots of impressions to come after a few days usage I'm sure.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] phositadc:
Yes please keep us posted. With all the negative posts on AT&T straight talk I'm hoping for something positive!

-Sent from my HTC One S.-
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] DerAmi:
I just wanted to update you guys after my monthly use of ST AT&T... It was great! I used about 150mb 4 days a week and tethered and streamed and never got warnings or anything. The speed was fast and reliable as well.

Swyped with my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] phositadc:
Where are you located?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] osi13:
Is there currently anything better than ST "unlimited" or T-Mobile pre-paid at this current time? I'm using the $30 package with T-Mobile. I'm essentially rolling my own phone service with Gtalk and VoiP.ms trunks connected to my PBX system. I'm still utilizing Google Voice, but there appear to be cost effective ways of avoiding GV completely -- something people may be interested in.

I'm planning on posting a guide later on how you can do the same, and it does not involve GrooveIP or anything similar. T-Mobile is spotty in two areas on my drive to and from work. I'd like to give an AT&T mvno a shot. Are there any plans similar to the T-Mobile $30 100minutes/5gb data plan? Honestly, 1gb would suffice.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Alex8288:
I did not look too much into them, but h20 is att, I believe. Red pocket as well? Net 10 is owned by same company as straight talk, but who knows, maybe they are better. Simple mobile, also owned by straight talk's parent, is 50 a month for "unlimited" T-Mobile service, but, per your post, you want to give att a try.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] bobsbbq:
Well everyone might have a different opinion, I have used T-Mobile 30.00/mo plan, and Straight Talk At&T plans. But IMHO Solavei has the best deal for the money right now. 49.00 unlimited everything with 4 Gb of 4G data then unlimited after that at 2G/edge. Includes Roaming which gives much better coverage, and has call forwarding as well. It is offered through their social commerce platform so you will need a invite from a Solavei representative. If you send me a PM I can answer any other question you might have.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
I've been trying different APNs and things on my new ST service but I just can't seem to get consistent speeds.

Late last night I was pulling about 3.5mbps down / 2.5mbps up (I can deal with that). My signal at home admittedly isn't great, somewhere between -100dBm and -89dBm, so those speeds were fine with me.

Today when I was in the center of town I had signal around -85dBm and would never break 1mbps down/up. I was consistently only doing like 200kbps down/up... pings are astronomical too no matter what, 400ms or higher. Not sure if the towers in this area are just saturated or what. Pings that high and speeds that low just don't seem normal. Think I should call them?

I also noticed that unlike on T-Mobile where your phone will sit on UMTS until data transfers occur then switch to HSPA+, on my AT&T ST SIM I bounce between HSDPA:8 and HSPA+15 quite regularly. Very rarely do I see it drop to UMTS.

The $30/$60 T-Mobile Plans, and Straight Talk $45 really are the best deals in the MVNO world right now. Theres nothing else established that has challenged them. Some other are around but are $10-$15 more expensive and offer less data, so I see no point in considering them. TracFone runs all of these MVNOs pretty much so they all provide about the same features and service, so you just need to hunt for the cheapest price. There's no MVNO I'm aware of that is similar to the $30 T-Mobile plan with a small bucket of minutes and lots of data. If you're a heavy data user you're probably stuck with T-Mobile.

As far as your VOIP.ms and PBX system, there's already a ton of talk about that in this thread: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1646755
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] colonelcack:
I was excited about the solavei plan until I found out they charge a $50 enrollment fee on top of $30 for a ****ing Sim card! I think I'll wait for them to drop those fees before I really consider them again. Just ordered a Sim card for simple mobile for $1 and am going to be trying that. The reason I went with simple mobile over straight talk was because I heard they're a little less strict on data limits. Is this still true now that they're owned by the same company? I just hope they don't cut my service off all together that would be pretty ****ty.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] bobsbbq:
I agree but in my situation I was willing to pay the extra as I really need the better coverage with the Roaming, also I don't want to be worried about data and getting kicked off completely. For me I have 4 phones in my family so just by enrolling them I get back 20.00 per month referral bonus. Add to that I already have 3 other people friends of my daughter who also want service I will get another 20.00 per month, so my service is now 9.00/mo.

If you take in to consideration the fast start bonus they give for 2 trios (6 people) which is 100.00 it will more than cover the cost of our SIM cards. I'm still excited about the service and think it is worth it in the long run.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Shawn:
This would be perfect for me. Only problem is, Nexus is $349 and I'm 16 with no job. I would use T-Mobile $30 plan most likely.

Sent from my SGH i927 (rooted ics 4.0.4 official leak)
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
Wow that's absolutely nuts.

Straight Talk bought Simple Mobile a couple months ago, yes.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] jordanishere:
I have been using simple mobiles new $50 unlimited plan. I was on t-mobile before, and the service is comparable.

Does anyone know if simple mobile still has the same data-caps listed in the op? On tmo i used roughly 1gig a week... Already 1 gig into my simple mobile data usage, and the phone has only been active for a week lol.

Im hoping I dont get throttled, or at worse cut off completely and dropped.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] colonelcack:
Please keep us updated with your experience! I average about the same and will let you know mine. Should be getting the Sim tomorrow...
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] thebobp:
I'd be interested, but I'm also wondering why, considering that google voice is as cheap as it gets.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] jordanishere:
Will do. Just passed 1 gig of data after week 1. Fingers crossed.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] grayson73:
Anyone else in the Washington D.C. area?

Ever since the Derecho storm, my Virgin Mobile reception has been terrible. From what I've been reading, Galaxy Nexus plus AT&T or T-Mobile is the best option. For those of you in the Washington D.C. area, is AT&T or T-Mobile the better option?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] bobsbbq:
I spend a fair amount of time in the DC, Baltimore area. I was just there last week and from my experience I would say T-Mobile. The data speeds are much better. I was getting about 6-9 Mb down and around 3 Mb up. This on T-Mobile and Solavei. With Straight Talk AT&T I was getting around 2.5-3 b down and 1 Mb up. Coverage is better on Solavei but T-Mobile's coverage is good.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] jswede:
You don't absolutely have to use a Nexus, it's just optimal because it allows you to easily move between T-Mobile and ATT due to the pentaband radio. Look into other phone options (or using your current phone) if a Nexus is not in your budget. You may have to make some compromises based on your individual financial situation, but you might still come out ahead.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] imtoomuch:
Will a Galaxy SIII work for both AT&T and T-Mobile?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] grayson73:
Are you saying that coverage with Solavei T-Mobile is better than Straight Talk T-Mobile?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] scoobdude:
I believe T-Mobile gives you roaming for voice but not data (can someone confirm?). Also don't forget you can drop down to edge for different reception in low penetration areas.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] jstrom23:
I'm in DC area and have been on StraightTalk's T-Mobile SIM for a month now. The coverage has been fantastic...pretty much as good as Verizon, my previous carrier. The speeds have been all over the place. In suburban Maryland 3-6 Mbps down and 2-3 up is pretty typical, although I can get as high as 9 Mbps down. Downtown DC it drops to 1-3 down and 1 up. On the Mall, at the ballpark, and in other crowded areas it's sub 1 Mbps.

For the price, I have been thrilled and feel it is good value. Of course, the beauty of no-contract pre-paid is that I'm always looking for something better.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] phositadc:
Fyi that is not uncommon even on post paid AT&T. My wife has a galaxy nexus and rarely sees below 800ms on AT&T in the dc area.

Above is T-Mobile.

Below is AT&T

Both on my One S. AT&T on my wife's galaxy nexus is similar speeds but pings close to 1000ms.

-Sent from my HTC One S.-

---------- Post added at 11:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:20 PM ----------

definitely give T-Mobile a try. I prefer it over AT&T. Slightly less coverage but still perfectly fine, but speeds blow AT&T away. On my One S I get 10-20 mbps down in northern Virginia and 6-10 down in downtown D.C. AT&T is 3-6 in nova and I'm lucky to get more than 1.5 in downtown.

-Sent from my HTC One S.-
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] bobsbbq:
Yes exactly, The MVNO agreement Solavei has with T-Mobile will give you roaming access to all carriers that T-Mobile has roaming agreements with. This includes AT&T and other GSM networks. Straight talk does not have this.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] bender29:
Send SMS via carrier with google voice number?

I've got a couple questions regarding text messaging for those who have gone "all-in" with Google voice (either by porting your old number to google, or giving everyone your google voice #)

Under normal situations, I'm aware that the Google Voice app will receive and send SMS over the data connection. People text your gvoice #, it shows up in the app. You use the app to send a text to someone, they receive it and it shows it as coming from your gvoice #.

This is great if you're in a decent data environment, but what if you're not?

I've been testing out the tmobile $30 plan, and have travelled out of the metro area, where tmobile drops to EDGE and GSM, and web browsing is near impossible. If my data connection is poor, how reliable or timely is the receipt of SMS?

I think my ultimate question is, is there a way to send and receive SMS addressed to/from my gvoice number, but using the carrier's SMS channel (and not a data connection).
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] bozzykid:
The receipt of SMS through GV is much more reliable since it is stored on Google's servers so you can't "miss" them. All the app really does is sync from their servers. In fact, you can't even delete individual SMS messages on GV, you have to delete an entire "thread". Sending use to be terrible in poor coverage areas but I think the latest version of the app is much better. Since it sends it to their servers first and verifies the receipt, you don't generally ever have to deal with your phone sending messages multiple times.

---------- Post added at 08:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:27 PM ----------

You can use text forwarding but this is clumsy since what it does is receive the text from a random number that you can then assign to your contact. Then if you send to that number, they will appear to receive it from your GV number. However, using this method, you can't send the initial sms from a contact you haven't messaged before since you don't know this forwarding number yet.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
Just use the GV app. On EDGE or even GPRS messages will queue up in the app and send whenever there's a trickle of a connection. Don't seem to have any issues sending in bad data situations.

---------- Post added at 05:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:37 PM ----------

Your links are broken for me at least.

Thanks for the info good to know. I can deal with ~300ms as long as the speeds are consistent. Guess I'm spoiled by ~100ms ping on T-Mobile.

Today I remember why I switched to ST in the first place though, as I'm browsing on a -83dBm HSPA+ connection at my parents house where I had either 1 bar of EDGE or no service on T-Mobile. Just needed to switch for coverage area.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] bender29:
Thanks guys. I think I was just too accustomed to having SMS as the ultimate last-ditch communication method in a poor signal environment. I'll just stick with GV app. If that fails, I can always send with the prepaid carrier SMS on an as-needed basis.

I'm coming from Sprint, where even good signal means poor, sometimes unusable data. Contract just ended today, so I'm ready to kick em to the curb and go with prepaid and google voice.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
Definitely wouldn't be worried. If anything the GV service will be more reliable because it'll constantly try to resend as long as possible whereas carrier SMS often will fail and not retry.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Mr.Mischief:
If you unlock the T-Mobile Galaxy S III, it works with AT&T 4G and T-Mobile 4G.

The AT&T and international S III's don't have the correct band for T-Mobile 3G/4G.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] phositadc:
Ignore
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] phositadc:
Trying again. T-Mobile $30/mo plan:

AT&T post paid in next post. Can't attach two pics for some reason.

-Sent from my HTC One S.-
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] phositadc:
AT&T post paid:

-Sent from my HTC One S.-
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] phositadc:
One more. This is T-Mobile after I updated radio on my phone. Much better pings now:

-Sent from my HTC One S.-
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
Thanks.

Those pings are quite low though. Thought you said you regularly have higher pings on ATT?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] phositadc:
ah what the heck one more that is more recent :) who doesn't love speed test screen shots in a prepaid thread :P

-Sent from my HTC One S.-
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] grayson73:
Does the HTC One S support HSPA+ for both AT&T and T-Mobile? What bands does a phone need to support both? Trying to figure out what alternatives there are to the Galaxy Nexus. Is there a list of phones that support both? I like the Galaxy Nexus, but would prefer a phone with expandable storage.