yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] phositadc:
I'm on AT&T post paid and speeds often do plummet in the downtown area and close in areas during peak times. My downloads will be 6mbps on a Saturday at 8am but as low as 250kbps during the work week in the middle of the day. Upload speeds drop to below 100kbps during peak times.

-Sent from a GSM Galaxy Nexus (RAScream+Trinity).-
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] phositadc:
And yes that's a lowercase 'b'

-Sent from a GSM Galaxy Nexus (RAScream+Trinity).-
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
Not surprising. Don't think any carrier is immune to getting over congested in major metro areas.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] shiznu:
I've read I think about all of this thread and maybe I just missed it but does using Google Voice for outgoing calls use data or cell radios?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] jbeez:
Look into getting a cellular repeater from Wilson? There's some other brands out there too. Celfi I think is another. One time investment. We had to put one in at my work for att signal
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] wintrxtrem:
Thanks for all the helpful info. I almost hope Sprint cancels SERO so I can dump them and hop over to prepaid.

It'd be nice to take a month off [paying] every once in a while, during a vacation or whatever. Google voice at home, groove ip at wifi hot spots. All these reoccurring monthly fees are for the birds. Free is where it's at, baby.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] spiritcrusher33:
Wow those are pretty expensive,lol might help out at the house though.. but in reality i can just use whats ap or google voice for texts on wifi at the house if the wife needs me. etc.. other wise everywhere else i get a decent signal. so 200 plus for the wilson to me would be overkill just to text the wife from home lmao... thanks
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] 3rdstring:
I have to toggle to 2g radios only at home to get a decent signal, not a big deal with WiFi for the data connection.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] kaediil:
Google voice uses cell radios and counts against your minutes it is not VoIP from your device.

-frank
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] ogp:
Just as an FYI.

My Dad who already had a straight talk account on a phone without a sim was able to port his existing number to his straight talk sim for use in the Galaxy Nexus. It was actually just an option via the online activation.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Mr.Mischief:
I did that for my mom. The number ported very quickly.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] zombie1991:
Originally Posted by shiznu

I've read I think about all of this thread and maybe I just missed it but does using Google Voice for outgoing calls use data or cell radios?

True and not true. When I got my GSM Galaxy Nexus I was waiting for around a week for my Verizon contract to expire so that I could port and not pay an ETF. I unlocked and rooted the GSM and was installing apps via Play with my account. I put on Talkatone and had it use my Google Voice number. I made and received a few calls just to see if I could over my wifi at my house and it worked.

You can have Talkatone and a few other apps use your GV number to make VoIP calls. I think GrooveIP does as well. Talkatone is free though.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] shiznu:
I was just playing around with the Gvoice application and incoming calls forwarded to my cell number seemed to have a little better quality than than outgoing calls using Gvoice to make outgoing calls option from within the app. Idk maybe just imagination of the person I was calling to test it.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] tsnstuff:
Hello!

First of all I wanted to thank the OP for the idea. Currently I own a Galaxy Nexus on Verizon and I'm just getting so sick and tired of Verizon. Don't get me wrong, great service but horrible customer service. The way they seem to do less for me each year yet I pay more each year and the way they were so happy to sell me an Unlimited Data plan but now they act like I'm stealing from them, I just hate it. So as happy as I am with my 4G LTE and service just about anywhere, I need to jump ship.

Today I ordered the GSM Nexus from Google and I ordered a couple of Sim cards from TMobile because I'm really interested in getting that 30/month plan. I normally use around 5GB of data and less than 100 minutes of talk time so it sounds perfect for me.

Now, I do believe that I'll end up getting my SIM cards before the phone and I'm hoping the Galaxy Nexus GSM uses regular sized SIM cards. Is there any way I can start the activation process of the sim card without actually having the phone? I just know that once I get both I will not want to be waiting :(

Thank You again and if I'm any of you know a better service I could try I'd certainly appreciate the help. I live in Mundelein which is a suburb north of Chicago so normally I get pretty good reception with just about any service.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] HemRoyd:
Regular sized cards work.

I would wait until I got the phone and then activate the SIM online per the instructions with the kit. Its fast and easy to be up and running.

.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] zulu657:
I received my Straight Talk ATT SIM, activation kit & refill card today. Looks like I am about ready to activate my GNex.

Got a nagging question however: I notice that T-Mobile & ATT have different APN settings. I plan to switch SIMs back & forth during the month. Seems like I read somewhere in the 150+ pages that you have to delete the current APN & enter the one for your service. Is there no way to have both APNs in the phone & just pick the correct one???

This thread & forum are a wealth of information but much of it is far over my head. I just want to be able to use the phone.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
Yes, but this is not using native Google Voice calling. It requires secondary apps to make VOIP calls. The answer to the original question is that Google voice, by default, is a forwarding service that uses minutes.

GV VOIP solutions are not nearly as reliable or high quality as the actual cell network calling system. Certainly not on a free or cheap VOIP app either. The codecs and technology is just not good enough.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
The Galaxy Nexus uses a standard "Mini" SIM. It doesn't use a Micro SIM like the iPhone or some new Android devices.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
I see no reason why incoming and outgoing forwarded calls would be of any different quality other than just general variability.

Some people have complained about latency when using call forwarding with Google Voice. I haven't noticed it personally but I don't make a ton of calls (especially long calls where you can notice something like that). Not to mention that its hard to know if the latency is created with the forwarding or just within the current signal and network you have.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Goodfella80:
Question for those that have used the Sprint/GV integration. If a sprint number becomes your main google voice number and you cancel that sprint line, do you still get to keep that number as your GV number? I gave my GSII to my Mon to use on Straight Talk but want to know if she can keep her Sprint number, which is part of a family plan. I hope what I said makes sense lol.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Alex8288:
10 days into prepaid

I have read most of this thread and I can't find an answer, it was this thread that convinced me to leave Sprint in the dust and get on Prepaid. I have the international gsm unlocked version of the Galaxy Nexus( bought from ebay's daily steals), and for the first 10 days everything was working great on T-Mobile's monthly 4g 100 minute 5gb @4g. However, when I woke up this morning I was on edge. I have only used about 700 megs of data so far, so it is too early for throttling. I got off the phone with customer support and the representative told me Non T-mobile branded phones are restricted to EDGE speed. Seems like a load of BS to me, since HSPA + was working just fine for me the previous day. What can be the cause of this? And is there a fix in the settings? I have reset my Nexus countless times and manually connected to T-Mobiles network. I appreciate any help that can be provided.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] bozzykid:
When you are throttled, it will drop you to Edge type speeds but it will not keep your phone from connecting to 3G and HSPA+. So what you are seeing is not throttling.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Alex8288:
Right, but the only symbol I can see is E. And in my phone settings it says edge-2 or something. I was able to use hspa+ yesterday. It is just confusing. The rep said the the system "corrected its self " by forcing me to edge.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] DOHCtor:
Go to your dialer and hit *#*#4636#*#* then hit phone info and tell us what it has selected for "preferred network type". It should be WCDMA preferred.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] LionAR10:
I'm not going to address these individually. But thanks for bringing them up. You're really highlighting the traditional way of thinking here. Things like:

- "contracts are OK" (they sure are until you want out of them)

- making sure you have 99th percentile coverage is worth the extra money (even if you don't spend any time in that last few percentage points)

- You have to form a long term relationship with a provider (if a provider doesn't meet your needs, say if they have "retard" coverage, you simply change provider)

- More Gees is necessary (the latest technology is a requirement and the functional difference between 4Mb/s and 40Mb/s is critical to your use of the phone)

- One size fits all. (Because this doesn't work for me, it can't work for you)

But you're also ignoring the things that you'd want ignored:

- TMO may not be for travellers into that 95th+ percentage coverage in the US, but trying to say that CDMA/LTE is for real (world) travellers is lunacy.

- Conditions of your "it's OK" contract can be changed without your ability to opt-out.

- GSM phones have a higher resale value than CDMA phones .. worldwide vendor independence and lack of lockin translates directly to higher market demand.

Finally, if you're driving around with a GPS that fully dependent on a terrestrial data delivery system (eg, cell) and you consider your navigation critical .. you're incurring significant risk. My TomTom still worked when VZW's recent nationwide data outages occurred. But I was still able to find the "new restaurant" on my home PC and plug that address into my TomTom.

This thread is kinda turning into a come hate on gsm thing, and that's not cool. No one here is trying to convince you die-hard VZW guys to hang out with us with slower data and varying coverage. Or even waste the half hour every couple of months to make sure you're still getting the best deal. I'm glad this thread has helped some people save some cash and better use their phones. But I've been saying it from the beginning ... this is not for everyone. And if you're here to make this a VZW-versus-GSM thing, seriously, go back to posting your giant speedtest results and not posting your cell bills.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] k.electron:
it never does. dont worry im not thinking that.

i love gsm and wish all carriers were gsm, but lets face it, gsm carriers in the us suck. cdma also is technically better at calls than gsm and in a couple of generations there will be way more lte. so may as well start getting used to lte.

if the change exceeds a certain percentage, u get opt-out. read the contracts bro.

sure, they cost way more too.

data outtages were 4g only. not for the ultra-reliable 3g. ive never had my vzw google nav fail me. but att has.

no its not. like i said before i love gsm. but it sucks in the us. i do hope this saves some people some money, although, do poor people buy the 600$ gsm nexus? probably not.

and ur right - this is definitely not for everyone, which is why i brought out some of the other aspects of this strategy.

i have no desire to make it a competition, and my phone bills are 65$ every month, with my downloads exceeding 10Gb (grandfathered unlimited data).

and yes, i do love posting my speedtests because they destroy competitors speeds, and frankly this phone deserves those kinds of speeds.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] LionAR10:
Thanks for the advice :)

edit: http://i.imgur.com/a0BQN.jpg
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
Precisely. Everyone is going to do their own thing, and no one is forcing people into this way of thinking. Its a

purely informational thread

. No one in here is trying to force you into prepaid, so stop coming into here and trying to force us into postpaid. We've made our decision and we think its the right one.

If you want to stick with your contracts and your high monthly bills, you do that.

Except it doesn't... not sure why you keep saying that lol.

You REALLY don't understand, do you? Paying more for the device is just part of the plan. The device is a very miniscule amount of the entire cost of owning a cell phone. You pay $600 up front, but your bill is $50 or less ($32 in my case) every month. It actually does save you money to pay $600 for a phone...\

Not to mention that I find it extremely rude that you refer to people on prepaid as "poor people". We're not ****ing poor, we're just savvy about buying our cellphone service.

Which are clearly understood. We don't need a jerkoff like you coming in here to try and point things out to try and shoot it down. Its known from the beginning that its not for everyone. And when you try it and find out it doesn't work for you, you can quit and go crawling back to a carrier store + 2 year contract. That's the whole point, you have choice to try it and stop.

You clearly do have a desire to make this a competition. I'm not sure if you're mad we're paying less for service or that we're not tied down or what... but you're coming in here to nit-pick at our plans and try to justify why you're paying more.

And newsflash, no one walking into the Verizon store today will

ever

have the same plan as you. Your arguments of comparing your grandfathered plan to our plans are completely moot because we would never have this option even if we (were dumb in the head and) wanted to go to Verizon.

You're clearly happy with your grandfathered plan and your service. That's great, but it is not at all typical of what a new person looking to switch carriers or buy a phone will experience. They will be paying $100+ monthly for an individual line, and it is not at all financially viable for people, and it should not be the only choice.

Every single plan in OP

can be purchased by

anyone

. Theres no restriction.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] :
Why argue with this guy? The dude will never get it and it clutters an excellent and infomative thread.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
Yeah I know : / I'm done now.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] ccpotato:
as a matter of fact, thats where i picked up my tmobile uk sim card 2 weeks ago. used it up and down england, and scotland. refills done via text, phone, online, or refill cards anywhere on the street. GV app allowed me to maintain contact to USA with their SMS system, and check visual voicemail. flew back from edinburgh on super bowl sunday and popped the old SIM in.

with verizon cdma one would get access to....? parts of canada and japan. whoopee!
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] gh32:
Can't let guys bait you like that. ;)

Also, I still rock a T-Mobile G2 for my work number. Love this phone. One of the best I've ever used.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
I've got a G2 sitting on my desk next to my Galaxy Nexus :D Amazing device. Still power it on sometimes :p
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] k.electron:
no one is trying to force u into anything. from the anger in ur words its clear who is mad here.

says the guy who calls people "jerkoff". what a joke.

this is a public forum. if you don't like others posting, go buy an iphone or something. i never said anything was for everyone. if every one "clearly understood" everything like u said then why bother even coming to a forum. seriously though, why are u so mad about me calling on your prepaid plans?

again, this is a public forum. i come here to learn a lot and when i have some knowledge to share i do it. i also voice my opinions. if u dont like them, then so be it.

there are ways to get the unlimited plan, and... since ur so vehement about grandfathered plans.. what other provider has unlimited data (other than sprint, which is cdma, and currently doesnt have gnex). so.. its still an apples to apples comparison because im comparing the limited plan at verizon to the limited plans on other providers. but ur fear of contracts has blinded your judgement.

u can have a line for 70$ a month at verizon. family plans get even cheaper. i reiterate.. stellar service comes at a cost.

if u are in a situation where u are covered in your home city and dont care about national coverage, sure, save money with prepaids. but if coverage is top priority, then consider the vzw gnex.

---------- Post added at 09:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:32 PM ----------

anyways... im sorry if i have offended anyone with my "ready-to-contract" views. i can understand some people just cannot deal with contracts and/or dont want to pay as much. if prepaid works for u, go for it by all means.

that being said, contracts arent all that evil. if you are on the fence about it, my views as being a contract user always, its not that bad, certainly not bad when it comes with great coverage and customer service.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
I'd definitely consider the Straight Talk $45 plan if I ever started needing more minutes. Definitely have to see how the data works out though. Not sure how I could lower my data usage; I'm coming up on 1/2 way through my bill period and I'm at 2.2gb. I bet on average I'm in the 3.5gb-4gb range, so I'd have to keep it down.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] kashah:
In some ways I do agree with the sentament expressed in this thread. GSM enables a tremendous amount of flexibility in career at a cheaper total cost given the right usage scenario. The problem is the GNex is one of maybe three pentaband phones supporting 3g on both T-Mobile and at&t networks. There's no guarantee that any more are coming. Further, if you have the right employee discount, its possible to structure similar costing plans, even on vzw. Right now for about $62 after taxes, I have 450 anytime minutes and unlimited 3g and 4g data. I have 5 friends and family on my line, giving me essentially unlimited talk time in conjunction with google voice, which I also use for texting. I'm assuming u do the same for texting and use gv callback to maintain a single number facade. I hate the fact that I'm tied to vzw but 2 yrs, but I need the data allowance and minutes with good in building coverage.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] LionAR10:
Sorry about missing this one ...

This is the one I use in my truck, and it works fantastic.

http://www.wilsonelectronics.com/Pr...1900+MHz)+Mobile+Wireless+(801201)&Category=6

Which is probably the one you're looking at. You can still push full HSPA+ speeds over that without a problem. It, however, will not do T-Mobile AWS, Verizon LTE, or Sprint WiMAX. If you're on CDMA, you'll get 1xRTT/EVDO only. If you're on TMO you'll get only a benefit with EDGE.

I've known a lot of people to put these things in their cars and forget them, they just work. One antenna goes on the roof, one you kinda hide inside the car (there's instructions) and off you go. I've pushed signal in places you wouldn't normally expect signal before .. even one time when my truck blew a wheel bearing in the middle of an Indian reservation where people do not usually expect there to be signal. Mind you I had a high gain antenna on the roof and the repeater was going full blast.

There's building ones too with more power, but you can't put them in cars (they will signal loop and burn out the amplifiers).
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] rubiconjp:
When I was jeeping in far flung places, some people had amps (not FCC approved) for their CB radios, and I always had headaches when riding in their jeeps. Wondering if these boosters might give me headache too, even though they are at different freqs.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] :
Suggestion to add to the list? More pentaband mobiles: The Nokia N9 is a pentaband and comes in 16/64 and runs MeeGo. The Rogers Nokia Lumia 710 is a cheap WP7 pentaband. More choice is always a good thing.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] reuthermonkey:
There's no guarantee, certainly. However, the only obstacles to this are the US carriers (ie ATT) which dont want to sell phones that work on their competitors, and pricing on penta-band capable radios. Just as we saw with GSM where standard tri-band eventually gave way to quad-band as the default radio, the same will happen with UMTS/HSPA. As it becomes cheaper / more profitable to sell a single penta-band HSPA device rather than 2 separate tri-band devices as is currently the norm, then we'll see more pentaband devices. The market is the chief driver for these things. If the market sees pentaband as more profitable, they'll do more pentaband.

I find it a bit humerous how often I hear about people with corporate discounts on VZW who use that as a defense for Verizon. Not all of us have the same discounts. While I do have employee discounts for ATT, Sprint, and VZW, i'm still saving money on TMO right now. If I wasn't saving money (and getting faster speeds than ATT), then i'd go elsewhere.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Penguin Soldier:
Hey guys what service would you recommend for me to use for a phone with only (850/1900 bands). I have an xperia play I want to use but i am trying to decide between at&t go phone plan or the straight talk. I just want a plan that has decent talk/text/ and the highest data allowed.

Also has any one have any experience with red pocket mobile.

* I am well aware of the tmobile plan that walmart offers which is pretty good but I want to have faster internet with my xperia play.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] x.Orville.x:
any sugestion with redpocket ? i have h2o looking to get redpocket mobile it's good or not ?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] DOHCtor:
Wrong thread...delete
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] kashah:
Hey I'm not arguing with you, I'm agreeing with u. Just pointing out that there are alternatives for some people, esp for those needing more data while not sacrificing coverage (e.g. T-Mobile).

Hate to say it but maybe the iPhone 4s with both GSM/cdma radios sets a new trend. It makes intuitive sense that it would be cheaper and easier to manufacture and support a single device for all carriers than have a myriad of devices like Samsung's galaxy line.

Hopefully more devices will have multiple carrier options. And who knows, with microsim tech on lte maybe we'll see more device flexibility in the future. Seems like that was Google's initial intent when the released the first nexus phone sold direct and without subsidy. Somewhere that goal was lost.

As an aside, it would be a useful exercise and a service to list the speeds and the data limits of the mvnos in a comprehensive manner. Sounds like a great app...
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Alex8288:
Yes, it reads wcdma preferred.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] DOHCtor:
You either are in an Edge only area or if you had HSPA before, then their HSPA tower is down.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] stevexda:
The Galaxy Nexus is smart enough to keep the APN settings you have set for each SIM. (Though only the active SIMs APN will show in the list the other APN is still there hidden.). ICS will also track the data usage per SIM so change as many times as you want in the month. After it is set up you'll just have to swap SIMs and reboot the phone.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] :
Never happen unless they pony up with cash.

---------- Post added at 12:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:01 PM ----------

You have even greater flexibility. Cut your SIM down to the Micro size and use an adapter. Best of both worlds.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] sk63:
To get your GV/Sprint number as GV only you need to do these steps:

Stop the GV/Sprint integration, keep the Sprint number as your sprint number.

From GV, request that they port the (now non-integrated) Sprint number to GV.

That will automatically cancel the sprint line as part of the contract and takes about 24 hours to complete. SMS can take up to another 48 hours.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] scoobdude:
I ported mine. This will cancel your service with sprint.